Children Are Tomorrows Customers - Essay Example

Children and Consumerism Children and Consumerism Introduction In the past, children have been viewed as being vulnerable to the shenanigans of crafty marketers who seek to influence their minds with subtly created messages. All people recognize that children represent the future in more than physical ways. For marketers, children are tomorrow’s customers. Reaching them and securing their loyalty could mean having lifelong customers. Children make up a lucrative market that continues to wield considerable spending power. In addition to their growing capacity as senders, it is also suspected that children influence the purchasing decisions of adults in more ways than can be substantiated. The way children are constructed in the two studies According to Schor and Henderson (2008), children can be viewed through different paradigms. On one hand, children can be viewed as the innocent, naïve, and vulnerable targets of well-informed marketers who have to be protected by legislation in order to save them from negative messages channeled through the mass media. Proponents of this view oppose all marketing messages that target children and support their physical and emotional regulation in the hands of adults. A different paradigm, that of the ‘empowered child’, supports the notion that children have authentic interpretations of what they want that should not be affected by adult interpretations (Scor and Henderson, 2008). Proponents of this paradigm, most of whom are marketers, contend that children today are far more developed than those of past eras in that they can easily identify lies in advertising messages. According to Pine and Nash (2003), children can easily identify advertisement breaks in their toddler years through symbols such as sound effects or logos, which they link with the product. Moreover, they may not be able to differentiate between how they feel about the product being advertised and their attitude towards the product. The interpretation that the advertisement is actually trying to sell them a product may come in the pre-teen years of 11 or 12 years. While both researches have documented statistics on studies conducted into child advertising, their respondents do not represent all the nations that are affected by marketing content that targets children. Both of the researches documented by Pine and Nash (2003) and Schor and Henderson (2008) feature participants who come from nations such as Australia, America, Britain, and Scandinavian nations. They do not address upcoming market trends in nations like Turkey, China, Mexico, or India, in which marketers are increasingly targeting children with messages about marketing. It is important for research into marketing methods targeting children in these emerging economies to be assessed because they deal with a much wider range of issues than exists in Western nations. For example. In these nations, there are fewer regulations that seek to curtail the effects of marketers on children. This means that marketers will take full advantage of any opportunities they have to affect children, and not be unduly concerned with minding regulatory or ethical concerns. There are also different dynamics that surround the issue of marketing. In China, for example, the rapid rise of a middle class with considerable amounts of disposable income may have real effects on how children there interpret the efforts of marketers, and commercialism. Their role and draw on the constructions of childhood The patterns in the research documented by Henderson and Schor (2008) provide sufficient evidence that marketers are actually engaging the use of research to determine how best to influence and impact children with their messages. According to Henderson and Schor (2008), age compression now means that marketers view children as level-headed consumers in the same way that they do adults. Today, places that are frequented by children, like zoos, schools, and supermarket malls are filled with advertisements. Children are even thought to influence the purchasing decisions of parents where products such as cars, are concerned. According to Schor and Henderson (2008), there is real evidence that the only way to deal with the inappropriate exposure of children to advertisers messages is for parents, who are much more emotionally and mentally mature than children, to regulate their viewing times. According to Pine and Nash (2003) children tend to view commercials or advertisements in the absence of an adult who can give accurate explanations of the true intentions of the advertisers. This was discovered after a research into the viewing habits of children revealed that children who view advertisements through television are more likely to request for more toys from Father Christmas than children who do not watch a lot of television. It could, therefore, be assumed that marketers often will seek to control a child’s social environment, as experienced through mass media channels, so as to facilitate a hidden agenda. The strategies used in marketing are not usually revealed to consumers. However, it is important to investigate the claims of children being unduly influenced by marketers in any setting. It could be presumed that the concern with marketing schemes that target children are actually a small part of the criticism that is leveled towards capitalism. There is need for more inclusive research which includes the trends in emerging economies, and their interpretation of this subject. Even though most researches concur with the fact that his trend is harmful for children, they tend to have differing outcomes in terms of the true influence that advertisements have on children. Most researches are based on the measurement of the exposure of children to marketing, in accordance to how often the children watch elements of the mass media. There may be a need for researchers to develop more child-centered approaches when investigating the effects of advertisements on them. Instead of carrying out researches to study marketing techniques through media channels and how much the marketers are to blame for exposing children to content, it may be more helpful to invest more on researches into subjects such as to what extent the capitalistic society is attached to media consumption practices. This would engender the generation of more participatory and explanatory researches. The media is growing more involved in the lives of all people- children, as well as adults. Any research that focuses exclusively on the effects of marketing to children is likely to inspire generalizations from researchers. For example, when researchers conduct studies on the effects of food advertising, they may be tempted to exaggerate the connection between obesity in children and food preference. The methodology used in each of the two research projects In the research documented by Pine and Nash (2003), there was a correlational design are used to examine associations in contrast to direct relationships, between two groups. There was no random assignment, or manipulation of variables, as the main aim was merely to observe. Schuyler and Henderson (2008) quoted a number of researches