14 DAY TRIAL // A new scientific investigation has determined that even preschoolers as young as 3 are brand-aware, and perfectly capable of recognizing products and logos belonging to dedicate companies. This shows that not only teens, and unfortunately their parents, are hooked by ads, but also children who have yet to experience the world. But previous investigations have shown that infants bear incredible leverage over their parents in affecting purchase decisions, and so companies are keen on targeting them as well, for maximum market impact, LiveScience reports.
“Children as young as three are feeling social pressure and understand that consumption of certain brands can help them through life. Findings like this show us that we need to think about materialism developing in very young children. We also need to realize that it's not completely 'safe' to leave a 3-year-old alone with a TV set without proper supervision or a parent to help them to understand that they are on the receiving end of targeted advertising,” says University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) professor and lead researcher on the study Anna McAlister.
The new findings are very important in analyzing the exact impact that ads make on overall purchase decisions. Until now, scientists believed that children start becoming aware of brands, the differences between them, of logos and products when they reached the age of 8, or somewhere around that time. But the new investigation shows that they were off by at least 4 to 5 years. McAlister says that one of the main reasons why past studies failed to identify this is because researchers conducting them steered clear of more direct methods of survey. In the new work, the experts simply asked the children what their favorite brand was, even if the toddlers didn't even know how to read.
“My argument is kids don't care what kids are wearing. Put a Lego and another brand of toy in their hand, and I can almost guarantee you if he's holding a Lego they're going to want to play with him. What matters are toys and soft drinks and fast food,” the researcher says. In a survey of test participants, the investigators asked each of them seven questions related to famous brands, and were taken aback by the results. “Surprisingly, there were children as young as three who were making very strong judgments when comparing McDonald's and Burger King,” the expert says.
“If you have a feeling that your child is very mature socially, you might want to put some more effort into monitoring their TV time or access to advertisements, because those are the kids who are really taking a lot away when they see an ad,” McAlister concludes. Details of the work, which was conducted in collaboration with University of Michigan expert T. Bettina Cornwell, appear in the March issue of the respected journal Psychology & Marketing.