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Childrens
Television advertisements and buying
childrens buying behaviour behaviour
Pankaj Priya
Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida, India, and 151
Rajat Kanti Baisya and Seema Sharma
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India Received January 2009
Revised April 2009
Accepted May 2009

Abstract
Purpose Children differ in their cognitive ability while trying to interpret television advertisements
and hence form different attitudes towards them. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of
childrens attitudes towards television advertisements on their resultant buying behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach The research has been based on exploratory and descriptive
research design. Exploratory research includes a literature review and in-depth interviews with child
psychologists, advertisers and parents of young children. This was further carried forward by
carrying out a survey of children in the age group five to 11 years, while they were in their class room.
The filling up of the questionnaires was aided by the class teacher, which had response options in a
pictorial manner.
Findings The demand for the advertised products is heavily influenced by the childrens attitude
towards advertisements. Further, the cognitive changes among the different age groups leads to the
formation of varying attitudes towards the advertisements. Yet there are other potent factors apart
from advertisements, which result in the requests for a product or brand.
Research limitations/implications The paper has been carried out among children studying in
English medium schools in the National Capital region of Delhi. Hence, the sample size is too small and
restricted. The interplay of the various buying dimensions on each other have not been probed.
Practical implications More focused approach is required by advertisers while planning their
advertisement campaign for different age groups of children, rather than considering them as one
homogenous group. Various elements of the advertisements have to be meticulously planned for
different age groups.
Originality/value At the lower age group it is the entertaining ability of the advertisements,
whereas at the higher age groups the credibilty element in the advertisements has the potential of
creating a favourable attitude towards the advertisements. There seems to be a complex relationship
between attitude formation towards advertisements and the resulting buying behaviour because of the
presence of other intervening variables. Characters from folklores can be depicted for creating
aspiration.
Keywords Children (age groups), Buying behaviour, Television commercials, Cognition, India
Paper type Research paper

I. Introduction
Advertisement is one of the effective tools of integrated marketing communication to
emotionally motivate consumers to buy the products. It also has strong linkage with
entertainment also and the proliferation of media has blurred the distinguishing lines
between advertisements and entertainment (Moore, 2004). Advertisements featuring Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Vol. 28 No. 2, 2010
products like snacks, toys, confectionaries, cookies and fast food are specifically pp. 151-169
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
targeted at children, in order to motivate them to try new brands and buy more. 0263-4503
A strong correlation has been observed between children and television DOI 10.1108/02634501011029664
MIP advertisements, which are full of fascination and excitement (Blosser and Roberts,
28,2 1985; Halan, 2003).
However, marketers all over the world are still struggling to find ways and means to
evaluate the impact of their advertisements on children. Research establishes that
children start understanding the selling intent of the advertisement before they attain
the age of eight (Donohue et al., 1980; Wartella, 1982; Kline, 1995; Ward and Wackman,
152 1987). If a child makes his first brand and category choice in school canteen, when he is
hardly four or five (Mizerski, 2005), it definitely corroborates the previous findings. So,
it is imperative for marketers to develop insights into the childs comprehension
process, their understanding of the content and intent of the advertisements and
accordingly develop their advertising campaigns.
Hence, at the conceptual level, the key issue to be understood is the effect of attitude
towards the advertisements on the preference of children for a particular
product/brand. The attitude towards the advertisements accrues from the cognitive
and affective factors generated by the advertisements. While viewing the
advertisements, his unique background, experience, needs, personality and ability to
process information comes into play (Resnik et al., 1979). Panwar and Agnihotri (2005)
went further to prove this phenomenon in the Indian context by comparing children
having education in English and vernacular medium. Since the children across
different age groups are at different stages of cognitive development, and also differ in
their emotional responses to stimuli, it is imperative for the marketer to come up with
those advertisements whose execution and messages can evoke a favourable response
from the children in the different age groups. It is equally important to understand
the other antecedent factors that have an impact on the formation of his/her attitude
towards the preferred brands, as these also result in a favourable or unfavourable
purchase decision. If those factors can be depicted in the execution of
the advertisements, then the marketers can expect a positive response from the
children. Moreover, advertisements form a significant component of the promotional
efforts; hence, it will aid the marketer in fine-tuning his total marketing strategy to
optimize his returns. This study intends to study the differences in the comprehension
capability of children towards television advertisements, as they grow up. Study also
aims to find out how this comprehension affects their preferences for advertised
products. The rest of the study is organized as follows. Section II presents the review of
the literature for the study. Research methodology is described in Section III. The
findings of the study are enumerated in Section IV and finally a summing up is given
in Section V.