that had been conducted by various scholars on the subject of the effect of advertisements on children. Though effective in other ways, most correlational researches do not assess the types of advertisements to which children may be exposed. This can make it hard to determine the real conclusions about the content of advertisements. The use of secondary sources, though, brings concerns about validity, as well as reliability. It is more practical to use methods such as interviews or surveys, with tape recorders being allowed so that the researcher can retain any information offered by the participants. Comparison of the key design elements, research tools, forms of analysis and ethics In most cases, the advancement of marketing methods challenges the legitimacy of past researches that have sought to determine the effects of advertising on children. In addition, most researches done into marketing to children, such as are supported by Pine and Nash (2003) and Schuyler and Henderson (2008) do not adequately address the issue of online marketing, along with the more traditional forms of advertising. In these studies, the ethical dimensions for academic researches may be determined at local or government levels. This is usually dependent on the research’s funding sources as well as context. Moreover, these standards are often more comprehensive than those that exist in the private sector. It is an established fact that market researchers tend to use a lower benchmark in regards to personal consent. In addition, market researchers tend not to regulate the acquisition of non-personal information. Researches into marketing studies therefore run a real risk of encountering information that does not meet the ethical standards of the academic community. In addition, market researchers could also run the risk of using research even without having acquired participant consent. This is particularly common in instances where a researcher documents different studies, as is the case with Schuyler and Henderson (2008). Another fact is that researches into the effects of marketing directly to children tends to lay a lot of emphasis on increasing levels of obesity in developed nations and the advertising of processed foods. This could result in an exaggeration of the true effects of marketing schemes. There seems to be a consensus that marketing methods have to be revised in order to give children a better chance of understanding what they are exposed to in terms of marketing. It has also been suggested that it is necessary for advertising revelations to be revealed. There is a need for more research to be focused on factors such as video logos, networking and social sites, and product placement, as these are the marketing methods that are expected to grow more prominent. Corporations have to remain loyal to their stakeholders, if they wish to remain functional. This means that while the concerns of marketing to children have been made public, they also have to find ways of limiting their advertising activities while also fulfilling corporate objectives. In recent times, programs of advocacy have brought this issue to the fore front. Some corporations have chosen to hearken to the public, while others have merely chosen to reduce the commercials they produce which target children. Different experts have different views on the issue. However, it is likely that in future, the pressure exerted on marketers will force them to change their marketing messages and begin to encourage more healthy lifestyles. It is also likely that these messages will be aimed at families, rather than just one section of the population, such as children. This is because social norms keep changing as more social organizations advocate for changes. With the espousal of social responsibility, most marketer will be forced to revise their messages, or move to new and inexperienced markets. It is likely that marketers who sense this change, and shift in accordance with the times are more likely to be at an advantage in regards to having or creating a positive image with existing as well as potential clients. This is because consumers tend to believe that if companies cannot be counted as being part of the solution, then they are cause of the problem. Corporations are particularly sensitive about their images. This is why they spend so much money of commercials to represent themselves in particular ways. It is likely that most of them will engage in responsible marketing in order to retain a positive image. In terms of the activity of marketing to children, this could mean doing away with all marketing commercials that target children who are in ages that do not allow them to guess the real intent of the advertisements they are exposed to. This could change the way in which the function of advertising to children is perceived. This can be seen in other advertising programs that have been removed due to advocacy and public pressure. In the past, marketers regularly advertised products such as tobacco and alcohol during ‘prime time’ television, in the United States. This trend was heavily criticized, and finally, regulations were put in place that all but stopped these advertisements from being viewed by underage children. The reality remains, though, that alcohol and tobacco consumptions remains at significant in the United States. Recently, some states even began to legalize the use of drugs such a marijuana in specially designated shops. This took place without any advertisements having been used to trigger a desire in the public for the said drug. This proves that advertising cannot be blamed for all the negative habits that are embraced by people. While it cannot be denied that advertisements do inform children of the existence of products that they wish to acquire, and prompt them to demand for them or purchase them, it has to be acknowledged that there may be other underlying factors, such as the capitalist society and its tendency towards consumerism, which play a big role in the desire to have more than is necessary. Conclusion The debate concerning the effects of marketing to children is still somewhat polarized. There is a need for more research to be done in order to facilitate a discussion that is more balanced on the effects of advertising to children. Future researches should aim to assess the true cause of consumerism, and not just focus on the effects of advertising to seemingly vulnerable sections of the population. The mass media today is considered as a part of the human experience. It is impractical to blame corporations for trends that could actually be outcomes of capitalism. Assessing the true scope of the influence of advertising will be more helpful in determining how and where to make the necessary changes, in order to create a more balanced life perspective. References Pine, K., & Nash, A. (2003). Barbie or Betty? Pre-School Children’s Preference for Branded Products and Evidence for Gender-Linked Differences. Developmental and Behavioral Pedriatics, 24 (4), 219-224. Schor, J., & Henderson, S. (2008). Understanding the Child Consumer. Academic Journal of Child Adoloscence Psychiatry, 47 (5), 486-489. 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