Key Ethical Issues in Marketing to Children - Has Marketing to Tweens Gone Too Far - Research Paper Example

 Marketing is “marshalling the resources of an organization to meet the changing needs of customer on whom the organization depends” (Palmer, 3). Rightfully, the position of customers is the point of reference for marketing activities (Palmer, 3). “Customers needs are the starting point” and marketing professionals “identify these needs and develop products that will satisfy customers’ needs” (Palmer, 3). Palmer quotes the Chartered Institute of Marketing for the typical definition of marketing: marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates, and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably (3). Businesses, however, exist in a society. Businesses are citizens in that society and have a responsibility to society. Businesses, therefore, must have corporate social responsibility to operate sustainably in the society where the businesses belong (Lamb and others, 68). Business operations can harm society even with the benefits that businesses provide. The point of adhering to corporate social responsibility is either to minimize or eliminate the possible harms of business to society while seeing to it that services and satisfying the needs of the customers remain its primary objectives even as it must earn profits to operate sustainably. At the same time, adhering to social responsibility is not all costs. Through adherence to corporate social responsibility, businesses earn goodwill and the goodwill allows businesses to operate in a sustainable way and earn revenues and profits for its employees and stockholders. Society benefits as well with the continued growth of businesses. Ethics “refers to the moral principles or values that generally govern the conduct of an individual or a group” (Lamb and others, 69). According to Lamb and others, the exercise of corporate social responsibility and ethics go hand in hand. It can also be said the ethics is cultural vehicle for corporate social responsibility to be aspired and fulfilled in the operation of a business corporation. Ethics cover our notions of what is right and wrong (Lamb and others, 70). Ethics govern what marketing methods and techniques are executable and what are not or what must not be executed. Ethics guide the marketing approaches that are allowable in our marketing activities. Without ethics, a business company is not managed at all because there is not a set of rules governing what are appropriate and inappropriate in our marketing conduct. Thus, ethics are pivotal to business operations because it governs the range of methods we ought to use and determines as well if we will operate in a sustainable way in the society in which our businesses are located. As mentioned, at the minimum, ethics will allow us to earn the goodwill whose needs we have committed to serve and the goodwill can also contribute to long-term revenues and profitability of our businesses. An ethical issue in marketing is marketing to various age groups. In particular, marketing to the age group between eight to thirteen years old can be ethically problematic. It can be argued that the young people in the age group are no longer children but, at the same time, they are not yet teenagers (Cousineau and Scurry, 33). The age group between eight to fourteen years old is known as “tweens” but the literature sometimes classify “tweens” as the age group between six years old and twelve years old (Cousineau and Scurry, 33). However, we can argue that the proper age group for the tweens is between eight and thirteen years old because by the time that a young person is thirteen then he or she can be classified as a teenager and thirteen can be classified as the pre-teen. The tweens market is no pushover. In the US market alone, the tween market alone is about $40 billion compared to the $160 billion for the teen market (Raugust and EPM Editors, 1). Based on a study by Tiffany Meyers in 2005, treating teens and tweens to be belonging to the same age group can backfire because “it is difficult to push one coherent message” to the kids in the personality of the tweens (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Tweens do not always relate to the activities of young people older than their age group (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Based on study by Erin Clack, there can be attitudinal distinction between the younger grade schoolers and middle grade schoolers (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Tweens play like younger kids (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Based on a sample of 900 tweens, a recent study by the KidzEye division of the C&R Research revealed that 84 percent of tweens still use toys and dolls (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Yet, tweens especially girls, like to look older and behave like teenagers (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Friendships are important for tweens but mainly as a source of fun (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). At the same time, family relationships still dominate (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). In contrast, based on a study by book by David Siegel and others in 2004, peer group opinion is very important for teens and relationships with friends are as important as family relationships (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Parents’ approval still plays an important role in the choice of age appropriate toys for tweens (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). Based on a study by Erin Clack in 2004, 72 percent of tween purchases are made jointly by the parent and the tween, 19 percent by the parent alone, and only 8 percent are made by the tween alone (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). Similarly, a 1998-1999 survey found that twenty to forty percent of all sales were the result of appealing to parents (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). In 2002, Cousineau and Scurry reported that a 2002 survey by the New American Dream indicated that 55 percent of tweens said they were usually successful in persuading their parents to purchase (36). This indicates that parents have been a decisive party in the purchasing decisions of tweens. At the same time, however, the 2003 study of Dianne Scharper indicated that one out of three households solicit the opinion of their children, tweens included, before buying a car (Cousineu and Scurry, 36). Based on the marketing experience of firms like Reebok, Limited Too, and Lego, it is important for the sales figures to target tweens and teens