Selling America's Kids:
Commercial Pressures on Kids of the 90's

CONTENTS Intro Summary In-School Promotions Celebrity Endorsements Kids' Clubs Product Placements and Advertorials Licensing and Cross-selling Recommendations

"It isn't enough to just advertise on television.... You've got to reach kids throughout their day--in school, as they're shopping in the mall ... or at the movies. You've got to become part of the fabric of their lives." --Carol Herman, Senior Vice President, Grey Advertising

The estimated to 30,000 TV ads beamed at kids each year represent the most obvious commercial pressure on children. But they are by no means the only advertising messages kids see, nor even the most troubling. This report looks at five other types of promotions heavily used in recent years--promotions that promise to continue growing in the 90's.

A Day in the Life of an American Kid

It's 7 a.m. as America's kid awakens on Ninja Turtle sheets. He rises, dons Superman underwear, a Dick Tracy T-shirt, and sits down to Nintendo breakfast cereal with his Simpsons bookbag beside him. His sister downs her pink Breakfast With Barbie cereal, ready to pick up her Garfield notebook and catch the school bus.

Licensing

Characters that win kids' hearts, from Bart Simpson to Dick Tracy, are used to sell kids everything from T-shirts to frozen pizza. The makers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example, have licensed 200 products, including lunch boxes, backpacks, pajamas, pillow sets, jogging suits, shampoo, breakfast cereal, drinking straws, calendars, decals, and a talking toothbrush. In 1989 the Turtles earned more than $350 million from licensing.

In the last few years, licensing has mushroomed: In 1980, sale of licensed products worldwide amounted to $10 billion. In 1989, sales hit more than $64 billion. It permeates the industries producing movies, toys (like Nintendo and Barbie), TV shows (like The Simpsons) --whatever captures kids' fancy.

Licensing is the epitome of "emotional sell." Kids' emotional attachment to a character is transferred to a common product, like a T-shirt. That attachment overrides other considerations, like the quality and price of the T-shirt, or even the need for another T-shirt. The hook is affection--for a favorite show, movie, character. The goal is a purchase. The target is a child. The problem is the pressure to purchase, over and over again, as new shows, movies, characters win their affection.

It's 9 a.m., and our American kid is in school, settling down to watch a 12-minute news program produced just for kids--with two minutes of ads. Unlike the commercials he sees at home, these are required viewing. The video equipment, as well as the program, Channel One, are provided free to schools by Whittle Communications, with one proviso: Students must watch the program--and the commercials, too.

In School Promotions

In class, his sister just received a "TeenPak" -- a plastic bag containing product samples and coupons for Noxema and Tampax -- thanks to a marketing agency that promises its corporate clients to "place samples of your brand into the hands of up to two million junior and senior high school students in a controlled classroom environment."

Certain agencies specialize in promoting products in the schools. Lifetime Learning Systems tells companies: "Now YOU CAN ENTER THE CLASSROOM through custom-made learning materials created with your specific marketing objectives in mind." Media Management Services "helps companies of all sizes reach educators and students directly through innovative marketing campaigns, specially designed products, creative learning programs and classroom materials."

The school day progresses. A "Total Health" program from NutraSweet teaches kids to use NutraSweet to control weight. "Wecology" magazine from McDonald's teaches the ecological advantages of Styrofoam packaging. "Changing," a booklet from Proctor & Gamble, teaches girls how to use Always, its brand of sanitary pads. Chef Boyardee's "Good Nutrition" program teaches kids to eat pizza and gives recipes that feature Chef Boyardee products. Colorful posters on classroom bulletin boards advertise Reynolds Wrap, Birds Eye frozen vegetables, Promise margarine, and Bakers Chocolate.

Why do companies provide these materials to schools? "School is ... the ideal time to influence attitudes, build long-term loyalties, introduce new products, test market, promote sampling and trial usage and -- above all -- to generate immediate sales." (Lifetime Learning System ad directed at companies). "Early brand loyalty. New sources of business. Profitable secondary markets. A positive corporate image." (Media Management Systems). "High visibility for your product among a closely targeted audience." (TeenPak).

Schools' chronic funding shortages lead teachers to welcome free education materials, and schools to join forces with the advertisers to obtain equipment they couldn't otherwise afford. Unable to win sufficient public funding for their educational role, schools are turning into an advertising medium.

School is out for the day, and our American kid rushes home, grabs a magazine, turns on the TV, and plops down on the couch for heavy-duty advertising pressure. Thousands of commercials a year are beamed at kids. Add to that the growing number of kids' magazines with paid ads. Some of this advertising spotlights rock celebrities and sports stars who throw their considerable kid-appeal behind products, influencing kids' product preferences and brand loyalty, sometimes to a tragic degree. In recent months, kids have robbed and even murdered for "status" sneakers endorsed by stars.

Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrities are pitching to kids as never before. Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) and Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains) endorse Pepsi. Both are popular with kids under 17 years old. The rock group New Kids on the Block, very popular with young girls, sells Coke in TV commercials and radio ads. Paula Abdul once endorsed Reeboks in magazine ads that asked: "Don't you wish you were in her shoes?" She and Michael Jackson now pitch L.A. Gear. Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan, kids' favorite athletes in a Sports Illustrated for Kids survey, endorse Nike. So do David Robinson, Andre Agassi, and others. Magic Johnson endorses Converse.

