UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
Television advertising aimed at children
Buijzen, M.A.
Link to publication
Citation for published version (APA):
Buijzen, M. A. (2003). Television advertising aimed at children Amsterdam: 2003
General rights
It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s),
other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).
Disclaimer/Complaints regulations
If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating
your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask
the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam,
The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.
UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl)
Download date: 16 Jun 2017
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
CHAPTERS S
THEE IMPACT OF TELEVISION ADVERTISING
ONN CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS WISHES
Moniekk Buijzen and Patti M. Valkenburg
JournalJournal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 44 (2000), 456-470
Abstract t
Inn December 1997, 250 children were asked to list their Christmas wishes. These
requestss were then compared to the commercials that were broadcast at the time of
dataa collection. Sixty-seven percent of the seven- and eight-year-olds, 49% off the 9andd 10-year-olds, and 40% of the 11- and 12-year-olds asked for at least one advertisedd product. Children's gender and age, as well as their level of exposure to the
networkk that aired the most commercials, were significant predictors of their requestss for advertised products.
Introduction n
Advertisingg to children has always provoked strong feelings and contradictory opinions.. Some advocates of child-directed advertising believe that advertising has no or
negligiblee negative effect on children (Miller & Busch, 1979), and that the consequencess of advertising are rarely lasting (Caron & Ward, 1975; Malrain, 1985). They
arguee that children are critical consumers who are capable of defending themselves
againstt the possible harmful effects of advertising (Caron & Ward, 1975; Hite & Eck,
1987;; Sheikh, Prasad, & Rao, 1974; Ward, 1984). According to other advocates,
advertisingg provides children with valuable product information, so that they learn
howw to become consumers (Hite & Eck, 1987; Miller & Busch, 1979).
57 7
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Manyy opponents of child-directed advertising, however, believe that commercials
aimedd at young children can have a profound impact on their beliefs, values, and
morall norms (Gardner & Sheppard, 1989). Critics fear that children, more than
adults,, are susceptible to the seductive influences of commercials because they do
nott have the necessary cognitive skills to protect themselves against the attractive
andd cleverly put advertising messages (Adler et al., 1960; Caron & Ward, 1975).
Accordingg to these authors, advertising to children can (a) create materialistic attitudess (Goldberg & Gom, 1978; Hite & Eck, 1987); (b) result in conflicts in the family
(Isler.. Popper, & Ward, 1987; Robertson, Ward, Gatignon, & Klees, 1979; Ward &
Wackman,, 1972); and (c) encourage bad eating habits (Dawson, Jeffrey, & Walsh,
1988;; Donohue, 1975; Galst, 1980; Galst & White, 1976; Goldberg, Gom, & Gibson,
1978;; Miller & Busch, 1979; Peterson & Lewis. 1988; Ross, Campbell, Huston-Stein,
&& Wright, 1981). Finally, opponents argue that advertising can make young children
dissatisfiedd and unhappy because they are less able than adults to resist the temptationss in advertisements (Feldman & Wolf. 1974; Goldberg & Gorn, 1978; Martin &
Gentry,, 1997; Miller & Busch, 1979; Richins. 1991; Sheikh & Moleski, 1977).
Sincee the mid 1970s, an impressive number of studies on the topic of children
andd advertising have been conducted. These studies have focused on three types of
effects:: cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects (Rossiter, 1979). Studies examiningg the cognitive effects of child advertising usually focus on children's ability to distinguishh commercials from television programs (Blosser & Roberts, 1985; Butter,
Popovich,, Stackhouse, & Garner, 1981), and their ability to understand the persuasivee nature and selling intent of advertising (Blosser & Roberts, 1985; Donohue,
Henke,, & Donohue. 1980; Rossiter & Robertson. 1976). Most of these studies have
adoptedd Piaget's (1965) theory of cognitive development to guide their research
(e.g... Rubin. 1974; Wackman, Wartella, & Ward, 1977; Ward, 1974; Wartella & Ettema,, 1974). Cognitive-effects studies have demonstrated that children who are at
Piaget'ss preoperational stage (2-7 years) react differently to commercials than do
childrenn at the concrete operational stage (7-12 years). It has been shown, for example,, that children in the concrete operational stage are progressively more able to
distinguishh commercials from television programs (Robertson & Rossiter, 1974;
Ward,, Reale, & Levinson, 1972), and show a better understanding of the persuasive
intentt of commercials (Blatt, Spencer, & Ward, 1972; Robertson & Rossiter, 1974;
Wardd et al., 1972; Ward, Wackman, & Wartella, 1977).
58 8
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Studiess investigating the affective effects of advertising concentrate on children's
likingg of and trust in commercials (Barling & Fullagar, 1983; Barry & Hansen. 1973;
Bever,, Smith, Bengen, & Johnson, 1975; Derbaix & Bree, 1997; Donohue, 1975;
Mitchell,, 1986; Robertson & Rossiter, 1974). Affective-effects studies have documented,, for instance, that children's responses towards commercials gradually
becomee less favorable as they enter the concrete operational stage (Barling &
Fullagar,, 1983; Robertson & Rossiter, 1974). As children get older, they are more
likelyy to display irritation and skepticism while watching commercials.
