Journal of Consumer Research, Inc.

Children, Advertising, and Product Experiences: A Multimethod Inquiry

Author(s): ElizabethS.Moore and RichardJ.Lutz
Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27, No. 1 (June 2000), pp. 31-48
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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Children, Advertising, and Product
Experiences: A Multimethod Inquiry
ELIZABETH S. MOORE
RICHARD J. LUTZ*

Although the prepurchase effects of advertising on children are well documented,

little is known about advertisings impact in conjunction with childrens product
usage experiences. Two studies, one using experimentation and the other using
depth interviews, were undertaken to examine this issue. In addition to informational
effects, special emphasis was placed on the role affective constructs play in shap-
ing childrens impressions. Experimental results indicated that both product trial
and advertising have influences, but also that the interplay of these influences
differs between older children (1011-year-olds) and younger children (seven- to
eight-year-olds). Depth interviews offered further insights into these age differences
such that our overall understanding of how older and younger children relate to
advertisements and product consumption has been advanced.

Children belong to a world of thinking and The Interaction of Advertising and Consumption
feeling that is properly their own. (George
Santayana) Beyond advertisements, children gain marketplace infor-
mation from the products they encounter, advice from

T elevision advertising is a pervasive presence in the lives

of most American children. Recent estimates suggest
that children between the ages of 6 and 14 watch about 25
hours of television per week and are exposed to as many
as 20,000 commercials in a single year (Leonhardt and
Kerwin 1997). Concern about childrens ability to
comprehend and evaluate these messages has stimulated
substantial research and heated debate since the early 1970s
(see McNeal [1987]; Young [1990] for reviews). Hundreds
of studies have been conducted in the childrens advertising
area (Meringoff 1980). However, while there is compelling
evidence that a well-crafted advertisement can persuade
children that a product is desirable (e.g., Goldberg, Gorn,
and Gibson 1978; Roedder, Sternthal, and Calder 1983), we
know little about how these perceptions may be altered once
the product leaves the retailers shelf.
*Elizabeth S. Moore is assistant professor of marketing, University of
Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556; e-mail: elizabeth.moore.96@nd.edu.
Richard J. Lutz is professor of marketing, University of Florida. This article
is based on the first authors doctoral dissertation, conducted under the
supervision of the second author. The authors thank David Mick, Rich
Romano, and Alan Sawyer for their guidance and comments as members
of the first authors thesis committee, as well as other influential faculty
members at the University of Florida. They also thank Barbara Bickart,
Susan Cohen, S. Ratneshwar, Carole Macklin, Pamela Richards, Tom
OGuinn, as well as the editor, associate editor, and reviewers for their
helpful comments.
31
friends and relatives, and their own consumption experi-
ences. Through consumption, children learn what products
are good and bad, whether advertising claims are truthful,
what brands they prefer, and even that products convey so-
cial meanings apart from their functional properties.
To a child, these experiences take on a heightened im-
portance because many commercial sources that an adult
might consult for additional information are simply inac-
cessible. For example, until they are functionally literate,
children do not access the written information available
through print advertising, packaging, and labels. Children
also often lack information about price, a primary consid-
eration in adult decisions. Further, childrens product uses
are oriented less toward the weighing of options and more
toward the enjoyment each new snack, toy, or cereal offers.
Over time, a child encounters advertisements in a fashion
that is interwoven with product experience. Thus, the actual
impact of advertising is difficult to study. The research lit-
erature has not yet explored the relationship between ad-
vertising and childrens usage experience. In reality, how-
ever, childrens ads are being interpreted within an ongoing
stream of experience.
This fact has been recognized as an important issue by
commentators on childrens advertising. For example, critics
have expressed concern that if ads present information dif-
ferent from a childs actual experience, confusion may result
and trust in advertising may be undermined. Conversely,
others have suggested that until children actually experience
discrepancies between products as advertised and as con-

