Forum for Advertising Research
Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School,
Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Tel: +45 38152190
Fax: +45 38152101
Web: www.frf.cbs.dk
Oct 1999
The Gender Perspective – In Relation to
Children as Consumers
Dr. Jens Halling M.Sc.
Forum for Advertising Research
and
Professor Birgitte Tufte
Children's Culture Network
BACKGROUND
Throughout the years research regarding children and media and children and consumption has
been concerned with gender differences depending on the age of the child. Much research has
been based on sociological and psychological theories (von Feilitzen 1999, Roe 1998, Fridberg
1999) whereas recent research to a large extent has been based on and inspired by communication,
culture and media theories (Livingstone & Bovill 2001, Drotner 2001, Holm Sørensen & Olesen
2000, Christensen & Tufte 2001, Roedder John 1999).
The gender perspective has been rather central in most of the media studies carried out being these
quantitative or qualitative showing among other things that boys watch a little more television
than girls, whereas girls read more than boys. The older the children get the less they read. Media
preferences are different. Boys prefer action films and sport whereas girls are more oriented
towards programmes and films about human beings and feelings. Small children prefer national
television due to the fact that they understand the text whereas older children watch a lot of
foreign soap operas and films. When it comes to computers and use of the Internet, boys are
interested in computer games whereas girls to an increasing degree are chatting on the Internet.
The mobile telephone has had a boom recently, and – where it was the young men who first
bought the mobile telephones some years ago – it is now the children, and to a very large extent
the girls, – who are using the mobile telephones.
One aspect of media influence has been of specific public interest i.e. TV advertising in relation to
children (Tufte 1999). In relation to this, focus has been on the influence of the commercials in
relation to children's' consumption – and their influence on the consumption of the family.
Accordingly there is a growing interest in Denmark – seen from parents' point of view, from
consumer organisations' point of view and from a marketing point of view – in children as
consumers – and in the age and gender differences.
METHOD
As well commercial as scientific research on children, using both qualitative and quantitative
methods has to a very large extent been carried out during the recent years. Qualitative
investigations mostly used observations and intense interviews, focus groups or single source
interviews, whereas quantitative research has been carried out in school environments as well as
in people's homes (Esomar 2000, Christensen & Tufte 2001). Regardless of the type of research
and the methods used, it is important to emphasize that young children need instruction and
guidance when filling out questionnaires and information about the project when interviewed –
that ethic considerations are very important when working with children as respondents.
The data used in this paper is the result of very extensive investigations, using self–rated
questionnaires, carried out in Danish homes. We focused on four age groups: 5–7 years, 8–12
years, 13–18 years, and finally 19–30 years. The last age group has not been included in this
paper. The parents instructed the two youngest age groups, and all respondents were rewarded. In
total, 2830 interviews were carried out; the demographics are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1: DEMOGRAPHICS.
Age
Number of
respondents
Gender
Geography
Persons in household
age 5–7 age 8– age 13– age 19– total
278
12
18
30
2830
836
849
867
Boy
Girl
Copenhagen
Zealand
Funen
Jutland
1
2
3
4
5
6+
148
130
65
50
23
140
0
10
30
129
80
23
437
399
185
123
103
425
0
29
118
390
228
53
365
484
187
127
78
457
0
69
314
325
107
18
382
485
374
120
68
305
162
340
251
60
25
6
1332
1498
811
420
272
1327
162
448
713
904
440
100
Interviews were neither carried out with children living in institutions nor with children who do
not speak Danish. Furthermore, certain vulnerable groups of children such as children living in
families where the parents are alcoholics, drug addicts etc. were not included in the survey, at
least not to any significant degree. Apart from these limitations, the sample used in the survey
seems to describe and represent Danish children and adolescents to a satisfying degree. This is
underlined by the fact that our analysis shows that children are very homogenous in relation to
practically all dimensions, except for gender and age.
However, the fact that some of the questions could be seen as too complex for the youngest
children to understand or answer in a meaningful way questions the validity of the survey. This
factor is, of course, impossible to either validate or invalidate, meanwhile the results appear
meaningful.
The fact that the parents assisted the young children with the questionnaire is another point of
criticism, but this seems to have worked out in an acceptable way. Where direct comparisons can
be made between 'parent dominated' and 'child dominated' answers, these seem to be consistent
(This will be especially evident from the questions concerning economy and savings).
