Role of Children in Family Purchase Decision Making: The Impact of Advertising

Abstract

Gone are the days when children had minimal participation in family purchase decisions. Their opinion is now not only sought in purchasing products relating to them but also for the products which are not related to them. They constitute a huge market and specially designed advertisements are targeted to them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the various advertisement strategies used by marketers to draw child's attention, the issues and possible cure. The paper is based on secondary data collected from various journals, magazines and other sources. It draws heavily from previous researches/discussions. This paper is divided in three sections. Section one contains children's role in family purchase decision making, various marketing techniques are in second section and impact of various marketing techniques in third section. The finding suggests that effective advertising, such as stealth advertising, celebrity endorsements, use of various cartoon characters, etc. has enabled the marketers to attract the children's attention and use the pester power of children to sell the products. However, some negative impacts have been found, such as obesity in children, less physical activity, exposure to violence, etc. which has to be dealt with strictly. The above research can be used to monitor the content of advertisements targeted at children. The role of schools, parents and policy makers/regulators can be defined so that we have a generation which is morally sound and physically fit.