q 2000 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc. Vol. 27 June 2000

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32
sumed, they are unable fully to comprehend advertisings
persuasive intent (e.g., Robertson and Rossiter 1974). Con-
cern about advertisings capacity to foster unrealistic ex-
pectations has long been an issue for advertisers charged
with self-regulation: industry guidelines include specific
provisions discouraging the use of portrayals that might ex-
plicitly or implicitly foster unreasonable expectations (Chil-
drens Advertising Review Unit 1999). Without question,
this code is based on the assumption that children have
difficulty recognizing and discounting exaggeration in the
context of persuasive messages. Thus, marketing managers
have displayed a keen interest in better understanding chil-
drens abilities and limitations, so as to communicate in an
appropriate manner with this special audience.
Childrens Receptivity to Advertising
Research investigating childrens receptivity to television
advertising has studied what children understand, under
what circumstances they are persuaded, and how their re-
sponses evolve as they mature (e.g., Macklin 1987; Roedder
1981). Drawing extensively on information-processing and
stage models, researchers have gained substantial insight
into the development of childrens cognitive skills and their
deployment during ad processing. Among the most basic
tenets of this research is that younger and older children
differ in their understanding of advertisings essential pur-
pose, as well as how they draw upon this knowledge in
responding to specific advertisements.
As children mature, they gradually develop more sophis-
ticated information-processing skills, as well as the ability
to direct or control their learning (Roedder 1981). Three
prototypical processing types have been identified along this
developmental dimension. Limited processors (younger
than eight years) have not yet acquired efficient information-
processing strategies, a fact that may be reflected in their
inability to distinguish between central and peripheral con-
tent in message learning. At the other extreme, strategic
processors (over 12 years old) spontaneously employ ef-
ficient information storage and retrieval strategies. The more
difficult issues arise with the cued processors (812-year-
olds), for whom organized retrieval and use of available
information is possible when processing a stimulus, but who
tend to invoke this only when triggered by appropriate cues.
Unless their knowledge of advertising is expressly activated
by such a cue, these children tend not to think critically or
generate counterarguments spontaneously. They may also
neglect to differentiate between central and peripheral con-
tent when learning new information. When there is an ap-
propriate cue in their environment, however, they are likely
to retrieve and use relevant information (Brucks, Armstrong,
and Goldberg 1988; Roedder 1981).1
A childs recognition of advertisings persuasive intent is
1
However, it should be noted that the sufficiency of experiential evidence
in cueing this response in children has not been empirically assessed.
Clearly, the literature demonstrates that the capacity for defenses is not
equivalent to their use (Brucks et al. 1988).
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
viewed as a developmental milestone by both researchers
and policy makers. Although not established with certainty,
there is substantial evidence that by approximately eight
years of age, most children have at least a preliminary un-
derstanding of this intent (e.g., Donohue, Henke, and Do-
nohue 1980; Macklin 1987). Traditionally, it has been as-
sumed that once children understand the persuasive purpose
of advertising they become more skeptical and are then
capable of resisting its appeal (Federal Trade Commission
1978; Rossiter and Robertson 1974). Advertising is thus
implicitly accorded substantial power to shape childrens
thinking until they acquire sufficient cognitive and attitu-
dinal defenses. However, as noted earlier, the potential role
played by actual product experience in interacting with ad-
vertising has simply not been studied with children.
This article reports the findings of a multimethod inquiry
into this topic. In an effort to gain complementary insights,
both experimental and interpretive approaches were em-
ployed. Data-gathering efforts extended over eight months
and involved 395 sessions with individual children.2
THE EXPERIMENT: RELATING ADS AND
PRODUCT TRIAL
Our experiment was designed to examine how advertising
and product trial interrelate to form brand perceptions and
attitudes, and whether this may vary for children of different
ages (second and fifth graders). A mixed experimental de-
sign was employed, in which children were successively
exposed to various combinations of advertising and trial use.
Our study begins by exploring the separate reactions to prod-
uct trial versus advertising.
Childrens Reactions to Product Trial versus
Advertising
Although this question has not been studied with children,
some research has been conducted among adult populations
that shows that consumers do respond to advertising and
product trial in distinctive ways. One useful concept in this
regard is the integrated information response model
(Smith and Swinyard 1982). This model suggests that, be-
cause consumers know that advertisers wish to present their
brands in a favorable light, they react to ads by partially
discounting claims and forming tentatively held (lower-
order) brand beliefs and attitudes. In contrast, when con-
sumers have direct usage experience, they form stronger,
2
Given the lack of previous research on the intersection of children,
product usage, and advertising, it was important to gain an appreciation
for this topic. Thus, we initially conducted an interpretive investigation to
develop preliminary understanding of how children conceive of relation-
ships between ads and products. Furthermore, it was of methodological
interest to assess the utility of interpretive research in this setting. Depth
interviews were conducted with 22 children between the ages of seven
and 11. This study underscored two key issues to be explored in this project:
(1) developmental differences as represented by childrens ages and (2)
enjoyment of advertising as a factor in the persuasion of children.
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
more confidently held (higher-order) brand beliefs and
attitudes. This phenomenon has been observed in a number
of studies with adults (e.g., Marks and Kamins 1988; Smith
1993; Smith and Swinyard 1983) and is consistent with
similar work in psychology (Fazio 1986).
With respect to children, the same expectations should
hold, to the extent that credibility of advertising will come
to their minds while watching an ad. As reported above,
age differences can be expected here. Younger children have
been found to hold more positive attitudes about advertising,
to be more likely to believe its claims, and to be less likely
to understand its essential purpose.3 Thus, among younger
children advertisings credibility is not likely to arise as a
concern, and they are likely to perceive both advertising and
a product trial experience as believable sources of
information.
Older children (1012-year-olds), on the other hand, read-
ily acknowledge that advertising does not always tell the
truth and are more likely to express skeptical views toward
the institution of advertising (e.g., Boush, Friestad, and Rose
1994; Rossiter 1979; Ward, Wackman, and Wartella 1977).
They are expected to be able to discount ad claims and to
see these as different from objective, highly credible, and
salient trial experience (Tybout and Scott 1983). For older
children, then, an ad may produce weak expectations about
a brand, whereas product use should result in stronger, more
confidently held beliefs and attitudes (Fazio 1986; Smith
and Swinyard 1983). Thus, we hypothesize:
H1: Among older children, those exposed to product
trial form more confidently held brand beliefs and
attitudes than those exposed only to advertising;
younger children exhibit no such differences.
Advertising as a Frame for Product Trial
Beyond the separate reactions to advertising and product
trial, we are also interested in how they operate in combi-
nation. Here we adopt the general term ad framing to
reflect that advertisings effects may be felt not only at the
time of exposure but also later, in the context of product
trial or use. This topic has also never been addressed for
children, but several significant related concepts have been
advanced for adult consumers. One is transformational ad-
vertising, in which consumers are seen to draw upon prior
advertising exposures to help them both interpret and eval-
uate their subsequent product experiences (Puto and Wells
1984). Another, the expectancy/discrepancy set of con-
sumer satisfaction models, sees a consumers expectation
levels (which may have been influenced by advertisings
claims) as being compared to the later product trial expe-
rience to determine whether a discrepancy exists (Oliver
3
Although not a focus of the present study, this was assessed with our
sample, using Rossiters (1977) attitude toward advertising scale (modified
to include a midpoint). Our results mirrored prior findings: older children
reported less favorable attitudes toward advertising than did younger chil-
dren (MY = 22.9, MO = 18.5, p .001).
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33
1980; Olson and Dover 1979). Third, the hypothesis-testing
paradigm proposes that consumers at times treat advertising
claims as hypotheses about product performance, with con-
sumption then providing an opportunity to test these hy-
potheses (Hoch and Ha 1986). Thus, the linkages between
advertising and consumption experiences have been well
recognized within consumer research, but exclusively with
adult populations. For children, however, these effects may
not occur in the same way.
Childrens Capacity to Integrate Information from
Advertising and Product Trial
Because advertising and product trial are distinctly dif-
ferent, the childs capacity to integrate multiple sources of
information surfaces as a significant consideration. Devel-
opmental researchers have shown that, while very young
children engage in unidimensional thinking, by age seven
they tend to rely on multiple dimensions for a given task
(Siegler 1996b). Further, information integration research
has shown that six-year-olds have been found to combine
dimensions according to averaging and adding rules in a
variety of perceptual domains (Anderson 1980). Within con-
sumer behavior, Peracchio (1992) found that the use of stim-
uli and response formats congruent with younger childrens
(ages five and seven) encoding and retrieval abilities reveals
enhanced learning capacity, as do increased exposures.
However, whether young children are able and willing to
integrate disparate media (i.e., advertising and direct ex-
perience) is less clear, and it is an issue we examine using
natural stimuli in the present study.
Petty and Cacioppos (1981) elaboration likelihood model
(ELM) also provides useful insights into the integration is-
sue. Here, elaboration likelihood is seen to be a function of
ability and motivation. The greater cognitive ability of older
children should enhance elaboration likelihood relative to
younger children. In addition, it may be the case that
younger children are less motivated than older children to
process ads in an elaborative manner: they possess less skep-
ticism about advertising, and they have less freedom to make
independent purchase decisions. This expectation is consis-
tent with Anand and Sternthals (1989) resource-matching
hypothesis. Essentially, the resource demands for processing
two distinct forms of information are greater relative to the
cognitive resources of younger children than for older chil-
dren or adults. An advertising framing effect would require
the integration of two sources of information (from ad and
from product trial). Thus, we hypothesize:
H2: Among older children, those exposed only to
product trial differ in their brand beliefs and at-
titudes from those exposed to advertising prior to
product trial; younger children exhibit no such
differences.
34
FIGURE 1
FIGURE MODIFIED SPECIFICATION OF DUAL MEDIATION
MODEL
Childrens Affective Reactions to Advertising
Discussions of childrens advertising have generally po-
sitioned advertising as a communicator of claims as well as
a persuasive source. Up to this point our treatment of the
issues has also implicitly focused on informational views of
ad influence (in relation to product trial). However, one strik-
ing result of our initial interpretive work was the extent to
which children reported attending to and enjoying advertis-
ing as a form of entertainment. To what extent does this
also operate to influence children in their brand perceptions
and use experiences? In the remainder of this study, we
explicitly add measures of affective reactions to ads in order
to examine any persuasive roles they may also be playing
under three distinct conditions: when advertising is the only
stimulus (Hypotheses 3 and 4), when advertising precedes
a product trial (Hypothesis 5), and when advertising follows
product trial (Hypothesis 6).