FRAMEWORK
The most difficult task in relation to this project was choosing a focus. The amount of data on the
four age groups is enormous and the question of exactly what to report turned out to be a very
complex problem. We finally decided to focus consistently on what we felt were the four most
important areas. We realize that several other areas are relevant and interesting from a marketer's
point of view, nevertheless we had to limit the scope of the study. Thus, the overall framework
appears in Figure 1.
The amount of comparative data available is, of course, limited. Several questions were only put
to the oldest or the youngest age groups, respectively. The 19–30 year olds, for example, were not
asked about pocket money. About 250 brands were included in the survey to establish awareness
and use, but, for comparison reasons, only the categories used across all age groups will be
reported here.
When it comes to media, only the questions we found most relevant in this context were included,
which means that a lot of information, especially concerning the 13–18 year olds, has been
overlooked. Finally, the questions about advertising, unfortunately, were not included in the
questionnaire to the 5–7 year olds.
Purchasing power
The first area we wish to map is purchasing power and the emerging difference between the two
sexes. In Denmark, the practice of equal wages is becoming more and more widespread, although
men generally make more money than women, even when their jobs are alike. (www.vidlige.dk).
Naturally, this is a very delicate subject in the public debate and studies on children's purchasing
power thus become very interesting and topical. Several questions concerning economy were
included in this survey – some were relevant for all ages and some were only relevant for either
the youngest or the oldest age groups. Questions related to pocket money available and
received/earned means on a monthly basis:
TABLE 2: MONTHLY POCKET MONEY AVAILABLE
Dkr
Age 5–7
boys
girls
73
69
Age 8–12 Age 13–18
171
143
509
501
TABLE 3: MONTHLY BUDGET RECEIVED OR EARNED
Dkr
Age 5–7
boys
girls
na
na
Age 8–12 Age 13–18 Age 19–30
238
168
2279
1992
14535
12585
Pocket money available is calculated as an average of the categories used in the questionnaire,
ranging from 0–100 Dkr. to over 1000 Dkr., thus 0–100 Dkr. is rated as 50 Dkr. and so on and so
forth. (1 dollar equaled 8,2 Danish kroner on November 1, 2001).
The Table reveals that boys receive more pocket money than girls – the differences are small, but
still present. This, we feel, is remarkable in a so–called modern society such as the Danish.
Naturally, the results should be seen in the light of the matters mentioned in the method section,
other uncertain factors could potentially play a role in these numbers as well. Perhaps boys brag
about their allowances, and perhaps girls 'understate'. Other factors, such as the ability to save
money and the amount of work carried out in exchange for the pocket money, could also be at
large here. The latter will be investigated in the following:
When it comes to the monthly amount received or earned, the differences are more pronounced.
The girls receive 71, 87 and 87 percent, respectively, of what the boys receive. Once again, we
find this to be quite remarkable but in accordance with earlier works (Fridberg 1999). The above
observation should probably be seen in relation to occupation and hours of work, which we have
not done in this paper.
To shed further light on the pocket money situation, we will now look at what and how much
work the children need to do in exchange for the money. We have created two Tables to illustrate
this:
TABLE 4: DUTIES IN EXCHANGE FOR POCKET MONEY
%
Age 5–7
Boys
Girls
Age 8–12 Age 13–18 Age 19–30
59,5
47,7
78,7
74,4
46
51,9
..
..
TABLE 5: DUTIES IN QUESTION
%
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boys
Girls Boys Girls Boys
14,2
4,7
1,4
48,6
29,7
15,4
6,2
2,3
40
26,9
Help clean the house
do the dishes
walk the dog
clean own room
other
dot the shopping
vacuum clean/overall clean
25,6
11,9
65,2
47,5
10,8
22
24,6
10,3
56,9
46,4
9
28,6
15,1
6
31,2
32,3
7,9
21,1
Girls
23,1
8,5
31
18,2
7,9
30,2
The Tables have several interesting points; firstly, you will notice that, among the 5–7 year olds,
the boys have more duties than the girls (59,5% vs. 47,7%), which is mostly reflected in the
category clean own room. This pattern continues for the 8–12 year olds (78,7% vs. 74,4%), but
then it changes and among the 13–18 year olds, the girls have more duties. This is mostly
reflected in the category do the dishes and vacuum clean/overall clean, whereas the boys mostly
do other things. It is not known what this category cover but one could suppose that it is activities
outside the house like washing the car, chopping firewood or mowing the lawn. For the remaining
activities, there are no notable differences.
