The aim of the research is to determine methodological and practical problems in researching shopping habits and marketing aspects of children's behavior. The relationship of children as consumers ...towards family, society and the environment was investigated. The paper tried to explain the way in which children as consumers perceive and understand the purpose of advertising, which is related to children's shopping behavior. The impact of integrated marketing communications on the buying habits of children as consumers was examined. Primary data were used to test the set hypotheses. As part of the empirical research, data were collected using the test method, based on a multi-stage random sample. The data were collected with the presence of the teacher and the prior consent of one of the parents. By identifying and explaining the key determinants of children's behavior as consumers, it was observed that children want to participate themselves in the choice of what is offered to them. Media advertising can no longer address their parents, because the situation has changed due to the fact that children are usually the ones who influence the final purchase. Tuzla Canton, as the geographical area of the conducted research, represents a limitation of the research, and as a recommendation for further research into the observation of children as consumers, it should be focused on the entire area of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
•Children represent a highly heterogeneous consumer group in the snack market.•Popular fast food branding has no positive influence on children’s snack choice.•Children’s price responsiveness is ...moderated by their cognitive abilities and age.•Higher prices could limit some children’s expenditures on less nutritious snacks.•Preferences and dislikes for a snack stimulate some children’s snack choice.
The objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of brand and price on children’s purchase decisions in the snack market. It examines the role of nutritious snacks in children’s autonomous snack purchases and determines whether fast food branding can motivate the perception of rather nutritious snacks. It also considers child-specific characteristics to analyze the impact of brand and price on children’s purchase decisions. The study included an incentive-compatible purchase experiment with primary school children aged 7 to 10 years, a questionnaire, and a cognitive test measuring children’s context-related understanding of quantities. Three different food attributes were considered: snacks differing in healthiness, brand, and price. In the final analysis, 123 children were included. Data were analyzed using multinomial logit model, mixed logit model, and latent class analysis. The study highlights the heterogeneity of children as autonomous consumers in the snack market. Our results show that some children’s snack choice is positively influenced by their overall preferences for a snack option, and children’s price responsiveness is moderated by their cognitive abilities and age, while branding of a popular fast food brand has no positive influence on children’s (healthier) snack choices. We conclude that a multifaceted approach is required to encourage children to choose healthier snack options, including targeted price interventions (e.g. for older children) as well as measures that improve the quality and variety of healthier choices.
The paper aims to investigate in detail the strategies and efforts of children consumer protection national policies in order to conduct a comprehensive review of ongoing practices. Through content ...analysis, the paper investigates four dimensions of national policies: general elements of children consumer protection policies, marketing communication restrictions, harmful product-specific restrictions, and empowerment and education in five different countries of diverse cultural dimensions: Germany, the USA, the UK, Spain, and Croatia. The paper fills an existing research gap by emphasizing practices of children consumer protection strategies that should be encouraged and those that should be avoided, thereby formulating the recommendations needed to prevent the negative consequences of marketing communication. The findings confirm that successful strategies have strong national legislations, market self-regulation, and education on media literacy. Advertisement for all potentially harmful product categories should be strictly regulated in order for children to be fully protected. According to the results, Germany and the UK are the most efficient in children consumer protection policies, followed by Spain, Croatia, and the USA.
The World Health Organization (WHO) have released a new guideline, "Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing" 1 which recommends the development of comprehensive laws to ...reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing. This new guideline extends previous recommendations 2 to limit the adverse effects of unhealthy food marketing on the health of the world's children. We consider here whether these new recommendations go far enough.
Although ambivalence (the coexistence of positive and negative components of an attitudinal target) is common in consumers’ lives, prior research is mixed in terms of when and how it influences ...consumers’ behavior. We theorize that ambivalence-evoked arousal causes people to focus on the immediate consequences of a consumption choice. Thus, ambivalence enhances approach behavior when immediate outcomes associated with consuming the focal product are positive, as is often the case with risky products. In six studies across multiple product categories, we show that adolescents’ and young adults’ (from the U.S. and France) ambivalence toward a risky product enhances willingness to pay for, intention to use, and interest in positive information about risky products. We also show that the heuristic cue of information about salient social norms moderates the relationship between ambivalence and approach behavior toward a risky product: the effect of ambivalence on approach behavior is enhanced when descriptive norms are higher and attenuated when lower.
Children's dietary-related diseases and their associated costs have expanded dramatically in many countries, making children's food choice a policy issue of increasing relevance. As children spend a ...considerable amount of money on energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) products, a better understanding of the main drivers of children's independent food purchase decisions is crucial to move this behavior toward healthier options.
