Exam question quotes

Question 1

Spotswood 2015

Answer 1

Understandings of consumer vulnerability remains controversial and disputable when concerned with children

Question 2

Todd 2001

Answer 2

Concerns of marketing to children has highlighted the exploitation children are subject to

Question 3

Sramova 2016 - children as a consumer group

Answer 3

Children as consumers are not a “powerful or economically strong” consumer group but are attractive to marketers due to the power of persuasion and the potential to be lifetime consumers

Question 4

Sramova 2016 - advertising literacy

Answer 4

due to cognitive behaviour, children struggle to differentiate between advertisements and promotional activity where by advertising literacy is a main cause of concern

Question 5

Imbedded language

Answer 5

Young children’s ability to understood the embedded intent behind language used within advertisements is minimal, positioning them in a vulnerable position as they are unable to fully grasp the intent behind the language used

Question 6

Age of understanding advertising literacy

Answer 6

Children at the age of three know the difference between an advertisement or programme but do not understand the language used within them

Question 7

Piaget (Ginsburg and Opper, 1988)

Answer 7

Piaget devised a cognitive learning theory that split intellectual development into four stages: sensorimotor which occurs from birth to the age of two, pre-operational which occurs from the age 2-7, concrete operational which occurs from ages 7-11 and formal operation which occurs from age eleven onwards

Question 8

Piaget - transferrable skills

Answer 8

For children to progress to the next stage, they need to attain cognitive skills of their current stages as these skills are transferrable to each stage

Question 9

Attraction of pre-operational stage for children

Answer 9

Pre-operational stage interests marketers the most when it comes to advertising to children, attention-getting techniques such as animation, lively music and rhyming are used by marketers to influence children’s purchase requests

Question 10

Wilson and Weiss 1992

Answer 10

Yet these children are completely unaware of the impacts of advertisements on their purchase requests due to a lack of cognitive development

Question 11

Ali et al 2009 - online advert advertisement

Answer 11

More over, Ali et al 2009 found that only children as old as 10-12 years old understood online advertisements, clearly highlighting issues concerning marketers manipulation of children within promotional activity; especially online

Question 12

2017 HFSS regulations

Answer 12

Research contributed to the implementation of regulations on marketing to children. For example, from 2017 ads on HFSS products can not appear in online media where children make up over 25% of the audience. Therefore, cognitive behaviour highlights why children are vulnerable customers.

Question 13

Families (Blythe, 2013)

Answer 13

Families and parents play an important role within child consumer behaviour. Families are known to be an extremely powerful reference group due to the influences they exert on their children’s purchasing decisions

Question 14

Family references group characteristics

Answer 14

Families possess reference group characteristics such as face-to-face contact, shared consumption leading to the parents being the purchasing agent of child’s wants and needs

Question 15

Ekstrom et al 1987 - pester power

Answer 15

Children generate a level of pester power where they exert a level of pressure on the family to make purchase decisions from insistent demands

Question 16

Specialised/ strategized advertisements

Answer 16

this shows that advertisements towards children are highly specialised to influence a vulnerable group in society

Question 17

Lifetime loyalty

Answer 17

Additionally children tend to have similar purchasing habits as their parents due to the influence they have as a reference group over children, suggesting that marketing to children is a strategy to ensure lifetime loyalty

Question 18

Digital marketing definitions

Answer 18

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services through technology such as intent, mobile phones and any other digital medium

Question 19

Ofcom 2019

Answer 19

According to Ofcom 2019, 90-96% of children watch TV for 13-14 hours per week and 45-89% of children use YouTube which is subject to mass amounts of advertisements

Question 20

European commission 2016

Answer 20

Children are unaware of the risks they are exposed to through these platforms and neither are parents

Question 21

European consumer consultive group 2013

Answer 21

Behavioural marketing techniques such as alcohol-based advertisements and sexualised content featured on games which target children

Question 22

Children exposed to inappropriate content

Answer 22

Due to children’s lessened cognitive skills they are unaware of the danger of the inappropriate content. Therefore, digital marketing communications exposes children to an environment which they are totally unaware of making them vulnerable online

Question 23

Calvert 2008

Answer 23

Media is ever growing and changing for children

Question 24

How marketing to children is easy in digital marketing

Answer 24

Firstly, increased number of digital interactive technologies has allowed routes to child marketing. Secondly there is an increase in discretionary income of children which allows them to influence parent purchases

Question 25

Stealth marketing

Answer 25

Stealth marketing is a concept which describes the embedding of products or services in films, TV shows and games to persuade the audience to purchase

Question 26

Stealth marketing example

Answer 26

For example, McDonald’s advertise toys on children channels due to not being allowed to promote high fat food. Yet, they can advertise these high fat foods on family programmes or traditional TV

Question 27

Sophisticated marketing environment

Answer 27

This illustrates that children are consumed by a sophisticated marketing environment which made them vulnerable to influenced purchase behaviour

Question 28

Food marketing intro

Answer 28

The main issue marketing to children is food marketing - a popular method of promotion amongst children

Question 29

Hastings 2013

Answer 29

Continuous advertisements of food with low nutritional value has led to a link between online and digital behaviour with obesity

Question 30

Big four domination

Answer 30

These advertisements are dominated by “the big four; cereal, confectionary, savoury snacks and soft drinks.” These issues have become an issue of public health due to the desirability of slim actors eating the low nutritional foods.

Question 31

2007 HFSS ban - age based

Answer 31

Consequently, regulations were put in place from 2007 on a ban of HFSS broadcast around programmes aimed at or appealing to children aged up to 15 years old. This suggests that people are beginning to understand how dangerous child focused marketing activity is within the UK.

Question 32

Conclusion pt 1

Answer 32

As a result, it is evident children are vulnerable customers due to a lack of cognitive development and a lack of sophisticated knowledge. Digital communications have only worsened these effects due to the sophistication and freedom of technology in modern times

Question 33

Conclusion pt 2

Answer 33

However, regulatory bodies have recognised the issues, where regulations have been put in place to protect and safeguard children on the internet, but do more regulations need to be put in place?