Advertisers focus on children to sell more products, but parents are also part of the equation as it is often their money that is being spent. Buckingham gives a variety of reasons why parents buy things for their children. “…parents are often complicit in children’s consumption rather than being merely external regulators. Parents buy things for their children as an expression of love and care, and of wanting to please and delight… these emotions…are often tied up with parents’ feelings of guilt and anxiety, with fantasies and projections about childhood, and with concerns about their own and their children’s social status.” (Buckingham, 158) Buckingham outlines reasons why parents purchase things for their children including:
–compensation for parental guilt or anxiety
–coming to terms with the loss of one’s own childhood
–allowing a space for children for self-expression
–to provide children with goods that they were ‘denied’ in their own childhood
–for the conspicuous display of high-status goods
–to display “trophy children”
–to be a good parent when purchasing educational goods and services
(Buckingham, 158-159)
In these ways, children are influencing their parents to purchase something, or a parent’s view of childhood (their own or how they perceive how childhood should be) is an influencing factor to purchase something. Some parents equate purchases with being a good parent. Childhood consumerism is complex.
The First TV Commercial directed at children
In 1952 Hasbro used the first television advertisement marketed directly at children. This advertisement was for a Mr. Potato Head kit. The facial accessories were originally meant to be used on a real potato. The advertisers spoke directly to children, explaining that Hasbro was a toy company, explaining how to use this toy on a real potato, and highlighting the fun factor. The advertisers wanted the children to then ask their parents to buy this Mr. Potato Head toy.
Perhaps parents bought this Mr. Potato Head toy (upon their child’s request?) because it allowed “a space for children for self-expression” (Mintz, 158). The creative process of making different faces was appealing. Also, this was not an expensive toy, costing between $1.00 and $2.00. Later Hasbro added the toy “potato”, replacing the use of real potatoes. This toy became even more popular.
Three years after the first Mr. Potato Head commercial, toy commercials for children paired with the popular Mickey Mouse Club, targeting the child audience. From this point forward, many toy commercials were now directed specifically to children. Advertisers understood the benefit of pairing items meant for children with shows that children watched.
The Influence of the Child
Do parents today give their children too much? From the time children are born, parents make purchasing decisions for their children. For some parents, navigating the costs of formulas, diapers, and clothing as children outgrow them can put a strain on their budgets. For others, parents view their new little one as their “trophy child” and “spend a considerable amount of money on items such as high-tech strollers, designer baby clothes, and play equipment” (Buckingham, 2011). In an article for CBC News, Melanie Barwick (2008), suggested that “children are influenced by their parents’ spending habits,” as well as the power of advertising.
Today, parents are more willing to listen to the opinions of their children when making purchases, whether it’s buying toys, high-tech devices, or clothing. Due to their close interaction with other children in schools and extracurricular activities, children today are knowledgeable about current trends, styles, and brands. What’s more, according to a recent article in The Drum, as a continuing number of retail businesses move to online digital platforms, more parents are asking their children for assistance in navigating the digital space. As a result. children become included in the purchasing of clothes, electronics, and groceries. However, as David Buckingham (2011) points out in his book, The Material Child: Growing Up in a Consumer Culture, while many of the purchasing decisions may be democratically negotiated with children, they may “not always be consistent or carefully made.” Buckingham suggests that parents typically make purchases for their children for a variety of reasons.
Some of these reasons may stem from the parents’ desire to help their child have a better childhood than their own, while others may include a desire for their child to fit in with their peers or, simply as a reward for behaviors. Consider this blog post from a mom on purchasing school clothes for her son. In the post, the mother points out that her ten-year old son wanted to have a “say” in selecting his clothes for school. While mom was able to find many items on sale, she wavered a little when her son requested a $100 pair of Nike sneakers. She rationalized later (after making the $100 purchase on a different pair of sneakers), that she had found many other school items on sale, her son was a runner, and she had had him contribute some money to the purchase. However, as the mother continues to share in the post, she bought the shoes primarily because she had always wanted the “cool” shoes as a child and wanted her child to have them so that he could fit in with his peer.
