Blog 5: Marketing at the Consumer Child

How far do you think advertising influences children’s perceptions themselves? Should children be viewed as consumers? Should children learn about advertising in school and if so, what do teachers need to understand about the way in which children engage with advertising?

In the last couple of decades, marketing to children through advertising has seen considerable growth, marketing companies have invested time and money into researching how best to advertise to children (Preston, 2004). The reasons for this growth in targeting children could be twofold; an increase in the spending power of young children and time spent interacting with forms of media (Gunter, Oates & Blades, 2005). On the other hand, it could be a result of children's growing media literacy in the 21st century and the requirement of industry to develop and expand marketing techniques in order to reach their target audience effectively (Livingstone & Helsper). It is, however, difficult to define any advertisement as being strictly aimed at children as such adverts more often than not contain information aimed at parents, there is even some argument that peer pressure is actually the major influence in children's buying habits. This may be the case, but it is still clear that much of the colour, imagery and exciting use of adjectives is effective in stimulating the desire of ownership in children (Preston, 2004).

Targeting children in this way allows them to be decision-makers and reinforces the idea that they play a role in consumerism. Because of this, there has been long-standing concern over the potentially exploitative effects of advertising (Gunter et al., 2005) and disquietude with food advertising in particular with claims that a focus on the marketing of junk food is contributing to childhood obesity (Livingstone & Helsper, 2006). Successful advertising may lead to the pestering of parents and those that become annoyed by this pestering will blame this form of marketing (Preston, 2004), however, it is often not single advertisements that lead to this. As stated previously, peer pressure plays a large role in the level of obsession with products or brands and this in turn usually stems from larger marketing techniques involving toys or games in connection with popular television shows, making the consumerism a social and cultural activity (Gunter et al., 2005). This could lead to anxiety in parents, making decisions based upon the pressure they feel about the socialisation of their children.

There is some argument to support the requirement of educating children about marketing techniques in order to make them aware of how they might be manipulated by advertisements and that this is increasingly important as children are becoming more media aware, exposed to it for longer periods of time (Preston, 2004). Although there is already some evidence of this concern within the National Curriculum, it is important that teachers understand age effects in terms of responses to advertising. It is generally viewed that younger children are more susceptible to advertising, however, Livingstone and Helsper (2006) state that it is in fact media-literacy levels that are the key determiner in children's susceptibility to marketing. Children with lower levels of media literacy are more easily persuaded by bright images, jingles and celebrities, whereas older more media literate children are persuaded by well presented arguments. It is important that teachers enable children to become more media-literate at a younger age and continue to develop their critical thinking when presented with advertisements. It has been shown turning the tables and involving children in the creation of advertisements evokes the critical thinking that enables children to become more aware of what they are exposed to by the media. 

Bibliography

Burrel, A. & Beard, R. (2010) Children’s advertisement writing. UKLA,  44:2, pp.83-90.

Gunter, B., Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV. New Jersey:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp 1 – 13.

Livingstone, S. & Helsper, E. (2006) Does Advertising Literacy Mediate the Effects of Advertising on Children? A Critical Examination of Two Linked Research Literatures in Relation to Obesity and Food Choice. in Journal of Communication. 56 (3), pp.560-584.

Preston, C. (2004) Children's Advertising: The Ethics of Economic Socialisation. in International Journal of Consumer Studies. 28 (4), pp.364-370.