Acculturating Youth to Life as ConsumersProf. Emerita Christine OganIndiana UniversitySchool of Informatics and ComputingThe Media School

Do you believe that media can convert you to consumerism?0Cultivation theory examines long-term effects of

television, by which the more time people spend “living” in the teleision world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television

0How Cultivation Theory Works:

George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory

0Mainstreaming—Mass media as socializing agent0Repeated effect of images—some more powerful than

others0Heavy viewers more affected than light viewers0Those with little knowledge/experience are more

greatly affected.0Gerbner developed theory in time when TV was the

main medium consumed, not the internet. 0 But it could be applied to social media use/internet use

Example of Cultivation theory—

Mean World Syndrome0Survey of 450 New Jersey school children0Asked to estimate number of people involved in

violence in typical week0 73% of heavy viewers gave the “TV answer”0 62% of light TV viewers gave the “TV answer”

0Heavy viewing children more frightened of walking alone at night0 Also overestimated number of people committing

serious crimes0Effect is called the mean world syndrome

How much media kids (0-8) consume

0 Two-thirds (65%) of 0- to 8-year-olds watch TV at least once every day0 37% of 0-1 year- olds 0 73% of 2- to 4-year-olds 0 72% of 5- to 8-year-olds).

0 Forty-two percent have a TV in their bedroom0 39% live in a home where the TV is left on all (10%) or most

(29%) of the time, whether anyone is watching it or not. 0 They watch 1:44 hours watching TV or videos in a typical day,

compared to :29 reading, :29 listening to music, and :25 playing computer or video games.

0 Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org

Screen Media Diet of Those 8 or younger

Total Screen Use

TV SetComputerVideo Game PlayersCell/iPod/iPad

Turkey’s screen media use

0 Adults: 5.09 hours on weekdays; 5.15 on weekends0 In a study in Turkey in 2010, parents reported 2.18 hours

viewing for children on weekdays; children reported 2.020 Weekend: 2.66 (parents); 2.12 (children)

0 Other studies: RTUK (2007) 1 out of 5 children have TV in room. 0 3-4 hours/day (Aylin Kockar, 2013)

0 EU Kids: 49% of 9-16-year olds use computer at home (2010) and 33% in their bedrooms0 First used internet at age 10 in Turkey

The Last Time you were watching TV and using the internet, what did you do?

Technology Use Guidelines for Children and Youth

Internet Use Disorder(for all screens)

0Added in 2013 to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders.

0Screen time has potential to “disrupt daily life” and there is neurological evidence for that.

0The average child spends SEVEN hours a day attached to a screen.

0Children and youth use 4-5 times the recommended amount of technology, with serious and often life threatening consequences (Kaiser Foundation 2010, Active Healthy Kids Canada 2012).

0http://rap.genius.com/Lauryn-hill-consumerism-lyrics

What is the evidence for Media’s Role in Acculturation?0Utopian/dystopian views of technology’s place in

society0 Context determines nature of childhood for the

individual0 Media don’t distinguish; globalization means that media

target all equally. 0Companies use psychological research on kids to

determine their motivation for product choices0 Outcome of that research integrated into targeted ads to

children.

Culture without secrets

0Neil Postman’s term—should children be shielded from certain kinds of material? 0 Print media were capable of this0 Broadcast and computer-based media are not

0TV programming not governed by information related to child development.

Hill (2011) blames media for childhood obesity

0Notes the increases in obesity0 7% of 6-11-year olds in 19800 20% in 20080 12-19 year olds (Increase from 5%-18%

0TV is pervasive—and causality is suggested0 40% of 3 month olds0 60% of those under 20 More time spent in front of TV than in classroom0 By 5 kids differentiate ads from programming

Hill says effects of consumerism both physical and psychological0Advertising is the driver0Scale of problem has increased

0 Increase of amount of film-related toys, paraphernalia 0 Children encouraged to define self-worth by what they

own0 Kills creativity in children (how?)0 Exploits psychological vulnerabilities0 Content focused on sex and violence

0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnD3KKdv_P4

“Things” serve as identity markers

0The good life0The perfect body0Brand related judgments made early

0 So connection between the things and one’s body or lifestyle established before kids are teen-agers.

0 Celebrities only increase the strength of the connection

Why Advertisers want the Child Audience

0They influence parental spending0They have significant spending power of their own0They constitute a future market for building brand

loyalty.0What brand loyalties do you have?

