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Back to School Advertising – How much is too much?
The “back to school” season is the
second busiest shopping season after the
holiday season, and traditionally
represents an exciting time for
consumers. According to the Retail
Council of Canada, the average consumer
has spent approximately $353 on
school-related items, such as clothing,
shoes, school supplies and electronics.
[1]
Most back to school advertising is
targeted directly to children, who as the influencing consumer, ask their parents for the items
advertised. On average, youth are exposed to over
20,000 commercials every year and
children are able to recognize brands
at very young ages. In fact, studies
suggest that children between the ages
of 2 and 5 cannot distinguish between
regular television programming and
commercials. [2]
The province of Quebec
has recently prohibited television
advertising of products such as toys,
candies and foods directed towards children
under the age of 13. [3] According to
the Canadian Pediatric Society, fast
food chains spend over 3 billion dollars
per year on advertising, mainly targeted
to children. [4]
For this edition of
the Good the Bad and the Ugly, Kate and
Yvette will share their opinions on
marketing to children.
[1] Back-to-School Consumer Trends, Retail
Council of Canada, August 2007
[2] Media Awareness Network, 2003
[3] Consumer Protection Act, Government of
Quebec, 2007
[4] Canadian Pediatric Society,
2003, 2007
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Yvette’s Critique:
Since it’s the “Back to Basics fall edition”
I feel a dedication to spotlight this Good,
Bad and Ugly on the controversial topic of
advertising to children.
Children are precious and they are
impressionable and vulnerable and believe
most of what is said to them. Fact is that
children under the age of 12 years lack life
experience to be capable of making
informative decisions about such things as
nutrition, health and wellness, unless
however their parents are highly committed
to competing against advertising campaigns
targeting their children.
Over the years we must all remember our
childhood “favourite” commercial… these are
still in my head – Tony the Tiger with his “Greaaat”,
Captain Crunch, Captain Highliner!, the
Jolly Green Giant, Count Chocula…
What about those Sea monkeys advertised in
life-like sketches that could be everyone’s
pet? How could they lie to us like that!
Although never a big fan … there was Barbie
– then Beautiful Crissy… it goes on and on…
image building and life long patterns began
way back then!
When targeting children, industries spend
over 15 billion advertising dollars in North
America today and with a positive ROI…
children are the most powerful influencers
in purchases today…. As a parent (however 17
and 25 year olds) – I’d like to add… my 17
year old is still impressionable and still
has influence on my behaviour… . As much as
I have told him not to believe those ads…
I’ve been caught in the advertising
cross-fire of pain… Just last night my son
had me travel north to “way too far” because
he read an advertisement to get (legal)
software for next to nothing… ooops there
was a catch… you had to buy the whole
computer… argh…we get back into the car…as I
mumble “my time is worth more than this… and
gas… on top of it…” once again – a crushing
disappointment for all.
I was happy to hear that Kellogg is clamping
down on marketing sugary cereals and snack
to kids… a step forward!!! More importantly,
Kellogg is committed to increasing the
nutritional value in their foods / or stop
marketing select products to children. The
touch points are television, print, radio
and website ads that aim 50% or more to
children. Products they’re cancelling
advertising on; if they have more than a
predetermined intake of calories, trans
fats, sodium, sugar. It’s a small start to
combat a big problem… Obesity in youth.
Kellogg has also announced that it will
continue to refrain from advertising to
children under age 6, and will not in the
future:
-
Advertise to children any foods in
schools and preschools that include kids
under age 12.
-
Sponsor placement of any of its products
in any medium primarily directed at kids
under age 12.
-
Use branded toys connected to any foods
that do not meet the nutrition
standards.
General Mills, Kellogg's main competitor, is
already making all its cereals with whole
grains, but they’ve forgotten that (way too
much) sugar in cereals still make up 40
percent of the cereal market.
In response, Kellogg and McDonald's Corp.
joined eight other major food and drink
companies last November in an
industry-sponsored pledge to promote more
healthy foods and exercise in their
child-oriented advertising. A year earlier,
Kraft Foods Inc. had promised to curb ads to
young children for snack foods, including
Oreos and Kool-Aid. Can they classify Oreos
and Kool-Aid as food? Is that legal??
I don’t want to candy coat this… Why
don’t they all just get rid of the crap they
call food and start marketing healthy
products?
Every parent in North America would welcome
education-based advertising to our children
and in their home!! Guaranteed! |
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Kate's
Critique:
Only $353 spent on back to school supplies –
I must be way over the average!
The topic of marketing to kids is wrought
with politics and motherhood (excuse the
pun) statements. It is easy to say that
advertising to kids should not be allowed
but as a marketer, your job is to get the
message out to the target audience. In
addition, it is easy to blame an external
source – advertising – when parents of young
children are still the strongest role model.
This said, I feel that marketers must
maintain a higher level of moral standards
and personal ethics when planning how to
reach this group. We have a societal
responsibility to protect our children while
still doing our
jobs and I believe a balance can be
achieved. According to a recent article in
MacLean’s entitled “Why are we dressing our
daughters like sluts?” [1] “Streetwear for
little girls has never been more overtly
provocative. Girls as young as 6 are
adopting the external cues of womanhood,
adorning themselves not only with lip gloss
and nail polish, but also body sprays, skin
glitters and spa lotions.” Many parents,
myself included, spend a great portion of
back to school shopping being absolutely
dumbfounded at the revealing clothing that
is peddled to our daughters, and the lack of
choices for girls who prefer not to dress
that way.
Our children aren’t as media-savvy as we
would like to think. While today’s children
are far more aware of mass media than ever
before, the bombardment of ads can wear
anyone down. Often, the fear of being
different outweighs any discomfort over
wearing a cropped top or a short skirt. I
believe it is the parents’ role to educate
their children and not purchase items that
are age-inappropriate. If the items don’t
sell, organizations will not get their ROI
and will discontinue advertising of that
particular product.
A good example of intelligent children’s
advertising that delivers the message but is
not offensive is the recent Back to School
campaign for Zellers.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ibp1HVz1iNY
These commercials
feature children of a variety of ages and
ethnic backgrounds returning to school,
seeing their friends, and putting their
school supplies away in preparation for
their first class.
The ads generate excitement about the back
to school season by creating a catchy, cool,
upbeat narrative for children and delivering
the message to parents that “you can get
your child clothing that will make them feel
good
without breaking the bank”.
Another ad which had a wider reach featured
the alphabet created out of products ranging
from lipsticks to toasters.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7jFFJ8ifgj8 Intended to convey the
message that Zellers is a one stop shopping
destination, the clever use of the alphabet
song encourages non-students (who also shop
during the season) to get back into the
swing of things as well.
Targeting ads to children can also be used
to inspire positive change, as demonstrated
in anti smoking campaigns, seatbelt
campaigns and ads for green products. We
just need to be aware as marketers that
there is a
potential to manipulate young minds in a way
that can have lasting consequences. We need
to maintain a health balance.
[1] Why are we dressing our daughters like
sluts?
MacLean’s Magazine, January 2007 |
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