Advertise to children or not? That is the question. Recently this topic has been widely discussed. Many authorities think that is it harmful for children.
I think very well written article about this issue is this one: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;95/2/295.pdf . It says that advertising has an effect on children’s and adolescent’s use of cigarettes, alcohol and sexual behavior. It also states that “young children under 8 years of age developmentally are unable to understand the intent of advertisements and, in fact, accept advertising claims as true.” Adolescents are capable of understanding the difference between commercial and normal programming, however ads are still dangerous for their health. Adolescent drink more and smoke more cigarettes thanks to the advertisement.
The Committee on the Communication says that one possibility is total ban, but it would interfere with the right of free speech and I agree. Banning would not mean that children will not have an access to commercials and it would evoke protests from the advertisers. Better solution would be stricter enforcement of existing regulations that define the nature and content of educational programs and strict and heavy fines should be imposed when such violations are proved. I agree with other solutions – such as decreasing the number of commercials on children’s TV and that parents should educate children to be responsible and informed consumers. Hopefully, some change in advertising to children is coming soon.
Sources:
Committee on Communications. “Committee on Communication: Children, Adolescents, and Advertising.“ Web. 10 May 2010. <http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;95/2/295.pdf>.
Viviana's Blog 
As you said children are not able to differentiate fantasy from reality at an early stage but in my opinion this is not a reason to band various commercials, advertising or content. There exist various programs that protect children from these kinds of negative influences i.e. Internet Filter Software Review or the V-Chip for television. I also believe one of the main problems is the often lack of communication between the parents and the children. Parents often use TV as a form of babysitter and do not explain to their children right from wrong even if they are next to them.
Another thing is that when you enter the teen years, you already have a formed personality and whatever you do see in the media probably wouldn’t affect you that much if your personality is formed and you have a previously good foundation (family background) which in my opinion is the most important one.
I agree, Children are thought to be active consumers so ads play immense roles, because they are easily won over if advertisments are colorful and impressive to them. This is actually manipulation and evil use of infant psychology. However totally banning ads because they achieve their goal (obtain consumers) is illogical and needs somewhat further research to prove that it is actually bad. In contemporary democratic system it is impossible to ban something totally as well as it will cause great resistance and clash. Parents must be more engaged in this process by communicating more with their children.
Advertising is a huge business as we all know, and children or adolescents are great target group, it is easy to persuade the children and than the children persuade parents to buy the product…I mean it in a sense of toys or so, but the other side of this advertising is the negative influence,that means in ways of alcohol or tobacco or even food. Who can decide that TV is going to broadcast only adverts for children, or only for adult? and from point of view of the TV’s commercial strategy it is most probably most efficient to combine these children and adult commercials. So this is a very difficult situation and I can not agree with the idea to ban these or those commercials nor broadcast adult ads to children.