House Hippo Evaluation

 

We all know that children can be naive, but often times we don’t realize how badly the things they watch on TV can affect them.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the North American house hippo commercial, a household favorite. (Just in case you’re not I posted the link at the bottom). Now this commercial had been around a long time! I remember watching it when I was younger, and wanting a house hippo of my own. I mean how could you not want one of those adorable creatures nesting in your closet?!

For the longest time I believed house hippos were real, and I know I’m not the only one. (This is a little embarrassing but I just found out they weren’t real a few years ago).  This just goes to prove that children often times believe everything they see or hear.  By the time the message from the Concerned Children’s Advertisers would play I would already be too busy imagining a house hippo drinking from my cat’s water dish to even notice.

The objective for this commercial was to raise awareness about how gullible children can be, and its effectiveness can be debated. Personally, I think the commercial proved children to be gullible, but at the same time not very many children learned from it. I know I’m not the only one who didn’t realize these cute miniature hippos don’t exist! On the other hand, the house hippo has helped more parents to open their eyes to children’s naivety.

Children really do believe what they see, and they do need to be taught to stop and ask questions (Sooner than I did). The Concerned Children’s Advertisers certainly raised awareness of how gullible children can be with the house hippo commercial.

The House Hippo Commercial

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/house%20hippo