Yet another relevant aspect is the children's ability to save money, which is shown in the
following Tables:
TABLE 6: MONEY IN THE BANK
%
Boys
Girls
Age 5–7
91,2
88,5
Age 8–12 Age 13–18 Age 19–30
91,3
89,2
90,4
94,8
86,4
86
TABLE 7: DO YOU SAVE UP MONEY?
%
Boys
Girls
Age 5–7
79,1
78,5
Age 8–12 Age 13–18 Age 19–30
78,9
81,7
69,3
71,5
61,5
68,7
TABLE 8: AMOUNT SAVED UP WITHIN THE LAST YEAR
Dkr.
Age 5–7
Boys
Girls
–
–
Age 8–12 Age 13–18 Age 19–30
847
663
3543
3000
–
–
Most of the children have money in the bank, and this is the case for both boys and girls – roughly
90% is the common score in the Table, and there does not seem to be notable gender differences
here. Furthermore, this was also the case when the children were asked the question: 'Do you save
up money?' It is startling how alike the genders are; they only differ by a few percent. However,
when looking at the amount of money saved up, some interesting points emerge. As can be seen,
boys save more money, which can be interpreted in a number of ways. They have more money
available to them and, accordingly, the amount saved up is larger. On the other hand, this should
also be interpreted in light of their interests; the boys are by far more interested in computers,
games and videos, which are expensive products that you typically save up for, whereas girls are
more interested in clothes, jewelry, make–up which are less expensive products.
Brand awareness and use
In the following paragraph, we investigate whether there are any differences between the two
genders when it comes to children's awareness and use of brands. Naturally, differences will occur
when looking at products such as Barbie dolls and make–up products but it seems that these
differences are less outspoken now than just 10–15 years ago.
The respondents in this survey were exposed to more than 250 different brands across more than
25 different categories. In order to get the most comparable results, we decided only to look at the
ones that were identical for the 5–7, 8–12 and 13–18 year olds, which reduced the data to
covering 12 categories, including 94 different brands. We chose to calculate 'number of brands
known' and 'number of brands used' for each category to get the most usable and distinctly
interpretable results.
TABLE 9: BRAND AWARENESS AND USAGE 5–18 YEAR OLDS
Awareness
Boys Girls Usage
Instant chocolate (2)
Biscuits (4)
Skincare (4)
Ice–cream (24)
Soft drinks (10)
Chocolate Milk (4)
Fruit Syrup (8)
Sandwich spread (4)
Chocolate spread (5)
Cereals (19)
Childrens Clothes (4)
Shoes (6)
1,4
2,9
1,9
16,6
9,1
2,4
5,6
3,0
3,9
11,7
2,5
4,8
1,3
2,8
2,1
15,0
8,4
2,1
5,3
2,9
3,7
10,7
2,7
4,2
Instant chocolate (2)
Biscuits (4)
Skincare (4)
Ice–cream (24)
Soft Drinks (10)
Chocolate milk (4)
Fruit Syrup (8)
Sandwich Spread (4)
Chocolate spread (5)
Cereals (19)
Childrens clothes (4)
Shoes (6)
Boys Girls
0,6
1,8
0,6
8,3
5,7
1,4
2,5
1,5
2,3
4,4
1,0
2,3
0,6
1,8
0,9
7,6
5,0
1,1
2,3
1,5
2,2
4,0
1,5
1,9
The Table should be read as follows: among the 5–18 year olds, boys are on average aware of 1,4
instant chocolate brands out of a possible two. They use 0,6 instant chocolate brands on average.
The usage Figures are calculated as a combination of the first three categories on a 6–point scale
containing 'uses this brand only', 'prefers to use this brand' and 'uses this brand now and then'. The
awareness Figures are calculated using aided recall questions.
The Table has several interesting points. Firstly, you will note that boys have a higher degree of
awareness for almost all categories, except for skin care and children's clothes, which, moreover,
are categories for which you would expect an even higher degree of difference. Secondly, when
examining the use of brands, the same results appear: Boys generally use more brands, and the
only two categories used more by girls are, not surprisingly, skin care and children's clothes.
