[■]Fantasy is one of the more common techniques in advertising that could possibly mislead a young audience.
[■]Child-oriented advertisements are more likely to include magic and fantasy than advertisements aimed at adults. [■]In a content analysis of Canadian television, the author Stephen Kline observed that nearly all commercials for character toys featured fantasy play. [■]Children have strong imaginations and the use of fantasy brings their ideas to life, but children may not be adept enough to realize that what they are viewing is unreal. Fantasy situations and settings are frequently used to attract children's attention, particularly in food advertising. Advertisements for breakfast cereals have, for many years, been found to be especially fond of fantasy techniques, with almost nine out of ten including such content. Generally, there is uncertainty as to whether very young children can distinguish between fantasy and reality in advertising. Certainly, rational appeals in advertising aimed at children are limited, as most advertisements use emotional and indirect appeals to psychological states or associations.Another aspect of advertising that may especially influence children is fantasy..