The attitude toward the ad (AAD) concept provides a
useful approach for assessing how enjoyment of an ad af-
fects persuasion (Lutz 1985; Mitchell and Olson 1981;
Shimp 1981). Results of numerous studies with adults show
strong and consistent support for the direct influence of ad
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
liking on brand attitude (e.g., Brown and Stayman 1992).
This approach has recently been extended to children by
Derbaix and Bree (1997), who likewise found a significant
impact of AAD on brand attitude for children ages 710 years
old. As our most basic hypothesis, therefore, we anticipate
finding a similar pattern of baseline results. Hence, we hy-
pothesize:
H3: Regardless of age, when advertising is the sole
information source, childrens attitudes toward the
ad have a direct effect on their brand attitudes.
Alternative Forms of Ad Impact: When
Advertising Is the Sole Stimulus
There are multiple ways that affective reactions to ad-
vertising can operate. These have been captured within the
dual mediation model (MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch
1986), which has accumulated strong support across a range
of studies with adults (Brown and Stayman 1992). Figure
1 presents a modified version of this model that was de-
veloped to examine childrens responses in the present study.
The boxed portion of Figure 1 highlights the three structural
relationships of primary interest for our study and for which
results will be reported (AAD r AB; AAD r CogB; and
CogB r AB), where AB represents brand attitude and CogB
is perceptions of the brand.4 As was just reflected in Hy-
pothesis 3, the AAD to AB path represents a direct impact
that liking of an ad might have on liking for the brand itself.
This is akin to Petty and Cacioppos (1981) peripheral route
to persuasion. The combination of the other two paths rep-
resents an indirect route, in which liking for the ad influences
the beliefs about the brand (AAD r CogB), and these beliefs,
in turn, influence the brand attitude (CogB r AB): this is
somewhat analogous to central route persuasion.
The dual mediation models indirect route to persuasion
(AAD r CogB; CogB r AB) is actually more complex than
the direct route. The first step (AAD r CogB ) is presumed to
occur because consumers liking for an ad is apt to foster
message acceptance, thus the creation or modification of
positive beliefs about the brand. The second step (CogB r
AB) then represents the impacts of these beliefs on the con-
4
The exogenous variables in Figure 1 represent other cognitive and af-
fective constructs that contextualize the relationships of primary concern
in this research. Ad information and Ad entertainment are a bifurcation of
the Ad cognitions construct (Lutz 1985; MacKenzie and Lutz 1989). Per-
ceptions of an ads informativeness affect both AAD and the acceptance of
intended brand benefit claims, while perceptions of an ads entertainment
value influence only AAD (Burke and Edell 1986) as well as postexposure
brand attitude. Including these variables in the overall model estimation
provides a more complete specification. All constructs shown in Figure 1
were measured and employed in the path analyses. These constructs were
not involved in our hypotheses. For ease of interpretation only the results
for the boxed portion of Figure 1 are reported. In brief, AdEnt (ratings of
the entertainment value of the ad) showed consistently strong impacts on
AAD across all conditions and for both age groups. AdInfo (the information
value of the ad), on the other hand, showed few significant effects on either
AAD or CogB. In addition, PAB showed little impact on AAD and moderate
relationships with AB (depending on informational condition).
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
sumers overall attitude toward the brand. Thus, the indirect
route requires the child to elaborate on the advertisements
claims to the extent that cognitive structure is meaningfully
altered.
MacKenzie and Spreng (1992) provide a useful analysis
of the possible effects of motivation on processing along
the direct and indirect routes. For example, they point out
that one of the ways that motivation may exert its impact
is through shifting the nature of processing, such as focusing
a persons attention either toward or away from peripheral
cues, or by changing the nature of cognitive responses that
are evoked in response to an ad (MacKenzie and Spreng
1992, pp. 520, 526). They obtained partial empirical support
for the proposition that increasing motivation will increase
the impact of the indirect-route processing and decrease the
impact of peripheral cues directly on brand attitudes (p. 527).
This logic can be directly applied to ability as well as to
motivation. If pursued, this logic would suggest that higher
levels of either motivation and/or ability should increase the
likelihood of using the indirect route for processing of the
brand message, while lower levels of ability/motivation
should yield relatively more reliance on peripheral pro-
cessing (the direct route for AADs influence on brand atti-
tude).5 As argued previously, older children, relative to
younger children, are likely to possess greater ability and
motivation to process message claims. Viewed in this light,
younger childrens ad processing would tend to be more
peripherally influenced relative to older children. Hence we
hypothesize:
H4: When advertising is the only source of informa-
tion, age differences exist for the indirect effects
of AAD. Older children are more likely than
younger children to be influenced by liking for
the ad through the indirect route (i.e., AAD r
CogB; CogB r AB).
Impacts of Ad Affect in the Presence of Product
Trial
Traditionally, researchers have assumed that AAD has its
greatest impact within the immediate exposure setting (Lutz
1985). With the exception of Smith (1993) and Wright and
Lutz (1993), little empirical research has assessed whether
AAD retains its mediating role in a consumption context.
Neither of these studies found a substantial impact of AAD
when a product trial was also present. However, they were
conducted with adults, who should rely heavily on the usage
evidence, and both studies used relatively pallid experi-
menter-created print ads rather than the colorful, entertaining
commercials that children see. In our study, therefore, we
consider how AADs impact may change when a product trial
is also introduced. Two cases are examined: one when ad
exposure precedes product trial, and another when adver-
tising follows a trial experience. Both circumstances natu-
5
We thank a reviewer for suggesting this point.
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35
rally occur in childrens everyday lives, but advertisings
influence should differ in each case.
Advertising, Then Trial. Moving from Hypothesis 4,
which dealt with an advertising-only condition, this case
presents a greatly enhanced information environment for the
child. Here the ad is processed first, then the product trial
adds more information, and of a different type. In essence,
the child is faced with the formidable task of integrating the
playful and idealized images of advertising with the con-
crete, sensory-laden data of the product trial. For younger
children the requisite motivation and ability for such inte-
gration may simply not be present. Further, in this condition
the child will not be aware that a trial is forthcoming and
that the ad itself should be processed much as in the ad-
only condition. For both of these reasons, if any influence
of liking for the ad is seen, it should appear as a direct
influence on the attitude toward the brand (direct route),
without invoking the more cognitively demanding indirect
path.
In contrast, older childrens greater motivation and ability
to process the ad should militate in favor of the indirect
route to persuasion, in addition to the direct route (Mac-
Kenzie and Spreng 1992). Further, although affective re-
actions to the ad may help to form initial brand perceptions,
older children should be prepared to revise these initial per-
ceptions when the more credible sensory data are available
from product trial, much as adults do. However, since AAD
is formed prior to product trial in this situation, it should
exert its influence on older childrens acceptance of brand
claims; these perceptions may then be reinforced through
product trial. Thus, we hypothesize:
H5: When ad exposure precedes product trial, older
and younger children differ in the ways AAD in-
fluences AB. Younger children exhibit only a direct
effect (AAD r AB), while older children are likely
to exhibit both a direct (AAD r AB) and an indirect
effect (AAD r CogB, CogB r AB).
Trial, Then Advertising. It may sometimes occur that
a child is exposed to a trial experience with a brand (e.g.,
at a friends home, during school lunches) prior to having
seen an ad for it. In this situation, the trial experience should
have significant impacts on the nature of the childs later
processing of an ad for that product. Although no previous
work on this topic has been undertaken with children, useful
studies with adults are available that address this situation.
First, consumers should be expected to have formed con-
fidently held higher-order beliefs (Smith and Swinyard
1983) and attitudes (Fazio 1986) on the basis of their ex-
perience with the brand. Second, because of these already
existing higher-order predispositions, reactions to the ad
should have less capacity for impact (consistent with this
expectation, both Smith [1993] and Wright and Lutz [1993]
observed the weakest effects of AAD in this same trial/ad
exposure sequence). Third, consumers motivation to pro-
cess and integrate the advertising is diminished after a prod-
36
uct trial because the direct experience is seen to be more
trustworthy and more vivid than the advertisement (Tybout
and Scott 1983).
In the present study with children, this set of consider-
ations leads to anticipated weakened impacts for AAD when
product trial precedes advertising. As indicated earlier,
younger children are not likely to possess the levels of mo-
tivation and/or capacity to undertake the indirect path in any
of our conditions. Thus, we anticipate a weakened effect on
the direct path (AAD r AB) relative to what is found for the
ad only (Hypothesis 4) and ad before trial (Hypothesis 5)
conditions, and no evidence of AADs indirect impact
(AAD r CogB) here. For older children, we likewise antici-
pate weakened impacts of AAD, but now along both linkages
for AAD (i.e., AAD r AB and AAD r CogB). Overall then, for
both younger and older children we expect the lowest effects
of AAD in any of our conditions, consistent with what Smith
(1993) observed for adults. Thus, we hypothesize:
H6: When product trial precedes ad exposure, AAD has
a weaker impact relative to the ad-only and ad/
trial conditions. In particular, the AAD r AB link
is weaker for younger children, while the AAD r
AB and AAD r CogB links are weaker for older
children.
METHOD
Design and Subjects
A 2 # 4 mixed experimental design was used. Two age
groups, second graders (seven to eight years old) and fifth
graders (1011 years old), participated in the study. A total
of 72 children (51 percent female, 85 percent white) were
recruited from public elementary schools. The content of
brand-related information was manipulated on a within-sub-
jects basis. By manipulating the information source and the
sequence of exposure, four experimental conditions were
created: (1) ad only, (2) product trial only, (3) ad followed
by product trial, and (4) product trial followed by ad.
Procedure
A total of 288 experimental sessions were conducted over
a five-week period. Each subject participated in four ses-
sions, at roughly one-week intervals (one for each experi-
mental condition) using a different ad and product in each
session. The order of the experimental conditions was coun-
terbalanced in the design. All sessions were held at the
schools and carried out on an individual basis. In the ad-
only condition, each child was shown a videotape with two
filler ads followed by the target commercial (shown twice)
with 10 seconds of black as a buffer. In the product trial
condition, the child was provided with the target brand (in
its original packaging) and given four minutes to consume
a sample of it. Subjects in the two ad-plus-trial conditions
received both inputs, in the order indicated. After all stim-
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
ulus materials were presented, dependent measures were
collected. On average, the procedure took 2025 minutes
per session. In addition, during the first session, rapport-
building games were played in which prior brand attitudes
were collected for both experimental and filler brands. At
the conclusion of the final session, children were asked about
their shopping involvement, brand preferences, TV viewing,
and general attitudes about advertising. Children were given
a prize as a small token of appreciation.
Demand effects are, of course, a concern in any study.
We took care to try to minimize such threats here. First, the
one-week lag between each of the four experimental sessions
helped to make procedural differences across cells less sa-
lient. Further, the children were directly questioned about
their perceptions of the studys purpose at its conclusion.
No suspicion was evident.
