Advertising to Children
Introduction
Advertising is a form of marketing that entails selling products and services which touch on children lives to the children. This term has attracted a lot of controversy in the media and other national legislations as it has created hot debating topics. The advertising industry has been overhauled by advertising to children as it is known that children are more receptive to adverts than their parents. Hence advertisers market household items, as well as, other products that are applicable to a home setting to get to the parents. The term has changed consumer behavior as more children are dedicated to watching and paying more interest on the adverts. In the process marketing is enhanced by presence of a target group which makes advertising easier and marketing mangers have learnt ways of strategizing there plans to ensure that their sales are skyrocketing due to the persuasion criteria presented to children.
Discussion
Definition of adverting to children
Adverting to children is a form of communication which increases chances of educating and persuading the youngsters to purchase or consume certain products from particular companies. Children in this case are defined as human beings who are older than twelve years but not yet in their youthful years that is below eighteen years. Advertising to children involves use of catchy brand names and themes which are easily remembered by the children, as well as, incorporation of images which the target audience can relate with. Modern advertising to children has been spectacular in engaging imaginative aspects which are bound to appeal to children and even if the product was meant to be used by the entire household, advertisers know that the persuasive nature of children can have significant impacts on their parents (Montgomery 2001).
Various mediums have been traditionally used to carry out the advertisements to children and they include televisions, radios and the print media. In recent times, the newest electronic media; the internet has been paramount in providing visual, audio and written messages concerning their products. Children sites which contain games and chatting sites are equivocal in establishing adequate coverage for the entire children market. Similarly, the ability of the sites to provide options for sharing adverts such that those who are unable to access them online can be assured of having a copy of the same.
Promotions are also used to advertise to children whereby the buy-one-get-one-free is used for kid stuff such as snacks and teddy bears. Hence children as the major clientele will be rewarded for buying either of the products such that the brand will be popularized (McGinnis, Gootman and Kraak 2006).
Consequently, packaging is another form of advertising where packaging materials that contain children images and those which appeal to this age group are used. When this happens, more children are obliged to buy the same to avoid being left out due to the impact of peer pressure on the customers. Some companies have developed strategies where children attend sponsored events and in the course of attending the event, they are forced to make purchases of the products. This marketing strategy is common in the foodstuffs market where food processing firms sponsor children-events and the only source of food within the premises belongs to the sponsor. Hence regardless of the wish of children when they get hungry, they will have to buy the sponsors products.
According to recent research by the Federal Trade Commission, food and beverage companies spend billions of shillings per year when advertising to children. This is attributed to the fact that children are always driven by the intent of buying what is appealing and delicious thus more adverts have to be availed to them to increase popularity of brands (Angell 2004).
Effect of adverting to children on the advertising industry
Advertising on children has been known to cause diverse range of problems as most of the ethical issues concerning age of target group are never reconsidered. Hence, the government legislation was forced to come up with laws and regulations which would be enacted towards protecting the emotional, as well as, physical aspects of the minors. This includes exhorting minors to buy products which they are not fully aware of such that their credulity is exploited in the process (Montgomery 2001).
Similarly, the advertising industry is inhibited from making children persuade their parents to buy products that are advertised on the media. This way conflicts and bad blood between the minors and their guardians is upheld at all times. These guidelines are essential as they allow the advertisers to utilize their code of ethics, as well as, ensuring that they present truthful information which does not mislead the minors who are exceptionally vulnerable to deceit (McGinnis, 2006).
On the other hand advertising to children has ensured that marketers are allowed to utilize decency in their adverts which will not compromise the innocence of children. In recent years, deterioration in moral values among the minors has been attributed to indecent adverts which are not censored to ensure that children do not get hurt both emotionally and physically. Honesty is another virtue that has been emphasized on in the advertising industry with marketers being requested to indicate all components of the product such that parents and children can pick out products with the most appropriate ingredients. Some manufacturers tend to add more sugar and fat into the product to make them more appealing while such information is eliminated from the advert and consumers gain more weight than necessary(Donnerstein 2002).
The advertisements to children have affected the food marketing sector such that global requirements were set up for all media including the internet to maintain the health effects of their products on consumers. This calls for reduced encouragement on the benefits accrued from excess consumption of products that may damage the health of the child. Similarly, messages on healthy lifestyle strategies and benefits are expected to be portrayed to all in the most formidable manner without distortion. Over the years, children have always loved snacks and most of them prefer eating snacks than complete meals hence presentation of snacks as meals by different members of the adverting industry was abolished (AmericanAcademyof Pediatrics 2001).
The other impact of advertisements to children on the entire advertising industry is that it has led to establishment of media literacy as a key component of educating the audience on their need to understand the implications of being exposed to the media. This move by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been critical to the advertising world as more potential consumers are able to make rational decisions concerning products that are advertised in various media. This has made marketers more cautious of their activities, as well as, the information that they present to the target audience (American Psychological Association 2004).
The role of advertising to children on consumer behavior
Advertising to children has played a great role in affecting the behavior of consumers in that most of them are more concerned with the messages that are included in the adverts tan in the past. Consequently, many consumers carry out intensive scrutinizing of the products which are advertised to ensure that all details are captured such that before any purchase is made, the buyer can gauge the benefits and losses that will be accrued from using the product. The media literacy campaigns are attributed to this breakthrough with more consumers being made to change their addiction to attractive adverts which are only misleading. Similarly, advertising to children has made parents wary of the decisions made by their children due to their vulnerability on the issues that are concerned with advertising (Horgen, Choate, and Brownell 2001).