II. Literature review

This section reviews the past studies investigating the impact of advertisements on
children. Initially, studies conducted in the western economies would be discussed as
they have been exposed to television advertisements for long. The next phase will give
a brief of the happenings in Indian context, as very few studies have been conducted in
this field.
Research, focusing on childrens television advertisement as a single (or perhaps one
of the others) manipulated variable(s) has tended to support the view that it is the
critical determinant of childrens preferences and purchase request. To begin with,
Lazarsfelds (1955) pioneering work on television exposure and demand for purchased
product, followed by Scott (2004), Dotson and Hyatt (2005) identified the role of three Childrens
factors, i.e. parents, peers and media primarily television, in eliciting a response for buying
advertised products among children. These studies amply describe the influence of
primary reference groups consisting of parents and secondary reference groups, which behaviour
includes peers, as intervening variables in evoking a response from the children. Peers
also refer to children in the older age groups, whom the children in the lower age group
tend to emulate (Gunter and Furnham, 1998), thus highlighting the role of aspiration 153
group. Emulation is not a universal phenomenon, as children may develop a dislike for
a product or situation due to age difference and identifying with older siblings (Laulor
and Prothers, 2003), hinting at the dissociation aspect of the childrens reference group.
Though Lazarsfelds model stood the test of time, but Robertson and Rossiter (1974)
challenged this model by rejecting any positive correlation between childrens
understanding of advertisements and their desire for the advertised products. Support
for Lazarsfeld came from Goldberg and Gorn (1978) and Fisher (1985), who showed a
positive correlation between the two. This conclusion was further strengthened by a
report of Children, Adolescents and Advertisements (1995), which stated that
television viewing has been associated with obesity, the most prevalent nutritional
disease among children in the USA. Even advertisements featuring products meant for
adult use are being featured on the channels meant for children, as children influence
much higher purchase (hinting at pester power) Nichols and Cullen (2004). This
development in turn may have resulted from the attitude that children would have
developed towards these products after viewing the advertisements featuring these
products. Hence, there has been a tremendous increase in the marketing
communication expenditure by the marketers in the last one decade. In view of the
literature stated above, it can be sufficiently surmised that there is a positive
correlation between the advertisement and the product sought by children (The
above-mentioned studies still do not reflect the true picture in the Indian context, which
our paper attempts to do so, as indicated later).
Still, the marketer, whose money is at stake, does not have a concrete model to
gauge the return on his investments in these advertisements. He should seek answers
to questions like, what do the children feel about the advertisements? Do they
understand what the advertisement is all about? The study by Oates et al. (2002)
had thrown up interesting data regarding the understanding of the purpose of the
advertisements. A total of 25 per cent of the respondents of age eight years and
36 per cent of the children of age of ten years responded by saying that they knew the
purpose of advertisements was to persuade them to buy or own those products.
While much evidence demonstrating that children imitate what they see on
television exists, there has been much debate in the academic arena as to the exact
process through which advertisements affect children. It logically follows that less
information is available on how viewing advertisements during childhood affects the
development of child as a consumer in later part of his life (Resnik et al., 1979). Children
are major chunk of target customers for the marketers. Though it is recognized that
they consist of many subgroups based on demographics or psychographics, yet no
considerable research has been carried to understand the responses of the different
subgroups to advertisements (Dorr, 1986). This can be due to the variation in the age of
comprehension, the comprehending ability with the increasing age, the social context,
MIP as well as the methodology used, i.e. verbal or non-verbal. This paper attempts to
28,2 research this gap in the context of Indian children.
Concept of advertising literacy, which refers to the ability of the target audience to
comprehend the advertising targeted towards them, is a contentious issue in the
literature on advertising. Donohue et al. (1980) stated that children can understand
advertisements at the age of three, where as Park and Young (1986) reported that
154 children tend to understand at a much higher age. Kline (1995), however, is of the
opinion that half of the children by the age of five can understand the real purpose of
advertising but their attitude towards advertisement changes with age. Rossiter (1977),
Roedder (1981, 1999) and Moore (2004) further hypothesized that a childs maturity
with age is the most significant determinant of his/her cognitive and attitudinal
defenses to television advertisements, which also results in perceiving advertisements
as untruthful at times. Yet, their inference, regarding the age at which this skepticism
with advertisements develops, differs significantly. The differing maturity due to age,
even leads to better recognition of product information (Resnick et al., 1979). Robertson
and Rossiter (1974) and Preston (2000) came out with a model after carrying out a
non-experimental study of children and commercial persuasion in which they claimed
that the trust and liking for advertisements, and the desire for advertised products
depend upon the cognitive factors (e.g. programme discrimination) and developmental
factors (e.g. age). Nevertheless, the impact of the television commercials on the
childrens preference for advertised products was proved beyond doubt (Paulos, 1975;
Goldberg et al., 1978), but the discerning capability of children with increase in age was
still a debatable issue. Brucks et al. (1988) claimed that the cognitive defense of
television advertisements by children has been overestimated in the literature. Given
the importance of the above mentioned parameters, yet contradictory findings by past
researchers, these were the factors, which were taken for this study.
