I have yet to meet a kid over about the age of 8 who doesn't know advertisers are largely full of shit. And unless your kid drives a car and has his own cash, he isn't going to get fast food unless you give it to him.

I have heard the "siren song of the advertising industry" argument from many people. Oddly, when you ask such a person why the irresistable power of advertising doesn't immediately send THEM out to chow down on a Big Mac, their reply is usually along the lines that THEY are much too smart to fall for that stuff. It's the rest of America that's too stupid to take care of themselves.

Of course the idea that most people are too stupid to properly take care of themselves is the foundation of a lot of liberal thinking.