Test Advertisements and Product Selection
One of the limitations of prior research on interactions
between advertising and trial is that the effects typically
have been examined for only a single product category,
potentially confounding constructs such as ambiguity with
product class. To enhance the external validity of our find-
ings (Lynch 1982), four stimulus pairs (commercials and
product samples) were used in this study in a Latin square
design.
To select the four ad and product sets, a large pool of
food commercials that had aired on childrens programs was
created. Ads were then eliminated from the pool if they
contained premium offers (e.g., contests, prizes), program
characters acting as endorsers (e.g., Fred Flintstone, Bugs
Bunny) or if the brand required additional preparation for
use (e.g., Kids Cuisine frozen entrees, Eggo frozen waffles),
leaving some 40 candidate commercials. Four judges with
advertising research or agency experience were then asked
to eliminate unrepresentative ads with respect to execution,
product, or quantity of information. Fifteen ads were elim-
inated at this stage. The remaining ads were shown to 18
fourth graders who rated both the commercial and the brand
on familiarity, liking, comprehensibility, and prior experi-
ence. The four test ads were selected based on the following
criteria: (1) multiple product categories were represented
within the set, (2) variation existed in childrens attitudes
toward the specific ads and brands promoted, and (3) the
set of ads reflected the quantity of information typical in
childrens ads. The final ads selected for inclusion were (1)
Keebler Pizzaria Chips, (2) Sodalicious Fruit Snacks, (3)
Smarties Chocolate Candy (imported from Canada), and (4)
Double Dip Crunch Cereal.
Dependent Variables
Measurement took on special importance in our study
because, with the exception of scales to assess childrens
brand attitudes and general attitudes about advertising, few
established measures exist to examine childrens responses
to marketing stimuli (e.g., Macklin and Machleit 1989; Ros-
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
TABLE 1
IMPACTS ON CONFIDENCE IN BRAND PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES: ADVERTISING VERSUS PRODUCT TRIAL (MEANS)
Exposed to ad only
Younger children: n = 36
Confidence in brand beliefs 2.76
Confidence in brand attitude 2.50
Older children: n = 36
Confidence in brand beliefs 2.60
Confidence in brand attitude 2.47
siter 1977). Three sets of new measures were developed for
this study (assessments of AAD, brand beliefs, and belief and
attitude confidence). Given the difficulties inherent in de-
veloping valid and reliable measures for use with young
children, a series of steps was taken to ensure that the new
measures were meaningful. Two industry researchers ex-
perienced in designing questionnaires for children supplied
sample questionnaires and critiqued our items. Methods for
constructing and administering psychometric scales for chil-
dren were also gleaned from the education and psychology
literatures on childrens attitudes about reading, self-per-
ceptions, attitudes about smoking, and school-related beliefs
and attitudes. This search proved useful in guiding the design
of our measures, which were then pretested with second and
fifth graders. All scaled items were verbally administered
to preclude problems with variation in literacy levels.
Brand Beliefs. For each of the four products, a list of
six or seven attributes was generated through pretests with
small groups of children. Each attribute reflected a product
characteristic that could be discerned from both the adver-
tisement and the trial experience (including the packaging).
We then created a variation of the sentence strip technique
(familiar to these students from their reading comprehension
lessons) as our measurement vehicle. Sentence stems, such
as it tastes like soda (for the Sodalicious fruit snack), were
created using the attribute lists.6 Four belief options ranging
from I really believe to I dont believe at all were laid
out on a table in the form of sentence strips. The child was
handed the sentence stem for each attribute one at a time
and asked to make the best match for it. Belief scores were
averaged across attributes. These measures were also com-
bined multiplicatively with confidence scores to create the
CogB measure reported in several of our analyses. This ad-
ditional step builds upon the approach of Smith (1993),
which is intended to account explicitly for the impacts of
product trial in forming higher-order beliefs.
Brand Attitudes. Childrens attitudes toward the brands
(AB variable) were measured initially with five-point smiley
face scales as suggested by Wells (1965) and modified by
6
Additional examples from the attribute lists for the other product cat-
egories include it has nuts in it (for Double Dip Crunch Cereal), they
come in different colors (for Smarties candy), and they taste like pizza
(for the Pizzaria chips).
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37
Exposed to trial only F p-value q2
n = 36
3.21 7.37 .01 .08
3.69 31.88 .0001 .30
n = 36
3.49 40.97 .0001 .33
3.83 51.63 .0001 .41
Roedder et al. (1983). For the second administration of the
brand attitude measure, a five-point star scale commonly
used in industry research was used in combination with two
bipolar scales (like/dislike and good/bad). Coefficient alpha
was used to assess the internal consistency of these items
(a = .94).7
Belief and Attitude Confidence. Measures of confi-
dence for adults are far too complex for children to interpret
successfully (e.g., seven-point scales ranging from ex-
tremely uncertain to extremely certain). For this study,
therefore, we modified the Ginosar and Trope (1980) ap-
proach, using sentence strips with a four-point scale ranging
from I really, really think so to I really just guessed.
An overall belief confidence score was created by averaging
across individual attributes.
Attitude toward the Ad. Reactions to the ad itself were
measured by four five-point pictorial scale items tapping the
following dimensions: liking, excitement, feelings while
viewing, and good/bad (i.e., five drawings representing dif-
fering levels of each dimension, together with verbal labels,
were mounted on cardboard strips). For each strip, the chil-
dren were asked to point to the picture that best matched
their reaction. Responses were averaged to obtain the overall
attitude toward the ad score. The reliability of the measure
is quite acceptable and did not differ by age (a = .88).
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
Effects of Advertising and Product Trial on Brand
Perceptions and Attitudes
Advertising versus Product Trial. The first hypothesis
suggested that older childrens brand beliefs and attitudes
would be more confidently held when formed on the basis
of product trial than on the basis of ad exposure, while no
differences were expected among the younger group. Table
1 reports the results. Here we note that product trial led to
greater belief and attitude confidence among both the older
and younger children, when compared to advertising ex-
7
Reliability estimates were remarkably consistent across age groups for
the measures used in this study and are reported for the entire sample
except where differences were apparent.
38
posure (belief confidencesecond graders: F = 7.37, p !
.01, fifth graders: F = 40.97, p ! .0001; attitude confi-
dencesecond graders: F = 31.88 , p ! .0001, fifth graders:
F = 51.63, p ! .001). Thus, our hypothesis for older children
was supported, but for younger children it was not. However,
a test for an interaction between age and source was highly
significant for belief confidence (F = 4.30, p ! .001), indi-
cating that the effects of product trial versus advertising
exposure were much greater among the older children than
among the younger age group, as expected. Overall, then,
the first tests were supportive of our expectations regarding
age differences, although younger children did differentiate
more than expected.
Advertising and Product Trial versus Product Trial
Alone. The second hypothesis suggested that while ad ex-
posure prior to product trial might be expected to influence
older childrens subsequent brand perceptions and attitudes,
younger children would be less likely to integrate the two
disparate information sources. As shown in Table 2, this
hypothesis was generally supported. No reliable differences
were observed for the younger age group from an ad/trial
sequence relative to trial alone.
A more complex pattern was observed among the older
children, one that suggests an advertising framing effect on
subsequent product use. Specifically, a significant interaction
between stimulus set and experimental condition was present
for the older children (this interaction was not significant
for the younger children), indicating that the direction of
the ads influence was dependent on the specific advertise-
ment under consideration (see Table 2). Exposure to either
the cereal or snack chip ad prior to product trial had a
positive influence on brand perceptions and attitudes (e.g.,
favorable brand attitudes based on trial only [3.9 out of 5]
were raised to very favorable attitudes [4.6/5] when the ad
preceded the trial). Conversely, a prior exposure to either
the candy or fruit snack ad before trying the product led to
a negative influence on brand ratings following usage (e.g.,
favorable brand attitudes based on trial alone [4.4/5] were
lowered to neutral brand attitudes [3.2/5] when the ads for
these brands preceded the product trial). So, while the di-
rection of the ads influence was a function of the specific
stimulus shown, evidence of its influence was apparent
across all ads.
One explanation for this differential direction in ad fram-
ing might be that the expectations generated by the ads for
the candy and fruit snack were somehow not met during the
actual product usage experience, thus yielding less enthu-
siasm for the product itself, while the reverse effect occurred
for the cereal and snack chip. Another possibility could be
that affective reactions to each ad were operating. Our post
hoc analyses in the ad/trial condition did show that the two
ads with positive framing effects had higher attitude toward
the ad scores (4.2), relative to the two ads whose influence
was negative (3.2). The former two ads were also found to
be more familiar (x 2 = 24.90, df = 1, p ! .0001), on the ba-
sis of ratings of all children to whom these ads were pre-
sented. Research suggesting that familiarity leads to liking
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
thus might also partially account for this type of outcome
(Hawkins and Hoch 1992). Collectively, these findings do
constitute evidence that advertisements can influence or
frame the interpretations of a subsequent brand experience
on the part of older children.
Relationships among Ad Affect, Brand
Perceptions, and Attitudes
Hypotheses 36 examine the relationships among chil-
drens affective responses to advertising, brand perceptions,
and attitudes. Ordinary least squares regression was used to
obtain the path coefficients, an appropriate estimation pro-
cedure when the specified causal model is recursive (Asher
1983). For each of the three conditions incorporating ad
exposure and for each age group, the following series of
regression equations (representing the relationships in the
modified dual mediation model) was estimated. It was
necessary to estimate these equations for the age groups
separately because we believed that there was a difference
in the variance of the error terms for the two groups.8
AAD = a1 1 b1 AdInfo 1 b 2 AdEnt 1 b 3 PAB 1 1 , (1)
CogB = a 2 1 b 4 AdInfo 1 b 5 AAD 1 2 , (2)
AB = a 3 1 b 6 AAD 1 b 7 CogB 1 b8 PAB 1 3 , (3)
where AAD = attitude toward the ad; CogB = perceptions of
the brand; AB = brand attitude; PAB = prior brand attitude;
AdInfo = perceptions of ads informativeness; AdEnt = per-
ceptions of ads entertainment value; and = error term.
For each condition, differences between the two age groups
were then tested by directly comparing the regression co-
efficients for independent samples. Results of these analyses
are depicted in Table 3, which lists unstandardized parameter
estimates. T-tests for within-group differences between ad-
only and ad-plus-trial cells were also conducted by incor-
porating appropriate covariance estimates in the error term
(Hogg and Tanis 1997).
Ad Affect and Advertising Alone. Hypotheses 3 and
4 examine the direct and indirect impacts of ad affect when
advertising is the only information source available. Hy-
pothesis 3 predicted a direct transfer of ad affect to brand
attitude (AAD r AB) for both age groups. As shown in Table
3, this relationship was evident for both younger (b = .45)
and older (b = .26) children. This result replicates previous
findings with adult audiences, as well as Derbaix and Brees
(1997) result for 710-year-olds.
Hypothesis 4 predicted age differences for the indirect
route to persuasion. Given the greater motivational and re-
source demands imposed by the indirect route (relative to
8
Subsequent F-tests indicated statistically significant differences in the
variance of the second and fifth graders. Thus, the use of dummy variables
and interaction terms is inappropriate.
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES 39