The relationship between awareness and use of brands are very much alike for the two genders;
50% on average for both genders, ranging from 34% (skin care) to 64% (biscuits) for the boys,
and from 37% (cereal) to 63% (biscuits) for girls, indicating that Danish children use one out of
two known brands.
To investigate if any variations are present in specific age groups, we chose to look at four Tables
that are representative in the majority of the cases. These reflect the awareness of shoe brands and
Kellogg's brands, as well as the use of shoe brands and (a selection of) ice–cream brands.
TABLE 10: AWARENESS OF SHOE BRANDS
Awareness %
Adidas
Puma
Nike
Ecco
Vagabond
Kangaroos
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
78,4
46,6
63,5
65,5
25,7
67,6
63,1
30
46,9
61,5
23,8
63,8
95
84
90,4
80,3
41
79,6
92,7
73,9
81,5
80,5
47
73,4
93,2
91,5
93,7
89,3
81,1
86
97,1
94,2
97,1
94
92,1
88,6
TABLE 11: AWARENESS OF KELLOGG'S BRANDS
Awareness %
All Bran
Chocos
Coco pops
Cornflakes
Frosties
Rice Krispies
Special K
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
50
73
89,2
94,6
86,5
72,3
45,9
43,8
65,4
83,8
95,4
84,6
72,3
41,5
72,5
85,8
91,1
97,5
93,1
76
68
71,7
83,5
90,7
97
92,2
70,4
67,7
86,3
88,5
91
95,6
94,2
81,6
84,4
92,6
89,7
95,7
97,3
94,8
85,7
91,3
Awareness in these two categories is very high for both boys and girls, and this is a general trend
across all categories – we were especially impressed with the answers from the 5–7 year olds,
which underline the fact that children's socialization as consumers starts very early.
Both categories in Table 9 indicate that boys had a higher overall awareness at age 5–18, however
this picture changes slightly when looking closely at the three subgroups. Among the 5–7 year
olds, the differences are more pronounced than average. Among the 8–12 year olds, the boys are
still aware of more brands, but not to the same degree. Among the 13–18 year olds, the pattern
changes and now the girls are aware of more brands. This pattern raises several interesting points.
From psychology we know that young boys are more interested in, and capable of learning facts
and factual matter. Examples include the memorizing of sport results and statistics, knowing
everything about cars and electronics etc. (Zlotnik 1991). Why girls have such a high degree of
awareness when they are 13–18 years old could be explained as a result of a rising interest in their
appearance and thus also in their health and their bodies. A possible consequence of this behavior
could be an increased interest in the foods they eat and drink, as well as the clothes they choose to
wear, which would ultimately lead to an increased awareness of different brands.
Where usage of brands is concerned, the picture changes slightly.
TABLE 12: USE OF SHOE BRANDS
Usage %
Adidas
Puma
Nike
Ecco
Vagabond
Kangaroos
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
55,5
17,6
37,2
41,9
8,2
47,3
39,2
7
18,5
43,1
13
49,2
69,1
37,6
57
38,7
10,3
40,3
54,9
20,1
40,9
40,1
17,1
32,6
53,4
23,3
51
19,4
26
13,7
50,2
17,6
48,1
20,1
37,8
10,5
TABLE 13: USE OF ICE–CREAM BRANDS
Usage %
Bounty Tropical
Cornetto
Daim Ice cream
Twister
Magnum
Snickers Ice cream
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
Boy
Girl
14,2
31,1
26,3
36,5
55,5
23,7
9,9
33,9
26,9
44,6
54,5
14,6
9,4
39,4
41,6
33,2
74,1
34,1
9,1
35,7
40,2
34,7
68,4
30,6
14,2
32,3
46,5
29
69,6
42
12,2
36,9
48,4
42,4
73,8
41,4
Once again, the boys' scores are higher on average, but when looking more closely, it becomes
clear that it is very difficult to make any general conclusions based on this fact. In analyzing the
use of shoe brands, the boys use more sport shoes, i.e. Adidas, Puma, Nike and kangaroos,
whereas girls use more 'everyday wear' shoe brands such as Ecco and Vagabond. This is merely a
matter of taste and social influence. The same is true when looking at ice–cream brands. There are
no direct gender specific trends in the data and we thus have to conclude that this is a matter of
values associated with the brands and/or simply of taste. We do not intend to go into further detail
with this here but we feel that such differences could be interesting to analyze via segmentation
(Hansen et. al. 2002).
