Most American kids are first introduced (about 2 years old) to becoming consumers when they begin riding in mother's shopping cart at the supermarket. Quickly, they catch on to the basic idea that they can "ask" (with noises and pointing fingers) for things. Later, they know they can -- with varying success -- plead, demand, cajole, bargain, whine, pester, or throw a tantrum to try to get what they want. Pester Power!
At home, during the next four years, before they reach 1st grade, these very young children will see over 100,000 commercial ads as they watch TV.
Later, when they enter elementary school, they leave the house more often. They begin to have a social life with other children, other little consumers. That's when peer pressure really begins!
Most kids think they know a lot about ads because they can recall so many surface details: the presenters, the visuals, the words -- basically, those things the advertisers want us to recall.
But, most people don't think about ads, systematically
or coherently. Most people, young or old, really know very little about the
underlying structure and strategy of ads as "units
of persuasion." Roy Fox's research interviews
of elementary school students (in Harvesting
Minds) confirmed that: "students
seemed oblivious to the likelihood that any external people were involved in
making or telling this story. Kids saw no human being behind the message, no
mediator calling the shots from the outside. Kids were very aware of the commercial's
internal narrative, but they seemed oblivious about its external story -- the
who, what, where, when, why, and how of the ad's construction."
Advertisers try to divide this huge youth market into sub-sections based on age, gender, attitudes, lifestyles, and so on. For example, a recent book The $100 Billion Allowance: Accessing the Global Teen Market , Elissa Moses generalizes about teen consumers and advises advertisers how to target each segment. Using a two way grid (conformists & nonconformists; inner-directed & other-directed), she labels 6 kinds of teens:
Thrills and chills: hedonistic,
affluent, active, hip, experimental, popular.
Upholders: conformists, traditionalists,
family-centered, reliable
Quiet Achievers: ambitious, determined,
restrained, inner directed
Resigned: low expectations, alienated, dreary,
cynical, punk rockers, burn outs
Bootstrappers: hard workers, achievers,
success and money oriented
World Savers: altruists, do-gooders, idealistic,
romantic, sociable
Often we think of the affluent hedonists as being the only target of advertisers, but even the alienated burn outs get the attention of sellers. Teen age rebellion against "conformity" is quite predictable. Ironically, these rebels will all conform within their group to the same fad, wearing the same "nonconformist" hair styles and clothing as a "badge" of identification with their group. So it goes.
Betsy Taylor, What Kids Really Want that Money Can't Buy: Tips for Parenting in a Commercial World (2003) ---- For a PDF brochure, go to: newdream.org
Today's 9- to 13-year-olds have grown up faster with more disposable income
than any previous generation. Interactive and demanding, these kids were born
with a mouse in their hand and a computer screen as a window on the world, says
BRANDchild by Martin Lindstrom, a British marketing expert. The book is based
on a study of 2,000 tweens in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Spain and
the USA, a cross-section of economies and Western and non-Western cultures.
One conclusion: Tweens spend about $150 billion a year, and influence their
parents to spend another $150 billion.
BRANDchild presents a fascinating portrait of these kids, with insights for
global marketers, as well as tweens, their families and teachers. What motivates
this generation? Fear, fantasy, mastery, humor, love and stability. What appeals
to them? A product's mirror effect (using Barbies to imitate grown-ups); collection
value (Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter cards); and gaming ability (computer
games with astounding graphics).
Not only do they influence parents' purchases of food and entertainment, but
they also influence purchases of items such as mobile phones and cars: "In
almost one in three households as seen in this multinational study, parents
ask for their kids' advice when buying a new car."
They are connected: About 10% of urban tweens across the globe have their own Web pages; 45.7% use the Internet regularly (72.8% in the USA).
There is a steep price for all this. Tweens have
less imagination and creativity than earlier generations. The fact that tweens
demand instant gratification doesn't leave much time to discover an interior
life. This generation also tends to be insecure and depressed, feelings fueled
by divorce rates, crime, the Sept. 11 attacks and war threats. Not surprisingly,
fear is a primary motivator for global tweens, and it can be "aggravated
by the advertising industry, which structures its messages on fear-based elements
in order to capture new markets."
Increasingly, these kids turn to brand names for security and affirmation. And
the ad industry has increasingly turned their homes, schools and playgrounds
into brand showrooms. As one American 11-year-old said, "Brands are my
life. Brands not only tell me who I am, but also protect me from problems."
Tweens not only buy brands, they also lobby their parents for brands.
But as much as tweens wheedle their families, they aren't influenced by them.
Peer pressure from tween leaders -- the Persuaders, Lindstrom calls them --
is what counts. The Persuaders set trends for Followers and Reflexives. Persuaders
learn about trends from magazines and TV, which introduce kids to pop stars
and music. And that is where tweens are tantalized the most. Pop stars create
music that reflects opinions, shapes values and determines standards for behavior.
Music also creates dreams. Dreams create brands and vice versa. "Dreams
are hard currency in the life of a tween. Every brand and every product has
to appeal to the imagination of tweens," Lindstrom writes.