1. To what extent is the consumption experience of place, culture and art becoming increasingly important within contemporary consumer culture? 2. Discuss the potential effect of global diasporas on consumer identity and self-concept. case study 13 Advertising targeted towards children: are the legal controls effective? The case of Belgium In February 2001, during its presidency of the European Community, Sweden argued in favour of a complete ban in the European Community on advertising targeted towards children. Although the Swedish position did not meet with the other EU members’ approval, in Belgium it triggered off new debates about the need to control advertising directed at children. This issue is not new and advertising restrictions have already been implemented in some European countries. Two types of restrictions exist: those that control ad content (for example: children can only play a ‘passive role’ in ads for sweets in Finland) and those that restrict ad placement (ban on ads during children’s programmes in Austria; ban on toy ads between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in Greece, etc.). In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, advertising was rapidly forbidden for five minutes before and five minutes after children’s programmes (the so-called ‘five minutes’ rule). The French-speaking part of Belgium recently adopted the same measure. This raises the question: are such ad placement restrictions really efficient? If the objective of such measures is to avoid possible confusion between an ad and the surrounding or next programme (that may have very similar formats), it makes sense. However, from an ad effectiveness point of view, placement restrictions could be questioned. Indeed, is an advertisement more efficient if it appears during or around children’s programmes rather than during or around family programmes, as suggested by the ‘five minutes’ rule (to the extent that children also watch family programmes)? In order to provide answers to these questions, two experiments were conducted. STUDY 1 The first experiment focused on the affect (mood) generated by the programme and on its impact on the effectiveness of a TV ad. Two mood-generating TV programmes were selected: The Flintstones was chosen on the basis that it generated a positive mood, and a programme teaching children how to recycle plastic was selected as a neutral mood inducer. One hundred and eighty-one children aged from 8 to 12 participated in all sessions of the experiment (a prior session consisted of assessing participants’ cognitive age, knowledge and enduring involvement in the test product class). For the main session, upon their arrival children had to take part in a mood-neutralizing task, followed by instructions which manipulated involvement in the ads (either high or low). One of the two programmes was then broadcast, and was interrupted by a string of commercials. A new advertisement for a new brand of biscuits targeted at children (but unknown to Belgian children) was used as the test ad.1 It was placed first and last in a pod (collection) made of five ads targeted at children. Immediately after exposure to the ads, children had to complete measurement scales for ad attitude (Aad), brand attitude (Ab), brand beliefs, purchase intent and brand choice. In this research, the key constructs were all measured by multiple-item scales especially developed for children and recently published. The results showed that programmes which generated positive affect (feelings) lead to more positive ad evaluations when compared with programmes that generated a neutral affect, although this was not true for brand evaluations. As far as the interaction effect is concerned, it means (see Figure 1) that the impact of positive affect (feelings) on ad evaluations is much clearer in the case of low felt involvement than in the case of high felt involvement. In other words, ad scores increase more when going from neutral to positive affect in the case of low felt involvement rather than in the case of high felt involvement. Regressions were computed and showed that Aad was always a good predictor of Ab. The relationship between Aad and Ab is thus significant irrespective of the level of felt involvement. Additional and classic variables such as brand beliefs add nothing to the explanation of brand attitude when Aad is already in the model, even in the case of high felt involvement (whereas brand beliefs are usually highly significant among adults in the case of high felt involvement). In conclusion, the impact of Aad illustrates how affective variables and processes dominate among children exposed to commercials. This last result actually supports what others (Phelps and Hoy 1996; Derbaix and Bree 1997; Moore-Shay and Lutz 2000) have shown concerning the way children process and are persuaded by ads. This process is mainly affective, children ‘reacting’ to the ad and to its executional features, much more than analysing it. STUDY 2 The second experiment aimed at achieving a better understanding of the role that programmes could play on ad effectiveness, when the programmes are varied along different dimensions. In that respect, two programmerelated variables were used. The first one, ‘programme liking’,2 is measured in this research by two items (dealing with the extent to which children liked/enjoyed the programme and to what extent they would like to watch it again). The second one is the target of the programme: the child versus the family. After a prestudy,3 three programmes were selected: The Simpsons (a programme liked by children and targeted at them); Star Academy (a programme liked by children and targeted at the family); and the News (a programme not liked by children and targeted at the family4 ). One hundred and