Many studies of 1980s proved the fact that the attitude towards the advertisements
played an intervening role between exposure to advertisements and the attitude
towards the brand sought (Batra, 1986; Batra and Ray, 1986). The execution
framework of the advertisements also affects attitude formation. In accordance with
the elaboration likelihood model of Lutz (1985), Petty and Cacioppo (1986) suggested
that peripheral elements of the advertisements, which depend on the execution, played
a significant role in the formation of attitude towards the advertisements. Children also
responded well to child models, animals and swift action in the advertisements, more
so, if the character depicted in the advertisement, resembled the child (Barry and
Hansen, 1973). It implies that children are more attracted towards those
advertisements, where they can identify with the situation depicted in the
advertisements. Children tend to develop their own understanding of the world
around them, based on their various exposures, so any depiction of a specific lifestyle
in commercial, results in the children imitating that lifestyle. The increase in the
consumerist lifestyle among children in India can be largely attributed to television
advertisements. This phenomenon is again influenced by their cognitive ability
(Goldberg and Gorn, 1982; Aitkin et al., 1998).
Any discussion on advertisements related issues would be incomplete without
referring to celebrity endorsements. Celebrities, be it in sports, movies or other areas
are role models, creating positive influence on attitude towards the advertisement as
well as brands (Ferle and Choi, 2005; Silvera and Austad, 2004). Over a period of time,
these endorsers evolve as brand icons. Though the effectiveness of the celebrity Childrens
endorsement may vary, depending upon his/her expertise, trustworthiness,
attractiveness and respect, still, the human brands are hired extensively by
buying
marketers all over the world (Thomson, 2006). Yet the way they have been depicted in behaviour
the advertisements (Alsamadi, 2006) or the cultural context, in which they have been
portrayed (Chantika, 2003), tends to affect the role of advertisements in influencing the
purchase behaviour of the target audience. Brand Icons in the present Indian society 155
have mainly emerged from cricket and movies, as these two events have huge fan
following in India.
The next issue for discussion is the development of metrics to measure the attitude
towards advertisements. Derbaix and Pecheux (2003) developed a new scale to assess
childrens attitude towards television advertisements. They developed credibility aspect
of the advertisements and its entertaining ability as the two significant factors to
measure the attitude towards television advertisements. The significance of the
credibility component was further reinforced by Ashill and Yavas (2005) who claimed,
that believability as a predictor of attitude towards advertisements has been propagated
by business ethicist for long, hence Puffery should be avoided by advertisers to create
a positive impact on the target audience. The significance of entertaining ability of the
advertisements, i.e. hedonic/pleasure derived from watching the advertisements as
being one of the significant factors affecting the attitude towards advertisements has
been recently stressed by Petrovici and Marinov (2007), though Goldberg and Gorn
(1978), Rolandelli (1989) and Collins (1990) and Ghani and Zains (2004) identification of
humour for liking an advertisement also alludes to the entertaining ability of the
advertisement.
Hence, the varied response to advertisements by children, as they grow up, which is
fallout of their attitude towards the advertisements can be summed up in the following
hypotheses:
HA1. There is a significant difference among the three age groups with regards to
the impact of credibility element in the advertisements on all the identified
dimensions of their buying behaviour.
HA2. There will be a significant difference among the three age groups with
regards to the impact of entertainment element in the advertisements on all
the identified dimensions of their buying behaviour.
HB1. There is significant correlation between credibility element of the
advertisements and all the identified dimensions of the childrens buying
behaviour.
HB2. There is significant correlation between entertainment element of the
advertisements and all the identified dimensions of the childrens buying
behaviour.
All the above issues and results are pertinent to the Indian scenario as the globalization
phenomena is leading to high level of homogeneity in the customer behaviour across
some segments on some issues, whereas there are marked differences on other issues
because of the different social context in which the advertisements has been viewed
(Ritson and Elliott, 1999). Children belonging to the upper class in the social hierarchy
and residing in metro cities tend to behave similar to the children in advanced
MIP economies as consumer of new age products. Still this is not the case with their rural
28,2 cousins residing in hinterland. This conclusion is further corroborated by online study
conducted by HCI division of communication services major group M, but there is not
enough academic research in this direction. Among them, Panwar and Agnihotris
(2005) study among Indian urban children is noteworthy. It found that children like
advertisements without being influenced by external factors, which means that the
156 elements of advertisements such as influence of endorser, good music and slogans play
a crucial role in attracting young children towards it. These findings are similar to
various studies done on the subject in western settings. Majority of the children felt
advertisements to be exaggerated, as their experience did not meet their expectations,
which they developed after viewing those advertisements. Kapoor and Verma (2005) in
their analysis have supported the observations of Panwar and Agnihotri (2005), that,
as the child grows up, there is a significant increase in his/her understanding of the
advertisements, yet the final understanding of the advertisement is a combined effect
of parental influence as well as childrens own cognition. Parental influence has a
significant impact on the television viewing habits of children in India. Parents in India
also agree to the fact, that advertisements play a major role in influencing their
(parents as well as childrens) purchase decision.
After reviewing the existing literature, the various dimensions that have been
identified to study the attitude and buying behaviour of the children are given in
Table I.