as separate markets or groups (Cousineau and Scurry, 34). Targeting tweens as a separate market or target group from teens imply that certain ethical rules can be more appropriate or applicable to tweens. Business firms are beginning to acknowledge that ethical rules must govern marketing to tweens. For instance, eleven large food companies that include PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have agreed to pull out commercials that do not meet nutritional standards and targeting young people below twelve years old (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). In selling phones to children, firms are beginning to recognize parental control by targeting their advertising on parents rather than on the tweens themselves for starter phones (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). Yet, at the same time, the work of Debra Phillips in 1999, highlights a marketing perspective that entices tweens to become adult consumers (Cousineau and Scurry, 35). Another view that can have a bearing on the appropriate marketing ethics for tweens is the work of Martin Lindstrom in 2004. According to Cousineau and Scurry, the book of Lindstrom identifies four types of tweens. One type of tweens are independents. A second type adopts new trends and influences the trends for tweens. A third type simply follows. Finally, a fourth type is described to be following but rarely picking up the fashion trends. In the main, however, the work of Lindstrom appears to be largely drawn up in the mind rather than having an empirical basis or foundation. Meanwhile, another marketing perspective that can have a bearing on marketing ethics for tweens similar to the potential impact of the Lindstrom study is that by Svetlana Bryner and colleagues in 2001. The view of the Bryner and colleagues is that the “ultimate goal” of marketing is to instill brand loyalty. Thus, the marketing perspective would most likely target the tweens themselves rather than their parents. In marketing targeting the tween themselves rather than the parents, language is important (Cousineau and Scurry, 37). Market professionals must know how to speak the language of tweens. Thus, this explains why the tile of the Cossineau and Scurry material is “Txt Me L8ter: Defining and marketing to the tween market”. Citing the work of Camille Alarcon, Cousineau and Scurry also recommended that marketing professionals have to be also familiar with the technology available to tweens. Phone texting and the internet technologies are the most relevant in these areas. A large section of tweens have accessed to these technologies and, thus, even if it would remain true that parents will continue to have a strong influence or decisive over the buying decisions for tweens, the tweens can be reflexive as well. In other words, tweens can influence the spending decisions of their parents on their behalf even as they alone decide a small part of their spending. According to Cousineau and Scurry (38), authors Coffey and others identified five rules for the success of new products targeted on tweens: 1. The product must be associated with fun; 2. Tweens must be impressed that the product is just for them; 3. Advertising or marketing must appease parents; 4. Product must promote a feeling of power, achievement, or independence; and 5. Marketing or advertising must be through as many of the senses. However, what Cousineau and Scurry (39) recommended are only three rules: 1. Market directly to the tweens; 2. Reach trend setters among the tweens or those who are persuaders; and 3. Use technology and speak the language of teens. The recommendations of Coffrey and Colleagues as well as Cousineau and Scurry are probably feasible to implement among teens because, according to Raugust and the EPM Editors (1), more than half of the teens (not tweens) have credit cards under their names. It remains to be seen though if their recommendations are feasible to implement among tweens. However, what is more important to highlight is that when their recommendations are followed in a way that ignores social responsibility and the position of parents relative to tweens, the Coffrey and colleague’s as well as the Cousineau and Scurry (38) recommendations can lead to marketing approaches that violate parental rights of parents and reflecting marketing ethics with loose or absent morals. Meanwhile, according to El-Bassiouny and colleagues, “tweens is a term that denotes a market segment mentality that falls between children at the lower end and teens at the upper end” (abstract). The authors pointed out that tween marketing strategies are considered to be very important by most global brands. The authors also adopted the perspective that tweens are in the eight to twelve age group (3). The authors have stressed that marketing and advertising play an important role in the consumer socialization of tweens (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 5). In the process of building brand loyalties, marketing and advertising create a culture (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 5). According to El-Bassiouny and colleagues, there are certain products in which children enjoy relative autonomy in making the decision to buy. Citing the work of several authors, El-Bassiouny and colleagues pointed out that around 80 percent of food buying decisions are controlled by tweens by the age of ten years old (5). Children also makes around 270 visits to stores annually (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 5). Thus, the decisions that teens make themselves can lead to immediate sales and, most important, through socialization and creation of a specific consumer culture, brand loyalties are created leading to long-term increases in revenues and sales of businesses. Similar with the El-Bassiouny and colleagues argument on the socialization impact of marketing and advertising on tweens (6-7), parent-child relations can be considered a consumer socialization channel. Marketing and advertising targeting tweens can promote brand loyalties among the adults even as marketing and advertising targeting can lead to brand loyalties among tweens. At the same time, new products can be introduced because tweens love to taste and try new foods (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 5). According to El-Bassiouny and colleagues, “marketers have transformed children’s generic emotional needs, such as the need for love, for social (peer) acceptance, for being cool, for being successful, for gender norms, and for innate senses’ stimulation, into product and service appeals.” According to the authors, marketers are good at