The problem is they can not do this at all. Children are extremely easy to manipulate, and that is pretty much what advertising is.
We have regulation on advertisements to children? That's a little surprising.
Kids are better at filtering in some ways.
One crazy belief is not sign of universal insanity. Perhaps though it is a sign of susceptibility, which is what we seem to be talking about.
Gullibility, which is what we were talking and why advertising to children is bad. If we started teaching our kids to do things like try to test for Santa they would be more likely to come to correct answers for the rest of their lives, and in general be less gullible.
Minecraft, Pokemon Go, Star Wars...
This wasn't the case with other things, though. I remember really liking Care Bears back in the 80's. My father was appalled when he took me to a movie - he said it was basically an add to get kids to buy the new line of toys. My brother, 11 years younger than I, had the same sort of thing with Power Rangers and then Pokemon. I don't have children and am not quite sure what the current modern version of this is, but I'm sure it is there. Adult versions abound. These aren't the things we can spot so easily, especially as children with little world experience.
The parents need to spend a lot of time to counteract those evil forces and you cannot teach a kid to not like the amazing toy he/she is watching on TV. You can teach them that they can receive presents on specific date though.
> Research has shown that young children—younger than 8 years—are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising. They do not understand the notion of intent to sell and frequently accept advertising claims at face value. In fact, in the late 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held hearings, reviewed the existing research, and came to the conclusion that it was unfair and deceptive to advertise to children younger than 6 years. What kept the FTC from banning such ads was that it was thought to be impractical to implement such a ban.
On the other hand, I do teach my kids about advertising. They are quite skeptical about it.
About 10 or 15 years ago, there was a McDonalds ad that had parents dressing up. The kids exclaimed "The black suit! You know what that means!" "McDonalds for breakfast!" Cut to the kids smiling and happy while eating at McDonalds.
Positive associations are simple to create, particularly in those unaware of what you are doing.