CHILDREN AND YOUNGSTERS’

ADVERTISING LITERACY IN A NEW

MEDIA ENVIRONMENT

Michel Walrave Cauberghe, Verolien

Hudders, Liselot

Overview

• Advertising literacy?

• Advertising literacy in Flanders

• Children and advergames

• Further research:

ADVERTISING LITERACY?

Past decades…

• Children’s and youngsters’ exposure to advertising increases:

• 25.000 ad messages / year

• Number increases

• Children/youngsters important target group:

• More money, more expenditures

• Impact on family purchases (indirect & ‘kidsfluence’, ‘pester power’)

• Importance of habits and brand preferences

• New media -> new advertising formats

Media use

New ad formats…

Consequence…

Blurred lines between’ creative’ advertising and ‘deception’

Video game or advertising?

1. Interactive 2. Integrated 3. Longer

New advertising formats

Result…

• New ad formats:

• Difficult to avoid (forced exposure)

• Difficult to recognize as advertising

Unconscious persuasion, especially for

inexperienced consumers (children & youngsters)!

Importance of advertising literacy in this new ad

environment

What is advertising literacy?

• Cognitive dimension:

• Recognition of advertising

• Understanding the persuasive intent of advertising

• Knowledge of the techniques that are used

• Affective dimension:

• Attitude regarding to the new ad formats

• Ethical dimension:

• How do consumers value the ad format? Is the format approvable?

Why is advertising literacy important?

• Helps consumers recognize how, when and why

advertisers are trying to persuade them

• Often described as a ‘radar’ which is activated when

people are aware of the persuasive intent of advertising

• Functions as a cognitive defense mechanism and helps

consumers to critically process ad messages

5 year 6-9 year 10-12 year 13-16 year

Advertising

recognition

Understanding

intent

Understanding

(misleading)

tactics

Processing

ads critically

“Ads are funny

shorter

programmes”

“Ads try to

make you buy

products”

How does AdLit evolve for e-

marketing?

“Ads try to

change your

attitude”

Children and advertising literacy

• Develops with age and ad/consumer experience

• Result:

• Ad lit not fully developed due to limited ad experience

• Not always capable of understanding persuasive intent

• More vulnerable and sensitive than adults!

Children and advertising literacy

• For new ad formats : • Integrated = hided

• Interactive= fun

• Personalized= less intrusive

• Also change of underlying intent: • Selling

• Sharing (creating buzz, liking, gather data)

• Gather personal data

What is the level of advertising literacy of children for these ad formats?

ADLIT IN FLANDERS

http://www.vlaanderen.be/nl/publicaties/detail/reclamewijsheid-bij-kinderen-

en-jongeren

Research method

Central research question:

How do children (4-12) and youngsters cope with new and

traditional ad formats?

What is their level of advertising literacy?

Research method:

Qualitative study with children (4-12 years)

30 in-depth interviews

9 focus groups

Quantitative study with youngsters (13-21 years)

503 youngsters

• Diverse schools in Flanders

Stimuli

Children

• 5-7 formats

Youngsters

• 5 formats

Questionnaire

• Adapted to children’s age

• Advertising literacy

• Recognition

• Knowledge of persuasive intent

• Attitude format

Results children

• 4-6 year olds

• 7-12 year olds

Ad format Ad Knowledge Critical attitude

30” ad Average – high Average

Collection action Low Low

PP Very low No opinion

AFP Very low Low

Advergame Low Very low

Ad format Ad Knowledge Critical attitude

30” ad High High

Collection action High High

PP Very low No opinion

AFP Average Average – high

Advergame Average – high Low

Infomercial Average Low

Banner Average Average

Results youngsters

• 13-16 year olds • 17-21 year olds

Ad format Ad Knowledge Critical attitude

Banner High High

Advergame High Low

PP Very low Very low

Mobile

marketing

Low Average

Social

Media

Average High

Ad format Ad Knowledge Critical attitude

Banner Very high Very high

Advergame High Average

PP Low Very low

Mobile

marketing

Average Average

Social

Media

Average Very high

Conclusion

Advertising literacy for children and youngsters

For traditional ad formats: moderate to low advertising literacy

For new ad formats low => no critical consumers

Evolution of advertising literacy according to age

Improve children and youngsters’ ad lit

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY Children & advergames

Study 1: 30’-spot vs. advergame

Level of Advertising Literacy?