Finally,, studies examining the behavioral effects of advertising focus on the
extentt to which children are persuaded by advertisements. Since young children
usuallyy do not have the means to purchase products, behavioral effects are usually
measuredd by children's preferences for products (Galst & White, 1976; Robertson &
Rossiter,, 1976), or by the requests they make in response to advertised products
(Atkin,, 1975; Sheikh & Moleski, 1977). In behavioral-effects studies, children usually
watchh one or more commercials, after which they are given a choice from a series of
products,, which include the advertised brand (Gom & Florsheim, 1985; Gorn &
Goldberg,, 1977, 1980). Researchers then often demonstrate that the advertising of
aa specific brand makes the child's subsequent choice of that brand more likely. A
disadvantagee of these studies is that the results that are found within a controlled
laboratoryy setting may not be generalizable to more naturalistic contexts (Young,
1990). .
AA number of behavioral-effects studies have attempted to solve this problem
byy investigating advertising effects in a field setting. One type of field study has focusedd on the impact of advertising on children's purchase requests by surveying
parentss (Caron & Ward, 1975; Robertson et al., 1989) or children (Adler et al., 1980;
Greenberg,, Fazal, & Wober, 1986; Isler et al., 1987). Another less intrusive type of
researchh has observed how parents and children in retail environments interact with
eachh other regarding the product requests of children (Atkin, 1978; Galst & White,
1976;; Isler et al., 1987; Rust, 1993a, 1993b). A third type of field studies has investiatedd to which extent children's Christmas gift ideas are determined by television
commercialss (Caron & Ward, 1975; Frideres, 1973; Robertson & Rossiter, 1976,
1977;; Rossiter & Robertson, 1974). These studies were conducted in the Christmas
season,, first because child-targeted advertising reaches a peak in this period
(Valkenburg,, 1999), and second because children are generally eager to list their
preferredd Christmas present choices.
59 9
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Despitee the differences in methodology, both the laboratory and the field studies
havee yielded a number of consistent findings. First, it has been shown that television
viewingg is a major source of children's gift ideas (Caron & Ward, 1975; Frideres,
1973;; Robertson & Rossiter. 1977), and that children who watch more television are
moree likely to ask for advertised products (Adler et al., 1980; Goldberg, 1990; Gom
&& Goldberg, 1980; Greenberg et al., 1986; Robertson et al., 1989).
Second,, it has been demonstrated that children's requests for advertised
productss decrease as they mature (Robertson & Rossiter, 1974; Ward et al., 1977;
Wardd & Wackman, 1972). Not only do children become more critical about and,
thereby,, less susceptible to media offerings in middle childhood, they also become
moree sensitive to peer influences (Durkin, 1997). Research has found that conformityy to the peer group peaks between the ages of 11 and 13 years (Costanzo & Shaw,
1966).. There is reason to assume that the norms and values that are created in particularr peer groups function as a filter for other socializing forces, including advertising. .
Finally,, it has been suggested that gender plays a role in children's requests
forr advertised products. A number of studies have demonstrated that boys are more
persistentt in their requests for advertised products than girls are (McNeal, 1969;
Sheikhh & Moleski, 1977; Ward & Wackman, 1972). This research finding is consistentt with general theories on gender differences in parent-child interactions (e.g.,
Maccoby,, 1990). It has been shown that boys are on average less compliant than
girlss to the requests and demands of their parents (Cowan & Avants, 1988; Maccoby,, 1990). Boys also more often rely on forceful or demanding strategies when
tryingg to persuade their parents to comply with them, whereas girls are more likely to
relyy on tact and polite suggestions (Cowan & Avants, 1988).
Genderr and developmental level also have been shown to influence the types
off gifts requested (Caron & Ward, 1975; Kamptner, 1991). Boys tend to ask for
activity-orientedd items, like computer games, racecars, and action heroes, whereas
girlss prefer clothing, dolls, and jewelry (e.g., Acuff & Reiher, 1997; Furby, 1978;
Kamptner,, 1991). In addition, younger children—because of their early cognitive
level—oftenn ask for simple, friendly stuffed animals, dolls, and toys, which provide
themm with feelings of comfort and safety (Acuff & Reiher, 1997; Valkenburg &
Cantor,, 2001). As children become older, toys begin to lose importance, whereas
productss with a social function, like clothing and music equipment, take increasingly
prominentt places as favored objects.
60 0
77iee Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Thee aim of the present study was to provide an extension of the third type of field
studies,, which investigated how television commercials influence children's preferredd Christmas gifts. This line of research needs extension for several reasons.
First,, studies of this type were all conducted in the 1970s (Caron & Ward, 1975;
Frideres,, 1973; Robertson & Rossiter, 1976, 1977; Rossiter* Robertson, 1974). As
mostt western societies have become increasingly child- and consumer-oriented in
thee past two decades (Gunter & Furnham, 1998; Kline, 1993), there is a need to
investigatee whether the results of these early studies are still valid. Second, in previouss studies the sources of children's ideas were measured by asking children
directlyy where they had seen or heard about the presents that they mentioned (e.g.,
television,, catalogs, interpersonal influence). These studies have consistently found
thatt television was the most dominant source of children's gift ideas (Caron & Ward,
1975;; Frideres, 1973; Robertson & Rossiter, 1976). However, it is not certain
whetherr the self-report measures that were used in these studies can be considered
ass valid indicators of young children's information sources of gift ideas.