Objectives of the study

Various studies in the past have delved into the process through which a child is able
to comprehend the message of advertisements with contradictions on issues like the
age of comprehension, various factors affecting the childs attitude towards
advertisements and their resulting demand for a particular product. Yet, these
studies have failed to establish a relationship between attitude and buying behaviour
dimensions for children. Further, contradictory opinion on the age of comprehension
by children provides another dimension to this study, i.e. how the attitude dimension,
which is fallout of their comprehensive power, results in their changed buying
behaviour as they grow up. The present study aims at understanding attitudinal

Dimensions Parameter

Attitude
Credibility P1
Entertainment P2
Buying behaviour
Identification with the child or situation in the advertisements P3
Primary reference group P4
Secondary (which includes school mates) P5
Table I. Aspiration group P6
Key independent Dissociate group P7
(attitude) and dependent Lifestyle P8
(buying behaviour) Celebrity endorsers P9
dimensions Changing preferences for products shown on TV with age groups P10
changes among children towards advertisements with age and its impact on their Childrens
buying behaviour. buying
The specific objectives of this study are stated below to:
.
develop a profile on perception towards TV advertisements and buying
behaviour
behaviour among different age groups of children;
.
study significant difference, if any, among three groups of children of the NCR on
their perception towards TV advertisements and their buying behaviour; 157
.
investigate the relationship between perception towards TV advertisements and
buying behaviour on the part of three groups of children; and
.
find out the impact of TV advertisements on the buying behaviour for the three
groups of children and conduct a comparative study.

III. Research methodology

The research has been based on exploratory and descriptive research design.
Exploratory research includes literature review and depth interviews with child
psychologists, advertisers and parents of young children. These depth interviews were
carried out through unstructured questionnaires in an informal manner. Interviews
with four child psychologists were conducted in all the four schools, where survey was
carried out. Their observations were sought more on psychological changes with age,
social context and educational background. Two senior executives working in creative
departments of advertising agencies in Delhi were interviewed at their work place and
their understanding of children, as distinct target audience was sought. Discussion
with ten (five pairs) parents in different localities of Delhi and adjoining cities was held
at their home, during their leisure time. Observations of these parents about their
children, as they have grown up in the last few years, were noted. During these
discussions, if they missed out on any factor(s) identified in the literature review, they
were prompted to give their opinion on the relevance of those factor(s). This approach
also resulted in the identification of the dimensions mentioned earlier, as being
significant factors affecting childrens buying behaviour with reference to
advertisements on televisions.
Universe of the study included all kids belonging to Indian middle class (as
defined by National Council for applied Economics and Research, A Government of
India body) in the age group five to 11 in National Capital region of Delhi (NCR). This
region consists of geographical areas, covering Delhi and parts of neighbourhood
states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. A survey was conducted on the school children
belonging to Indian middle class, studying in English medium schools, in NCR. The
rational behind their selection was the fact that they are presumed to be more
advertising literate and hence, their response would be more relevant for this study.
In order to ensure proper representation of the population cited above, four schools
were selected, one belonging to Delhi and the rest based in the three adjoining cities
of Delhi. These schools have enrolled 30 students in a section of each class, and hence
one section in each class at random was approached for survey. Following Piaget
(1970) and Ward et al. (1977)[1] study, the age group has been considered from five to
11 years. Following Martin (1997), the data for the study was collected from children
with the assistance of their teachers in the classroom. These teachers, designated as
mother teacher, for primary school students, are supposed to substitute mother as
MIP long as the child is present in the school and develop a close proximity to the children
28,2 assigned to her. The teachers assigned to the children in the age group of eight and
above are known as class teacher. Their proximity (nurtured by them) to the students
in their class was useful in getting an effective response from their students. These
teachers were briefed beforehand on the questionnaire. They further explained each
question to the students and asked them to tick the relevant option. The structured
158 questionnaire was intended to test the two dimensions of attitude, i.e. credibility and
entertainment and was based on the new scale, both developed by Derbaix and
Pecheux (2003), as mentioned earlier. Rossiters (1979) seven-item scale was not
considered due to chronology, as well as the fact that it would have made the
questionnaire complex for the children in the younger age group and resulted in
inaccurate responses. The responses to attitudinal statement were recorded through
pictorial options, again considering the respondents profile (Malhotra, 1993). The
products referred to in the questionnaire were those, which are of immediate interest
to the children namely, chocolates, wafers, toys, bicycles, cars, etc. The questions
related to endorsers included the names of the most famous male and female
Bollywood stars and Cricket icons, as movie heroes, heroines and athletes have been
used extensively as role models, world wide, for children and teenagers (Kraak and
Pelletier, 1998).
The distribution of the sampling units in the current study is shown in Table II.
The collected data were further analysed to identify the variations in the attitude of
the different age groups regarding the impact of the advertisement towards the buying
behaviour. As the different attitudinal parameters will have varying level of impact on
the various buying dimensions, tools like descriptive statistics; analysis of variance
(ANOVA) and correlation have been used to get empirical insights. Besides this, in
order to find the impact of the attitude towards advertisements on the buying
behaviour, regression model has been developed as follows: P1 and P2 (i.e. attitude
dimension) as two independent variables and P3 to P10 (i.e. buying behaviour
dimension) as the dependent variables (Table I).

