When it comes to advertising industry, ethics represents a challenge for the advertisers and the target audience alike. Advertisers very often consider children as their target audience and the law regulations and the ethical codex are not a guarantee that the children, as the most vulnerable target audience, would be protected. Therefore, the children-targeted advertisements are often considered unethical. When using a child in order to promote a product or in campaigns which are not appropriate for their age, such as tobacco products, fashion magazines, or even environmental protection campaigns, advertisers enter the zone which might be considered unethical. Companies are trying to affect parents as potential buyers, which represents a major point in a company’s business ethic. Nowadays, materialism is a direct consequence of a lifestyle where media do not filter messages that are sent to audiences of all ages. Also, the increasing reliance on technology leads to a situation where the children have an easy Internet access which limits the parents’ ability to protect them. Contemporary research confirm an increasing influence that the children possess over their parents’ shopping habits, and even indicate a takeover when it comes to making shopping decisions. Using a survey, we have tried to determine the level of parents’ recognition when it comes to unethical advertising, as well as the influence that the children have on their parents’ shopping habits.