Inn the present study we did not rely on children's self-reports to investigate the
extentt to which television is an information source of their gift ideas. Like the previouss studies, we asked children to nominate their preferred Christmas gifts, but
ratherr than asking children directly to list the source of their requests, we compared
theirr requests to the commercials that were broadcast in the period leading up to
Christmas.. We specifically examined whether and to what extent the brand names
childrenn mentioned in their gift requests were identical to the brands that were advertisedd at the Christmas season. We also explored if and how children's gender
andd developmental level predict their requests for advertised products.
ResearchResearch Questions and Hypotheses
Inn earlier studies, the percentages of children's requests that were determined by
televisionn advertising ranged from 25% (Caron & Ward, 1975), to 49% (Robertson &
Rossiter,, 1976), and 78% (Frideres, 1973). In the present study, we investigated
howw these previous statistics compare to elementary school children sampled in
1997.. Our first research question therefore was:
RQ,:: To what extent are children's Christmas wishes influenced by television
commercialss shown in the period leading up to Christmas?
61 1
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Ass argued above, several earlier studies have demonstrated that (a) children who
watchh more commercial television are more likely to ask for advertised products; (b)
children'ss requests for advertised products decrease as children mature; and (c)
boyss are more persistent in their requests for advertised products than girls are. We
thereforee investigated the following three hypotheses:
H,:: Children who watch a lot of television commercials ask for advertised products
moree often than children who are less often exposed to commercials.
H2:: Older children ask for advertised products less often than younger children do.
H3:: Boys make requests for advertised products more often than girls do.
Finally,, earlier studies suggested that the types of products children request depend
onn their gender and developmental level. Since research into the types of wishes of
boyss and girls in different age groups is too scarce to formulate hypotheses, our
secondd research question asked:
RQ2;; What types of products do boys and girts in different age groups request?
Method d
Sample Sample
AA total of 250 children between the ages of 7 and 12 participated in the study. The
childrenn were recruited from three elementary schools in Utrecht, an urban district in
thee Netherlands, which consisted primarily of Dutch students with various socioeconomicc backgrounds. The sample consisted of 124 boys and 126 girls. The childrenn were grouped into three age ranges: 7-8 (30.6%), 9-10 (40.7%), and 11-12
(28.6%).. This trichotomy was chosen for three reasons. First, it provided us with the
opportunityy to investigate whether the observed trends in our sample were linear or
curvilinear.. Second, we wanted to investigate seven- and eight-year olds as a separatee age group, because these children are still on the threshold of concrete operations,, which qualifies them as a separate subgroup. Third, we wanted to investigate
11-- and 12-year-olds as a separate subgroup. As discussed earlier, children in this
agee group develop an interest in products with a social function and the influence of
62 2
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
peerss is at its peak in this age group (Costanzo & Shaw, 1966). These developmentss may affect their interest in advertised products.
Procedure Procedure
Earlyy in December 1997, children in each classroom were presented with a paperand-pencill questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about children's
genderr and age, their television viewing behavior, and their preferred Christmas
wishes.. Completing the questionnaire took about 20 minutes.
Too investigate the number and types of commercials children were exposed to
inn the period leading up to Christmas, we taped the two most popular commercial
children'ss networks, RTL-4 and Kindemet. We recorded all commercials that were
shownn on these networks on Saturday mornings from 8.00 to 12.00 A.M. in the periodd from 8 November 1997 to 20 December 1997. In total, 876 commercials were
sampled,, 553 on RTL-4 and 323 on Kindemet. Almost 90% of these commercials
weree about toys, and 80% of them were shown on both channels.
RTL-4RTL-4 and Kindemet have the highest viewing density among 6- to 12-yearoldss (Kijk- en Luisteronderzoek, 1997). Both commercial networks were introduced
att the end of the 1980s. We selected their Saturday morning programs because
thesee programs have the highest ratings among elementary school children. The
numberss of television commercials shown on RTL-4 ranged from 25 to 113 per fourhourr time span, and those on Kindemet ranged from 13 to 78 over the same time
period.. Overall, RTL-4 showed 7 1 % more commercials than did Kindemet. This
differencee is due to the fact that RTL-4 has a larger market share (16%) than Kindernetnet (10%) in the target age group, with the result that advertisers are more interestedd in this network.
Measures Measures
Children'sChildren's gift ideas. We asked the children to write down their two most favorite
Christmass wishes. For each present mentioned, we determined whether an advertisedd brand was mentioned. In some cases (e.g., Barbie, Nintendo, Action Man,
Lego,Lego, K'nex) this was easy. In other cases (e.g.. Beast Wars, My Beautiful Horses,
Domino Express)Domino Express) we were not sure whether the product was advertised. In th
cases,, the brand name was traced in the recorded advertisements. Of course, gift
ideass like 'a doll," "a racecar," 'money," and "a teddy bear" were not considered as
63 3
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
brandd names. The intercoder reliability based on a subsample of 25% of the
requestss was 99%.
TelevisionTelevision viewing frequency. The children were presented a list of 12 popular
children'ss programs that were broadcast on RTL-4 and Kindemet. They were asked
too indicate whether they always, often, sometimes, or never watched each of the
programs.. This method of children's television exposure has proved to be a valid
measuree for elementary school children (Vooijs, van der Voort, & Beentjes, 1987).