TABLE 2

IMPACTS ON BRAND PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES: AD/TRIAL VERSUS TRIAL ONLY (MEANS)

Exposed to trial only Exposed to ad/trial F p-value q2

Younger children: n = 36 n = 36
Brand beliefs 2.90 3.02
Brand cognitions (CogB) 9.40 9.90
Brand attitude (AB) 4.29 4.31

Older children:
Ads as Positive Frame for Trial n = 18 n = 18
Brand beliefs 3.20 3.59 6.78 .01 .14
Brand cognitions (CogB) 11.67 13.10 3.91 .05 .07
Brand attitude (AB) 3.91 4.63 6.00 .05 .12

Ads as Negative Frame for Trial n = 18 n = 18

Brand beliefs 2.89 2.26 8.17 .01 .17
Brand cognitions (CogB) 9.67 7.28 9.31 .01 .19
Brand attitude (AB) 4.41 3.21 9.61 .01 .19
NOTE.(CogB) = (belief # confidence; see, e.g., Smith [1993]; Smith and Swinyard [1983]).

the direct route), it was expected that the older children ties and differences between the older and younger children
would exhibit greater evidence of this path to persuasion. emerge. In the case of direct impact of AAD on brand atti-
Support for this hypothesis was obtained, as shown in Table tudes, the age groups were quite similar. In the case of the
3. The first step of the indirect route was significant for both indirect impact of AAD, however, the older and younger chil-
age groups, but, as anticipated, older children revealed a dren were dissimilar in expected ways. In this regard, the
significantly stronger AAD r CogB relationship (.43) than did finding that older childrens liking for the ad significantly
younger children (.22). The second step of the indirect route, affects their perceptions of the brand appears to buttress the
CogB r AB, was also significantly stronger for older children ad framing finding reported earlier in Hypothesis 2.
(.18) than for younger (.04). Overall, results here are con-
sistent with the expectation that the motivational and cog- Ad Affect: Trial before Advertising. This condition
nitive resource demands of the indirect route were more was expected to attenuate the impacts of affect toward the
challenging for the younger children to meet. ad, as trial would have already helped to form higher-order
beliefs about the product. Findings generally support our
Ad Affect: Advertising before Trial. Hypothesis 5 expectations here. Hypothesis 6 predicted that the trial/ad
dealt with both the direct and indirect routes for AAD per- condition was expected to produce reduced AAD impacts
suasion when advertising is followed by product trial.
Among younger children, we expected that ad liking would
directly influence attitude toward the brand (AAD r AB) with- TABLE 3
out invoking the more cognitively demanding indirect path
(AAD r CogB; CogB r AB). Among older children, increased PATH ANALYSIS RESULTS: INDEPENDENT SAMPLES
integrative abilities should enable pursuit of the indirect (UNSTANDARDIZED PARAMETER ESTIMATES, BY AGE AND
CONDITION)
route, in conjunction with the direct route.
Results supported these expectations, as shown in Table Younger children Older children
3. First, the direct route, in which liking for the ad influences Ad only Ad/trial Trial/ad Ad only Ad/trial Trial/ad
liking for the brand (AAD r AB) was significant for the
AAD r AB .45**AB .35** .19**B .26**A .30** .17**
younger children (.35). Second, the indirect route was not
(.09) (.08) (.08) (.07) (.15) (.07)
significant. Third, for the older children, the indirect route
was significant. Here we see that for the first step (AAD r AAD r CogB .22*A .10A .21 .43**AC .47**AD .15CD
CogB), older childrens affective reactions to the ad strongly (.11) (.10) (.14) (.12) (.12) (.09)
influenced their perceptions of the brand (.47), and that the
second step (CogB r AB) was also significant (.37). Finally, CogB r AB .04A 2.06A .22** .18**A .37**A .26*
consistent with our hypothesis, there was also evidence of (.15) (.12) (.11) (.08) (.19) (.14)
affective influence via the direct route (AAD r AB) among NOTE.n = 36 observations in each cell. Standard errors are in parentheses.
the older children (.30). Thus, for these older children ad *
Asterisks indicate significance of regression coefficients: p ! .10, **
Tests of regression coefficients: A = significant differences between younger
p ! .05.

liking exerted its influence through multiple persuasive
routes.
Overall, the results of Hypothesis 5 indicate that when
advertising precedes product trial both significant similari-
and older children (same conditions) at p ! .0001 (two-tailed); B = significant
difference, younger children (ad only vs. trial/ad) at p ! .05 (two-tailed); C =
significant difference, older children (ad only vs. trial/ad) at p ! .05 (two-tailed);
D = significant difference, older children (ad/trial vs. trial/ad) at p ! .05 (two-
tailed).

