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ADVERTISING/
TARGETING YOUTH
source: www.media-awareness.ca/
english/parents/marketing/issues_
teens_marketing.cfm
www.harrisinteractive.com/
news/newsletters/k12news/HI_Trends
&TudesNews2004_v3_iss04.pdf
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Advertisements targeting children and adolescents are profoundly influential. Teens are the consumers of today and of the future. When a brand connects with a teen, it could tap into a lifetime of loyalty… - while advertising is not the only influence on children's consumer behaviour (i.e., the expressed preferences and requests for products generally made by children to adults), research has consistently shown its power. For example, in a study in Dutch schools, 52% of elementary school children specifically mentioned brand names when asked what gifts they wanted for Christmas;
- according to a 1999 American study, a child's first request for a product occurs at about 24 months of age and 75% of the time this request occurs in a supermarket. The most requested first in-store request is breakfast cereal (47%), followed by snacks and beverages (30%) and toys (21%). Requests are often for the brand name product; (1)
- a new ground-breaking survey of professionals who work in youth-related fields shows that they feel it is appropriate to begin marketing to children at age 7, on average. The 2004 Harris Interactive/Kid Power Poll of Youth Marketers found that 91% of respondents feel that today’s youth are more powerful consumers than young people were 10 to15 years ago; 91% of youth marketers agree that children are marketing to in ways that they don’t even notice; 73% agree that companies put pressure on children to pester their parents; 72% agree that companies put pressure on kids to grow up faster than they should; 61% agree that advertising to children begins at too young an age; 58% agree that the youth marketing professionals believe that "there is too much marketing and advertising directed toward children”;
- one of the most important recent developments in advertising to kids has been the defining of a ‘tween’ market (ages 8 to 12). No longer little children, and not yet teens, tweens are starting to develop their sense of identity and are anxious to cultivate a sophisticated self-image. And marketers are discovering there's lots of money to be made by treating tweens like teenagers;
- corporations capitalise on the age-old insecurities and self-doubts of teens by making them believe that to be truly cool, you need their product. According to No Logo author Naomi Klein, in the 1990s corporations discovered that the youth market was able and willing to pay top dollar in order to be ‘cool’;
- teen anger, activism and attitude have become commodities that marketers co-opt, package and then sell back to teens. It's getting harder to tell what came first: youth culture, or the marketed version of youth culture. For example, advertisers use hip-hop culture to sell products such as Sprite, and the emergence of extreme sports coincided with the branding of associated products such as skateboarding;
- identity-oriented branding also encourages disapproval of anything different, be it a different generation, different cultural group or different school clique. The way advertising separates kids from their parents is particularly insidious, according to child psychologist Allen Kanner. Essentially, advertisers encourage rejection of the older generation's preferences to the point of trying to create an official statement about what is cool for teenagers; (2)
- according to Forrester Research, teens are brand-conscious and brand-loyal at an early age. Noting that 69% of teens say that when they find a brand they like, they stick with it. In a recent study of online teens, Forrester found that two-thirds of them, or 66%, say they buy brands that reflect their style, and that they use brands to fashion an image for themselves. 50% say it’s perfectly okay to pay extra for a well-known brand, even though only 23% agree that brand isn’t always the best indication of quality. More than 1/3 says that brand is an important part of their buying decisions; (3)
- in addition to brand consciousness, no other age group displays such an affinity toward shopping. When Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle MonitorTM asked young women how they felt about clothes shopping, 56% of those aged 16-19 responded that they love/like to shop. This age group also outpaced others in both the number of times they shop per month (2.75), and the average time they spend in stores (103.9 minutes); (3)
Marketers are targeting tweens and teens because of their substantial buying power. Today, these youths influence purchases bought for the household… - in the United States, according to the 2000 census, there were 72.3 million kids, and their population is growing. In 2004, 12- to 19-year-olds spent roughly US$175 billion, or $53 billion more than in 1997, according to Teen Research Unlimited. This figure does not include annual spending by parents or siblings, which can reach an additional $150 to $200 billion, according to Alloy Inc. Additionally, tweens influence $600 billion in spending each year, according to James McNeal, head of marketing at Texas A&M University; (4)
- US teens have a significant income of their own to spend and also wield increasing influence on household purchases. For example, in 2003, nearly half (47%) of 9- to 17-year-olds were asked by their parents to go online to find out about products or services compared to 37% in 2001;
- according to the US coalition “Campaign For A Commercial-Free Childhood” (formerly Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children), corporations spend more than US$12 billion a year marketing to children – double the amount spent 10 years ago. Food commercials account for most TV advertising during children's peak viewing hours;
- on 6 July 2004, a report in The Seattle Times revealed that brokers are selling mailing lists containing details of "millions of children as young as age 2", and that "one list broker offers a 'preschool through junior high' list with 20 million names. Price: US$70 per 1,000 names";
- in 2004, research by the Canadian television network YTV cited purchasing power in that country alone totalling $2 billion, with projected increases of 10% each year. YTV indicates kids currently influence some $20 million in household spending in Canada each year and have memorised between 300 and 400 brand names by age 10. It also shows that time-pressed and guilt-ridden parents respond favourably to 75% of kids' requests; (5)
- in the United Kingdom, kids aged between 7 to 14 years old receive a massive £1.5 billion (about €2.16 billion) in pocket money and financial handouts. Children aged between 15 and 16 year olds receive a further £1.6 billion (€2.3 billion) in income and pocket money, bringing the total for 7 to16 year olds up to a considerable £3 billion (€4.3 billion) in potential sales, according to a 2004 report released by market analysts Mintel.
(1) McNeal, J., “The Kids Market: Myth and Realities”, Ithaca, NY, Paramount Market Publishing; 1999.
(2) Kasser, T. and Kanner, A., "Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World”, Knox College, Galesburg, IL (USA), APA, 2004.
(3) [ www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=181]
(4) Alloy Inc., Target Marketing, April 1, 2003. James McNeal on tweens influence: reported in The Star Tribune, October 13, 2003.
(5) [ www.marketingmag.ca/magazine/current/television_rpt/article.jsp?content=20040216_60720_60720]
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