Onn the 12 items, we conducted a factor analysis with varimax rotation. This factor
analysiss yielded three factors, which explained 53.8% of the variance. The first factorr (4 items, Eigenvalue 2.01) represented the children's programs that were broadcastt on Kindemet, the second factor {5 items. Eigenvalue 2.38) represented the children'ss programs broadcast on RTL -A. The third factor (3 items, Eigenvalue 1.18)
representedd programs that were made for adults and broadcast in the evening
hours.. Scales were constructed for each of the three factors by totaling the uneightedd scores on the items that loaded on each factor. Cronbach's alpha values
weree .72 for the Kindemet scale, .70 for the RTL-4 scale, and .51 for the programs
madee for adults. Since the latter scale had an inadequate reliability, it was omitted
fromm further analysis.
Results s
Ourr first research question asked to what extent children's Christmas wishes were
influencedd by commercials broadcast around Christmas. The analysis of children's
Christmass wishes revealed that 51.6% of the children specifically asked for at least
onee brand that was advertised at the time of the survey.
Thee brands that were most frequently advertised also turned out to be the
mostt wanted toys. K'nex, Nintendo, Lego, and Action Man were all in the top 10 of
mostt frequently broadcast commercials. Three of these products, Nintendo, K'nex,
andd Lego, were also in the top five of most requested products in the whole sample.
ActionAction Man also occurred in the top 10 of wishes, but only for the youngest boys.
BarbieBarbie turned out to be the most advertised toy. The Barbie commercial representedd almost 10 percent of all the commercials that were broadcast during the
periodd of analysis. Barbie occupied the ninth place in the top 10 gift requests for the
wholee sample. For the youngest girls, this toy was the second most wanted product
64 4
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Tablee 3.1: Multiple Regression Prediction of the Number of Requests Consistent with
TVV Commercials
Numberr of
advertisedd toy wishes
BB
SEB
Genderr
.03
.09
.03 3
Agee
-.22
.07
-.22" "
KtndemetKtndemet viewing frequency
PP
.05 .11 1
.09
RTL-4RTL-4 viewing frequency
.12
.05
.15* *
Note.Note. R2 = .10.
*p<.05.. **p<.001.
Children'sChildren's Requests for Advertised Products by Age, Gender, and Television
ViewingViewing Frequency
Too investigate our three research hypotheses, which stated that younger children,
boys,, and children who are more often exposed to commercials ask for more advertisedd products, we conducted a multiple regression analysis, with the child's age,
gender,, and television viewing behavior as independent variables. The dependent
variablee was the number of gift ideas mentioned by the children that corresponded
too one of the commercials broadcast during the period of investigation. Table 3.1
providess the standardized beta weights for each of the independent variables used
withinn the regression equation.
Thee number of children's toy wishes consistent with the brands in television
commercialss was predicted by exposure to RTL-4, the network that aired most
commercials,, and not by exposure to Kindemet. Consistent with our second hypothesis,, younger children asked for products advertised on television more often than
olderr children did. Finally, contrary to our third hypothesis, the child's gender did not
predictt the number of advertised product requests.
65 5
Thee Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Tablee 3.2: Percentage of Children's Gift Ideas Consistent with TV Commercials by Age
Groupp and Gender
Requestss for advertised products
Agee group
Boys s
(n=124) )
Girls s
<nn = 126)
%%
%%
Total l
<nn = 250)
%%
7-88 (n = 78)
75.6 6
57.1 1
67.1 1
9-100 (n= 101)
45.2 2
50.8 8
48.5 5
11-12(nn = 71)
27.5 5
54.8 8
39.4 4
Too investigate curvilinear patterns and possible interactions between age and gender,, which would not be expressed in the regression coefficients, we investigated
howw many boys and girls in each of the three age groups requested advertised
productss (see Table 3.2).
Ass the third column of Table 3.2 shows, older children asked for advertised
productss less often than younger children did, %2{2, N = 248) 11.91, p < .01. Our
crosss tabulation revealed that the negative age effect that was found in the regressionn analysis only held for boys, %2{2, N = 123) = 19.23, p < .001. Seventy-six percentt of the seven- and eight-year-old boys asked for at least one advertised product,
whereass only 27.5% of the 11- and 12-year-old boys requested at least one advertisedd product. For girls no significant age effect was found. Older girls asked for as
manyy advertised products as younger girls did.
Thee cross tabulation yielded an interaction effect between gender and age.
Amongg the seven- and eight-year-olds, boys asked for an advertised product more
oftenn than girls did, x2 (1, rV = 78) 2.92, p = .07, whereas, among the 11- and 12year-olds,, girls asked for an advertised product more often than boys did, x 2 (1. rV =
71)5.47,, p < . 0 5
TheThe Types of Products Requested
Ourr final research question asked whether and how boys and girts differ in the types
off Christmas wishes. To answer this question, we investigated the most popular
productt requests for boys and girls in the three age groups (Table 3.3).
66 6
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Tablee 3.3: Children's Favorite Gift Ideas by Age Group and Gender
Requests s
Requests s
Age e
Boys s
%%
Girls s
%%
7-8 8
1.. Nintendo
2.. K'nex
3.. Racecar
4.. Lego
5.. Walkie-talkie
36 6
24 4
15 5
12 2
10 0
1.. Nameless stuffed animal
2.2. Barbie
3.. Pet (e.g., cat, dog)
4.. Drawing materials
5.. Spice Girls merchandising
17 7
12 2
99
99
99
9-10 0
1.. Sports items
2.. Nintendo
3.. K'nex
4.. Lego Technic
5.. Tantrum racecar
31 1
19 9
17 7
10 0
10 0
1.. Spice Girls merchandising
2.. School Stationary
3.. Stuffed animal
4.. Sports items
5.. Fingernail Fun
17 7
14 4
12 2
12 2
10 0
20 0
20 0
18 8
18 8
15 5
1.. Compact disc
2.. Items related to horses
3.. Backstreet Boys merchandising
4.. Nintendo
5.. Spice Girls merchandising
23 3
16 6
16 6
13 3
13 3
11-12 2 1.. Nintendo
2.2. Compact disc
3.. Clothing
4.. Personal computer
5.. Stereo
Alll children, particularly the youngest, were quite brand conscious in their selection
off toys. The most frequently requested Christmas present was Nintendo. Although
NintendoNintendo products were popular among all subgroups, boys in all age groups asked
forr Nintendo products more often than girls did.