Media
In order to get through to different segments it is very important which media advertisers use and
how often this is done. In this survey, there is a large amount of data relating to media, however,
in the following, we have tried to focus on only the most central issues in order to keep the
information as general as possible. Because of the great amount of data, there is, not surprisingly,
a lack of depth in some areas. As a result, we had to exclude a few media. We collected
information on the role of radio in the survey, but it is far too detailed and focused on program
preferences for specific Danish programs. Thus, it is not very useful for making general
conclusions. Other media such as outdoor, newspapers, magazines etc. are not represented here
either.
Accordingly we have chosen to focus on the media that are mostly used by children and young
people (Drotner 2001, Tufte 2001, Livingstone & Bovill 2001)
The four media groups examined are: cinema, TV, Internet and mobile phones. Mobile phones are
not a typical medium, still with developments such as SMS and WAP, it is a very important tool
in young people's lives (Stald 2000).
Only two questions are relevant when examining the role of cinema:
TABLE 14: CINEMA
%
Age 5–7 Age 8–12 Age 13–19
Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl
Been to a cinema within the last 3
months
Look forward to seeing the
commercials
Share (II/I)
42,
20,
49,
22,
53,
16,
43,
10,
69,
17,
72,
15,
47,
45,
30,
24,
25,
21,
It is interesting to note how the results of the Figures are reversed when moving from age 5–7 to
age 8–12. At first, the young girls are more frequent visitors to the cinema than the boys, but at
age 8–12, the roles are reversed. The same thing happens at age 13–18, where 72,6% girls versus
69,8% boys visit the cinema. These results are in accordance with other recent research findings.
It seems as if young girls to a larger extent than earlier go out – to the cinema and shopping malls.
Our result could thus be interpreted as information telling that girls become young earlier than
some years ago and behave in a different way. Perhaps the underlying reason is also that going to
the cinema at age 8–12 is associated with spending less time with the parents and, since girls are
very independent at this age, they would rather spend time with their friends.
When investigating the share of cinema guests who look forward to seeing the commercials
before the movie starts, the trend is a generally decreasing interest as they get older. Furthermore,
this trend is more pronounced for boys in all age groups. The next paragraph will examine this
aspect in more detail.
TABLE: 15 TV
%
Age 5–7 Age 8–12 Age 13–18
Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl
TV in own room
Cable or satellite TV available in own
room
Cable or satellite TV available at home
but not in own room
39,2 37,7 67,3 56,9 86 81,4
25 23,8 41 29,6 52,6 48,6
44,6 42,3 29,5 33,1 20,5 21,3
There are several interesting points in the Table. Firstly, it appears that the scores are very high in
general. Among the 5–7 year olds, 39,2% boys and 37,7% girls have a TV in their room, and
among the 8–12 year olds, this is increased to 67,3% and 56,9%, which is certainly worth
noticing. The numbers are also high with regard to cable– or satellite availability and especially
the in own room availability is very high. Again, we feel that this is highly noticeable but also in
accordance with general trends found in international research.
Thirdly, it appears that more boys than girls have a TV in their own room irrespective of age
group, and furthermore, more boys than girls have access to cable– or satellite programs. This
raises additional questions. It does not necessarily mean that girls are less fortunate, it could just
as well mean that boys have a higher interest in watching TV and that girls prefer to use their
savings for other things. It is possible, though, that the result indicates that boys are perceived as
less sensitive to adult subject matter, or that they are better at persuading their parents that they
should have a TV (with or without cable) in their room. Whether having a TV in ones own room
encourages more use of it cannot be established from the data in this investigation but according
to other studies this seems to be the case (Tufte 2001, Roe 1998).
Denmark ranks among the top Internet–using countries, but how is the usage distributed across
gender?
TABLE 16: INTERNET
%
Use the Internet at home once a week
or more
Use the Internet at school once a week
or more
Shop on the Internet
Surf on the internet for entertainment
Participate in competitions on the
Internet
Click on banner ads on the internet
Age 5–7
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy Girl Boy
Girl Boy Girl
1,4 3,1 22,6
0,7 0 23,3
0,7
–
–
– 15,6
–
4,8
–
–
3,2
–
–
13,4
14,3
0
9,1
4,1
0,8
49,5
62,2
0,6
39,6
14,8
9,4
40,8
51,1
0,6
24,2
9
5,7
The data on the 5–7 year olds is very limited. We only included questions about use in the
questionnaire, and the answers reveal that children at that age practically do not use the Internet at
all.