IV. Findings and analysis

Although the questionnaires were administered amongst 360 respondents, the valid
responses were 327 as per the break up in Table II.
Table III provides the profile of children in terms of descriptive measures on three
age groups.
Table III shows that children in the younger age group are more attuned towards
entertainment (Av: 11.6) while formulating their attitude towards the advertisements
and are also strongly influenced by brand icons (Av: 4.7 and 5.9). At the same time,

Location
Group Age Delhi Ghaziabad Gurgaon Faridabad Total %

1 5-7 28 27 23 24 102 31.2

Table II. 2 7-9 29 27 29 27 112 34.3
Distribution of the 3 9-11 29 29 27 28 113 34.5
sample units Total 327 100
 Childrens
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
(5-7) (7-9) (9-11) buying
Parameters Av SD Av SD Av SD behaviour
Credibility (P1) 9.2 3.3 8.6 2.0 8.5 3.5
Entertainment (P2) 11.6 3.2 11.6 2.69 8.9 4.18
Identification with the child in the advertisement (P3) 8.3 1.79 0.6 2.65 5.8 2.4 159
Secondary reference group (P4) 4.2 1.88 4.7 2.05 4.6 2.24
Dissociate group (P5) 3.7 2.9 7 1.34 6.8 2.03
Life style (P6) 8.9 1.8 6.1 1.86 6.9 2.3
Aspiration (P7) 2.4 1.2 6.7 2.1 5.5 3.07
Primary reference group (P8) 5.7 0.64 6.2 1.7 4.8 1.98
Brand icon (P9) 4.7 1.79 5.9 3.3 3.7 2.45
Changing preference (P10) 6 1.78 4.1 1.97 5.9 1.64 Table III.
Descriptive statistics for
Notes: Av, average; SD, standard deviation all age groups

parental influence is equally high among the age group five to nine (Av for P8: 5.7 and 6.2),
whereas older children seem high on aspiration front (Av: 6.7 and 5.9). The credibility
aspect is equally important among all three age groups, who were intently involved in
viewing the advertisements.
The opinions of the various groups of children were further analysed for each of the
above-mentioned parameters affecting their perception towards the advertisements
and the resulting buying behaviour, by using ANOVA one way. Except for the impact
of credibility and the depiction of members from secondary groups in the
advertisements all other parameters were significant across different age groups.
For the parameters, which were found to be significant, a post-hoc Tuckeys HSD
was conducted. This test provides an in depth analysis of difference between the
means of each pair of group taken at a time. The following observations have been
depicted in Table IV.
Parameters like cause of entertainment, extent of identification with the child in the
advertisements, the way the children dissociate with a particular class of children, their
impression of the lifestyle they intend to live, the influence of their aspiration group
and their brand icons, differ significantly across all age groups, hinting at a fast pace of
cognitive maturity with age.

Parameter Significant difference between means

Entertainment (P2) Group 1 and 3

Identification with the child in the advertisement (P3) Among all age groups
Dissociate group (P7) Among all age groups
Lifestyle (P8) Among all age groups
Aspiration group (P6) Among all age groups
Primary group (P4) Between 1 and 3 and 2 and 3
Brand icon (P9) Among all age groups Table IV.
Changing preferences (P10) Between 1 and 2 and 1 and 3 but 2 and 3 are equal ANOVA results
MIP Results of correlation analysis
28,2 A correlation analysis (at 5 per cent significance level) was carried out between the
entertaining and credibility aspect of the advertisement (as independent variables) and
the behavioural parameters (as dependent variables) as depicted in Tables V and VI.
This analysis helped in understanding the level of correlation between the key
independent variables and dependent variables.
160 Though the correlation is significant in terms of hypothesis test but the amount
of variation explained by the independent variables, P1 and P2, i.e. credibility
and entertaining aspect of the advertisements is only moderate, ranging between
20 per cent and 56 per cent, and hence there are various other parameters which
contribute to the understanding of behavioural parameters. This conclusion
corroborates the earlier findings of Gunter and Furnham (1998) who claimed that
there is a complex relationship between the attitude towards the advertisements and
the buying behaviour.
Yet, further probing on the impact of advertisements credibility on each individual
buying behaviour dimension, reveals that it does not have a reinforcing effect on the
three behavioural dimensions, i.e. role of aspiration, primary group and the changing
preferences for the desired products with the increase in age. It implies that an
aspiration personalitys role as an influencer in the advertisement need not be based on
his/her credibility, which can be a significant factor in the case of a grown ups.
Advertisements depicting family need not be strictly based on real life situations.
Parental influence is also independent of the way it is depicted in the advertisements.
As the children grow up, they prefer products even if it is depicted in an unassuming
manner in the advertisement. These findings point to the overall comprehension
capability of the children. For, e.g. if he/she wants to own a skating roller instead of a
tricycle, as he grows up, it is not because the advertisements are conveying a factual or