Youngerr children asked for toys and games more often than older children did.
Forr seven- and eight-year-old boys Nintendo, K'nex, and Lego accounted for 72% of
alll Christmas wishes. The boys in the lower age group mostly requested activityorientedd toys (racetracks and racecars) and construction toys (K'nex and Meccano).
Forr the youngest girls, stuffed animals, dolls, and real-life pets were the most
frequentlyy mentioned wishes.
Childrenn in the middle age group more often asked for useful items, like school
stationaryy and sports items. For these categories, children generally did not mention
aa specific brand name, but asked for "a ball" or "a school notebook." Also in this age
groupp boys and girls differed significantly in their toy wishes. Boys mainly requested
sportss items, construction toys, computer games, and racecars, whereas girls
showedd a preference for Spice Girls merchandising, school stationary, stuffed animals,, sports items, Fingernail Fun, and Barbie.
67 7
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Eleven-- and twelve-year-old children often mentioned products like music equipment
andd clothing, without mentioning a specific brand name. For the oldest girls, this
typee of product accounted for 58% of all requests. Popular requests for boys in the
highestt age group were Nintendo, compact discs, clothing, and a personal computer.. For girls of this age, merchandising related to their favorite pop groups, and
itemss related to horses and horse riding were the most favorite gift requests.
Discussion n
Thee main aim of this study was to investigate to what extent child-directed television
advertisingg influences children's Christmas gift requests. Our findings revealed that
inn the overall sample more than half of the children (51.6%) asked for at least one
brandd that had been advertised in the period of investigation (RQi). How do our
Dutchh findings compare to the American results obtained in the 1970s? In the study
byy Frideres (1973), 78% of the children reported that they saw their requested toys
onn television. At first sight this percentage may seem incomparable to the 52% that
wee found. However, the sample in Frideres' study consisted of children in the ages
off five and eight, which is younger than the age group that we investigated. When
wee compare our youngest age group (seven- and eight-year-olds) with those in
Frideres'' study, the results are more similar. In our study, 76% of the boys and 57%
off the girls in the youngest age groups asked for at least one advertised product.
Thee relative low percentage (25%) of requests for advertised products found
byy Caron and Ward (1975) can also be explained in terms of differences in age
groupss between the studies, because their percentages were based on older childrenn than the children in our sample. The 11- and 12-year-olds in our sample also
lesss frequently asked for advertised products than did the younger children. Finally,
Robertsonn and Rossiter (1976) who used the same age groups as we did, found
percentagess of requests for advertised products (49%) that were virtually equal to
ours. .
Inn summary, our Dutch percentages are comparable to the American percentagess that were found more than 20 years ago. One could argue that our percentagess should have been higher because most societies have become more
consumer-orientedd over the past two decades. An explanation for this unexpected
lackk of difference could be that media in the Netherlands have only recently been
68 8
Thee Intended Effects of Television Advertising
commercialized.. Until the end of the 1980s, Dutch children's programming was limitedd to public television on Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays. However, since the
introductionn of commercial television in 1989, children can watch children's programss every day and all day long. While the Dutch public broadcasters have always
beenn reserved with child-targeted advertising, today's children's programs aired by
commerciall networks are usually loaded with more than 25 child-targeted commercialss per hour (Valkenburg, 1999).
Ourr first hypothesis predicted that children who watch a lot of television commercialss ask for advertised products more frequently than children who view little or
noo commercials. To investigate this hypothesis we asked children how often they
watchedd a number of programs on the two most popular commercial networks, RTL44 and Kindernet. Children who more often watched RTL-4, the network with most
commercials,, nominated significantly more advertised products as favorite gifts than
didd children who less frequently watched this channel. No significant differences
weree found for Kindernet, the network that showed fewer commercials. Our results
aree in line with prior research (Adler et a!., 1980; Goldberg, 1990; Gorn & Goldberg,
1980;; Greenberg et al., 1986; Robertson et al., 1989). In these studies, it was also
shownn that children who watch more commercial television have more favorable
attitudess toward commercials (Atkin, 1975; Rossiter & Robertson, 1976), and are
moree inclined to believe the advertising messages, which in turn make them more
susceptiblee to advertising influences.
Ourr second hypothesis, that older children ask for advertised products less
oftenn than younger children do, also received support. We found that two-third of the
seven-- to eight-year-olds nominated an advertised brand product as their favorite
Christmass gift, whereas only one-third of the 11- to 12-year-old children did so. One
explanationn for this finding coutd be that the needs and preferences of younger childrenn were more similar to the types of commercials that were included in our sample
off commercials. We recorded all commercials that were shown during two Saturday
morningg children's programs. We found that 90% of these commercials were toy
commercials.. Since younger children are more interested in toys than older children
(Kamptner,, 1991), the commercials that were taped might have been more congruentt with the preferences of younger children than with those of older children,
resultingg in more younger children asking for these advertised brands.
