1

Kids as marketing tools

5/22/2020 Kids as marketing

tools
Submitted by Hussein Saber

20190135

2021
 1
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Abstract:

On TV, we have all kinds of advertisements. We see products that target all kinds of audiences

with all the differences in their ages or their interests or whatever they do on a day-to-day basis.

Children can sometimes be as efficient a marketing tool as any other tool used to grab the eye of

the customer. Guilt can also play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute

material goods for time spent with their kids. So, we will view how efficient children can be as

tools to attract parents or customers in general so that the advertising companies can benefit from

that.
 2
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………….1

Chapter (1) Introduction to Research Writing ……………………………………...3

Chapter (2) Review of Literature……………………………………………………4

Chapter (3) Writing a methodology………………………………………………....7

Reference List…………….………………………………………………………..11
 3
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Chapter (1): Introduction to Research Writing

Research question:
Are kid’s efficient marketing tools?

History of the study:

Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded over the past two
decades. In the United States alone, companies spent over $17 billion doing this
In 2009 – more than double what was spent in 1992.
Parents today are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as
smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing having children until later in
Life mean that families have more disposable income. As well, guilt can play a
role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for
time spent with their kids.

Significance of the study:

It is aimed that this study will help focus on how important kids are as targets to
marketers.
 4
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Chapter (2) Review of Literature

The YTV kids and tweens report illustrated the kids influence on everyday family activities such

as: Breakfast choices (97% of the time) and lunch choices (95% of the time), Where to go for

casual family meals (98% of the time) (with 34% of kids always having a say on the choice of

casual restaurant). Clothing purchases (95% of the time), Software purchases (76% of the time)

and computer purchases (60% of the time), Family entertainment choices (98% of the time) and

family trips and excursions (94% of the time).

As a result, over the last two decades, industry spending on children's advertisements has

exploded. In 2009, businesses in the United States alone invested over $17 billion on this, more

than twice the amount spent in 1992. Because of trends such as smaller family sizes, parents

today are able to purchase more for their children. Since today's children have greater autonomy

and decision-making power within the family than previous generations, they are more

outspoken about what they want their parents to purchase. Pester power refers to a child's ability

to persuade their parents to purchase things they wouldn't normally buy. Since marketers

understand the power of pester power, marketing to children is all about generating it.
 5
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Advertisers must understand what makes children tick in trying to respond to them effectively.

Advertisers now have access to in-depth information about children's developmental, cognitive,

and social needs at various ages thanks to well-paid researchers and psychologists. Children's

behavior, fantasy lives, artwork, and even dreams are studied using science. To meet young

people, businesses can devise sophisticated marketing strategies. In the late 1990s, for example,

the advertising company Saatchi and Saatchi employed cultural anthropologists to study

children's use of new technologies at home in order to better understand how to connect them

with brands and goods. When a group of American mental health practitioners wrote a public

letter to the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1999, asking them to declare the

practice unethical, the issue of using child psychologists to help advertisers target kids gained

widespread public attention.

Although the American Psychological Association did not outright prohibit psychologists from

participating in this activity, their final report in 2004 recommended that the APA “make efforts

to assist psychologists in weighing the possible ethical problems involved in professional efforts

to more efficiently advertise to children, particularly those children who are too young to

comprehend the persuasive intent of television commercials. Marketers sow the seeds of brand

awareness in the minds of small children in the hopes that the seeds will develop into long-term

relationships. Babies as young as six months old can form mental images of corporate logos and

mascots, according to the Center for a New American Dream. Brand loyalties can be established
 6
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

as early as age two, and by the time children head off to school most can recognize hundreds of

brand logos, The Internet is an extremely desirable medium for marketers wanting to

target children: it’s part of youth culture. This generation of young people is growing up with the

Internet as a daily and routine part of their lives. Parents generally do not understand the extent

to which kids are being marketed to online, Kids are often online alone, without

parental supervision, Unlike broadcasting media, which have codes regarding advertising to kids,

the Internet is unregulated, Sophisticated technologies make it easy to collect information from

young people for marketing research, and to target individual children with

personalized advertising, by creating engaging, interactive environments based on products and

brand names, companies can build brand loyalties from an early age.

The main ways that companies market to young people online include:

Relationship building through ads that attempt to connect with consumers by building personal

relationships between them and the brand, Viral ads that are designed to be passed along

to friends, Behavioral targeting, where ads are sent to individuals based on personal information

that has been posted or collected, Endorsements by online “influencers” who are paid to

recommend a product in what looks like a genuine way.