According to a recent poll conducted by YouGov (May, 2023), of more than 900 American parents with children under the age of 18, “more than half say their kids are very or somewhat influential in purchase categories such as eating out and takeout, groceries, events/outings, vacation destinations, technology/electronics, and entertainment.” Kids are seen as go-betweens of what’s cool, and as such, they can share the latest in trends and advocate for specific brands (The Drum, 2023).
Kids report that peers are their biggest influencers And retailers know and understand this phenomenon, and create child friendly environments that make it easy for parents to involve their children in the shopping process (Marketing Charts, 2019). A survey conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) between April and May of 2019 found that parents were more 87% more likely to shop where brands make it easier for their children to participate in the purchase decisions
Radio commercials
In Chapter 4 of The Material Child, Buckingham mentions the “American radio clubs of the late 1920s and early 1930s.” These shows “addressed children directly” through “special codes and shared intrigues”. I also thought of the scene in the movie A Christmas Story where Ralphie gets his official membership letter to the “Little Orphan Annie Secret Circle” along with a secret decoder pin in the mail that was only “available through sending proofs of purchase” from drinking Ovaltine. When he tunes into the radio program to get the key to solve Annie’s secret message, he ultimately finds out that the message ends up being an advertisement for the product Ovaltine itself. (76)
Ralphie engages in “pester power” throughout the movie as he attempts to convince his parents to buy him the Red Ryder BB Gun. He hides a toy catalog in the middle of his mother’s magazine, tells his mother outright what he wants when asked, mentions that his friend Flick was getting one for Christmas, completes a written homework assignment about what he wants most for Christmas, and even asks the department store Santa to bring him one. When Ralphie finally gets his wish, his father seems to be reliving his own childhood as he mimics Ralphie loading the gun saying, “I had one when I was 8 years old.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soUG7NSgkTg (Father watching him open the gift)
With much of the discussion in Buckingham being about mothers doing a majority of the purchasing for children, it seems contradictory that the mother is thinking more rationally and is uneasy about the purchase, while the father is thinking emotionally and “maintain[ing] a kind of vicarious or nostalgic connection with [his] own childhood.” (71)
It seems this scene is based upon fact. “The first major sponsor to take a serious interest in children’s radio programs was the manufacturer of Ovaltine, a chocolate-flavored milk additive. In 1930, the company’s advertising executives decided to experiment with a new advertising technique. Instead of attempting to convince adults to buy Ovaltine, they decided to create a demand for their product among children. They thought that parents would buy an inexpensive item, such as Ovaltine, if their children kept asking for it.” (West, 102-103) Instead of a Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin, Ovaltine’s first mail-in offer was a Little Orphan Annie mug.
Other companies followed this marketing example, and soon “Commercials made up a large part of the fifteen-minute programs. The shows usually began and concluded with commercials, and it was not uncommon for these commercials to run for two or three minutes. Often the announcer specifically instructed the children to ask their mothers for the sponsors’ products.” (West, 104)
Parental Nostalgia and the Child Consumer
Childhood consumption has taken an interesting turn in recent years. There are many reasons that childhood consumption initially increased (as long ago as the 1950s), one of which is a parental desire to give their children what they never had as children. Indeed, David Buckingham writes, “upwardly mobile parents may seek to provide children with goods that they were ‘denied’ in their own childhood” (158). He adds, “…children can also serve as vehicles for parental consumption, and particularly for the conspicuous display of high-status goods, well before they are able to articulate their own wants or needs” (159). This means that parents were often buying things for their children as a way to fulfill some need within themselves.