Anotherr explanation for our finding that younger children asked for more advertisedd brands than did older children could be that the younger children in our
69 9
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
studyy are in a transition period with respect to their cognitive and affective reactions
too commercials. As children enter the concrete operational stage (7-8 years), their
abilitiess to understand the selling intent of advertising rapidly increases (Blatt et al.,
1972;; Robertson & Rossiter. 1974; Ward et al., 1972; Ward et al., 1977). They then
alsoo become more skeptical towards commercials (Barling & Fullagar, 1983; Robertsonn & Rossiter, 1974), and less susceptible to advertising effects (Valkenburg &
Cantor,, 2001). Since the younger children in our sample were only on the threshold
off the level of concrete operations, they might have been more vulnerable to the toy
advertisingg campaigns during Christmas than the older children.
Ourr third hypothesis, that boys would make more requests for advertised
prod-uctss than girls, received support only in the youngest age group. Gender
differencess were not found among 9- to 10-year olds, whereas for the 11- to 12year-olds,, girls asked for advertised brands more often than boys did. An
explanationn for the finding that younger boys are more affected by television
commercialss than younger girls could be that the commercials in the Christmas
periodd were more appealing to youn-ger boys than to younger girls. Our results
showedd that for the youngest boys, Nin-tendo, K'nex, and Lego accounted for no
lesss than 72% of all Christmas gift re-quests in this age group. The youngest girls
askedd most often for a nameless stuffed animal. Our finding that 11- and 12-year-old
girlss tend to ask for more brand name gifts than did boys in this age group could be
becausee they often requested mer-chandising related to pop groups, which
inherentlyy includes a brand name. Boys in this age group were more interested in
itemss like clothes, personal computers, and stereos, items for which no specific
brandd name was mentioned.
Bothh gender and age played an important role in the types of products children
requested.. Consistent with Kamptner's (1991) findings, younger girls preferred
stuffedd animals, pets, and dolls, whereas younger boys mainly requested activityorientedd toys and construction toys. In accordance with earlier findings (Furby, 1978;
Kamptner,, 1991), children in the middle age group start to attach more value to the
usefulnesss of products. For instance, they frequently asked for school stationary,
electronicc organizers, and sports equipment. Although the older children in our
samplee were only 11 and 12 years old, their product preferences resembled
Kamptner'ss findings among teenagers. Boys and girls in the highest age groups
requestedd products with a strong social function (e.g., clothing), and products that
facilitatee social ties and the expression of aspects of the self (e.g., music, jewelry).
70 0
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
StrengthsStrengths and Limitations of the Study
Thiss field study, conducted in a naturalistic setting, was designed to investigate to
whichh extent television advertising plays a role in the Christmas gift ideas of schoolagedd children. We asked children to nominate their favorite Christmas wishes. We
thenn compared their requests to the commercials broadcast on the two most popular
Saturdayy morning children's networks in the Netherlands. The methodology of combiningg a two-pronged approach—the content analysis and the subsequent survey—
iss in certain ways similar to agenda setting methodology. Traditionally, the theory of
agendaa setting assumes that public judgements of the importance of certain issues
aree a result of the prominence of those issues in the media (McCombs & Shaw,
1972).. Agenda setting theory claims that the media determine what the audience
thinkss and talks about. Although agenda setting theory has traditionally focused on
thee realm of news and issue salience, this theory might have broader applications to
contextss in which a mass medium could influence what an audience perceives as
important.. In this study we compared the content of children's commercial media
environmentt with their gift wishes. We found that the brands that most often appearedd on children's wish lists, were exactly the ones that were most frequently
advertised.. To speak in agenda-setting terms, we found a striking similarity between
thee agenda of advertisers and that of children.
Althoughh we think that this study has made an important contribution to the
literaturee on behavioral effects of advertising, several limitations do exist. First, our
studyy failed to investigate some alternative sources of children's preferred Christmas
wishes.. For instance, children could have seen the toy in a store or got the idea from
aa friend. Second, some toys, such as Barbie, might be popular, irrespective of advertising,, because they perfectly connect to the fantasies of young elementary
schooll girls. Over the years, manufacturers of children's products have developed a
diversee spectrum of highly sophisticated research techniques to investigate children'ss preferences during the product development cycle (Kline, 1993). As a result,
childrenn have increasingly added their voices to newly developed toys. The extensivee research into children's likes and dislikes, together with the wealth of commerciall messages meticulously targeted to specific child segments, has made it difficult
forr researchers to determine whether toy manufacturers set the agenda for children'ss ideas and wishes, or whether children dominate the dynamics of toy development. .
71 1
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
REFERENCES S
Acuff,, D. S., & Reiher, R. H. (1997). What kids buy and why: The psychology of marketingketing to kids. New York: The Free Press.
Adler,, R. P., Lesser, G. S., Meringnoff, L. K., Robertson, T. S., Rossiter, J. R., &
Ward,, S. (1980). The effects of television advertising on children. Lexington,
MA:: Lexington Books.
Atkin,, C. (1975). Effects of television advertising on children - First year experimentall evidence. In The effects of television advertising on children, report #1. East
Lansing,, Ml: Michigan State University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No.. ED116783).
Atkin,, C. K. (1978). Observation of parent-child interaction in supermarket decisionmaking.. Journal of Marketing, 42, 41-45.
