News outlets and advertisers alike have been using creative license in recent years to present children as young as three years old as playing with video games, toys and other objects.
The move by ABC News to take a different tack in the commercial breaks shows how advertisers are increasingly using children in their advertising campaigns, even if the products and services are not intended to be marketed to that age group.
In the first half of this year, ABC News aired 17 commercials depicting children between the ages of three and five playing with games, such as video games and toys, as well as other types of objects.
This was down from 26 commercials in the first quarter of 2017, ABC said.ABC News also ran 17 commercials in which the children’s activities were related to the network’s new “Ages 2 to 4” program.
The ads were filmed at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida and also included a commercial of a man holding a toy gun and a man playing with a toy ball.
The new “Age 2 to 5” commercials, which premiered during the “Aged 2 to 6” program, have been widely criticized as being commercial breaks designed to make kids feel like they are watching a TV show.ABC said it plans to keep airing these ads in the coming weeks.ABC’s new strategy is similar to that of NBCUniversal, which has used its commercial breaks to present kids in a positive light, such for its new ad campaign for the new series of “Orange is the New Black.”ABC’s parent company, Walt Disney Company, has long taken a hands-off approach to the use of children in its advertising, but the ABC news ad strategy is a departure from that.
The ABC News commercial breaks have become the new norm for advertisers in 2017.ABC also aired a commercial this week featuring a young man with a prosthetic arm.
The ad featured a man and woman posing in front of a billboard with the caption, “I don’t know how to stop you, but I know how not to stop.”ABC has been using these ads since the 1990s.
The network also aired an ad this week that featured a boy holding a sign with the headline, “Teddy Bear Can You Hear Me Now?”
The ABC commercial breaks are the latest attempt by ABC to appeal to advertisers with their brand of “A-plus” content that often focuses on family, health and community.ABC has long promoted “A+,” which means “up to” or “up-to-date,” on its advertising.
The network is also in the process of developing a new program that would include “A” content.