twenty-six5 children aged from 8 to 12 participated in the experiment which took place in schools (children were interviewed one at a time in a small room equipped with a TV monitor). Upon arrival in the room, a mood measure was taken before children were told they would watch a TV programme and that questions would be asked afterwards (no mention of the ads was made to either of the groups). About ten minutes of the programme were broadcast (except to the control group where no programme was shown) followed by a string of commercials announced by a jingle. After the first ad (first test ad), the TV was turned off in order to ask questions about the thoughts generated by the ad and ad attitude. The TV was then turned on again and the commercial break resumed. The last ad of the sequence was the second test ad about which questions were asked immediately. Then the children watched the second part of the programme, and this was followed by questions about the programme (programme liking and familiarity with this programme) and brand attitude. The children were then debriefed and thanked for their participation. After some manipulation checks on programme liking, we compared the average scores obtained for both ad and brand attitude (for the two test ads). While the results do not show significant effects for brand attitudes (which may not be that surprising given the fact that the brands were known brands), interesting conclusions can be drawn for the ad attitude. Indeed, comparisons of means show that the ad evaluations are significantly more positive in the case of a programme not liked by children (the News) than in the case of the two programmes liked by children (Star Academy and The Simpsons). No significant difference is obtained, however, between these last two programmes. What does this suggest? If we refer to the ‘five minutes’ rule implemented in Belgium, the results of Study 2 tend to suggest that such a rule is inefficient to the extent that it does not target the programmes around which the ads are the most efficient. Ads are indeed not more efficient in programmes targeted at children. They are more efficient around programmes that children do not like because in that particular case a contrast effect may operate between programmes and ads. Children seem to be ‘relieved’ to be watching something else. QUESTIONS
1. To what extent is the consumption experience of place, culture and art becoming increasingly important within contemporary consumer culture?
2. Discuss the potential effect of global diasporas on consumer identity and self-concept.
case study 13
Advertising targeted towards children: are the legal controls effective? The case of Belgium
In February 2001, during its presidency of the European Community, Sweden argued in favour of a complete ban in the European Community on advertising targeted towards children. Although the Swedish position did not meet with the other EU members’ approval, in Belgium it triggered off new debates about the need to control advertising directed at children. This issue is not new and advertising restrictions have already been implemented in some European countries. Two types of restrictions exist: those that control ad content (for example: children can only play a ‘passive role’ in ads for sweets in Finland) and those that restrict ad placement (ban on ads during children’s programmes in Austria; ban on toy ads between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in Greece, etc.). In the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, advertising was rapidly forbidden for five minutes before and five minutes after children’s programmes (the so-called ‘five minutes’ rule). The French-speaking part of Belgium recently adopted the same measure. This raises the question: are such ad placement restrictions really efficient? If the objective of such measures is to avoid possible confusion between an ad and the surrounding or next programme (that may have very similar formats), it makes sense. However, from an ad effectiveness point of view, placement restrictions could be questioned. Indeed, is an advertisement more efficient if it appears during or around children’s programmes rather than during or around family programmes, as suggested by the ‘five minutes’ rule (to the extent that children also watch family programmes)? In order to provide answers to these questions, two experiments were conducted.
STUDY 1
The first experiment focused on the affect (mood) generated by the programme and on its impact on the effectiveness of a TV ad. Two mood-generating TV programmes were selected: The Flintstones was chosen on the basis that it generated a positive mood, and a programme teaching children how to recycle plastic was selected as a neutral mood inducer. One hundred and eighty-one children aged from 8 to 12 participated in all sessions of the experiment (a prior session consisted of assessing participants’ cognitive age, knowledge and enduring involvement in the test product class). For the main session, upon their arrival children had to take part in a mood-neutralizing task, followed by instructions which manipulated involvement in the ads (either high or low). One of the two programmes was then broadcast, and was interrupted by a string of commercials. A new advertisement for a new brand of biscuits targeted at children (but unknown to Belgian children) was used as the test ad.1 It was placed first and last in a pod (collection) made of five ads targeted at children. Immediately after exposure to the ads, children had to complete measurement scales for ad attitude (Aad), brand attitude (Ab), brand beliefs, purchase intent and brand choice. In this research, the key constructs were all measured by multiple-item scales especially developed for children and recently published.