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40
relative to the ad-only and ad/trial conditions. Among the
younger children AADs direct influence on brand attitude
(AB) did decline in this condition (.19) relative to its impact
in the ad-only condition (.45), as hypothesized, and was in
the expected direction in comparison to the ad/trial condition
(.19 vs. .35), although it did not reach statistical significance.
Among the older children, the relevant relation within the
indirect route was AAD r CogB. Here, statistically significant
expected decreases were apparent from the ad-only (.15 vs.
.43), and ad/trial (.15 vs. .47) conditions. We also assessed
whether AADs direct impacts were reduced for the older
children (given its significance in the ad/trial condition,
noted previously). As indicated in Table 3, although direc-
tionally consistent (.17 vs. .26 and .30), the AAD r AB re-
lationship did not reveal a statistical diminution of AAD im-
pact. Overall, the results of Hypothesis 6 indicate that AADs
effects are indeed reduced, but not eliminated, when ad ex-
posure follows trial. In particular, AAD loses capacity to shape
brand perceptions among the older children but retains a
capacity to exert a direct influence on both younger and
older childrens brand attitudes.
DISCUSSION
The empirical results of the experiment offered strong
support for our primary expectations regarding childrens
reactions to advertising and product trial. When studied as
separate stimuli, actual usage of the product yielded higher
levels of confidence in brand attitudes than did advertising.
Further, when product usage preceded exposure to adver-
tising, it weakened the affective impacts of the ads. Thus,
relative to concerns of marketers and public policy makers
about advertisings power over children, these results sug-
gest that product usage experiences will act to offer some
protections in the marketplace (the conditions under which
such usage occurs, such as requiring a purchase in order to
try the product, are a separate issue). Advertising also
emerged as a significant influence on childrens perceptions:
several intriguing findings appeared here. The inclusion of
two age groups in the study (second and fifth grades) al-
lowed us to test hypotheses based on differences in cognitive
development, knowledge, and motivation to process alter-
native types of stimuli. Both groups of children were influ-
enced by advertising and product trial, but in somewhat
different ways.
For the younger children, it appears that the dual task of
ad interpretation and integration with inputs from the prod-
uct experience can be relatively complex. Depending on the
ad, little brand information may be conveyed beyond the
easily interpretable sensory data from product trial (although
our data show that an ad may still be influential through
affective means). Attempts to reconcile the ad-depicted
world of fantasy and hyperbole with evidence from product
use may overtax the young childs resources at the integra-
tion stage of processing. Theoretically, one reaction to tasks
that stress processing limits is to narrow ones focus to the
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
most important or perceptually salient dimension (Siegler
1996b)in this case product trial. It should be noted that,
apart from this capacity or strategic explanation, the younger
childrens reliance on the experiential data might alterna-
tively be attributed to knowledge or motivational differ-
ences. Although seven-year-olds can reason in multiple di-
mensions, they have less advertising knowledge and
experience on which to base more complex processing. Re-
cently, researchers have shown that many age differences
traditionally attributed to capacity constraints now appear
to reflect differences in domain-related knowledge (Siegler
1996a). In a similar vein, one reviewer pointed out that
younger children are less involved than older children in
decisions about product purchases. From a purely functional
perspective, then, older children may be more motivated to
process ads carefully, since they may have more occasion
to act on the basis of the information gleaned from
advertising.
Consistent with older childrens enhanced levels of pro-
cessing capacity, motivation, and knowledge, this study did
provide clear evidence of information integration. Most no-
tably, advertisings capacity to frame the interpretation of a
later product use experience was readily apparent. With the
provision of advertising prior to product trial, older children
shifted their beliefs and attitudes; this was not the case
among the younger children. Interestingly, it appears that
these framing effects can operate in either a positive or
negative direction, a finding that suggests the need for care-
ful ad planning when the intended audience includes chil-
dren. We also found that AADs influence among the older
children was not confined to a direct transfer to brand at-
titude but that it also helped to shape their beliefs about the
brand. Thus, for these older children ad liking exerted its
influence through multiple paths to persuasion.
In summary, this experiment incorporated several useful
features in its design, some of which are new to consumer
research on children, and that have yielded additions to our
understanding of advertisings effects on children in con-
sumption contexts. The combination of product trial and
advertising, for example, revealed persuasive impacts across
a range of products and conditions. As just discussed, the
inclusion of distinct age groups allowed different patterns
of influences to emerge. Among the most interesting of these
was the demonstration of advertisings capacity to frame an
older childs later usage experience. Further, because mul-
tiple products and commercials were built into the design,
we were able to discern directional differences in the framing
process: cases of significant negative influence from an ad
exposure emerged as well as cases of positive impacts. Ad
and trial impacts were assessed across levels that spanned
confidence in brand judgments, brand beliefs, and brand
attitudes. Finally, the addition of the attitude toward the
ad construct proved very useful in expanding our appre-
ciation for ways in which advertising may work with chil-
dren. Of particular note is the fact that AAD retained its
capacity to influence both younger and older children in all
conditions. While this effect was attenuated when actual
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
usage of the product preceded exposure to the ad, it still
remained as a significant influence. Thus, the evidence from
this experiment suggests that advertisings creative elements
may play a more central role in the persuasion process than
has been previously recognized within the childrens ad-
vertising literature.
THE INTERPRETIVE STUDY: ADS AS
CHILDREN SEE THEM
We then pursued the issues of age, ads, and product usage
employing qualitative inquiry. Methodologically, triangu-
lation across methods allows different aspects of a phenom-
enon to emerge. Here interpretivist methods offered us an
opportunity to gain additional insights into how children
think about ads and products, free of the close-ended mea-
sures of experimental research (Denzin 1989; Lutz 1991;
McQuarrie and Mick 1992).
Method
Interviews and Sampling Procedure. Individual
depth interviews were conducted with 38 children (60 per-
cent female, 87 percent white) from a different school in
the same community. Younger and older children were again
included: 18 of the children were in the second grade and
20 were in the fifth grade. Most interviews were conducted
in two sessions (range = 13) scheduled 210 days apart:
all interviews were conducted by the first author. This format
allowed the researchers to review audiotapes and identify
areas for further exploration in the second meeting. Inter-
views ranged from 45 to 130 minutes, varying as a function
of the childs interest and schedule. The flow of the inter-
views was cast largely by the children, as they recounted
their personal experiences and views of heavily promoted
products (Thompson, Locander, and Pollio 1989). Props
(trial of the Sodalicious fruit snack used in the experiment
and exposure to its ad and two filler ads) were included
early in the interview, a strategy recommended by childrens
researchers (e.g., Bierman and Schwartz 1986; Peracchio
1990; Wells 1965) and used with substantial effectiveness
in our exploratory research. These props served as a starting
point for discussion, which then shifted to the childs own
experiences and opinions about other products encountered
in their everyday lives. The children were enthusiastic and
involved participants, frequently returning to the second ses-
sion with topics they wanted to introduce, clarify, or
embellish.
Analytic Strategy. Data analysis was conducted ac-
cording to grounded theory procedures (e.g., Glaser and
Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1990). Approximately 800
pages of verbatim transcripts were developed from the au-
diotaped interviews. Extensive analytic field notes were
taken. Detailed in these notes were theoretical assumptions,
a summary of the process and content of each interview,
and preliminary interpretations of the data.
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41
An extensive, structured process was used to identify and
preserve key insights. During the first phase (open coding),
data were broken down into discrete events and ideas: these
were then compared such that conceptually similar phenom-
ena were grouped to form categories and subcategories. In
the second phase (axial coding), relationships among cate-
gories were articulated: patterns were sought both within
and across informants. Finally, in the third phase (selective
coding) the central or core phenomenon was identified, one
that appeared most comprehensive and revealing of the chil-
drens individual and collective experience.
Multiple steps were taken to enhance the trustworthiness
of the findings (Wallendorf and Belk 1989). Both internal
and external audits were conducted on a continuous basis,
covering all research materials. This process was conducted
by two individuals, one a sociologist with extensive expe-
rience conducting interpretive research and in using
grounded theory analysis, and the other, the second author.
Thus, attributes to ensure trustworthiness of interpretation
included triangulation across sources (age groups) and re-
searchers (authors plus an external auditor).
Findings
As noted in our discussion of method, the experiments
restricted focus was here supplemented by a much wider
range of topics and issues. Given their retrospective cov-
erage, moreover, the interviews here embodied the chil-
drens own natural exposures to many forms of ads, as well
as multiple use experiences with many products. This rich
base of consumer experience was evident among all of our
participants, including the younger consumers. As expected,
children of both age groups offered a wide range of com-
ments on advertising and product use. They reported their
enjoyment in using various products and their strategies for
acquiring new products. They elaborated on how they were
interested in, as well as amused by, advertising and how
they were informed by its contents. Thus, there were some
elements of similarity across the sample. However, inter-
esting differences also appeared between the two age groups.
These were quite consistent with our findings in the exper-
iment and, in fact, help us to better understand the genesis
of those results, as explained in the following sections.
Younger Children: A Baseline View. Whereas the ex-
periment had forced exposure and focused attention to par-
ticular ads, here the respondents were largely free to decide
which product use experiences and ads they wished to dis-
cuss. In general, the younger childrens reports were con-
sistent with expectations from the literature and thus provide
a baseline of sorts against which the older children can be
compared. For example, one interesting difference between
the age groups involved the scope of products and ads dis-
cussed. The younger children, not surprisingly, chose to
report on products of personal relevance for their daily lives
and largely restricted their discussions of ads to those in-
volving products either personally owned or sought for fu-
ture acquisition (other ads seemed to be summarily dis-
42
