Experimental studies that compare children who are shown a particular commercial with those who are not provide some of the most direct evidence of advertising effect. While it is typical for half or more of the children in a control group to report spontaneously a strong desire for a given toy or cereal (i. e. even without being shown a related commercial), exposure to an advertisement leads to statistically significant increases in children’s desire for the advertised merchandise. From another perspective, survey research indicates that children who watch greater amounts of television (and hence are exposed to a higher volume of advertisements) tend to make a greater number of purchase-influence attempts when they are shopping with their parents at the supermarket.
Certain advertising strategies tend to enhance the effectiveness of advertising appeals to children. For example, advertising for cereals and fast-food meals often emphasize premium offers, such as a small toy figure included along with the product. In a study by Charles Atkin (1978), where researchers unobtrusively observed parents and children shopping at the supermarket, it was found that almost half of the children who were making product-purchase requests in the cereal aisle were influenced by premium offers.
Research also makes clear that children’s purchase-influence attempts have a relatively high degree of success. Frequent parental yielding to children’s purchase requests has been reported in studies that rely on parent self-reports as well as unobtrusive observation of behavior in the supermarket. In sum, although the process may be indirect, television commercials that are targeted at children are highly effective at accomplishing their intended goal of promoting product sales.
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