Children and Today 's Advertisement
MG6500: Marketing Administration
June 14, 2009
Abstract
Today’s marketing is very different from yesterday marketing. This paper will discuss how marketing has change through the years. Who are the marketers of today really targeting and are there method ethical, what marketers’ responsibility to society are and what parents are doing to feed this frenzy. Children and Today 's Advertisement
Introduction:
Since children are vulnerable, they have been targeted by marketers to make profits. Marketers view children as being strong and powerful consumers, therefore; messages are aimed at children in order to promote various sales. Although children do not understand the concept of money, marketers are still persistent in marketing to them (Gunter & Furnham, 1998). “In addition children do not have the ability to understand the true nature of advertisement” (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 2004, p 731). Children are targeting audiences therefore marketers and companies must considerer ethical issues when they market their products (Gunter & Furnham, 1998).
How Marketers Reach Children and Adolescents: Marketers are extremely interested in children as consumers because children themselves spend billions of dollars annually, influence household purchases, and are future adult consumers ( Wilkie, 1994). According to (McNeal & Yeh, 1993, p 36) “…a lifetime customer may be worth $100,000 to a retailer.” Hence, the advertising industry aggressively pursues efforts to understand and anticipate the needs and desires of young consumers (McNeal & Yeh, 1993). With more sophisticated market research techniques, the marketers have gained a wealth of information about children and teenagers. A review of the research methods marketers’ use provides insight into the type of information they seek: information that allows them to design marketing strategies for
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