Business Commons^™

Young Consumers’ Brand Communications Literacy In A Social Networking Site Context, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Aine Dunne, Jennifer Rowley

Articles

Purpose - Whilst substantial scholarly attention has been given to children’s understanding of advertising in the context of traditional advertising channels, there is a gap in the literature with regard to children’s commercial awareness in the context of online social networking sites (SNS). This paper seeks to explore the nature and extent of advertising literacy amongst young consumers in the context of their use of SNS, namely Facebook and Bebo.

Design/methodology/approach - A three-stage study was conducted with 12-14 year old girls, using focus group discussions, participant observation and in-depth interviews.

Findings - The study illustrates that the increasingly blurred …

Children's Understanding Of Television Advertising Intent, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Andrea Prothero

Articles

Over the last three decades, a substantial body of research has accumulated seeking to address how exactly advertising, and in particular, telelvision advertising, influences children. Yet, given the diversity of methodologies used and the findings presented, it has been suggested that a common consensus on how exactly advertising affects children has not been reached. This paper presents a brief overview of the literature addressing chidlren's understanding of advertising with a view to identifying the contributions to date in this area and the accompanying gaps, omissions and under-resesearched perspectives. Findings are then presented from an exploratory study of eight and nine …

The Established And Potential Mediating Variables In The Child's Understanding Of Advertising Intent: Towards A Research Agenda, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Andrea Prothero

Articles

This paper aims to explore in detail the issue of advertising intent, with particular reference to the child. The literature review examines the importance of age, and cognitive and social development in this field, and considers whether or not children can distinguish between television programming and advertising. What the literature review illustrates is that research studies thus far have conflicting viewpoints on these areas. Within the research to date, there are also a number of important issues which do not seem to be addressed. Most notably, there is little research which considers the impact of advertising upon children, from the …

Children And Television Advertising: A Cognitive Development Perspective, Darach Turley, Helen Gallagher

Articles

While the population growth rate in Ireland appears at least temporarily to have ground to a halt, the fact remains that this country will have to cherish and cater for a singularly sizeable children’s market for the next decade. This article begins with a qualitative examination of Irish advertising houses’ views on their respective outputs and target groups. Central to the process of communicating with the children’s market is the need to fully appreciate its heterogeneity. Psychologically speaking the “children’s market” is a misnomer. To this end, a series of questions are administered to a sample of Dublin children to …