The objective of the study is to investigate the role of branding and price in motivating children to choose healthier snack options.
The study investigates snack choices of children ages 8 to 11, using a survey and a purchase experiment. The research took place in after-school programs of selected schools in the Boston area. Participants included 116 children. Products in the choice experiment differed on three factors: product type, brand, and price. Data were analyzed using aggregated and mixed logit models.
Children's purchase decisions are primarily determined by product type (Importance Value (IV) 56.6%), while brand (IV 22.8%) and price (IV 20.6%) prove to be of less relevance. Only those children who state that they like the familiar brand reveal a preference for the branded product in their purchase decision. Price is a significant predictor of choice when controlling for whether or not children obtain an allowance.
It is not simple brand awareness but a child's liking of the brand that determines whether a brand is successful in motivating a child to choose a product. The extent of children's experience with money influences their price responsiveness. To the extent that children who receive an allowance are primarily the ones buying food snacks, higher prices for EDNP snacks could be successful in motivating children to choose a healthier option.
Physical activity (PA) tends to decline during late childhood and adolescence. In Australia, this decline has been shown to occur particularly in non-organized PA (e.g. active play and informal ...sport). Using a social marketing approach, segments of youth may be identified and targeted based on their profile of alternative activities that compete with non-organized PA during the transition to adolescence. The objectives of this study were to identify and describe segments of youth whose participation in non-organized PA declined between 11 and 13 years, based on changes in other potential competing activities during this period.
Data were sourced from Waves 4 and 5 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Participation in non-organized PA and thirteen alternative activities (e.g. video games, homework, sleep) were measured using 24-h time-use diaries. Analyses were limited to participants whose non-organized PA had declined between 11 and 13 years (n = 1043). Two-stage cluster analysis was conducted and segments were described using chi-square and t-tests.
Among the analytic sample, average non-organized PA participation declined by 87 min/day between 11y and 13y (p < 0.001). Two segments were identified (κ = 0.66). The 'Social Screens' segment (n = 143) had large increases in texting, emailing and social media use (+ 56 min/day, p < 0.001) and other internet use (+ 32 min/day, p < 0.001). Conversely, 'the Mainstream' segment (n = 900) had smaller increases in a wider range of activities, including other PA (organized PA, active transport, active chores/work) (+ 16.0 min/day, p < 0.001), homework/study (+ 9.5 min/day, p < 0.001) and electronic gaming (+ 6.7 min/day, p < 0.05). 'Social Screens' were more likely to attend public school, live in urban areas and have more advanced pubertal development (girls only). 'The Mainstream' were more likely to participate in PA and out-of-school activities.
The 'Social Screens' segment had a much larger increase in texting, emailing, social media and other internet use, and lower participation in overall PA and out-of-school activities, compared with 'the Mainstream'. Future research may trial PA promotion strategies to replace benefits that this segment may seek in competing activities (e.g. social PA apps).
Creating an environment in which children in the United States grow up healthy should be a high priority for the nation. Yet the prevailing pattern of food and beverage marketing to children in ...America represents, at best, a missed opportunity, and at worst, a direct threat to the health prospects of the next generation. Children's dietary and related health patterns are shaped by the interplay of many factors?their biologic affinities, their culture and values, their economic status, their physical and social environments, and their commercial media environments?all of which, apart from their genetic predispositions, have undergone significant transformations during the past three decades. Among these environments, none have more rapidly assumed central socializing roles among children and youth than the media. With the growth in the variety and the penetration of the media have come a parallel growth with their use for marketing, including the marketing of food and beverage products. What impact has food and beverage marketing had on the dietary patterns and health status of American children? The answer to this question has the potential to shape a generation and is the focus of Food Marketing to Children and Youth . This book will be of interest to parents, federal and state government agencies, educators and schools, health care professionals, industry companies, industry trade groups, media, and those involved in community and consumer advocacy.
The main aim of this study is to describe the communication between children and parents about children’s desired purchases of items in Croatia. Online focus groups were conducted with children ages ...11 to 15, and their parents, using a pre-prepared list of questions. The constant comparative method was applied, and the data were coded thematically, meaning data were organized into groups or codes on the basis of repeating keywords in the transcripts. The analysis shows children mostly ask their parents for clothing items and food. The findings indicate children and parents resolve the purchase decisions based on a few communication themes. Children employ persuasion, bargaining, and negotiation communication to acquire their desired items. As a response, parents employ bargaining and negotiation communication, budgeting and financial communication, usefulness and need communication, and postponed purchase communication. This research contributes to a better understanding of child and parent communication related to child purchase wishes and parent–child communication.
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