Editorial

Citation

Brian Young, D. (2008), "Editorial", Young Consumers, Vol. 9 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/yc.2008.32109daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Young Consumers, Volume 9, Issue 4

The papers in this issue are, like most of our previous issues, thoroughly international in outlook both in terms of cultures explored and/or authorship. This quarter we have Jordan, Canada, the UK, Hong Kong, France, New Zealand, the USA, and Brazil represented. Let’s look at what is in store for you.

Agnes Nairn writes with flair and fluency as many of those who are familiar with her work recognise and appreciate. This paper provides us first, with a useful distillation of key regulatory principles drawn from various national and international regulatory frameworks and guidelines and these are then applied to the vexed question of commercial activity on internet sites that are of interest to children. The results are truly illuminating and the suggestions for implementing new guidelines make eminent sense. I have placed this as our lead article for this issue and urge you all to read it closely.

It is not often we get papers on media consumption by young people and Chris Fanthome’s work is very welcome. She presents a thoughtful piece that provides us with insightful findings on current audience trends and attitudes toward the BBC that is essential reading for any practitioner that uses the media or academic wanting to understand the media. There is good theory there too on the changing media landscape with sources taken from UK media and cultural studies.

Abdul Al-Zu’bi’s paper with his colleagues examines the role of the father in family communication patterns and the perceptions of young children within families in Jordan. There is a sophisticated and useful discussion of the role of intra-familial communication patterns in consumer socialization and the results and discussion although lengthy merit the space I have allocated to them in terms of their thoroughness and sample size used.

Magdalena Cismaru Anne Lavack and Evan Markewich are interested in a social marketing approach to moderating alcohol use in young consumers. They looked at social marketing campaigns from five countries, aimed at preventing or reducing alcohol consumption among young people including children. There is a useful review of the literature on alcohol consumption and young people and the analysis is framed in terms of protection motivation theory. Over 30 campaigns are analysed and discussed. Essential reading for those who are interested in or involved with alcohol marketing and young people.

Content analyses of advertising have a well-established provenance, especially those that explore gender-role portrayals in different cultures and times. One of the most productive researchers, Adrian Furnham has contributed a paper together with Jessica Li examining food advertising in Hong Kong. Food and beverage products are often directed at families in which children and young people play an active role. Interestingly on various content criteria no significant difference emerged on gender and this will be of interest to practitioner readers and academics alike.

We know that much of the child market is indirect where adults buy stuff for children. We know about the interplay between parents and children that comes under the head of “pester power” or “the nag factor” between parents and children during family shopping but Parsons and Ballantine’s paper examines another line of influence where adults buy gifts for children. There is a well-established literature on gift-giving and these authors provide us with a more than adequate introduction. The research used a questionnaire and a large sample of adults in households in New Zealand were interviewed about their gift giving to children and results give us some insight into the roles of kinship, gender of the buyer, and the presence of siblings in giving gifts to children.

Finally we have our two regular features from GALA on regulations on advertising to children (an update on Brazil) and Martin Lindstrom’s column giving his own invaluable insights into children and the commercial world. The GALA article provides a detailed account of the proposed legislation completely banning advertising to children in Brazil; a measure which could be seen as the most radical or draconian in the world, depending on your point of view.

Dr Brian YoungEditor