Impact of Pester Power on Advertising

IMPACT OF PESTER POWER ON ADVERTISING

ABSTRACT

This Paper touches upon a sensitive issue of rising consumerism in children owing to the flood of new TV programming presents gleaming images of a consumer culture at odds with the realities of most Indian children. Advertisers in India are frankly preparing children to become dutiful consumers in a society riddled not just with economic problems but also with social and cultural patterns that defy the entry of modern gadgets such as washing machines. There are several ads that could be detrimental to children either because they encourage them to act in an unsafe manner or because they propound questionable values. Some also misrepresent information. The second issue that the paper addresses is premature brand learning that plays an important role in future brand selection behavior. The third issue addresses the childrens' culture, which is over dominated by technologically mediated entertainment and advertising.

Indeed, in their culture advertising and entertainment are converging. This hybridization is happening in a variety of ways. These include cross-selling and licensed merchandising, program length commercials, product placement and the production of advertisements as entertainment in their own right.

'Product placement' is also growing as marketers introduce brands into the sets and increasingly the scripts of children's films. Like program length commercials, product placement is a covert form of advertising which promotes brand awareness and loyalty.

INTRODUCTION

The world belongs to kids. Kids today mean business. Marketing to kids may be your passport to growth. Companies are using this segment to rake in profits. Kids have a firmer grip over the society than what their parents ever had. Not only are they consumers in their own right, they also have a major influence over the family's purchasing power. "Kidfluence" is the direct or indirect influence kids have over family household purchases. Indirect influence means that the kids' preferences are given consideration when parents make a purchase decision. The major driving force behind this sweeping change is the Advertising. Advertising has changed the way kids learn, react and behave to a large extent. On the television, too, only 18 percent of the total viewing is of the kids' channels, while 80 percent still continues to be general viewing. One can imagine the vast untapped potential that lies hitherto.

KID-FLUENCE, THE 'NAG' FACTOR AND 'PESTER POWER'

"Mom I want this. Dad I want this" are the demands, fuelled by marketing tactics that erode the adult wallets. The bug is none other than Pester Power. The power children have, by repeated nagging, of influencing their parents to buy advertised or fashionable items is called as Pester power. The marketers are relying on the kids to pester the mom to buy the product.

Kids rule, be they in terms of what to watch over TV or what to buy for themselves or what a household buys. The influence that the kids wield over purchase decisions in a household along with the nagging effect that they have on their parents is growing day by day. With the increase in the number of working couples, their pester power is inversely proportionate to the time available with parents. Their day begins with Tom and Jerry and ends with Dexter. Besides, there has to be in place the entire collection of Barbie, Playstation, frequenting at Mc Donalds, trendiest watch, school bag with Power Puff Girls on it, an independent mobile, television, PC and that too 'cool' branded ones. Kids seem to want virtually 'more' of everything. There is an untiring wish list of food, fun, collectibles, gadgets and brands.

Frontline, the PBS documentary series, notes that Millennial Teens influence more than $50 billion adult spending every year and pester an adult 25 times on an average before the desired product or experience is finally bequeathed. Over 95% of kids have pestered their parents for a product promoted on TV, according to a new survey by www.raisingkids.co.uk. T

Pester Power in India

The arrival of niche channels like the Cartoon Network, Hungama and Toonami has given a big push to the kid power in India. According to some estimates, in 2005, there were more than 120 million tween (children between 8-12 years of age). Among them around 45 million live in urban areas who have the power of determining or influencing