Frans Folkvord, Kirsten Elizabeth Bevelander, Esther Rozendaal and Roel Hermans
The purpose of this study has three primary aims. The first is to examine the amount of time children spend per week on viewing vlogs. Second, the authors explored children’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study has three primary aims. The first is to examine the amount of time children spend per week on viewing vlogs. Second, the authors explored children’s awareness and understanding of the brand or product placement in vlogs. Finally, the authors explored children’s self-perceived susceptibility to the potential persuasive effects of these vlogs.
Design/methodology/approach
Self-reported measurements were assessed among children (N = 127, 10-13 years of age).
Findings
Results indicate that the majority of children frequently view vlogs and that their degree of bonding with the vlogger predicted the time spend on viewing vlogs. Children recalled products and brands that were shown in vlogs, which were mostly food and beverages and considered themselves and others affected by endorsements in vlogs.
Research limitations/implications
Only cross-sectional data were collected; these data cannot be used to analyze behavior over a period of time or draw causal inferences.
Practical implications
Considering the popularity of vlogs among young people, it is important to acquire more insight into the frequency and amount of time children spend on viewing vlogs and children’s processing of persuasive messages in vlogs. This may lead to a better understanding of underlying processes and prediction of the outcomes of advertising through this form of media content. Current findings raise further questions about the persuasive content of vlogs.
Originality/value
Because of the popularity of online (social media) channels among youth, companies dedicate a significant proportion of their marketing budget on online influencer marketing. Therefore, it is important to acquire insight into children’s processing of online persuasive messages. To the authors’ knowledge, there is no empirical research on children’s potential bonding with popular vloggers and their awareness and understanding of the brand or product placement in vlogs.
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Eva A. van Reijmersdal, Esther Rozendaal and Moniek Buijzen
The purposes of this paper are to investigate the effects of integrated advertising formats on the persuasion of children, children’s awareness of the persuasive intent of these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purposes of this paper are to investigate the effects of integrated advertising formats on the persuasion of children, children’s awareness of the persuasive intent of these formats and how this awareness mediates the level of persuasion.
Design/methodology/approach
An one-factor between-subjects experiment was conducted among 117 boys from 8 to 12 years old.
Findings
This study showed that boys were more aware of the persuasive intent of a non-integrated catalog than of a brand-integrated magazine. In addition, higher awareness of the persuasive intent of the catalog enhanced persuasion in boys.
Research limitations/implications
This study only focused on boys’ responses and not on girls.
Practical implications
Findings imply that advertisers could focus on non-integrated print advertising formats, such as catalogs, to promote positive product attitudes among boys. Catalogs are also a more ethical way of communicating to boys because boys are generally aware of catalogs’ persuasive intent.
Social implications
This study implies that even if children have sufficient persuasion knowledge, they do not necessarily use it to critically evaluate advertising.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to systematically test the differences in effects of brand-integrated magazines versus catalogs targeted toward children. Importantly, it shows that persuasion knowledge plays a fundamentally different role in the persuasion process of children than of adults: awareness of the persuasive intent of catalogs increases persuasion among boys, whereas previous studies among adults showed opposite results.
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Leah Watkins, Rob Aitken and Jess Ford
A sustainable future requires that we empower our children to not only make green consumer choices but also consider the wider issues of sustainable consumption. This paper aims…
Abstract
Purpose
A sustainable future requires that we empower our children to not only make green consumer choices but also consider the wider issues of sustainable consumption. This paper aims to investigate suitable measures to evaluate children’s sustainable consumption and production (SCP) knowledge, attitudes and behaviour and develop and test intervention content aimed at improving literacy in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method approach was adopted to develop measurement and intervention materials for SCP. 21 Year Eight (12-13-year-old) New Zealand children participated in one-hour focus groups where they completed scales to measure their sustainable consumption attitudes two major environmental values, behaviours The middle school environmental literacy survey and knowledge and participated in discussions to evaluate the SCP knowledge intervention content and questions developed.
Findings
A qualitative analysis of group discussion was used to test the understandability, perceived usefulness and level of difficulty of the intervention booklet to inform its further development. The results show children’s (prior) knowledge score was highly correlated with their attitudes, and attitudes were highly correlated with both intention and behaviour scores. The paired t tests demonstrated significant differences in the pre- and post-intervention knowledge scores.
Research limitations/implications
The measures and intervention content piloted in this study fill an important gap in existing literature, addressing the lack of appropriate measures and resources to encourage and enhance children’s important role in contributing to a sustainable consumption future.
Originality/value
The development of a measurable intervention will enable the establishment of a platform for the continued and participatory development of sustainable consumption and production resources for children.
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Patricia Huddleston, Anna R. McAlister and Fashina Alade
This conceptual paper provides an overview of eye-tracking technology (ETT) as a process-tracing method to study children’s consumer behavior. This paper aims to provide a…
Abstract
Purpose
This conceptual paper provides an overview of eye-tracking technology (ETT) as a process-tracing method to study children’s consumer behavior. This paper aims to provide a literature review of the child as consumer-focused eye-tracking research, identifying theoretical and research gaps. This paper discusses the benefits, drawbacks and ethical implications of ETT and highlights opportunities and best practices for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper details eye movement and how ETT captures it. This paper delivers a typology of different approaches to eye-tracking research and presents information about ETT equipment and metrics. This paper also summarizes previous studies using eye tracking to study children. This paper concludes with research questions and topics for future research where ETT can be used to study child consumers in contexts such as playing advergames, using social media and shopping (in-person and online).
Findings
ETT is commonly used to assess children’s behavior in a variety of contexts but has scarcely been used to study children’s consumer behavior. ETT has great potential to be used to better understand children as consumers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to review using ETT to study children’s consumer behavior.
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Agnes Nairn and Fiona Spotswood
– This paper aims to propose the lens of social practice theory (SPT) as a means of deepening insights into childhood consumer culture.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose the lens of social practice theory (SPT) as a means of deepening insights into childhood consumer culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The data comprise four qualitative interviews and ten focus groups with 58 8-13 year olds in six diverse schools across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Transcripts were coded with NVIVO10. Analysis was guided by the three elements of SPT: materials, meaning and competence.
Findings
Branded technology products and clothes consistently combined with both the socially sanctioned objective of achieving and maintaining a place in the peer hierarchy and also the three skills the authors have labelled “social consumption recognition”, “social consumption performance” and “social consumption communication” in regular, predictable ways to produce an ordered and, thus, reproducible nexus of actions. Analysis of the inter-relationship between these elements showed that children’s consumption is a specific practice, embedded in their everyday routines. Consumption is also linked inextricably to social position; children’s variable performance of it links with their degree of social acceptance and popularity.
Research limitations/implications
Although the study included a broad cross-section of school catchment areas, they cannot be said to represent all British children. Nonetheless, SPT provides an alternative theoretical perspective on children’s consumption by shifting the focus away from the child, the social context or even the products, thus ceasing to privilege the notion that consumption is something external to children that they learn to be socialised into; or to consciously use for their own symbolic or other purposes; or that they have to be protected from.
Social implications
Consumption practice is deeply embedded in children’s relationships and is inextricably linked to their well-being. Policies seeking to tackle any single element of the practice, such as media literacy training, are only likely to have limited effectiveness. This research implies that responsible marketing measures need to concentrate on the links between all the elements.
Originality/value
This SPT analysis of children’s consumption makes three contributions. First, it provides a much-needed new theoretical perspective beyond the dominant but limited “consumer socialisation” research paradigm that confines analysis of children’s consumption to the functioning of their individual cognitive capacity. Second, it suggests new research methodologies for understanding the interaction between children and the commercial world. Third, it offers a different approach to policymakers tasked with the controversial issue of regulating marketing to children.
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Mollika Ghosh and ABM Shahidul Islam
The purpose of this study is to examine how “homefluencers” sponsored posts on millennial consumers' purchase intention in the international marketing sphere can be impacted in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how “homefluencers” sponsored posts on millennial consumers' purchase intention in the international marketing sphere can be impacted in the new normal by drawing on source credibility, parasocial interaction (PSI) and persuasion knowledge model (PKM) theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This research applies structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis as the data analysis method using non-probability purposive sampling of a total of 217 local millennial Instagram and Facebook users, who have followed homefluencers sponsored posts in fashion-beauty, yoga-fitness and food sectors.
Findings
Based on hypothesis testing, advertising recognition strongly mediates purchase intention with the indirect effects of expertise and trustworthiness than attractiveness.
Research limitations/implications
This research extends the international marketing literature on source credibility, PSI, PKM and purchase intention theory in the new normal by proposing “Homefluencer's Endorsement Model for Purchase Intention” (HEMPI). Specifically, the mediating role of ad recognition of homefluencers sponsorship disclosure (#paidad, #sponsored), positively affects “change-of-persuasion meaning” on Instagram and Facebook, where research is rare.
Practical implications
This research provides valuable suggestions for global brand owners, consumers and authorities of Instagram and Facebook to consider post-COVID consumer behavior highlighting homefluencers sponsored collaboration.
Originality/value
The authors have contributed to the use of the source credibility model and PSI to identify the antecedents in determining how the homefluencer's effective sponsorship disclosure can positively activate ad recognition on millennial consumers' purchase intention in a crisis period from an international standpoint with the practical implications in post-COVID.