Impact of adlit training session?

Method

• Experimental design

• 2 x 2 between subjects – brand Paula pudding:

• IV: format x ad lit session

• DV: Cognitive and affective adlit

• Sample: 78 children (8-9 years)

AFFECTIVE

ADVERTISING

LITERACY

COGNITIVE

ADVERTISING

LITERACY a1= -.33Ϯ

a2= -1.54***

AD FORMAT

TV= 0, Game= 1

Study 1 - Results

Ϯ < .10; *<.05; **<.01; ***<.001

Study 1 - Results

Study 2: AFP vs. advergame

Level of Advertising Literacy?

Method

• Experimental design

• AFP vs. Advergame

• Same brand, the ‘Efteling’

• Same exposure time (3 minutes)

• DV: Cognitive and affective adlit

• Sample: 133 children (7-9 years old)

Results study 2

t(131) = 3.36, p = .001

1,82 1,88

0

1

2

3

AFP Advergame

Cognitive ad lit

t(130) = -.31, p = .76

2,57

1,89

1

2

3

4

5

AFP Advergame

Affective ad lit

Study 3: Impact of age?

• Focus on advergames

• Seven versus nine year olds

Method

• Experimental design

• 2 x 2 between subjects – brand Paula pudding

• IV: ad lit session x age

• DV: Cognitive and affective ad lit

• Sample: 82 children (age seven: N=51, age nine: N=31)

AGE

Seven= 0, Nine= 1

AFFECTIVE

ADVERTISING

LITERACY

COGNITIVE

ADVERTISING

LITERACY a1= -.22

a2= .40*

Study 3 - Results

FURTHER RESEARCH

AdLit

Stakeholders Stakeholders

Societal

Organizations

Gezinsbond

Kinderrechtencommissariaat

Linc vzw

Uit de Marge!

Child Focus

Kenniscentrum Mediawijsheid *

Vigez

Centrum voor Schuldenlasten *

Jong vzw

Tonuso vzw

Mediaraven

TestAankoop

Ambrassade

Educational Field

Gemeenschapsonderwijs GO! –

Pedagogische begeleidingsdienst GO!

Stad Gent pedagogische

begeleidingsdienst

Pedagogische begeleidingsdienst

katholiek onderwijs

Provinciaal Onderwijs

Klasse

Departement Onderwijs –AKOV

CANON Cultuurcel

Vlaamse Uitgeverijen Vereniging

Technopolis

Stakeholders

Policy Makers

Departement Cultuur, Media, Jeugd en

Sport (CMJS)

Commissie voor de bescherming van de

persoonlijke levenssfeer (CBPL)

Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake

reclame & Raad voor Reclame

Vlaamse Regulator voor Media

FOD Economie

Advertising

Industry & Media

Sector

Association for Communication

Companies

BeCommerce

FeWeb

VRT

IAB Belgium and IAB Europe

Unie Belgische Adverteerders

Studio 100

Nickelodeon and MTV Networks

Vlaamse nieuwsmedia

VMMa (KZoom, JIMtv, TMF)

LVD/ ACC

Playlane

Incepti

Bazookas

Bits-of-Love

MiX

Positioning AdLit

Current level of AdLit ?

Cues for activating AdLit

Development and testing of awareness campaigns

Different target groups

UN, Children’s rights and

business principles,

2013

Overview valorisation output

• M12: One pager with recommendations on integration ad lit in curriculum

• M14: Method booklet how to do research with children

• M18: White paper with design guidelines for educational programs

• M24: Extended technical brochure with risk analysis

• M26: Awareness brochure about new advertising formats

• M36: Technical development of advertising cue

• M36: Extended technical brochure on advertising cue

• M36 Legal vademecum for parents and minors

• M38: Awareness brochure on advertising cues

• M40: Legal vademecum for advertising industry

• M46: Workshops on new advertising formats

• M47: Two educational programs

• M47: White paper with policy guidelines

• M48: Guidelines for different awareness campaigns

• M48: Closing event

Liselot.Hudders@Ugent.be