Correlation table for group 1 Correlation table for group 2 Correlation table for group 3
P1 P2 P1 P2 P1 P2

P3 0.39 (0.01) 0.24 (0.01) 0.41 (0.00) 0.49 (0.00) 0.00 (1.00) 0.38 (0.01)
P4 0.57 (0.00) 0.29 (0.02) 0.89 (0.00) 0.77 (0.00) 20.37 (0.00) 0.20 (0.04)
P5 20.15 (0.13) 20.17 (0.08) 2 0.83 (0.00) 2 0.80 (0.00) 0.02 (0.89) 0.37 (0.00)
P6 0.09 (0.36) 0.23 (0.02) 0.32 (0.01) 0.01 (0.92) 0.28 (0.03) 0.78 (0.00)
P7 0.25 (0.01) 0.19 (0.05) 0.38 (0.00) 0.35 (0.00) 20.13 (0.19) 0.44 (0.00)
P8 20.20 (0.03) 20.40 (0.00) 0.55 (0.00) 0.57 (0.00) 20.14 (0.14) 0.28 (0.04)
P9 0.52 (0.00) 0.50 (0.00) 0.47 (0.00) 0.72 (0.00) 20.33 (0.00) 0.52 (0.00)
Table V. P10 20.73 (0.00) 20.43 (0.00) 0.41 (0.00) 0.00 (1.00) 20.08 (0.42) 0.47 (0.00)
Pearson correlation table
for groups 1-3 Note: p-value is given in brackets

Hypotheses Result

HA1 Not proved

Table VI. HA2 Proved
Results of hypothesis HB1 Not proved
testing HB2 Not proved
creditable message, but for some extraneous factors. On the other hand, Childrens
advertisements should be perceived as credible, if the child is to identify with the buying
situation in the advertisement or the secondary group, or if the dissociate group has
been depicted or a lifestyle has been emphasized upon. Even brand icons should behaviour
convey a credible image. This is in line with the findings of Ferle and Choi (2005),
though that study was carried out among university students in Korea. So, there is a
marked diversion on the relationship between credibility aspect of the advertisement 161
and the various behavioural parameters. Entertainment has a major impact on all
aspects of buying behaviour, except, when the child is determined to change his
preference for the new product, pointing to the significant role of peripheral elements
like jingles, animation, etc. in the advertisements. An interesting finding is the
significance of credibility over entertainment in forming the attitude of children
towards advertisements in the age group of five to seven, where as for the higher age
group, it is the entertaining aspect, which takes over. This supports the findings of
Moore and Lutz (2000), though; they had suggested a higher age group (ten to 12).
Another interesting finding is the significant change in the preference for new products
shown in the advertisements on the basis of the attitude developed towards the
television advertisements, as the child moves from six to eight years.

Results of regression analysis

Regression analysis was conducted to understand the level of impact of the credibility
and entertainment aspect of advertisements on the various buying behaviour
variables. Outcomes of this analysis are depicted in Tables VII-IX.
A general overview of the above analysis clearly shows that importance of both the
independent parameters P1 and P2, i.e. credibility and entertainment is low in
explaining various behavioural parameters.
For Group 1, the advertisements credibility has no impact on the advertisements
depiction of a specific lifestyle. The childs aspiration may be because of high parental
influence and not due to their understanding of lifestyle or dissociating with any
particular personality (ies) because of their low cognitive development.
For Group 2, cognitive development starts making an impact on nearly all factors
affecting the childs purchase decision except his appreciation of aspiration reference
group.
For Group 3, the advertisements credibility does not have any influence on this age
groups perception of lifestyle or their preference of the products, as other
environmental factors tend to mould his outlook about life. This can be attributed to
their cognitive development. Otherwise, all other factors are to some extent affected by
the childrens attitude towards the advertisement.

V. Conclusions
The credibility aspect of the advertisement has an impact, though, not significantly,
across all age groups of children, on their buying behaviour. It is generally low, due to
low level of cognitive development among children as well as significant parental
influence among the lower age group. As far as the children in the age group seven and
above are concerned, the credibility element in the advertisement fails to impress them
if the advertisement depicts a likely situation, dissociate group, linking with their
aspiration or primary reference group or indicating their changing preference for new
MIP
Dependent Unstandardized Standardized
28,2 variable coefficients (b) SE coefficients (beta) t-value Significance