Yet another issue revealed here is that people below the age of 18 do not shop on the Internet.
This information corresponds with the fact that the minimum age for owning a credit card is 18.
The remaining data, however, reveals many interesting gender differences and again the boys are
'in front'. More boys than girls use the Internet at home and at school, more boys than girls surf on
the Internet for entertainment, more boys than girls participate in competitions on the Internet and
more boys than girls click on banner ads. This is the case for both 8–12 year olds and for 13–18
year olds.
We mentioned earlier that young boys are more interested in factual and technical matter and that
this naturally influences the data, if the Internet is classified as being technical matter. One thing
is certain, boys use the Internet more across all categories, and this difference is quite significant.
Other studies have shown gender differences in relation to the use of the Internet. Boys are very
interested in computer games whereas this is not the case for the girls. The reason for this may be
that many of the existing computer games focus on action and violence that does not appeal to the
girls (Jessen 2000). In order to interest the girls the focus of the computer games ought to be on
living persons and their relationship to family, the opposite sex, work etc. (Johansson 2000).
When it comes to 'chat' on the Internet both boys and girls are interested. Chat could be
interpreted as a kind of 'play' where children and young people in their interaction with other
people – on a distance – are making experiments. It is possible to obtain a kind of intimacy
without getting in physical contact with people. This may be the reason why chatting on the
Internet seems to appeal very much to young girls.
Another point of interest in relation to our data is that the number of male Internet users who click
on banner ads is higher in both the age groups in question when looking at the number of users
both at home and in school: 14% (3,2/22,6) versus 6% (0,8/13,4) for the 8–12 year olds and 19%
versus 14% for the 13–18 year olds, showing a considerable difference among the 'home users',
which is also the case for the 'school users'.
TABLE 17: MOBILE PHONES
%
Age 5–7
I have a mobile phone
I have bought it myself
It is a new phone
I use it everyday or almost everyday
Age 8–12
Age 13–18
Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy
Girl
19,5 15,8 66,1
4 38,6
4,8
12,8 10 58,9
9,3 10,5 48,5
68
32,6
56,2
48,2
2
1,4
1,4
–
0
0,7
0,7
–
This appears to be an area where boys and girls are involved at an equal level, whether it concerns
the population or usage of mobile phones. Only small differences emerge here. Among the 8–12
year olds, the most interesting result is that one out of five boys have a mobile phone, whereas the
number is one out of six when it comes to the girls. Among the 13–18 year olds, the most
remarkable result is that boys have a higher tendency to buy their own phone (38,6% versus
32,6%). It is significant – although the trend is vague – that in the 13–18 age group the girls have
more mobile phones than the boys (68% versus 66,1%). This is a new trend that other surveys
also have shown i.e. that the young girls are strong users of mobile phones (Stald 2000,
Christensen & Tufte 2001). However, all in all, the general conclusion must be that this is an area
where there are no notable gender differences.
Ads and commercials
The last area in which we wish to investigate the gender differences represents attitudes towards
advertising (in Denmark the same word covers both commercials and ads, so in the following, the
word ad covers both TV commercials, ads in magazines and newspapers etc.). The 8–12 and 13–
18 year olds were exposed to 24 questions formulated on a 3–point and a 5–point scale,
respectively, ranging from statements of agree to disagree. The following Table shows the 24
questions; the percentages represent the agreeing and strongly agreeing children, respectively. In
addition, the marked areas represent questions where significant differences appear (U–test).
