citation? There's no way anyone under 18 just lacks the ability to distinguish between commercials and the program they're watching. Source: was once a kid
Perhaps the parent means the purpose for the programs and the commercials - as in that the commercials aren't just there to entertain you but to manipulate you in to wanting a particular product. Mind you essentially you can say the program is just there to soften you up and create a method to feed your brain the marketing message of the commercials ...
To me this just comes across as an excuse for bad parenting. There were junk food commercials on tv when I was a kid, but I didn't get to have them, because I didn't have money to buy them.
People in general don't really realise the impact that advertising has on them even if they are aware of them.