That need is a related reason—parental nostalgia. In 2001, Constance L. Hays identified parental nostalgia as a reason for the uptick in childhood consumption, noting that parents were drawn to retro toys from their own childhoods. She writes, “Toys that remind parents of their own formative years are popular because of the memories they stir…” (Hays). Regardless of the article’s age, this still rings true today. Having toys and games from their own childhood brings the all-important element of nostalgia to the forefront of a parent’s mind. Nostalgia leads parents to the conclusion, quite often, that their child will cherish time with the toys they too loved when they were young. Advertisers offer this potential connectivity between parent and child as a way to increase sales.
Nostalgia also leads adults to buy toys for themselves, whether or not they have children for whom to buy. Funko Pops, Play Doh, and even Lego have embraced this “kidult” stage and offer items that are specifically geared to this group defined as consumers over the age of 12 (Samet). While these buyers are not child consumers or even aiding a child consumer, they do have a unique connecting point available to them through these toys they purchase for themselves. And seeing adults in their lives with toys may lead children to wanting those toys (or similar) themselves.
Sources:
Buckingham, David. The Material Child. Polity Press, 2011.
Samet, Alexandra. “Nostalgia, ‘kidults,’ and personalization drive toy sales growth.” Insider Intelligence, 31, Aug. 2023, https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/nostalgia-kidults-personalization-drive-toy-sales-growth.
Shaw, Neil. “Argos Giving Away £20,000 of Toys to get Children Playing Again.” What’s On, 11, July 2023, https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/argos-giving-away-20000-toys-27299347.
West, Mark I. “Children’s Radio Programs and Their Impact on the Economics of Children’s Popular Culture.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 11 no. 2, 1987, p. 102-107. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/uni.0.0295.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYls5hXYWIQLinks to an external site.https://www.youtube.com/embed/AYls5hXYWIQ?autoplay=1&rel=0&hl=en_US&fs=1
What a great exhibit! The question concerning whether parents are giving their children to much is interesting. This is something that I have noticed a lot with millennials. I noticed that many parents of millennials run to their child’s beckoning call for everything. One example was seeing parents bring fast food to their kids almost every day in school. Another is seeing how many parents pay for their child’s rent today. I feel that baby boomers had strict parents and with the desire to refrain from being as strict as their parents, they have turned over a new leaf of extreme leniency. Now I think that many millennials are somewhat entitled, and this goes beyond adolescence and carries into adulthood. It makes me question the future of society.
Julia,
Yes! We have parents come to school all the time with fast food, too! I still can’t get over it. It’s funny that you should mention parents paying for their child’s rent. I just had dinner with some ladies the other night, and one of them went into a full-blown story about paying for her daughter’s rent and car. Now, the daughter wants to go to grad school and expects her parents to pay for that, too. Not surprising. Yes, I would say they are a little entitled.
Hi Julia!
Something that stood out to me from your comment was that a lot of millennials run to their child’s beckoning call for everything. I can agree with this since I work in a school and some of the interactions I have had with parents, I can see why their child behaves the way they do. They see something, they want it now and will not take no for an answer. I am a main curator for Lesson 8’s main exhibition and we discussed ‘Sephora kids’ and their impact. To say the least, I have heard stories of parents try to ton down their child’s actions in school. When I went to the school, you received a harsher suspension (detention, ISS, etc.) not lunch detention for a day.
I love your image of the old man on the pogo stick. It reminds me of how my parents are when I take them out to vintage shops. They always seem to find a piece of their childhood and I can see something light up in their eyes as they reminisce their past and memories begin to flood their minds. Recently I found myself acting like my parents, as a kid, I was very much into Bratz dolls, and within the last year or so I noticed they have been coming back and I found myself purchasing them for my niece in hopes she would find as much enjoyment in them as I used to. It is interesting how we have such an influence on one another.
Lilyanna, I am old enough now to start seeing things from my childhood in “vintage” shops. It always makes my nieces and nephew laugh when I tell them the stories that a particular item brings to mind.