The other role is depicted in increased spending on the part of the consumers who will be encouraged by the legislations to exclude items which are harmful on product adverts. Hence based on these aspects parents and children deem the adverts as being honest and truthful thus their consumption levels increase. The elevated rate of purchase is also directly affected by increased awareness of brand name among other components of the product such that in absence of the favorite, the brand that is most popular is sought. Therefore, advertisements to children have increased the consumer’s knowledge on the product hence making them more willing to purchase the product (Biener and Siegel 2000).
Consequently, consumers have been able to get an insight of the merits and demerits of adverts, as well as, their effects on different categories of audiences. This can be attributed to setbacks and failure of adverts to children failing to bring the results that are portrayed on the media. Such conclusions have been substantial in eliminating the fear that was earlier on presented by the consumers. Similarly, incidences of impulse buying as a result of ostentatious adverts have been ruled out by the fact that consumers are more conversant with their needs such that chances of going against their wishes especially in promotions are minimized (AmericanAcademyof Pediatrics 2001).
Manager’s strategies in advertisements to children in achieving business objectives
An example of a strategy laid out by managers in advertisements to children is taking advantage of the innocence portrayed by children to market their snacks and toys. This is particularly significant in young girls who have been aspiring to gain physical body shapes portrayed by models advertising a certain diet. Armed with this information, the manager will carry out intensive adverts on the product for the specific group who are most probably in upper classes or college. Hence the internet and media will be target media outlets which will guarantee maximum reaping of benefits. Text messages will be used to pass information on the diet product such that as the young girls pass text messages to each other the advert will be carried on. Consequently, the need to appear sophisticated, as well as, the longing to acquire the ideal physical shape seen in models boosts the sales of the product (Donnerstein 2002).
Children are more enthusiastic about adverts which are presented in the form of a song or those with a catchy brand name. This can be used as strategies by the marketing managers who seek for the services of popular musicians to come up with a theme song for the products. Consequently, in the course of the advert, children will learn to relate the product with the singer and in due time they will request their parents to purchase the same for them citing that if the singer uses it then why not the children. This leads to increased popularity of products and brand name hence consumer awareness on existence of products is enhanced (Unnikrishnan and Bajpai 1996).
Some businesses usually indulge into corporate social responsibilities which are aimed at giving back to community as a way of ensuring that their publicity is positive at all times. This is utilized as a form of advertisement when managers of snack and computer games firms incorporate sponsoring to events that are highly attended by children. The social responsibility could be initiating group tours where specific categories of consumers are engaged in group activities such as book reading under the firm’s sponsorship. In the long term, the firms’ image and reputation will be boosted by the event while the ratings by the public will be elevated. These amounts to high levels of consumer loyalty and the preferences of potential consumers may change due to the gesture aimed at enhancing community-consumer relations (Angell 2004).
Implementing advertisements to children on organizations
Advertisements to children have been implemented on organizations such as those producing and marketing children clothes, as well as, those marketing children skin care products. These organizations will benefit considerably by including children in their adverts, in addition to, ensuring that other children are able to relate with the products. This makes an organization relay the information to the children audience in a more convenient manner rather than having an adult as a participant in the advert (American Psychological Association 2004).
Consequently, organizations which are aiming at educating parents about the rights of children or the best formula milk for the infants will most probably carry out children adverts as parents will be in a position to understand the intended message clearer than if children were left out of the advert. The same case applies for adverts that are concerned with creating awareness or educating the public on the importance of carrying out exercises from an early age as most children have been known to have a dislike for exercises hence they become obese. This can be the situation whereby health organizations carry out awareness campaigns in the form of advertisements hence educational adverts are effective when implementing such information (Comstock and Scharrer 1999).
Conclusion
Advertising as a way of educating the public on issues concerning existing and new products has come along way from the days when parents were the only ones who were engaged in adverts. Over the years, children have featured on adverts, as well as, incorporation of messages and products that affect children on the adverts such that intense legislation had to be put in place to prevent any chances of children being exploited. Business managers have developed enhanced marketing strategies derived from adverts to children such as using them to coerce the older generation to purchase their products. This has altered consumer behavior with more target groups being exposed to ways of scrutinizing products before spaying for them especially after seeing them on adverts.
References
AmericanAcademyof Pediatrics (2001) Committee on Public Education. Children,adolescents, and television. Pediatrics vol, 107. pp. 423-426
American Psychological Association (2004), Television advertising leads to unhealthy habits in children; says APA task force [press release]. Washington, DC:American Psychological Association; retrieved on August 9, 2010 from:www.apa.org/releases/childrenads.html.
Angell M. (2004), The Truth About the Drug Companies, How They Deceive Us and What toDo About It. New York, NY: Random House
Biener L, and Siegel M. (2000), Tobacco marketing and adolescent smoking: more support for a causal inference. American Journal of Public Health. Vol.90. pp.407-411
Comstock G, and Scharrer E. (1999), Television: What’s On, Who’s Watching, and What it Means. San Diego, CA: Academic Press
Donnerstein E. (2002), TheInternet. In: Strasburger VC, Wilson BJ, eds. Children,Adolescents,andtheMedia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Horgen KB, Choate M, Brownell K. (2001), Television food advertising: targeting children in a toxic environment. In: Singer DG, Singer JL, eds. Handbook of ChildrenandtheMedia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
McGinnis JM, Gootman J, and Kraak V. (2006), Food Marketing toChildrenand Youth:Threat or Opportunity? Washington, DC: National Academies Press
Montgomery K. (2001), Digital kids: the new on-line children‘s consumer culture. In:Singer DG, Singer JL, eds. HandbookofChildrenandtheMedia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Unnikrishnan N, and Bajpai S. (1996), the impact of television advertising on children.Thousand Oaks: Sage.
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