P3 Constant 2.77 1.16 2.38 0.02

P1 0.35 0.15 0.28 2.31 0.02
P2 6.71 102 2 0.12 0.07 0.57 0.57
162 P4 Constant 0.53 0.81 0.65 0.52
P1 0.56 0.11 0.56 5.24 0.00
P2 25.60 102 2 0.08 20.07 20.68 0.5
P5 Constant 8.09 0.61 13.20 0.00
P1 24.25 102 2 0.08 20.07 20.53 0.60
P2 26.21 102 2 0.06 20.13 21.01 0.32
P6 Constant 4.53 0.84 5.38 0.00
P1 28.67 102 2 0.11 20.01 20.78 0.44
P2 0.20 0.09 0.29 2.36 0.02
P7 Constant 4.33 0.94 4.6 0.00
P1 0.22 0.12 0.22 1.77 0.08
P2 4.16 102 2 0.10 0.05 0.44 0.66
P8 Constant 8.92 0.73 12.19 0.00
P1 6.77 102 2 0.10 0.08 0.70 0.48
P2 20.28 0.07 20.45 23.86 0.00
P9 Constant 22.86 1.28 22.24 0.03
P1 0.55 0.17 0.34 3.27 0.01
P2 0.35 0.13 0.28 2.70 0.04
P10 Constant 9.89 0.62 15.83 0.00
P1 20.74 0.08 20.77 28.99 0.00
Table VII. P2 4.93 102 2 0.06 0.07 0.78 0.45
Regression results for
group 1 Note: b Predictor of the dependent variable

products/brands as they grow up. It is a pointer to the fact, that the childs
understanding of the world has increased considerably and other intervening factors
like the influence of peer pressure and his understanding of social status makes the
child view advertisements with suspicion. This reinforces the earlier findings of Moore
(2004) and it further clarifies on the view point of Panwar and Agnihotri (2005) and
Kapoor and Verma (2005) that, as the child grows up, parental influence is definitely
there, but it takes a back seat to peer pressure, in defining the childs response to the
advertisements. It is the entertaining ability of the advertisement, which impresses
children across all age groups, more so at the higher age groups.
Hence, it can be concluded that childrens buying behaviour is significantly
influenced by their attitude towards the advertisement per se, but there are other
potent factors like parental guidance and peer pressure, which are also responsible for
framing their attitude towards advertisements as well as their buying behaviour. Their
thought processes undergo drastic changes at very short intervals of time (especially
between six and eight years) so Advertisers will have to develop different game
plans for different age groups in order to ensure a positive attitude towards the
advertisement itself. The various elements of advertisements have to be meticulously
chosen in order to have the appropriate combination of credibility and entertainment.
The credibility aspect of the advertisements has to be really focused upon to make the
advertisements look believable and realistic. For the younger age group, the advertiser
 Childrens
Dependent Unstandardized Standardized
variable coefficients (b) SE coefficients (beta) t-value Sig. buying
P3 Constant 5.59 0.58 9.65 0.00
behaviour
P1 0.12 0.07 0.22 1.68 0.10
P2 0.14 0.07 0.25 1.89 0.06
P4 Constant 21.09 1.15 20.95 0.37 163
P1 0.41 0.14 0.72 2.90 0.02
P2 ..13 0.15 0.22 0.89 0.40
P5 Constant 10.04 1.59 6.56 0.00
P1 20.36 0.19 2 0.54 21.90 0.10
P2 20.26 0.19 2 0.38 21.34 0.22
P6 Constant 8.75 0.58 15.21 0.00
P1 0.40 0.07 0.73 5.60 0.00
P2 20.30 0.07 2 0.54 24.15 0.00
P7 Constant 0.87 0.40 2.18 0.03
P1 9.93 102 2 0.05 0.28 2.21 0.05
P2 5.34 102 2 0.05 0.14 1.06 0.29
P8 Constant 4.38 0.19 23.65 0.00
PI 5.24 102 2 0.02 0.27 2.29 0.02
P2 7.25 102 2 0.02 0.37 3.09 0.03
P9 Constant 7.799 102 2 1.719 0.045 0.965
P1 20.10 0.21 2 0.19 20.48 0.65
P2 0.48 0.22 0.86 2.20 0.06
P10 Constant 5.89 0.51 11.62 0.00
P1 0.51 0.06 0.94 8.14 0.00
P2 20.40 0.06 2 0.71 26.15 0.00 Table VIII.
Regression results for
Note: b Predictor of the dependent variable group 2

should consider the fact that, the parents, who are also viewing the commercials, may
be giving their realistic viewpoint on the aired commercials, and given the childs
greater dependence on his parents for understanding the world, the advertisements
have to be more credible. Whereas, for the older age groups, the marketer should
communicate those story boards or visuals which are in tandem with similar
information the child is getting from other sources especially peers, rather than basing
them on sheer fantasy. As the entertaining capability of the advertisement is welcome
by all age groups, so advertisements should definitely be a source of entertainment by
incorporating elements like jingles, animation and humour. Communication is more
receptive, if it is presented in an entertaining manner.
Endorsements by brand icons definitely play a role in the childrens buying decision
process, but the extent of their role will depend on the way they are depicted. Their role
as an entertainer varies across different age groups. For younger age group, depiction
of brand icon may have a low impact, again because of parental interventions, whereas
for the age group seven to nine, depiction of brand icon makes no impact on the
formation of their attitude towards the advertisement, which can be an anomaly. This
can be attributed to the fast changing cognitive ability at this stage, as hinted earlier,
as well as the failure of celebrities to meet the childrens increased expectation of
entertainment from the advertisements. For children in the age group nine to 11, both
credibility and the entertaining capability of the advertisement will make a significant
MIP
Dependent Unstandardized Standardized coefficient
28,2 variable coefficients (b) SE (beta) t-value Sig.

