ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN

SUCHISMITA DHAR: 51/09 NITIN VOHRA: 55/09 ISHUDEEP SINGH: /09

Introduction

Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action. Advertising to children is the act of marketing or advertising products or services to children, as defined by national legislation and advertising standards. Advertising is a pervasive influence on children and adolescents. Young people view more than 40,000 ads per year on television alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, and in schools.

Children constitute three different markets:

  

Primary Market.(Autonomy and power in decision-making) Influencer Future market (Adult consumers of future)

(white goods, cars, cell phones, grocery and even insurance policies etc..)

ADVERTISING IN DIFFERENT MEDIA

Television Movies Print Media The Internet Digital Media Advertisers have traditionally used techniques to which children and adolescents are more susceptible, such as product placements in movies and TV shows,26 tie-ins between movies and fast food restaurants,18 tie-ins between TV shows and toy action figures or other products,7 kids' clubs that are linked to popular shows, and celebrity endorsements.27 Cellular phones are currently being marketed to 6- to 12-year-olds, with the potential for directing specific advertisers to children and preteens.

COMMON ADVERTISING STRATEGIES

Ideal Kids and Families (Role models) Are You Cool Enough? (if you don t use their product) Amazing Toys (Extraordinary features) Weasel Words (Look for words in commercials like: Part of . . . ,

of real . . . , Natural . . . , New, better tasting . . . , Because we care. . . )

The taste

Put Downs (Thumbs down to competitor product) Heart Strings (Emotional touch..) Cute Celebrities

Selective Editing (Commercials show only brilliant catches and

perfect throws. Unfortunately, that's not the way most children experience these toys.)

Family Fun Facts and Figures (Advertisers use facts and statistics to enhance a

product s credibility.)

Star Power (Sports heroes, movie stars, and teenage heartthrobs tell our
children what to eat and what to wear)

Bandwagon (Join the crowd! Don t be left out! Everyone is buying this
product Why aren t you?)

Excitement (this toy is the most excited one) Scale

CHILDREN AND MARKETING

Parents today are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. As well, guilt can play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spent with their kids. Most marketers were targeting kids even for products that had nothing to do with children. Since most middle class families have both parents working the marketer tries to work through the children on the guilt of the parents and thus encourage children to make very unreasonable demands.

SCHOOLS

  

School used to be a place where children were protected from the advertising and consumer messages that permeated their world. Corporations realize the power of the school environment for promoting their name and products: Sponsored educational materials Advertising posted in classrooms, school buses, Contests and incentive programs(Sports and cultural events)

(e.g. .Camel, ICICI(to get parent s contact numbers)

FACTS AND FINDINGS

Primary Data Findings


Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade, increasing from a mere $100 million in 1990 to more than $2 billion in 2000. In 55% of the cases it was found that the child used to influence the buying decision of the parents particularly buying clothes, food items, toys, FMCG items including cosmetics and fashion accessories. 86 % of the parents surveyed feel that there is need for regulation as far as food related advertisements are concerned. Of these about 7% say that all the food ADs targeting children should be banned, about 41% say that ADs should be regulated during certain time period while children s programmes are being telecasted and around 38% feel that only fast food ADs should be regulated. Around 84% of children watch TV while eating which may affect their food intake.

Around 78% of the children watch cartoon channels, so they are more exposed to the characters shown there and the products endorsed by these cartoon characters which may imbibe bad food habits in children as most of the ADs projected are fast food and cold drink related and not about healthy diet! The kids buy a particular product mostly because he has seen it on TV or some of his friend has it. An average Indian child watches 14 hrs of Television each week.

EMOTIONAL APPEALS NeedsThe need for acceptance/belonging to a group The need for security The need for change, variety and excitement The need to be attractive The need for self-acceptance

FEARS Being unattractive Being rejected Being ridiculed Being unsafe/in danger

STRATEGIES TO TARGET

Marriage of psychology and marketing (children's behavior, fantasy lives,

art work, dreams etc..)

Building brand name loyalty (planting the seeds of brand recognition in very
young children, in the hopes that the seeds will grow into lifetime relationships)

Buzz or street marketing Commercialization in education Internet Marketing adult entertainment to kids Repetitive TV spots Big-screen hype

SPECIFIC HEALTH-RELATED AREAS OF CONCERN

Tobacco Advertising Tobacco manufacturers spend $30 million/day ($11.2 billion/year) on advertising and promotion. In addition, more than 20 studies have found that children exposed to cigarette ads or promotions are more likely to become smokers themselves Alcohol Advertising Alcohol manufacturers spend $5.7 billion/year on advertising and promotion. Young people typically view 2000 beer and wine commercials annually, with most of the ads concentrated in sports programming. During prime time, only 1 alcohol ad appears every 4 hours; yet, in sports programming, the frequency increases to 2.4 ads per hour

Drug Advertising Food Advertising and Obesity Advertisers spend more than $2.5 billion/year to promote restaurants and another $2 billion to promote food products Obscenity in Advertising Obscenity is used in commercials to sell everything from beer to shampoo to cars. New research is showing that teenagers' exposure to sexual content in the media may be responsible for earlier onset of sexual intercourse or other sexual activities

LEGAL ASPECTS OF ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN

Television: The Cable Act provides guidelines for programmes and advertisements on television. All programmes must adhere to the codes before being transmitted. The codes of the Cable Act. Advertisements:
There are no specific guidelines about acceptable advertisements aimed at children in India. However, if there is a complaint about an ad it may be withdrawn after consideration by the Advertising Standards Council.

There is also no law in India which lays down guidelines for the use of child models in advertisements. Whether children should work in this way is a matter of current debate, but there has been no legislation passed as yet.

There are some strict laws relating to advertising and children. Selling, hiring, distributing, exhibiting or circulating an obscene object to a person under the age of 20 years, the punishment is prison for up to five years and a fine of up to 5000 rupees. Advertising in schools : There are no bars on advertising in schools in India. In fact, Coca-Cola and Pepsi offer several sponsorships to schools, particularly for sporting activities. Internet : Regulation on the internet in India is strict. The IT Act penalizes publication and transmission of material which is obscene, lascivious or appeals to prurient interest. The Act can be invoked for such material on the ground that it has the propensity to corrupt the minds of children.

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