Barling,, J., & Fullagar, C. (1983). Children's attitudes to television advertisements: A
factoriall perspective. Journal of Psychology, f f 3(1), 25-30.
Barry,, T. E., & Hansen, R. W. (1973). How race affects children's TV commercials.
JournalJournal of Advertising Research, f 3(5), 63-67.
Bever,, T. G.. Smith, M. L., Bengen, B., & Johnson, T. G. (1975). Young viewers'
troublingg responses to TV ads. Harvard Business Review, 53,119-121.
Blatt,, J., Spencer, L., & Ward, S. (1972). A cognitive developmental study of children'ss reactions to television advertising. In E. A. Rubinstein, G. A. Comstock,
&& J. P. Murray (Eds.), Television and social behavior (pp. 468-490). Washington,, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Blosser,, B., & Roberts, D. (1985). Age differences in children's perceptions of message
intent:: Responses to TV news, commercials, educational spots, and public servicee announcements. Communication Research, 12, 455-484.
Butter,, E. J., Popovich, P. M., Stackhouse, R. H., & Gamer, R. K. (1981). Discriminationn of television programs and commercials by pre-school children. Journal
ofof Advertising Research, 21(2), 53-56.
Caron,, A., & Ward, S. (1975). Gift decisions by kids and parents. Journal of Advertisingsing Research, f 5(4), 15-20.
Costanzo,, P. R., & Shaw, M. E. (1966). Conformity as a function of age level. Child
Development,Development, 37, 967-975.
Cowan,, G., & Avants, S. K. (1988). Children's influence strategies: Structure, sex
differences,, and bilateral mother-child influence. Child development, 59, 13031313. .
72 2
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Dawson,, B. L, Jeffrey, D. B., & Walsh, J. A. (1988). Television food commercials'
effectt on children's resistance to temptation. Journal of Applied Psychology,
18,18, 1353-1360.
Derbaix,, C . & Bree, J. (1997). The impact of children's affective reactions elicited by
commercialss
on
attitudes
toward
the
advertisement
and
the
brand.
InternationalInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, 14, 207-229.
Donohue,, T. R. (1975). Effect of commercials on black children. Journal of Advertising
Research,Research, 5(6), 41-47.
Donohue,, T. R„ Henke, L. L , & Donohue, W. A. (1980). Do kids know what TV
commercialss intend? Journal of Advertising Research, 20(5), 51-57.
Durkin,, K. (1997). Developmental social psychology: From infancy to old age.
Maiden,, MA: Blackwell.
Feldman,, S., & Wolf, A. (1974). What's wrong with children's commercials? Journal
ofof Advertising Research, 14(1), 39-43.
Frideres,, J. S. (1973). Advertising, buying patterns, and children. Journal of Advertisingsing Research, f 3(1), 34-36.
Furby,, L. (1978). Possessions in humans: An exploratory study of its meaning and
motivation.. Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 49-65.
Galst,, J. P. (1980). Television food commercials and pro-nutritional public service
announcementss as determinants of young children's snack choices. Child Development,velopment, 51, 935-938.
Galst,, J., & White, M. (1976). The unhealthy persuader The reinforcing value of televisionn and children's purchase-influencing attempts at the supermarket Child Development,velopment, 47, 1089-1096.
Gardner,, C , & Sheppard, J. (1989). Consuming passion: The rise of retail culture,
London,, UK: Unwin Hyman.
Goldberg,, M. E. (1990). A quasi-experiment assessing the effectiveness of TV advertisingg directed to children. Journal of Marketing Research, 27, 445-454.
Goldberg,, M. E., & Gom, G. J. (1978). Some unintended consequences of TV advertisingg to children. Journal of Consumer Research, 5, 22-29.
Goldberg,, M. E., Gorn, G. J., & Gibson, W. (1978). TV messages for snack and
breakfastt foods: Do they influence children's preferences? Journal of Consumermer Research, 5, 73-81.
Gorn,, G. J., & Florsheim, R. (1985). The effects of commercials for adult products
onn children. Journal of Consumer Research, 11, 962-967.
73 3
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Gorn,, G. J.. & Goldberg, M. E. (1977). The impact of television advertising on childrenn from low-income families. Journal of Consumer Research, 4, 86-88.
Gorn,, G. J., & Goldberg, M. E. (1980). Children's responses to repetitive television
commercials.. Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 421-424.
Greenberg,, B. S., Fazal, S., & Wober, M. (1986). Children's views on advertising.
London,, UK: Research Department, Independent Broadcast Authority.
Gunter,, B., & Furnham, A. (1998). Children as consumers: A psychological analysis
ofof the young people's market. London, UK: Routledge.
Hite,, R. E., & Eek, R. (1987). Advertising to children: Attitudes of business vs. consumers.. Journal of Advertising Research, 27(5), 41-53.
Isler,, L., Popper, E. T., & Ward, S. (1987). Children's purchase requests and parentall responses: Results from a diary study. Journal of Advertising Research, 27
(5),, 29-39.
Kamptner,, N. (1991). Personal possessions and their meaning: A life-span perspective.. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 209-228.
Kijk-- en Luisteronderzoek (1997). Overzicht TV 1997. Hilversum: Kijk- en Luisteronderzoek. .
Kline,, S. (1993). Out of the garden. New York: Verso.
Maccoby,, E. E. (1990). Gender and relationships. American Psychologist, 45, 513520. .