What Piaget Said…about cognitive development

0 4 Stages 0 Sensorimotor period (birth -2)

0 Limited knowledge of the world-based on physical interactions & experiences0 Preoperational Thought (2-6/7)

0 Uses symbols/language and memory and imagination developed. Egocentric thinking.

0 Until end of this period children don’t understand point of ads.0 Concrete Operations (6/7-11/12)

0 Logical and systematic manipulations of symbols. Operational thinking develops and egocentric diminishes.

0 Only now do kids understand the world more realistically0 Formal Operations (11/12-adult)

0 Can understand abstract concepts0 From this point on, kids may become cynical about advertising

Examples of Interaction between Marketing, parents and children

0 The cereal aisle of a supermarket. When child whines for a box of chocolate flavored cereal,0 It is the sound of thousands of hours of market research, of an

immense coordination of people, ideas and resources, of decades of social and economic change all rolled into a single, “Mommy, pleeease!” (Cook, 2001)

0 When kids reach it, touch it, parent might buy it. 0 So place it on lower shelves0 Parents can’t intervene so well with child’s decision there.

(Underhill)0 Yet children under age of 8 unable to critically understand TV

advertising.

When Children Can’t Understand

0 Advertising Literacy needed to evaluate advertising0 Cognitive processing ability comes later

0 If not literate, children are open to deception (Kunkel, 2004).

0 Cognitive-defense view0 Also need to call on critical knowledge while watching

0 But kids aren’t presented with arguments0 Simply the message of fun and happiness for child0 Online ads particularly use these techniques 0 So kids more vulnerable (Cornish, 2014). 0 Webisodes suck them in.

Digital natives vs. immigrants

0 Embedded messages hard to detect in online ads0 Cornish’s study of parents whose children were age 5-120 In-depth interviews with 42 people/some with spouses

0 Very little understanding of online ads to children0 Advergames—didn’t know which games children played

0 Also had little concern about those ads (vs. TV ads)0 Thought games had limited persuasive ability0 52% thought there was nothing to worry about since their

children had no cash to buy these products. 0 Bottomline: Children being tareted without involvement or

knowledge of parents.

Biggest Concens

0Mobile devices allow children to do things online that parents may be ignorant of.

0Viewing violent TV content with embedded advertising is concerning0 Research with 6-year olds in S. Korea showed “a high

level of excitement” that prompted a higher awareness of advertised brands. (Cho and Yoo, 2014).

0Because the internet is less regulated, it is an ideal location for experimenting with ways to reach and convince young consumers about products.

Hill cites Schor’s Study (2004)

0The more the child is involved in consumer culture, . . . .0 The more depressed and anxious they are0 The lower their self esteem0 The more psychosomatic complaints they have0 And this is related to high TV viewing0 Strong causal relationship with negative physical and

psychological health

Consumerism and Identity/social performance for Youth—research by

Dinsmore, 2014Zack, a 12-year-old boy, uses Twitter and Instagram. During hisinterview, he explains:Interviewer: So what keeps you like hooked on Twitter then?Zach: Looking at shoes on Footlocker.Interviewer: And then it’s not enough though just to look at them on Footlocker ‘cuz thenyou wanna post stuff about it to your friends?Zach: Mh-mm [yes].Interviewer: So why do you, why do you wanna post it to your friends?Zach: ‘cuz I like to show them shoes.

Another Dinsmore example: Performance of Material Femininity :Evaluation of full body

performance on Instagram

Post by dayshe_samantha, a full-body shot of a teenage girl wearing shorts, a shirt, andfancy sneakers, captioned “My #ootd #jordans #smile #smile.” The image has 12 likesand 1 comment:Nnuggets_fan_4_ever: Cute