With the holiday shopping season in full swing, our time spent with media is filled with advertisements touting the wonders of the latest toys like the new Furby or the countless products tied into The Hobbit.

Americans have come to expect the phenomenon this time of year, more and more, the messaging is directly targeting the kids, not the parents, says Assistant Professor Sherri Hope Culver, director of the Center for Media and Information Literacy at Temple University’s School of Media and Communication.

Culver believes that, through lobbying efforts of various organizations, advertisers have been forced over the years to make their messaging more appropriate for the age of a product’s target audience. She points to guidelines from the Children’s Advertising Review Unit that recommend ways advertisers can work more ethically.

From setting guidelines to simply limiting time in front of the TV, Culver can suggest ways in which parents can manage their child's wish lists because, "If it’s going to make a company money, the advertiser is going to do it."

More about Culver: http://www.centermil.org/about/sherri-hope-culver/