The results showed that programmes which generated positive affect (feelings) lead to more positive ad evaluations when compared with programmes that generated a neutral affect, although this was not true for brand evaluations. As far as the interaction effect is concerned, it means (see Figure 1) that the impact of positive affect (feelings) on ad evaluations is much clearer in the case of low felt involvement than in the case of high felt involvement. In other words, ad scores increase more when going from neutral to positive
affect in the case of low felt involvement rather than in the case of high felt involvement.
Regressions were computed and showed that Aad was always a good predictor of Ab. The relationship between Aad and Ab is thus significant irrespective of the level of felt involvement. Additional and classic variables such as brand beliefs add nothing to the explanation of brand attitude when Aad is already in the model, even in the case of high felt involvement (whereas brand beliefs are usually highly significant among adults in the case of high felt involvement). In conclusion, the impact of Aad illustrates how affective variables and processes dominate among children exposed to commercials. This last result actually supports what others (Phelps and Hoy 1996; Derbaix and Bree 1997; Moore-Shay and Lutz 2000) have shown concerning the way children process and are persuaded by ads. This process is mainly affective, children ‘reacting’ to the ad and to its executional features, much more than analysing it.
STUDY 2
The second experiment aimed at achieving a better understanding of the role that programmes could play on ad effectiveness, when the programmes are varied along different dimensions. In that respect, two programmerelated variables were used. The first one, ‘programme liking’,2 is measured in this research by two items (dealing with the extent to which children liked/enjoyed the programme and to what extent they would like to watch it again). The second one is the target of the programme: the child versus the family. After a prestudy,3 three programmes were selected: The Simpsons (a programme liked by children and targeted at them); Star Academy (a programme liked by children and targeted at the family); and the News (a programme not liked by children and targeted at the family4 ).
One hundred and twenty-six5 children aged from 8 to 12 participated in the experiment which took place in schools (children were interviewed one at a time in a small room equipped with a TV monitor). Upon arrival in the room, a mood measure was taken before children were told they would watch a TV programme and that questions would be asked afterwards (no mention of the ads was made to either of the groups). About ten minutes of the programme were broadcast (except to the control group where no programme was shown) followed by a string of commercials announced by a jingle. After the first ad (first test ad), the TV was turned off in order to ask questions about the thoughts generated by the ad and ad attitude. The TV was then turned on again and the commercial break resumed. The last ad of the sequence was the second test ad about which questions were asked immediately. Then the children watched the second part of the programme, and this was followed by questions about the programme (programme liking and familiarity with this programme) and brand attitude. The children were then debriefed and thanked for their participation.
After some manipulation checks on programme liking, we compared the average scores obtained for both ad and brand attitude (for the two test ads). While the results do not show significant effects for brand attitudes (which may not be that surprising given the fact that the brands were known brands), interesting conclusions can be drawn for the ad attitude. Indeed, comparisons of means show that the ad evaluations are significantly more positive in the case of a programme not liked by children (the News) than in the case of the two programmes liked by children (Star Academy and The Simpsons). No significant difference is obtained, however, between these last two programmes.
What does this suggest? If we refer to the ‘five minutes’ rule implemented in Belgium, the results of Study 2 tend to suggest that such a rule is inefficient to the extent that it does not target the programmes around which the ads are the most efficient. Ads are indeed not more efficient in programmes targeted at children. They are more efficient around programmes that children do not like because in that particular case a contrast effect may operate between programmes and ads. Children seem to be ‘relieved’ to be watching something else.
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