 7
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

I honestly believe that kids aren’t as efficient in terms of being marketing tools because with the

expansion of communication, we are continually influenced by the diversity of messages and

images that seduce us and intoxicate us through the most varied forms of media. It is known that

until about 12 years of age they have not developed critical thinking and therefore, are more

susceptible to the appeal of commercials. Even though, in accordance with legislation, children

cannot perform acts of civil life such as buying a vehicle or signing a contract, they are

approached directly by advertising as full consumers. All in all, children shouldn’t be viewed as

a reliable marketing tool as there are many other options to be used in advertisements and

commercials.
 8
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Chapter (3) Writing a methodology

Description of the study:

The data gathered for this study was a questionnaire investigating are kids an efficient enough

marketing tool? It was carried among students from the faculties of mass communication and

business administration who watch a lot of commercials.

A total number of five males and five females which are students in the University of CIC who

have studied and have enrolled into courses and classes which were related to marketing.

Sample Questionnaire:

1. Are advertisements more appealing with kids participating in them?

-Yes / No
2. Do companies have to think twice about the presence of children in their
commercials?
-Yes / No / Not so much
3. Does targeting the enfant audience help benefit the company’s sales?
-Yes / No
4. Does the use of children in commercial have a long-term effect on the customers?
-Yes / No
5. Do commercials with kids leave a good impression with you or your friends?
-Yes / No
6. What are impressions that you take from children-participated or kids-related
commercials?
-Happy / convinced / disappointed
 9
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

7. On scale from 1 to 10 how do you like commercials nowadays?

-1= bad – 10 = good

8. Is it necessary for commercials to even include children?

-Yes / No

9. Who are the most affected by these commercials?

-Children / Parents

10. Is Covid-19 a factor in affecting children and exposing them to the possibility of
getting infected?
-Yes / No
 10
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Data Grid:
Ques Res Res Res Res Res Res Res Res Res Res
tions p.1 p.2 p.3 p.4 p.5 p.6 p.7 p.8 p.9 p.1
0

1 Ye Ye Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Ye

s s s

2 Not No No Not Yes Not Not so Yes Yes Not

so so so much so
mu muc muc mu
ch h h ch

3 No Ye No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No

s

4 Ye Ye Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

s s

5 No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

6 Ha Ha disapp conv disapp Hap disapp disapp conv Ha

ppy ppy ointed ince ointed` py ointed ointed ince ppy
d d

7 3 6 9 8 9 10 5 9 9 9

8 No Ye No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Ye

s s

9 Par Par Parent Pare Childr Chil Parent Parent Pare Par
ent ent s nts en dren s s nts ent
s s s

10 Ye Ye Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Ye

s s s
 11
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Data Interpretation:

In this Questionnaire, We concluded that in Question (1) 70% of the people said YES:

commercials are more appealing with children in them, in Question (2) 50% said (3) not so

much: companies having to think twice about putting children in their commercials, in Question

(3) 50% said YES: targeting the enfant audience does benefit the company’s sales, in Question

(4) 90% said (1) YES: the use of children does have a long-term effect on the viewers and

customers, in Question (5) 50% said NO: commercials leave a good impression with the people

who answered and their friends , in Question (6) 450% said HAPPY : the impressions that they

took from kids-related commercials , in Question (7) 60% said (1) bad: on commercials

nowadays, in Question (8) 60% said (1) YES: Children should be included in commercials, in

Question (9) 70% said PARENTS are the most affected, and finally in Question (10) 70% said

(1) YES: Covid-19 is a factor in having children get infected.

Conclusion

We conclude in this Research that kids aren’t as efficient in terms of being marketing tools. It is

also known that until about 12 years of age they have not developed critical thinking and

therefore, are more susceptible to the appeal of commercials. These are some of the points that

prove that kids won’t be able to become a reliable marketing tool for marketers to use whenever

they can as there are many more alternatives that make the marketing process more fluid and

more purposeful.
 12
KIDS AS MARKETING TOOLS

Reference List:

 https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/media-issues/marketing-consumerism/
how-marketers-target-kids

2008 YTV Kids and Tweens Report, kids influence:

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
323847119_Marketing_to_Children_Exploring_Ideas

Monica Chaudhary, August 2010

 https://www.marketingweek.com/marketing-to-kids/

Lucy Tesseras, May 2013