How Marketers Reach Young Consumers: Implications for Nutrition Education and Health Promotion Campaigns

Family Economics and Nutrition Review, Fall, 1998 by Vivica Kraak, David L. Pelletier

Commercialism permeates the lives of children and teenage youth. It is generally defined as the means of communication that creates consumer awareness and induces the desire for products, thus increasing consumer demand and commercial profit (24). The Center for the Study of Commercialism describes commercialism as "ubiquitous product marketing that leads to a preoccupation with individual consumption to the detriment of society" (16). One top executive of an advertising firm said, "It isn't enough to just advertise on television ... you've got to reach kids through the day--in school, as they're shopping in the mall ... or at the movies. You've got to become part of the fabric of their lives" (6).

Much research exists that assesses the specific influence of television advertising on children's food- and nutrition-related decisions and behavior over the past two decades (26). Few studies or reviews, however, have attempted to examine the presence of commercialism in promotional mediums such as school lesson plans, movies, magazines, games, and kid's clubs.

This paper describes the research methods and type of information gathered by marketers for advertising campaigns targeted to children and teenage youth. The paper also describes the advertising techniques, styles, and channels marketers use to reach young consumers. Then the paper discusses how current knowledge of market research methods, marketing strategies, and techniques can be used --within a social marketing framework--to design more effective health promotion and nutrition education campaigns that encourage healthful eating habits among children and teenage youth.

How Marketers Reach Children and Teenage Youth

Marketers are extremely interested in children as consumers because children themselves spend billions of dollars annually, influence household purchases, and are future adult consumers (33). A lifetime customer may be worth $100,000 to a retailer (23). Hence, the advertising industry aggressively pursues efforts to understand and anticipate the needs and desires of young consumers (23). With more sophisticated market research techniques, marketers have gained a wealth of information about children and teenagers. A review of the research methods marketers use provides insight into the type of information they seek: information that allows them to design marketing strategies for young consumers.

To obtain opinions, feedback, and insights from children and teenage youth, market researchers use various research methods. Some are focus groups, written or telephone surveys, individual or group interviews, picture drawing, story-telling, secret ballot, and observational field studies. Manufacturers and retailers will often contract with independent market research firms that have extensive experience working with children and teenagers. These manufacturers and retailers design engaging advertising campaigns to sell products or services to this lucrative market with the goal of increasing their market share. A 1990 market survey, based on the responses of 49 corporations and advertising agencies that market children's products, revealed that $16.1 million was spent on children's research. This research was related to product, concept, commercial tests, audience segmentation, programming, packaging, promotions, print advertisements, brand name identification, and pricing (12).

According to the marketing literature, four essential elements help marketers reach children: First, marketers keep their efforts child-focused. Second, they ask children the right questions and select appropriate outcome measures (e.g., product recognition, attention level or in-store behavior, likability rating, verbal recall, and conventional indicators of product preference). Third, marketers keep corporate attention focused on children's needs (using seminars, qualitative interviews, and periodic testing of products and communication strategies). Fourth, marketers complement intuition with theory when designing their research (15).

Market researchers caution against using standard research methods that are used with adults when children are studied. Adult marketers may understand adult consumers intuitively, but they tend to read adult meanings into what children say (15). Using conventional focus groups with children, for instance, can lead to "follow-the-leader" group dynamics. The result: Inadequate data, misleading interpretations, unhappy clients, and dissatisfied customers (30).

Experienced focus group moderators believe that overcoming the effects of peer pressure is a challenge. One way to reduce the influence of peer pressure is to ensure that the children in the group are unacquainted with each other. Moderators suggest keeping focus group members within a 2-year age span, because younger children may be intimidated by older youth. Moderators also suggest separating boys and girls: girls tend to answer more frequently when genders are mixed (31). It is also recommended that an adult moderator be replaced with a trained youth peer to obtain more reliable information. Another recommendation: collect information in familiar surroundings such as in schools, at summer camps, or at sporting events (30).