missed for lacking personal interest on these dimensions
[e.g., I dont like GI Joes, I like Barbie]). In this regard,
there was an emphasis in the younger childrens descriptions
on how they used commercials as a means of discovering
heretofore unrecognized opportunities and desires. For ex-
ample, informants readily described ads that had been help-
ful to them in compiling a personal wish list for a birthday
or holiday.
Furthermore, across interviews children recounted, some-
times vividly, how they looked forward to seeing particular
ads. In this focused sense, the younger children emerged as
active and involved, not passive recipients of advertising.
Finally, these children displayed an obvious enthusiasm for
and enjoyment of their advertising experiences.
I really, really watch some commercials about Barbie. I like
to watch them because I like to see how pretty the Barbies
are and if there is going to be, like, a new kind of Barbie.
There is one Barbie that I got on a commercial where she
could dance with a Ken doll. Then it comes with some little
lipstick type thing on a towel. You dip it in cold water and
put the lipstick on the Barbie. The Barbies lipstick turns
darker. (203, F)9
The extent of these childrens comments was indeed im-
pressive: line extensions and new features were noted, and
comparisons to other brands spontaneously offered. The
children readily shared details of their use experiences, store
visits, and strategies they used to try to influence their par-
ents purchases. However, the younger children in our study
did seem to assume that the product was as depicted in the
advertisement: there was little reporting of trust or credibility
concerns. And, while the children enjoyed humor in some
commercials, ad execution in itself appeared not to be of
focal interest. Finally, the parents role as gatekeeper was a
salient consideration, even to the extent of apparently re-
ceiving weight in product evaluations. These points are il-
lustrated in the following quotes.
I like the one [Super Soaker] where you get the concentrated
color water junk. You put it in the gun and it shoots and its
disappearing ink, that stuff. It has a motorized one that you
have to buy batteries for, and you can shoot it and its con-
centrated so if it gets in your eyes it wont burn. I havent
gotten it yet, but I want my Mom to get it for me. (204, M)
I have a collection of My Little Ponies and I like those
commercials. They show different ponies. They show girls
playing with ponies and they make the ponies, like, jump
and stuff. Just for one certain pony, for one kind, like if you
twist it up or something it will dance. I have one of those.
I have, like, twenty-five My Little Ponies. I get one for every
birthday and stuff. (207, F)
I dont like that one [ad for Chips Ahoy cookies] because it
9
Bracketed information identifies the grade/age and sex of the informant
(2XX = seven- to eight-year-olds, second graders; 5XX = 1011-year-olds,
fifth graders).
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
made me too hungry. Cookies are my favorite. And were
not allowed to have snacks. (203, F)
In addition, this study offered additional insight and sup-
port for some of the results obtained in the experiment. For
example, recall that these interviews began with an ad ex-
posure and product trial for one of the brands (Sodalicious)
used in the experiment.10 Evidence from the younger chil-
drens reactions to this ad is helpful in explaining why the
younger children in the experiment would have reflected
simpler processing routes as regards AAD (i.e., AAD r AB, but
not AAD r CogB or CogB r AB) but provided no evidence
of the ad framing effect found with the older children. Con-
sider the following quotes from two of the younger children:
Its like a fairy tale on the commercial. I mean, people cant
really be thin. And they cant just pop out of it like that.
Thats not real. (212, M)
I didnt like it when he just like walked to a machine because
I dont know any machines that give fruit snacks. I dont like
that. You cant just be flat and then just turn round. (209, M)
It is apparent that these children are having difficulty
understanding the figurative language and depictions of this
commercial (actual content will become clear presently, with
quotes from older children). This in turn restricts their ca-
pabilities to develop appropriate brand beliefs (CogB mea-
sures). Further, this should have constrained the develop-
ment of a set of product use expectations, thus working
against the creation of a usage framing effect through
advertising.
Older Children: A Broadened, Richer View. Beyond
the baseline of performance established by the younger chil-
dren, the older children in our study revealed a higher lan-
guage capacity and a broader and richer set of comments
and insights on advertising and products. With respect to
the Sodalicious example just discussed, consider these
quotes from several of the older respondents:
If you leave soda out too long, the fizz in it gets flat and
then it doesnt taste very good. I think they said it. If you
eat it, youre not flat or something. Theyre probably talking
about Sodalicious tastes like real Coke, like real sodas and
stuff. And it doesnt taste like the normal fruit snacks that
are supposedly flat in the commercial. (504, F)
There were other people eating it because he did, sort of like
he was popular. He ate it and then all these other people ate
it. Its like a lot of people would do that. One person will buy
something and eat it. And then the other people, if hes popular
theyll go and get it too. It happens in real life. (501, M)
10
In the fruit snack ad, a fanciful execution was used to promote the
idea that the snack was exciting and unusual, containing soda flavors and
features unlike conventional brands. Special effects depict the children in
the ads initially as two-dimensional characters. After trying the snack, they
pop back to three-dimensional form and enthusiastically proclaim the merits
of the brand. Soda bubbles cover the screen and other children come to
join the fun.
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
They were trying to say that Sodalicious will give you energy.
And it will, because its sugary. Its covered in, like, this
sugar stuff, has like sugar sprinkled on it. Theyre trying to
say that youll be better after you try Sodalicious. After he
tried the Sodalicious, he popped out and just got a lot of
energy. It didnt happen to me. I mean I did feel good but I
was still the same after I tried it. It tasted good, I liked it.
(513, F)
Notice how the older children were more sensitive to the
figurative content of this message and were able to detect
multiple levels of meaning in this fantasy-laden ad. In con-
trast to the younger children, they knew these images are
not meant to be taken literally and that the fantasy is used
to convey an underlying idea or strategy. Thus, they were
able to look to a messages literal meaning as well as its
figurative properties.
The older children also departed from the younger chil-
dren in terms of the scope of the commercials they were
interested in discussing. Beyond products personally pur-
chased and usedthe essential range of discussion for the
younger childrenthe older participants in this study readily
described ads for many products and services, such as Stain-
master carpets or Huggies diapers, that they themselves
would not be involved in buying. Thus, in contrast to the
younger children, there was a larger distinction drawn be-
tween advertising and personal product use among these
older respondents.
The essential motivators for this expanded range of ad-
vertising interest appeared to be a fascination on the part of
the older children in advertisings entertainment dimensions
and executional elements. In this sense, they appear to be
consuming ads much the way they might consume a tele-
vision program, as an appreciative audience, irrespective of
the specific product promoted. For example:
The Honey Comb commercial has never left my head because
its got all those details in it. Its got bright colors, and music,
and kids with interesting things in it. Thats what makes it
stay in my head. I dont like that kind of cereal or the new
kinds. I dont like sweet cereal. I just like the commercials
though. (507, F)
I watch most of the commercials that come on [laughs]. I
watch them for stuff that they do that make people get at-
tention. If they flashed different things, or if they just stayed
on the same theme the whole way through the commercial.
Like, well in the Pepsi commercial, it says its got two words
Gotta Have It. Thats three words and it makes people think
about it. Gotta Have It. So, stuff like that makes you think
about it or remember it. Like something stupid that will make
you think about how dumb that commercial was, that makes
you think about it. (503, F)
Relative to other forms of communications, advertising
is unique in its aims and content, and the older childrens
reports recognized that ads are strategic constructions. These
1011-year-olds noted not only that ads incorporate a selling
motive but also that this leads to a message in which product
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43
claims are positive and exaggeration is common. They read-
ily acknowledged the appeal of celebrity endorsers and de-
scribed how music, humor, and action are used in getting
kids to pay attention and remember.
They show the shape of the cereal a lot of times. When they
show the box a lot of times, they show the name a lot of
times. Make sure you remember it. Or sometimes they have
a song, and its like when you get songs in your head and
you cant get them out. Like sometimes Ill do that. Like the
other day, I had that Target song in my head. I couldnt get
it out of my head. When I think of the song, I think of that
logo with the target, and that makes you remember. (513, F)
A final age-based distinction uncovered in this study in-
volves boundaries for persuasive appeals. Consistent with
past research, both the younger and older children here read-
ily acknowledged advertisings persuasive purpose. How-
ever, as noted earlier, the younger children seemed to assume
that the product was as depicted in the advertisement: there
was little reporting of trust or credibility concerns. Mean-
while, some of the older children, reflecting their interest in
executional elements, reported that advertisers naturally do
employ substantial creative license in presenting the positive
aspects of their product offerings. However, this celebration
of creativity in advertising was at times offered without a
concern for limits. For example,
Have you seen Make it, Take it? You put little beads into a
frame and then you melt it in the oven. Well, I mean they show
it so easily on the commercial. Just pour a little bit in and then
you put it in the oven and in 10 seconds its done. But they
are like tiny beads and you have to put each individual one
into everything. And it usually flows over and gets into your
frame. Its not that easy, as theyre trying to make it look like!
If Im buying something like that, I dont like when they do
that. But sometimes if its a real flop of a product they have
to do that to protect their product. (503, F)
Although this girl knew from her own experience that the
product had use problems, she did not reflect a broader view
of a marketers responsibility to fairly portray product per-
formance in ads. Such gaps in knowledge about standards
for commercial persuasion were readily apparent among our
older informants.
Discussion
The interpretive approach of the second study was quite
useful in gaining additional insights into the topic of ad-
vertising and product use. The findings here appear to be
in accord with those of prior literature and with the findings
of the experimental study as regards age differences among
children. In particular, we should note that the advanced
levels noted on the part of the older children are in keeping
with a broad array of results in the field of literary devel-
opment. Here studies show that important changes in com-
mand of genre occur during the upper elementary school
44
years (e.g., Fitch, Huston, and Wright 1993; Gardner 1980).
Advertising literacy, and an understanding of this genres
defining qualities, rest on childrens evolving language and
communication skills (Friestad and Wright 1994; Ritson and
Elliott 1995; Scott 1994; Young 1990). From early adoles-
cence (1112 years old), childrens thinking becomes more