P3 Constant 4.58 0.67 6.87 0.00

P1 2 6.14 102 2 0.07 20.09 2 0.95 0.35
P2 0.20 0.05 0.34 3.6 0.00
164 P4 Constant 5.55 0.58 9.57 0.00
P1 2 0.29 0.06 20.45 2 5.15 0.00
P2 0.17 0.05 0.32 3.61 0.00
P5 Constant 5.3 0.56 9.96 0.00
P1 2 5.26 102 2 0.05 20.09 2 0.98 0.33
P2 0.19 0.05 0.40 4.29 0.00
P6 Constant 2.74 1.65 1.66 0.14
P1 5.27 102 2 0.16 0.08 0.33 0.16
P2 0.42 0.13 0.76 3.11 0.02
P7 Constant 4.15 0.79 5.29 0.00
P1 2 0.23 0.08 20.26 2 2.96 0.04
P2 0.37 0.06 0.49 5.74 0.00
P8 Constant 4.50 0.55 8.21 0.00
P1 2 0.13 0.05 20.23 2 2.47 0.02
P2 0.16 0.05 0.34 3.57 0.01
P9 Constant 3.28 1.97 1.66 0.14
P1 2 0.35 0.19 20.51 2 1.84 0.11
P2 0.39 0.16 0.66 2.40 0.05
P10 Constant 5.01 0.42 11.83 0.00
P1 2 9.72 102 2 0.04 20.21 2 2.36 0.02
Table IX. P2 0.19 0.03 0.49 5.58 0.00
Regression results for
group 3 Note: b Predictor of the dependent variable

impact on the brand endorsement by the brand icon, hence brand icons play a major
role for the older children hinting at their evolved cognitive faculty.
Aspiration personalitys depiction may not be based on his/her credibility as
depicted by the advertisements, so aspiration personality can be an imaginary figure in
the advertisements. It is in tune with the Indian social context, where children grow up
listening to bedtime stories from the elders in their home or watching popular folklore
in animation form. Hence, advertisers can portray imaginary figures from popular folk
tales or animation movies to create aspiration among children. This can be used as a
useful strategy for brand association. Advertisements depicting dissociation with a
particular group(s) can play a crucial role for social marketing campaign, but it will be
more effective for higher age groups, as the feeling of dissociation may develop strong
roots because of their cognitive development.
Anomalous behaviour is depicted, as far as developing strong preferences for
advertised products are concerned, suggesting that there are other potent factors
affecting the preferences of the children which have not been revealed in this study.
This is in line with the past findings of Brucks et al. (1988), who suggested, that
cognitive defence of children against television commercials varies because of many
environmental factors. Hence, strong preference for the advertised products can differ
among individuals in the same age group.
 In brief, this paper concludes the following: Childrens
.
Advertisers should not consider children below 13 years as one homogenous buying
group while formulating their advertising strategy targeted for this age group. behaviour
Rather, each age group will have to be dealt with separately.
.
Credibility aspects, motivational or influencing value proposition and the
entertaining aspects of the advertisements need to be meticulously chosen for
each age group on order to create an integrated marketing communication
165
campaign.
.
Children in this age group are more influenced by the characters mentioned in
the folklores narrated to them by the elders in the family. Hence, these characters
should be incorporated in the storyline of the advertisements for creating
association with this audience.

Though this research has tried to probe the responses of children to television
advertisements across different age groups (five to 11), in order to establish the thesis
that childrens cognitive ability as well as their outlook towards the world change
significantly at a fast pace, yet, more in depth research is required to probe this
phenomena further. These findings, though, support the earlier claim of Gunter and
Furnham (1998) and Ghani and Zain (2004), regarding the existence of very complex
relationship between attitude towards advertisement and buying behaviour. The issue
of different age groups and the impact of each behavioural variable on others can be
some of the underlying factors. Hence studying each individual age and considering
one variable at a time as well as the impact of each behavioural variable on others
could be undertaken in future studies. This research has been carried out among
children of English medium schools and in metros, similar studies can be carried
among children studying in vernacular medium schools and residing in small towns
and cities of India.
Advertisers aiming to educate children should weigh the above-mentioned issues
while designing their advertisements, in order to ensure effectiveness of their
advertisements.

Note
1. Ward et al. (1977), explained about childs development, specifically about the cognitive
development of children in the age group seven to 11 years and suggested that children in
this age group became more evaluative and cynical of advertising message.

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Corresponding author
Pankaj Priya can be contacted at: profpankajpriya@gmail.com

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