edHelper.com
Economics

Be an Informed Consumer

Be an Informed Consumer
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 5
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.3

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    assembly, billion, factor, sales, affects, lower, schools, especially, meets, rate, target, video, likely, exchange, compare, huge

Print Be an Informed Consumer
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Be an Informed Consumer  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Be an Informed Consumer
     Leave your feedback on Be an Informed Consumer  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Be an Informed Consumer
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     Are you an advertising target? Yes, you are. Advertisers send TV ads at you at home and in some schools, banner ads when you're surfing the Internet, and billboard ads as you walk down the street. They put brand logos on your clothes and shoes, and they pay to get their products used in the movies you watch. The average 12-year-old watches TV for four hours each day. That adds up to between 20,000 and 40,000 TV ads a year!
 
2     Kids are consumers, too. According to a 1998 survey, you and other U.S. kids have $15 billion of your own money to spend each year. What's more, you have influence on what your parents spend - as much as $188 billion per year!
 
3     Sometimes people buy products they don't need because ads for them make people think the products will make their lives better. You buy advertised items because you want to look better, feel better, and fit in better. Advertising is a huge factor in consumer demand. Advertising is used to create consumer demand for a particular product.
 
4     Advertising affects prices, too. Many companies hire celebrity endorsers to try to get you to buy their products. If your favorite athlete or celebrity is in the advertisement, you might think that you will have the athletic ability or be as popular as your hero is if you buy their product. Companies pay celebrities and athletes lots of money to advertise their products. This adds to the cost of the product, so companies raise their prices in order to make a profit. Advertising is a "hidden cost" that adds to the price of a product.

Paragraphs 5 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper