Children and Consumers

Paper Summary:

Children wield enormous purchasing power, both directly and indirectly. They are able to persuade and influence parents on what to buy. The aim of this paper is to see by which means children "learn" to act as consumers and what they buy, according to their age, their social status and the message children want to express through the things they buy. It looks at how marketing to children is all about creating pester power, because advertisers know what a powerful force it can be.

Outline:
Importance of the Children's Market
Socialization of Child Consumers: Role of Parents and Peers
What do Children Consume
How Marketers Target Kids: Advertising to Children

From the Paper:

"Age is a primary factor in determining how children manage the decision process. Young children depend almost exclusively on internal factors when making decisions, product choices. The decision and adoption processes are driven by satisfying his or her internal needs or wants. As children grow into adolescence and the teenage years, their experiences and identities continue to develop and the external factors, the learned behaviour, begins to dominate the consumer decision process. Reference groups influence behaviour by means of providing examples of behaviour for teens to draw social comparisons of themselves to others
The socialization process is a function of growth and maturation. It is also shaped by other sociocultural factors such as schools, peers, social class, self-concept, family and media. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Linn, Susan. Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Children. New York: The New Press, 2004
• Gunter, Barrie, and Furnham, Adrian. Children as Consumers: A Psychological Analysis of the Young People's Market. New York, Routlege,1998
• Fishel, Catherine. Designing for Children: Marketing Design that Speaks to Kids. USA, Rockport Publishers, Inc, 2001
• Shah, Anup. "Children as Consumers". 28 October 2003. <http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption/Children.asp>
• Ashcroft, Elaine. "Children as Consumer - News/Preference". 1 December 1998 <http://www.penpages.psu.edu/penpages_reference/28507/285071819.HTML>

More papers on Children and Consumers:

• Research Paper # 113967 : "Children and Corporate Marketing"
• Research Paper # 117935 : "Advertisements and Consumers"
• Analytical Essay # 84459 : "Chinese Children's Market"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: