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Article
Publication date: 17 August 2015

Valérie Hemar-Nicolas, Mathilde Gollety, Coralie Damay and Pascale Ezan

– This paper aims to explore the role played by food brands within children’s peer groups when they have a meal together.

1617

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the role played by food brands within children’s peer groups when they have a meal together.

Design/methodology/approach

Sixty-four elementary-aged children participated in one of ten organized snack times (five with unbranded products, five with branded products). Based on a qualitative methodology, data collection methods comprise observations and focus groups with the children.

Findings

Children mostly select the products according to their taste preference regardless of the brand name. They make individual decisions and are hardly influenced by their peers. Children use food brands as a common language to designate products, but they do not use them to convey their self-identity and enhance social integration.

Research limitations/implications

This research contributes to a better understanding of the way children use food brands within peer group, and may be helpful when considering the future of children’s food marketing and tackling the issue of childhood obesity.

Originality/value

Whereas prior research has mostly studied the social value allocated by children to durable goods’ brands, such as clothing and electronic items, very few previous studies have focused on food brands.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

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Article
Publication date: 14 June 2011

Coralie Damay, Pascale Ezan, Mathilde Gollety and Valérie Nicolas‐Hemar

Research on consumer socialisation emphasises the role played by different agents as well as the influence of the context in which socialisation takes place. As part of the fight…

725

Abstract

Purpose

Research on consumer socialisation emphasises the role played by different agents as well as the influence of the context in which socialisation takes place. As part of the fight against obesity, this study on the nutritional learning of children seeks to focus specifically on social interactions in the standardised context of the school cafeteria in France. It aims to show how and through what social interactions children learn the rules related to food consumption to identify levers by which to promote healthy eating.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted in a French school cafeteria among children aged seven to 11. A qualitative methodology was used. It included direct observations of children when selecting and eating their meals and open interviews. A systematic survey of the components of children's food trays completes this work.

Findings

This work demonstrated the existence of various types of rules and social interactions. Adults appear to be the guarantors of institutional rules (related to the composition of the plates) and cultural rules (not to waste). Peers were marginally involved in the selection of products. The standards of taste and individual preferences indeed appear to be the background to the choices.

Originality/value

From an academic point of view, the paper supports consumer socialisation studies and emphasizes the importance of a systemic approach to human development. In particular, it enriches the research on food learning by showing how social interactions are involved in compliance with institutional rules and cultural norms.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

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Article
Publication date: 8 March 2013

Valérie Hemar‐Nicolas, Pascale Ezan, Mathilde Gollety, Nathalie Guichard and Julie Leroy

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, this research aims to investigate the interweaving of the socialization systems within which children learn eating practices, in…

1689

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, this research aims to investigate the interweaving of the socialization systems within which children learn eating practices, in order to open up new paths to build prevention and care programs against childhood obesity.

Design/methodology/approach

Children were interviewed using semi‐structured interviews, including projective methods. The data were analyzed by both a manual content analysis and the use of qualitative analysis software Nvivo. Nvivo enables to cross verbatim and contributes to highlight the joint effects of socialization agents in terms of children's eating learning.

Findings

The study clarifies the interrelationships between social contexts in which children learn food practices. It points out that the different social spheres may sometimes exert contradictory influences and that food learning cannot be limited to the transmission of nutritional information, but also involves emotional and social experiences.

Social implications

By showing that eating habits stem from complex processes, the research suggests measures against children's obesity that take into account the interrelationships between social contexts. It invites the policymakers and the food companies to implement actions based on social relationships involved in food learning.

Originality/value

Whereas the traditional consumer socialization models focus on interactions between child and one socialization agent, this research's findings shed light on the entanglement of social spheres concerning eating socialization. They show that using a social‐ecological approach is useful to policymakers, researchers, marketers, and other constituencies involved in developing solutions to the obesity problem.

