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ADVERTISING/
WHAT CHILDREN SAY
source: info.neopets.com/presskit/
articles/recent/ad_age_re.html
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If they were allowed access to only a single medium and had to choose which one that would be, a majority of kids would rather have the Internet than TV, radio or magazines…- nowadays, children in the United States (as well as in other industrialised countries) spend more time watching television than they spend on any other single daily activity except sleeping, and the average adolescent spends more time watching TV each year than attending school. Studies on the behavioural effects of advertising find that television has a major effect on the products children ask for and that increased television watching leads to increased requests for advertised products;
- according to a study of the youth market conducted in 2002 for Advertising Age by NeoPets, a youth-oriented website, among kids (defined in the study as 7 or younger), 59% believed advertising can affect the opinions of children more easily than adults; that percentage climbs to 62% for tweens (8- to 12-year-olds) and 72% for teens (13- to 18-year-olds). A total of 67% respondents believed the main goal of advertising is to make them buy things; the next most-cited objective - "to give you information" - was only cited by 11%; (1)
- as far as how realistically ads portray children, respondents were not impressed. One a scale of 1 (‘not realistically at all’) to 5 (‘very realistically’), the score descends as respondents grow up. Kids rated TV advertising, for example, a 3.9, while tweens gave it a 3.7 and teens a 3.2. Advertising generally fared no better, in the young respondents' minds, in how realistically it portrays adults;
- many respondents did admit they often tell their parents to buy things they see advertised. TV had the most power in this area, though its influence diminishes with age (kids, 65%; tweens, 38%; teens, 32%). This trend repeats for magazines, radio and the Internet - with one exception. While 28% of tweens often tell their parents to buy things they have seen in magazine ads, the percentage jumps to 37% for teens, then drops to 14% for young adults.
- the preferred ad medium for young people overall, and the one they consider to be most interesting, is TV, followed by the Internet, magazines and radio. On a scale of 1 ("not at all") to 5 ("very interesting"), TV advertising is tops among all age groups (kids, 4.3; tweens, 3.8; teens, 3.5);
- the internet shows great potential in the study. Except for kids, respondents spend more hours a week with the Internet than with any other ad medium, and the hours soar as they get older (kids, 1.9; tweens, 8.7; teens, 12.2). Then comes TV (kids, 2.5; tweens, 6.8; teens, 7.6). The Internet also led the pack when respondents were asked which medium they would pick if they could have only one (kids, 54%; tweens, 73%; teens, 65%). TV, magazines and radio usually follow in that order, with radio scoring no better than 5%;
- young people really like funny ads. Overall, 89% of respondents said they like TV ads that are funny; the number drops to 41% for commercials with famous musicians, 36% for famous movie actors and 27% for sports celebrities. Humour overpowers the other tactics by a wide margin among virtually all media and age groups - for example, 89% of teens said they like TV advertising that's funny, while 43% mentioned ads with music stars; 36%, movie stars; and 26%, famous athletes.
(1) The study was conducted on the NeoPets.com website, whose 11 million registered members invent creatures that live and play in the virtual world of Neopia. More than 12,000 members, ages 18 and younger, responded to the wide-ranging study. (Total response rates for the study also included the opinions of young adults, 19- to 23-year-olds.)
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