Moniek Buijzen

Associations between children's television advertising exposure and their food consumption patterns: A household diary–survey study

In a diary-survey study in 234 households with children aged 4-12 years, we investigated the associations between childrens exposure to food advertising and their consumption of (a) advertised food brands, (b) advertised energy-dense food product categories, and (c) food products overall. Relations were examined using multiple hierarchical regression analysis, while controlling for various child (i.e., age, sex, television viewing time) and family variables (i.e., family income and consumption-related communication styles). Results showed that childrens exposure to food advertising was significantly related to their consumption of advertised brands (beta=.21) and energy-dense product categories (beta=.19). The relation between advertising exposure and overall food consumption only held in lower-income families (beta=.19). In addition, consumption-related family communication was an important moderator of the relations between advertising and the food consumption variables. Socio-oriented family communication (i.e., striving for harmony and conformity) was particularly successful in reducing these relations. In conclusion, consistent with communication theories predicting spill-over effects of advertising, the impact of television food advertising exceeded the advertised brand and generalized to more generic unhealthy consumption patterns. Theoretical and societal consequences, as well as the important role of the family are discussed.

The Unintended Effects of Television Advertising: A Parent-Child Survey

The aim of this parent-child survey is to investigate how television advertising is related to childrens purchase requests, materialism, disappointment, life dissatisfaction, and family conflict. In a first step, a conceptual model based on existing hypotheses was developed, and in a second step, this model was tested using a sample of 360 parent-child (8- to 12-year-olds) dyads. Using structural equation modeling, the findings show that advertising is positively and directly related to childrens purchase requests and materialism. It is also positively, though indirectly (mediated by advertising-induced purchase requests), related to family conflict, disappointment, and life dissatisfaction. Parent-child consumer communication and parental mediation of advertising are important moderators of the effects of advertising on childrens purchase requests and materialism.

Parental Mediation of Undesired Advertising Effects

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of various types of parental mediation of 3 potentially undesired effects of television advertising. In a survey among 360 parent–child dyads with children in the 8 to 12 years age range, we investigated how different styles of advertising mediation (active vs. restrictive) and family consumer communication (concept-oriented vs. socio-oriented) moderated the relations between the childrens advertising exposure and their materialism, purchase requests, and conflicts with their parents. Our results showed that active advertising mediation and concept-oriented consumer communication were most effective in reducing the effects of advertising.

The effects of television advertising on materialism, parent-child conflict, and unhappiness: A review of research

In this article, we introduce a model on the unintended effects of advertising. This model describes the existing hypotheses about the impact of advertising on (a) materialism, (b) parent–child conflict, and (c) unhappiness. The validity of each of these hypotheses was investigated using a vote-counting analysis. Our analyses yielded a small to moderate effect size for the relation between advertising and materialism as well as a small to moderate effect size for the relation between advertising and parent–child conflict. However, support for the hypothesized relation between advertising and unhappiness was not found. The outcome of our vote-counting analysis provided several working hypotheses for further research as well as identified possible moderator variables that should be taken into account in future research.

Developing a Typology of Humor in Audiovisual Media

The main aim of this study was to develop and investigate a typology of humor in audiovisual media. We identified 41 humor techniques, drawing on Bergers (1976, 1993) typology of humor in narratives, audience research on humor preferences, and an inductive analysis of humorous commercials. We analyzed the content of 319 humorous television commercials to investigate (a) whether and how humor techniques cluster into higher order humor categories and (b) which humor techniques and categories characterize commercials aimed at different audience groups. From principle components analysis, 7 categories of humor emerged: slapstick, clownish humor, surprise, misunderstanding, irony, satire, and parody. Our findings showed some marked differences in the humor techniques and categories in commercials aimed at different age and gender groups.

Reconsidering advertising literacy as a defense against advertising effects

It is widely assumed that advertising literacy makes children less susceptible to advertising effects. However, empirical research does not provide convincing evidence for this view. In this article, we explain why advertising literacy as it is currently defined (i.e., conceptual knowledge of advertising) is not effective in reducing childrens advertising susceptibility. Specifically, based on recent insights on childrens advertising processing, we argue that due to the affect-based nature of contemporary advertising, children primarily process advertising under conditions of low elaboration and, consequently, are unlikely to use their advertising knowledge as a critical defense. Moreover, literature on cognitive development suggests that childrens ability to use advertising knowledge as a defense will be further limited by their immature executive functioning and emotion regulation abilities. Therefore, we argue that the current conceptualization of advertising literacy needs to be extended with two dimensions: advertising literacy performance, which takes into account the actual use of conceptual advertising knowledge, and attitudinal advertising literacy, which includes low-effort, attitudinal mechanisms that can function as a defense under conditions of low elaboration. We conclude our article with specific directions for future research and implications for the ongoing societal and political debate about children and advertising.

Comparing Children's and Adults' Cognitive Advertising Competences in the Netherlands

This study examines the age at which children reach adult levels of cognitive advertising competences. In a computer-assisted survey of 294 children (8–12 years) and 198 adults (18–30 years), we investigate at what age children reach adult levels of (1) advertising recognition, and (2) understanding of advertisings selling and persuasive intent. Our findings show that around the age of 9–10, most children have reached an adult level of advertising recognition. However, at age 12, children have still not acquired an adult-like understanding of advertisings selling and persuasive intent. Finally, childrens understanding of the selling intent of advertising develops before their understanding of its persuasive intent.

The impact of television advertising on children's Christmas wishes

In December 1997,250 children were asked to list their Christmas wishes. These requests were then compared to the commercials that were broadcast at the time of data collection. Sixty-seven percent of the seven- and eight-year-olds, 49% of the 9- and 10-year-olds, and 40% of the 11-and 72-year-olds asked for at least one advertised product. Childrens gender and age, as well as their level of exposure to the network that aired the most commercials, were significant predictors of their requests for advertised products.

Using brand characters to promote young children’s liking of and purchase requests for fruit

The aim of this experiment was to investigate whether brand characters can enhance childrens liking of and purchase request intent for fruit compared to candy. The authors assigned 216 preschool students between the ages of 4 and 6 years to 9 experimental conditions in which they were presented with a healthy snack (chopped bananas) and an unhealthy snack (banana candy). The packages of these snacks portrayed a familiar character (i.e., Dora from Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob from SpongeBob SquarePants), an unfamiliar character, or no character (control group). The authors’ results showed that brand characters can increase childrens liking of and purchase request intent for fruit up to a level similar to candy. However, the effects on liking and purchase request intent did not differ between familiar and unfamiliar characters. These results may be helpful for future marketing campaigns to promote childrens consumption of healthy foods.

Children's understanding of advertisers' persuasive tactics

The aim of this study was to investigate children’s understanding of six popular tactics used by advertisers to elicit certain advertising effects, including ad repetition, product demonstration, peer popularity appeal, humour, celebrity endorsement and premiums. We first asked 34 advertisers of child products to indicate what kind of effects (e.g. ad or product recall, learning and liking) they intend to elicit by using each of the six tactics. Subsequently, in a survey among 209 children (aged 8–12) and 96 adults (>18), we investigated the extent to which children understood advertisers’ intended effects of these tactics and how this compared to an adult benchmark. Results showed that children’s understanding of advertisers’ tactics increased progressively between the ages of 8 and 12, showing a significant increase around age 10. The age at which children reach an adult level of understanding differed by tactic. For example, the use of celebrity endorsement was generally understood at an earlier age than other tactics, whereas product demonstration was understood at a later age.