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2012

Valérie Hémar‐Nicolas and Mathilde Gollety

Brands that target children frequently use a brand character to improve children's recall and recognition and to develop a relationship with young consumers. This paper aims to…

2789

Abstract

Purpose

Brands that target children frequently use a brand character to improve children's recall and recognition and to develop a relationship with young consumers. This paper aims to explore the reasons why marketers use brand characters to target children and how children perceive and understand them.

Design/methodology/approach

This work investigates both managers' and children's experiences, in order to compare them. Two studies are carried out: one with managers in charge of brand characters and another one with children aged between six and ten. In both cases, a qualitative approach based on semi‐focused interviews is adopted.

Findings

This research contributes to a better understanding of the way children infer brand image from brand character. Second, it highlights a success key factor of brand character: its ability to build a close relationship with children. In addition it points out how this relationship can be fostered.

Originality/value

By exploring managers' and children's viewpoints, this research suggests some levers to build children's relationship with brand character and improve children's brand loyalty. This article gives an insight into the way brand character establishes a close relationship with children. In particular, it underlines that a child feels all the closer to a character if the character is used in the long‐term and has experiences that resonate with his/her life.

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Article
Publication date: 15 March 2011

Mathilde Gollety and Nathalie Guichard

The aim of this paper is, by using a semiotic approach to marketing, to evaluate the role of color and its influence on the choice behavior of children with regard to products…

5684

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is, by using a semiotic approach to marketing, to evaluate the role of color and its influence on the choice behavior of children with regard to products where flavor is represented by color.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was carried out as an experiment with children aged between 7 and 11 years of age.

Findings

The study showed that the color codes of the market are not used very much by children to make their product choice and also that the influences of metonymical logic (color of the component responsible for the flavor) and aesthetics (favorite color) dominate this choice. In a choice situation, flavor preference prevails more often over color preference.

Originality/value

From an academic point of view, this paper informs the studies in sensory marketing used in the children's market. In particular, it enhances the work on the impact of color on children's decision‐making process. From a methodological point of view, it adds to the range of experimental designs used to research the child target.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 15 March 2011

Dr Brian Young

395

Abstract

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 17 August 2015

Brian Young

154

Abstract

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 9 March 2012

Dr Brian Young

305

Abstract

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

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Article
Publication date: 21 June 2019

Valérie-Inés de La Ville and Nathalie Nicol

The purpose of this paper is to offer some insight into how siblings aged between 4 and 12, engaged in a collaborative drawing activity at home, recall the shopping trips they…

287

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer some insight into how siblings aged between 4 and 12, engaged in a collaborative drawing activity at home, recall the shopping trips they have experienced.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the data collection consisted of engaging 15 pairs of siblings in the production of a joint drawing of a shop of their choice. Drawing in pairs opens a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) where the younger child benefits from verbal guidance by the older one to achieve the common task. This situation enables the researcher to gain close access to children’s knowledge about stores and to the words they use to describe their personal shopping experiences.

Findings

This exploratory research reveals some constitutive elements of children’s “shopscapes” (Nicol, 2014), i.e. the imaginary geographies they actively elaborate through their daily practices and experiences with regard to retail environments. In their communicative interactions when elaborating a joint drawing of the shop they have chosen, children demonstrate that they master a considerable body of knowledge about retail environments. Surprisingly, recalling their shopping practices sheds light on various anxiety-generating dimensions.

Research limitations/implications

The data collection is based on a remembering exercise performed at home and does not bring information about what children actually do in retail environments. Moreover, the children were asked to focus on buying a present for a friend’s birthday, therefore the information gathered essentially relates to toy stores.

Practical implications

This research underlines the necessity for retailers to endeavour to reduce some of the anxious feelings depicted and verbalized by children, by improving the welcome for children into their stores.

Social implications

There are also opportunities for retailers to invest in the consumption education area by guiding young visitors so that they learn how to behave as apprentice consumers in retail outlets.

Originality/value

The child-centric perspective of the study reveals new and surprising insights about the way children report their memorised shopping experiences.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 47 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

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