Malrain,, E. (1985). La publicité télévisée et les enfants qui la regardent: Risques reels
ouu faux problèmes [Television advertising and children who watch it: Real risks
orr false problems]? Etudes de Radio-Television, 34,13-28.
Martin,, M. C , & Gentry, J. W. (1997). Stuck in the model trap: The effects of beautifull models in ads on female pre-adolescent and adolescents. Journal of
Advertising,Advertising, 26, 19-33.
McCombs,, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda setting function of the press.
PublicPublic Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.
McNeal,, J. U. (1969). The child as consumer: A new market. Journal of Retailing,
84,84, 15-22.
Miller,, J. H., & Busch, P. (1979). Host selling vs. premium TV commercials: An experimentall evaluation of their influence on children. Journal of Marketing Research,
16,16, 323-332.
Mitchell,, A. A. (1986). The effect of verbal and visual components of advertisements on
brandd attitudes and attitudes toward the advertisement. Journal of Consumer Research,search, 13, 12-24.
74 4
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Peterson,, L, & Lewis, K. E. (1988). Preventive intervention to improve children's
discriminationn of the persuasive tactics in televised advertising. Journal of
PediatricPediatric Psychology, 13,163-170.
Piaget,, J. (1965). The child's conception of the world. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams,
andd Co.
Richins,, M. L. (1991). Social comparison and the idealized images of advertising. Journalnal of Consumer Research, 18,71-83.
Robertson,, T. S., & Rossiter, J. R. (1974). Children and commercial persuasion: An
attributionn theory analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 1, 508-512.
Robertson,, T. S., & Rossiter, J. R. (1976). Short-run advertising effects on children: A
fieldd study. Journal of Marketing Research, 13, 68-70.
Robertson,, T. S., & Rossiter, J. R. (1977). Children's responsiveness to commercials.. Journal of Communication, 27(1), 101-106.
Robertson,, T. S., Ward, S., Gatignon, H., & Klees, D. M. (1989). Advertising and
children:: A cross-cultural study. Communication Research, 16, 459-485.
Ross,, R. P., Campbell. T., Huston Stein. A., & Wright, J. C. (1981). Nutritional misinformationn of children: A developmental and experimental analysis of the effects
off televised food commercials. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 1,
329-347. .
Rossiter,, J. (1979). Does TV advertising affect children? Journal of Advertising Research,search, 19(1), 49-53.
Rossiter,, J. R., & Robertson. T. S. (1974). Children's TV commercials: Testing the defenses.. Journal of Communication, 24(4), 137-144.
Rossiter,, J. R., & Robertson, T. S. (1976). Canonical analysis of developmental, social,, and experiential factors in children's comprehension of television advertising.. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 129, 317-327.
Rubin,, R. S. (1974). The effects of cognitive development on children's responses to
televisionn advertising. Journal of Business Research, 2,409-419.
Rust,, L. (1993a). How to reach children in stores: Marketing tactics grounded in observationall research. Journal of Advertising Research, 33(6), 67-72.
Rust,, L. (1993b). Parents and children shopping together A new approach to the qualitativee analysis of observational data. Journal of Advertising Research, 33(4), 6570. .
Sheikh,, A. A., & Moleski, L. M. (1977). Conflict in the family over commercials. Journalnal of Communication, 27(1), 152-157.
75 5
TheThe Intended Effects of Television Advertising
Sheikh,, A. A., Prasad, V. K., & Rao, T. R. (1974). Children's TV commercials: A review
off research. Journal of Communication, 24(4), 126-136.
Valkenburg,, P. M. (1999). De ontwikkeling van kind tot consument [The development
off a child into a consumer). Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap, 27, 30-46.
Valkenburg,, P. M., & Cantor, J. (2001). The development of a child into a consumer.
AppliedApplied Developmental Psychology, 22, 61-72.
Vooijs,, M., van der Voort, T.p & Beentjes, H. (1987). De geschiktheid van verschillende
typenn vragen om de kijktijd en leestijd van kinderen te meten: Een validatieonderzoekk [The aptness of different types of questions in measuring children's
viewingg and reading time: A validation study]. Massacommunicatie, 15, 65-80.
Wackman,, D. B., Wartella, E., & Ward, S. (1977). Learning to be consumers: The
rolee of the family. Journal of Communication, 27 (1), 138-151.
Ward,, S. (1974). Consumer socialization. Journal of Consumer Research, 1, 1-16.
Ward,, T. B. (1984). Opinions on television advertising to children: A content analysis
off letters to the Federal Trade Commission. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 30, 247259. .
Ward,, S., Reale, G„ & Levinson, D. (1972). Children's perceptions, explanations,
andd judgements of television advertising: A further exploration. In E. A. Rubinstein,, G. A. Comstock, & J. P. Murray (Eds.), Television and social behavior
(pp.. 468-490). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Ward,, S., & Wackman, D. (1972), Television advertising and intra-family influence:
Children'ss purchase influence attempts and parental yielding. Journal of Marketingketing Research, 9, 316-319.
Ward,, S., Wackman, D., & Wartella, E. (1977). How children learn to buy: The developmentvelopment of consumer information-processing skills. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Wartella,, E., & Ettema, J. S. (1974). A cognitive developmental study of children's
attentionn to television commercials. Communication Research, 1, 69-87.
Young,, B. M. (1990). Television advertising and children. Oxford, UK: Clarendon
Press. .
76 6