transforming psychological needs into product appeals (6). This is highly feasible because children view advertisements as entertainment rather than as persuasions (6). At the same time, this is interesting because although some research systems encourage or require informed consent, informed consent is not required for advertising and marketing. El-Bassiouny and colleagues also raised another important point: marketing terminology is fond of using warfare terminology and is probably imparting a taste for warfare among its targets. According to the authors, examples of the warfare terminology include “target market”, “collateral”, “intercepts”, “price wars”, “guerilla strategy”, “flanking strategy”, and others (7). Thus, as marketing use children’s or tweens’ emotions, the values embedded in the terminologies that marketing use possibly also pass on a liking for war and competition among its “target market” , “target subject”, and “target audience”. Thus, in sum, wrongly or correctly, El-Bassiouny and colleagues sums up that marketing and advertising have a negative impact on the value system of tweens (8). Marketing and advertising promotes consumerism, materialism, and possibly even a competitive if not a liking for war among tweens even as marketing tries to appeal to children’s need for love, social acceptance, and the like. Yet, at the same time, El-Bassiouny and colleagues have pointed out that the period of tweens is also “a period of disorientation where children exhibit a strong need for guidance” (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 5). The tween age is also a period where tweens “try to define their style and outlook on life” (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 12). Tween is also the period where the young “are beginning to choose their way of life”. Earlier, the adults had been directing their lives for them; on their tweens, they have to search for their own life path (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 12). According to El-Bassiouny and colleagues (12), the tween age is also the period where the young are concerned of their self-image, what then is the image of oneself should marketing and advertising reinforce? El-Bassiouny and colleagues also pointed out that watching television is also most intense during the tween period (12). Should marketing reinforce the habit or reinforce this because it is through the television that market professionals reach their target market? Wrongly or rightly, El-Bassiouny and colleagues pointed out that to the extent that marketing and advertising promote or reinforce materialist values, tweens are led into “risky behaviors” like drug addition and psychological disorders like “paranoia, narcissism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (12). Ultimately, marketing and advertising can lead tweens to become less successful as adults (El-Bassiouny and colleagues, 12). Earlier we have pointed out that market professionals and advertisers have awareness that marketing and advertising can somehow influence food habits. Perhaps as we invest deeper into marketing research, we will be able to have a better grasp that marketing and advertising strategies definitely affect the values people hold. All materials we have quoted here actually indicate that marketing and advertising strategies can influence the values people adopt. Why not directly and strongly recognize the situation and transform the knowledge into something that would benefit society as well as the coffers of the business firm? In other words, why not have the marketing and advertising professional take corporate social responsibility more seriously and benefit as well the coffers of business? For example, given the probable link between value formation and marketing and advertising (which research can likely conclusively prove), why not mobilize marketing to tweens into a force that can contribute significantly to positive value formation? By being agents for positive values and by associating a business product with positive values, we immediately create goodwill between business and society. We also promote brand loyalty as we provide customers a confidence that our products are associated with positive values and their tweens will continue to be safe with our products because of the association. By consistently associating our product with positive values, we create a strong brand name or association for our products with positive values, We promote increases in revenues, profit, and enhance the sustainability of our business firms. Adherence to business corporate social responsibility should instill a strong sense of commitment among marketing professionals to ethics. For this writer, some of the ethics that can be promoted by marketing professionals in the tween market are the following: 1. Promotion of positive values among the tweens; 2. Promotion of love for the family as we promote our products; 3. Promotion of care for the environment and for products that protect the environment even as we endeavor that our products really protect the environment; and 4. Promotion of a love for others, for one’s country, and for all humanity. It should not be difficult for a marketing professional to reconfigure his or her marketing and advertising efforts around the four themes mentioned. Doing so would likely promote brand loyalty and long-term profitability as customers appreciate our goodwill and commitment to social responsibility. Living by good ethics can be profitable, too. At the same time, to the extent what El-Bassiouny and colleagues has mentioned on the relationship between marketing and promotion of materialist values are true then it can be said that marketing to tweens has been going too far! Work Cited Cousineau, Laure and Jeff Scurry. “Txt Me L8tr: Defining and Marketing to the Tween Market” Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (2008): 34-40. El-Bassiouny, N., Ahmed Taher, and Ehab Aish. “The Importance of Character Education for Tweens as Consumers”. Working Paper No. 11. Working Paper Series. German University in Cairo: Faculty of Management and Technology, June 2008. Lamb, Charles, Joseph Hair, and Carl McDaniel. Essentials of Marketing. 3rd ed. Kentucky: South-Western Publishing, 2003. Palmer, Adrian. Introduction to Marketing: Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2009. Phillips, Debra. “Tween Beat - Here’s marketing to you, kids; why increasing numbers of entrepreneurs are selling their sights on preteen consumers.” Entrepreneur, September 1999. Raugust, Karen and EPM Editors. Marketing to Tweens and Teens. New York: EPM Communications, Inc., April 2007. Read More