Ethics and Marketing Strategies Towards Children

Abstract

The question of whether children should directly be marketed to as a consumer group, and the extent of its ethics, has been a long-held debate over the years among psychologists, marketers, researchers and even parents. This study aims to investigate this topic by identifying and examining the main issues that arise from marketing to children from the parents’ point of view, the extent of children’s influence over the family’s purchasing decisions, and possible ways towards more a more ethical and responsible marketing relating to children. There is existing literature surrounding the topic of marketing to children, which takes a closer look into the development of children into consumers, the relationship between their consumer knowledge and their media use, as well as different marketing techniques created to better reach children. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of Finnish and international backgrounds, and a deductive thematic analysis was performed. Results showed that parents did not mainly have an issue with the act itself of marketing to children, but rather on the content–what is being marketed. The research suggests ways in which marketers could improve on their marketing to children based on studied parents’ experiences and opinions. In addition, the the research places an emphasis on the importance of the parents’ roles and responsibilities over their children, which influences their growth towards being mature consumers.