The section, “Parental Nostalgia and the Child Consumer”, spoke to me. I vividly remember being at the beach with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles and walking around stores at night. There was one store that was “old-time” toys. It looked nearly identical to the picture of the pogo stick. The conversations that I would hear the adults talking about while the kids walked around related to wanting a particular toy for their son/daughter because they never were aloud or had enough money to own one as a kid. The conversations would also revolve around wanting their kid to want a particular toy they used to own and love. One particular toy I was thinking of is the fake dog or cat that was curled up in a bed and would peacefully breathe. All my life I thought this was a conversation that only circulated in my family, so it was so interesting to learn this is a phenomenon.
I’m interested in the graph you shared that shows the influence of children’s preferences on adult spending habits. I’m curious about the sample population of 900 parents and what was their distribution across factors like race and ethnicity, geographic region, and socio-economic status (SES).
YouGov’s data doesn’t tell us much of the story unless it is presented within the social and cultural contexts of the families.
I would venture a guess that for most SES levels, that it is not so much children’s influence on parental preferences (as in, the kids link the parents to what’s trending and cool and then the parents want those things too, or at least agree to those things) but it is the limitations of the child’s preferences that influence parental spending. That is, for folks with limited means, that is almost anyone other than the 1%, it doesn’t make sense to purchase things that you children don’t want. Why go to a restaurant where there is not food that the kids will eat? It’s a practical matter, rather than a matter of social trends or corporate influence.
Curator: Yassah Fello
It is a very serious situation with children having their own way despite positive instructions from their parents. I don’t understand why children have the ability to easily get what they want from their parents. I tend to wonder that parents are afraid that their children will do something wrong if they don’t receive what they ask for. With the YouTube, Social Media, and Peer pressure from other kids, children have the tendency to learn inappropriate behaviors and retaliate against their parents who are just trying to protect their future.
Very intriguing exhibit, well done! I found the Yougov survey especially relevant – the fact that 65% of families with children under 18 said that their children significantly influence their decisions to do events/outings is remarkably believable. Today at school, we had an assembly to drum up excitement for an upcoming Harlem Wizards basketball game. According to our principal, ticket sales were low so they asked if we could host this assembly to get more kids interested in going. Of course, it would be the families that are purchasing tickets, not the children… I found the whole thing a little uncomfortable because of students whose families won’t be able to afford tickets as well as families who just have too much going on to be able to swing a Friday night basketball game. Now those kids feel left out. All that aside, I was reminded of this reading when the basketball player ended the assembly by having the kids repeat after him how they would go home and ask “pretty please” to their parents to get tickets for the game. It felt like the parental guilt component Buckingham discussed.
Cara, that is so interesting that you had this kind of assembly. It feels uncomfortable to me as well that the children were the target to sell more tickets. It would be interesting to know if parents bought tickets for this event due to this assembly.
Hello all!
Great side exhibit this week! As a curator for the main exhibit, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments on chapter 4 as that was my main focus. What I found incredibly interesting was that ovaltine was one of the original commercials that targeted children because their marketing team felt that when children ask for a product it is likely to increase sales. And honestly, that is true even today! Super great stuff, truly. Thank you 🙂
Hi Marylynne, Diane, Beth, and Kristi!
The blog post you shared really conveys the angst the mom felt navigating and negotiating the shoe purchase. I thought it was interesting that the idea of future expectations came into play … it really brings into focus the ways a current purchase can impact decisions later on.
The “Nike, Camera, Action” commercial has quite a groove! The film production quality, quick pace, and music make this ad so dynamic and attractive.
For the Marketing Charts resource, I’m intrigued by the 13% “Nothing / no-one makes me want to buy things” finding. I can imagine there are stories behind these numbers!
It’s great to see your continued exploration of Ralphie’s experiences in A Christmas Story. It’s so interesting to hear the music that comes in when Ralphie’s dad points out the additional gift, and there’s such a “father knows best” quality to this moment.
I’ll confess, I feel nostalgic about a Hula Hoop … which now comes in different sizes!
Thanks for giving us so much to explore and consider!