Pester Power!

"The emergence of a child-centered society in which parents prioritise the wants and needs of their children means that many parents are focused on pleasing their children". Mintel [online] 2008

Children of today have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations. The result of this is that children are extremely vocal about what they want their parents to buy. "Pester power" refers to children’s ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. This "Pester power" can therefore be used to marketers advantages.

The following youtube clip shows how adverts aimed at children can be extremely misleading. Maybe if all children watched this video, it would make them change their minds about nagging away to their parents for something that they see advertised and reeeeeeally want! Things dont always live up to expectations...

In the 1960’s, children influenced an estimated $5 billion worth of parental spending. This figure grew to 20 billion by the 1970’s, 50 billion by 1984, 132 billion by 1994 and 188 billion by 1997. These statistics may be worrying for parents, but for marketers and advertisers, it proves a brilliant opportunity to target these key influencers of family expenditure.

Kidfluence, a book published in 2001, talks about the difference between persistance and importance. Persistance nagging (pleading over and over again) seems to be fairly ineffective according to parents. Importance nagging however seems harder for parents to ignore. This type of nagging appeals to parent's desire to provide the best for their children, and plays on any guilt they may have about not having enought time for their children. This may be more apparent in the working parents as these will be spending less time during the week and possibly weekends with their family.

Piaget, a psychologist has a theory of intellectual development in children and suggests that unitl children reach the age of 15, they are not capable of reasoning as an adult. This may mean that although a child watching the ads on TV feels that they understand the concept of selling and pursuasion, they may not fully understand that advertisments are put in place to manipulate consumers into wanting their goods.

Between the ages of 4 and 7, Piaget states that children are working through an intuitive phase. This is where the child will have an intuitive grasp on some logical concepts, but will still only be able to focus on one aspect of an objet whilst ignoring others. In terms of marketing, this may mean that a child will pick up on the most desirable aspect of a product and not pay attention to any other detail which a parent obviously would. As the child gets older, gradually their sense of logic improves and allows them to move into adulthood.

A study conducted by the Center for a New American Dream in 2002 produced statistics that reinforced the marketers belief in pester power (and made parents cringe):

• American children aged 12 to 17 will ask their parents for products they have seen advertised an average of nine times until the parents finally give in.
• More than 10 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds admitted to asking their parents more than 50 times for products they have seen advertised.
• The nagging strategy is paying dividends for kids and marketers alike: 55% of kids surveyed said they are usually successful in getting their parents to give in.

One reason for continual nagging may be the pressure that children come across in the playground. With children basing their friendships so much on material factors such as who has the best gadget, the shiny pokemon cards, and the latest fashion accessory, there is a huge demand to always have the new 'up and cool' brand. Having the right or wrong brand can be as important as determining which friendship group you can or cant belong in. Marketers can be partially blamed for this as they are using this weakness in children to market their product as something that is 'needed' if you want to be cool.