The fourth C. is contagiousness. In communications, contagiousness is good. One wants their viewers to catch the message, run with it, and spread it around. In order to be contagious, a message has to be lively, new, dissimilar, and unforgettable. It should also suggest a bright emotional reaction, have talk prospective, inspire the target to do something, and draw out a comprehensible response (Albanese, 2011).
When it comes to advertising in regards to children the advertising industry has acknowledged a need to be aware of:
The special sensitivities involved in communicating to kids
The diverse stages of development the child goes through in its social environment
The lack of understanding the child has and its limited ability to measure the trustworthiness of messages it receives from the media
The significance for concern when appealing to the creative capabilities of younger kids
The important roles of parents and their accountability in the education of their kids
The realism that advertising plays a normal and essential part of any kid's intellectual growth and the need to make sure that children understand the actuality of the world in which they live (Ethical Guidelines for Advertising to Children, n.d.).
It appears that Kraft evaluated the message that they were sending and decided it might not be being received as they would like it to be. In 2005, Kraft proclaimed that it would stop advertising some products to kids under the age of twelve. These goods included regular Kool-Aid beverages, Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies, several Post children's cereals and some assortments of its Lunchables lunch packages. These favorites can still be found in stores, but Kraft said it would no longer be aiming at kids with television, radio, and print ads for these products (Case 6-3 Kraft Foods, Inc.: The Cost of Advertising on Children's Waistlines, 2006). Kraft is doing parents a big favor by distinguishing that foods of reduced dietary quality should not be advertised to children. By setting nutrition values for foods advertised to six to eleven-year-olds, Kraft will make it a little easier to decrease kids' consumption of products high in calories, saturated and trans fat or added sugars. Kraft has taken a significant first stride. The next should be to make stronger its sodium values, limit advertising to children twelve to seventeen, and expand its marketing strategies to cartoon characters on packages, advergames on the Internet, contests, and other kinds of marketing (Wootan, 2005).
It is important that in the future there be more research done on how advertising is received by listeners. It is important for companies to know that what they are trying to say is getting across in the right way (The Teaching and Learning of Listening: A Survival Skill for First-Year Students, n.d.). Listening is sometimes a very hard thing to do and people often miss what is really trying to be communicated to them. Companies can ill afford for their advertising to be misinterpreted as it almost always affects their bottom line. Advertising should be reviewed constantly so that there is no doubt that the intended message is getting across and that nothing changes along the way to alter this. If problems are found then they should be fixed immediately in order to deter any future issues. Advertising can transit powerful messages and companies should always make sure that what they want to say is what is really being heard.
Advertising as Effective communication? (2011). Retrieved from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Advertising_as_Effective_communication
Albanese, Isabelle. (2011). How to Make Your Messages Memorable. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/interpersonalcommunication/qt/memorable.htm
Anderson, Arnold. (2011). 7 C's of Effective Business Communication. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/7-cs-effective-business-communication-114.html
Case 6-3 Kraft Foods, Inc.: The Cost of Advertising on Children's Waistlines. (2006). Retrieved