TABLE 18: ATTITUDES TOWARD ADS
THE INTENTION OF ADS
The ad catches my attention
It is fun to watch ads
My spirits are lifted when I watch ads
Ads are funny
Ads tell good stories
Ads are honest and credible
Ads make me think
I often learn something new from watching ads
Ads are convincing
I understand the meaning behind the ads
Ads influence what I want
Ads make me want to try the product
In general, I like ads
In general, I like to watch ads
UNDERSTANDING OF ADS
Boys 8– Girls Boys Girls
12
8–12 13–18 13–18
41,4%
40,3%
18,3%
28,4%
13,5%
2,5%
IS
IS
12,8%
66,8%
44,4%
IS
30,4%
33,9%
29,3%
32,6%
12,8%
21,6%
9,3%
0,8%
IS
IS
13,0%
57,9%
39,1%
IS
23,3%
32,1%
28,2%26,4%
18,9%17,8%
8,5% 9,5%
15,9%16,9%
7,9% 5,6%
1,9% 1,0%
11,8%11,4%
9,9% 6,6%
13,2%15,7%
72,1%68,4%
29,0%25,6%
30,4%31,8%
15,1%16,5%
15,3%17,4%
When I watch TV ads together with my family, we discuss them afterwards 24,9% 21,3% 19,5%17,8%
When I watch TV ads together with my friends, we discuss then afterwards 24,0% 21,8% 31,2%30,8%
IS 11,0% 4,5%
IS
I watch TV ads so that I can discuss them with my friends afterwards
ADVERTISING EFFECTS
I often want to have the advertised products
I often buy the advertised products
CREDIBILITY
37,8% 33,6% 17,5%21,3%
IS
IS 15,1%19,6%
Things often look better in ads than in reality
The product is just as good ad the ad promises
I think that the ads exaggerate how good the products are
Ads do not always tell the truth
The way in which things are said in the ad tells me whether it is true or not
75,7%
2,3%
77,6%
64,8%
15,3%
69,4%
2,0%
77,4%
64,7%
14,3%
80,3%84,1%
4,7% 6,6%
78,6%84,9%
63,6%71,1%
26,3%24,8%
This Table displays a few major points: Firstly, it shows that there are more gender differences
among the 8–12 year olds than among the 13–18 year olds. 8 answers differ significantly for the
8–12 year olds versus 3 among the 13–18 year olds. Moreover, the answers that differ are in
different categories. Among the 8–12 year olds, the majority of differences are associated with the
intention of the ads, whereas the 13–18 year olds differ more on the credibility questions. In
general, girls are more skeptical toward ads: Among the 8–12 year olds, more boys think it is fun
to watch ads, more boys think that ads catch their attention and more boys get their spirits lifted
when watching ads. Among the 13–18 year olds, more girls think that ads exaggerate how good
the products are and more girls feel that ads do not always tell the truth.
This, we feel, gives us several interesting indications about how the two sexes react to ads and
commercials, but it is of course on a very general level. One way to improve our findings would
be to combine these with some qualitative investigations with focus on a number of ads and
commercials with different structures and different moods. Such an expansion would definitely
make the results more valid and hence the amount of respondents; make then very credible.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we have investigated gender differences among children in areas that are especially
interesting from a marketing perspective. Based on a very extensive amount of data, we have
looked at only four sub areas and only a few questions in each of these. Despite the narrow focus,
we feel that many vital conclusions can be made and that several interesting points have been
raised, and furthermore it seems that the majority of the results found here are very closely related
to other, mostly Scandinavian, investigations.
In earlier works by Piaget, Selman (1980), and Barenboim (1981), children were divided into
stages by age according to their abilities as consumers: cognitive, social and psychological. The
amount of data in this paper is far too limited to make such classifications, however the overall
conclusion is that both boys and girls are socialized as consumers at a very early age.
Most of the areas investigated here show that boys between the ages of 5–18 years are 'superior' to
girls, or better informed. They get more pocket money, are better at saving money, know more
brands, use more brands, have better access to TV and cable/satellite programs and use the
Internet more frequently. Additionally, boys have more positive attitudes towards commercials
and ads.
The girls, however, do catch up with the boys as they get older across most of the categories
mentioned above.
When looking at all the areas examined here, it appears that the largest gender differences emerge
around age 8–12. This is the case for economic issues, media use and availability, as well as
attitudes towards commercials and ads. This is also a reoccurring trend when investigating
children's interests and activities (Hansen et. al. 2002). Furthermore it seems the size of or the
'amount' of gender differences throughout the childhood has a bell–shaped pattern like as shown
in Figure 2.
As mentioned in the section on attitude towards ads we feel that our study has shown many
interesting aspects in relation to children as consumers and cover many topics extensively, but
that qualitative analyses would definitely qualify and improve them, and this emphasize the need
for further research in this area in the future.
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© Forum for Advertising Research
http://www.warc.com
NOTES & EXHIBITS
FIGURE 1: OVERALL FRAMEWORK
FIGURE 2: OVERALL FRAMEWORK