multidimensional, involves abstract as well as concrete rep-
resentations, and becomes less absolute and more relative
in nature (Keating 1990). As readers, children shift from a
primary reliance on the physical events in a story to an
alertness to motivations, incentives, and other psychological
features (Durkin 1993). Greater insight into these underlying
elements enables the decoding of new layers of meaning,
both literal and figurative (Nippold, Cuyler, and Braunbeck-
Price 1988; Winner 1988). Within figurative language lie
humor, metaphor, and fantasy, all creative tools in the ad-
vertisers arsenal, and as Gardner et al. (1978) suggest, all
capable of involving an individual in the affective realm
(e.g., through laughter, the satisfactions derived from com-
prehension, etc.). Thus, it is understandable why we should
have seen the older children in this study expressing interest
and involvement in advertisings executional elements: their
relatively recently enhanced interpretive powers were al-
lowing them a deeper appreciation of the multiplicity of
meanings that ads can convey, and they were enjoying the
exercise of this capability.
Methodologically, open-ended interviews with children
have not often been used in consumer research, in part be-
cause of early concerns about the verbal abilities of younger
children (e.g., Goldberg and Gorn 1983).11 However, in re-
lated fields psychologists, anthropologists, and educators
rely extensively on open-ended interviews, both to describe
and to draw inferences on developmental differences in per-
ceptions and understanding (e.g., Gelman and Kremer
1991). We were therefore alert to both benefits and barriers
in adopting this approach in consumer research (e.g., we
ensured that the children in our study were older than the
groups identified as being of greatest concern and drew
heavily upon closely allied work in related fields in the
design, conduct, and analysis of the interpretive studies).
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This article reports the results of two studies, representing
a combination of positivist and interpretivist research meth-
ods, to examine childrens responses to advertising and
product usage. Although children are commonly exposed to
both of these stimuli in their everyday lives as consumers,
this remains a relatively undeveloped area of research. Sub-
11
It has long been recognized that conducting research with children
presents special challenges. Fortunately, the childrens research literature
provides substantial insight into these issues (e.g., Goldberg and Gorn 1983;
Peracchio 1990). However, the potential benefits and difficulties associated
with interpretive methods have not been much explored in the childrens
advertising venue. In contrast, educators and psychologists have used these
methods extensively with school-aged children for both clinical and re-
search purposes (see esp. Barker 1990; Fine and Sandstrom 1988; Gar-
barino and Stott 1989; Tammivaara and Enright 1986).
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JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
stantive findings emerged regarding (1) product usage, (2)
advertisings effects, (3) childrens development, and (4) the
value of multiple research perspectives and methods in work
with children.
General Conclusions
Product usage was examined in two ways in this project,
through childrens self-reports and through structured prod-
uct trials; its important role emerged in both of these venues.
For those products that interest children, usage is a goal, an
involving component of their lives, and a source of salient
information that advances learning about the marketplace.
Advertising was also examined through two meansdepth
interviews and experimental exposures. It was evident that
advertising for some products is highly involving and leaves
a strong impact on children. Participants readily recalled
ads, sang jingles, mimicked characters, and related product
information gleaned from these sources. Overall, advertising
is clearly an important source of information and influence
for children.
Age-Related Conclusions
The fields primary lines of inquiry and theorizing about
childrens developmental issues were largely supported here.
In particular, age-related differences were apparent in both
studies. For the younger children, our findings reveal sig-
nificant influences from product trial experiences and com-
paratively simple responses to advertising, consistent with
prior research showing that younger childrens processing
skills and strategies lack the sophistication and efficiency
of older children. However, three particular findings
emerged for younger children that allow us to better appre-
ciate both cognitive and motivational dimensions in the re-
sponses of this age group:
1. Younger Children Were Influenced Directly by
Product Trials and Showed No Evidence of an Ad Fram-
ing Process. The experiment showed that initial exposure
to advertising did little to shift the younger childrens per-
ceptions of a product trial experience. This can be interpreted
as a manifestation of a younger childs capacity limitations:
integration of the images in commercials with concrete sen-
sory inputs from product usage can be a relatively complex
processing task, one that appeared to stretch the capacities
of the younger children.
2. Liking of an Ad Influenced Younger Childrens
Attitudes about the Brand Itself. Within the experiment
the observed effects of attitude toward an ad were strong
but also consistent with a relatively simple or rudimentary
processing style. The younger children did not engage in
much elaboration, as only the simple, direct effects of ad
liking on brand attitudes were evident. Within the depth
interview study, moreover, their quotes of directed reactions
to the Sodalicious commercial provided further evidence of
the younger childrens simpler approach to understanding
CHILDREN, ADVERTISING, AND PRODUCT EXPERIENCES
the commercial. In this case, limitations in appreciating the
figurative language and images would likely hinder devel-
opment of certain brand cognitions and expectations for
product use experiences.
3. The Younger Childrens Reports on Advertising in
Their Lives Stayed Noticeably Close to Products They
Either Already Owned or Wished to Own in the
Future. For this group, it appears that advertising, acqui-
sition, and product use are closely intertwined, as we would
expect from a business perspective on the role of advertising
in a marketing mix. Here, it would appear that a successful
commercial from the younger childs perspective would be
one that would attract his or her attention to the product
itself and to the enjoyment or benefits to be gained from
personal use experiences with that product.
Older children, on the other hand, are better equipped to
perceive and appreciate advertisements multiplicity of
meanings and to integrate these with product use. Three
findings of particular interest emerged for this age group:
1. For Older Children, Advertising Has the Power to
Frame the Interpretation of Subsequent Product
Usage. Further, this framing can be a significant source
of influence in either a positive or negative direction. Ad-
vertisers should be alert to the potential for commercials to
either enhance or detract from the quality of older childrens
brand usage experiences: it would be worthwhile to ensure
that copytesting efforts are expanded to overtly assess this
kind of impact (e.g., assess the extent to which specific
executions enhance receptivity by this target group or, al-
ternatively, foster expectations that will not later be
realized).
2. Liking of an Ad Influenced Older Childrens At-
titudes about the Brand Itself, through Multiple Per-
suasive Routes. Consistent with previous research in-
volving adults, in our experiment liking for an ad not only
influenced brand attitude directly but also influenced beliefs
about that brand, which in turn influenced liking for the
brand. These multiple routes to persuasion suggest consid-
erable elaboration of points being made in commercials, a
conclusion receiving support in the depth interviews as well.
Significantly, this effect of advertising was strong enough
to persist even when these children also had direct product
trial evidence available to them.
3. More Generally, Older Children Approach Ad-
vertising with a Broadened and Richer Perspective.
Upon reflection this is not so surprising given the electronic
world in which they live, but it was clear that older childrens
reactions to advertising not only included the brand message
but also extended to an interest in executional elements and
strategic constructions. In a sense, then, older children can
be seen to be consuming advertising as a form of enter-
tainment, in addition to their reacting as potential product
purchasers and users.
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45
Implications for Future Research
Our primary impetus in this project was to examine the
interaction of advertising with use experience in childrens
consumer behavior. The results strongly support the value
of further work on this topic. In particular, the role and power
of usage experience relative to advertising is an interesting
and important issue. Each of the age-related patterns emerg-
ing in this project is also worthy of attention in future re-
search. We should also take care to view the broader context
within which children are developing, and it would be useful
to examine further the role that ad executional elements are
playing in the persuasion process, particularly since their
influence appears to be evolving rapidly within the industry.
For example, in 1996, ad spending in child-specific media
reached $1.5 billion, representing more than a 50 percent
increase from 1993 (Leonhardt and Kerwin 1997). To stand
out, commercials are increasingly focused on entertainment
and image creation and are less focused on the product itself.
In recent years, host-selling, creative licensing, promotional
tie-ins, and other techniques have attained unprecedented
levels of reach and sophistication. Thus, persuasive mes-
sages today are in some sense becoming more subtle, as
programming, ads, and the products themselves flow into
and reinforce one another.
Our findings on advertising framing effects among the
older children (1112-year-olds) are relevant here and de-
serve more focused research attention in the future. Adver-
tisers, for example, should be quite interested in learning
under what conditions positive or negative framing effects
occur and what factors are driving them. Relatedly, the fact
that these children (cued processors) possess the capacity
to process both the ad and usage experience in a relatively
complex fashion (yet may not spontaneously invoke an un-
derstanding of boundaries for persuasive influence attempts)
does seem to call for further attention from our field.
The present results are naturally subject to a number of
caveats and limitations. The four products all involved
foods: it is possible that processes might differ for other
categories, such as toys. Whether the effects of advertising
on product trial as seen here would hold in more naturalistic
settings in which there is a delay between exposure and use
is also an important empirical issue. Our design could be
overstating advertisings immediate effects by minimizing
recall demands. In this regard, however, the extensive ad-
vertising recall demonstrated by informants during our in-
depth interviews offers some mitigation of this risk. Finally,
the direct impact of advertising repetition is not examined
here. Repetition may serve to enhance advertisings impacts
on product trial, particularly among the younger children
(Peracchio 1992), although significantly higher levels might
be necessary to produce such effects.
Overall, the use of both interpretive and positivist research
approaches in a single project was beneficial to learning
more about childrens reactions to advertising and product
trial. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, but in
combination there are obvious synergies. Further, our find-
ings here clearly show that future pursuit of issues of usage
46
experience in tandem with advertising influence is worth-
while in the area of childrens consumer behavior.
[Received October 1997. Revised October 1999. Robert
E. Burnkrant served as editor, and Barbara Loken served
as associate editor for this article.]
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