Celebrity commercials have particular appeal to kids just entering or in their early teens. Studies point to the conflicts adolescents go through as they separate from their parents and start to forge their own identities -- conflicts reflected in ads that question authority or offer popularity as a result of purchasing a product.

Celebrities have endorsed products for decades. However, the "status products" being pushed to kids have never been so costly, and the celebrity commercials have never been so slick. Commercials for $120 Nike sneakers are seen regularly by kids: During the month of May 1990, for example, more Nike commercials were on MTV than on sports shows.

"We made our sunglasses into a hip, must-have item through celebrity emulation," said a representative of Ray Ban. "Since kids and teens love to emulate stars, wearing our sunglasses gives them an easily recognizable status symbol." The enormous potential celebrities have to influence kids is mined by the corporate sector, which pays millions to have stars influence kids' brand preferences and loyalty. The predominant message celebrities are delivering to kids is "buy this."

The mail arrives, including Nickelodeon magazine for our American kid, and the Sassy Club membership card for his sister. The clubs describe merchandise and give members discount coupons and other enticements to buy.

 Kids Clubs

Last year kids' clubs were introduced by Nickelodeon, Fox, Burger King, Sassy, MTV, and Disney. Most cost money to join -- from $5 for the Sassy Club to $12.95 for Disney's Mickey Mouse Club. We joined and received publications heavy with advertising (especially for club merchandise) from Nickelodeon and MTV. We also received discount coupons for Sassy and MTV club merchandise. Disney sent two coupon booklets for everything from M&M candies to He-Man and Barbie. Burger King's club sent a coupon for a child's coach ticket on TWA.

Why are kids' clubs so popular with advertisers?

Nickelodeon tempts prospective advertisers with: "Share Nickelodeon's special affinity with kids by associating your product and services with the Nickelodeon Club Card and the Nickelodeon magazine. It's a relationship that will last a lifetime."

Fox Kids Club: "There are no holds barred for (advertisers) as long as it is valuable for the kid. They can reach a national audience in one swoop."

MTV: "The magalog is another way for MTV and its advertisers to reach our audience of young viewers."

An ad agency: "You're developing a relationship with a customer over time, which is very valuable, and the customer is paying for it."

It's early Friday evening, and our American kid, his sister and friends head out to the movie theater. They see a Coke commercial before the movie starts. Will the kids have a three-hour respite from the commercial barrage of the day as they watch a double-feature? Not with Domino's Pizza, Pepsi, and Burger King as part of the action in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Nor with Lucky Strike and Camel cigarettes prominently featured in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Product Placement

Promotional placement of brand-name products in movies is growing rapidly. Producers charge from $10,000 to $1,000,000, depending on how the product is shown. Since kids are major consumers of movies (kids 12 to 17 attend movies twice as often as the over-18 crowd), they are an important audience for these promotional messages.

Coke, the on-screen sponsor of Tom Cruise's race car in Days of Thunder, plans a multi-million dollar promotion around the movie. Pepsi placed its products in such films as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Flashdance, Back to the Future II, and Big.

Burger King appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Gremlins; McDonald's in Mac and Me and Dick Tracy; Domino's Pizza in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and Pizza Hut in Back to the Future II.

Because of their high-volume sales, fast-food chains can help promote the movies they're placed in. Burger King conducted a promotional campaign around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie before its release. McDonald's did the same with The Little Mermaid and Dick Tracy.

Cigarettes are in the act, too. In 1989, Marlboro cigarettes appeared in such movies as Crocodile Dundee, Superman II, Baby, and Risky Business. Camel cigarettes were in Desperately Seeking Susan and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In that year, cigarette smoking was shown in 83 percent of films kids were likely to watch. Cigarettes placed in movies are presented in a positive light, without health warnings.

Product placement creates brand-name familiarity, lends status-appeal to products, and promotes products in the guise of something other than advertising.

It's 10 p.m., and our American kid is curled up in bed, solving a maze in a kids' magazine. Is he finally safe from commercial messages? No. The maze itself is an ad for Hershey's chocolate.

Advertorials

One way to get kids to read a magazine ad and spend time with it is to make it look like a game, puzzle, advice column, comic strip -- anything but an ad. This type of advertising is increasingly common in children's publications. 3-2-1 Contact and Kid City (once ad-free) carried ads disguised as games for Hershey's Chocolate and Colgate Junior. Foot Locker ads in Sports Illustrated for Kids looked like sports quizzes and hidden-object puzzles. Seventeen magazine's "Ask Loren" columns, promising "your personal answers to questions about make-up and fashion," were really ads for Epilady products. A Popeye comic in four different kids' magazines was really an ad for Instant Quaker Oatmeal.

Disguising promotions as games and comics makes it harder for kids to be skeptical of advertising messages.

Conclusions

Promotional campaigns and commercial messages permeate most waking hours of our children's lives. Many messages are hidden, appearing to be a school lesson, a kids' club, an entertaining movie, a magazine game or puzzle. Advertisers are attuned to kids' developmental stages -- to their need for peer approval, status, independence. The overwhelming message is that things make the person; that what's important is what you have, not who you are.

These pressures influence children's development as citizens, as well as consumers. The barrage of advertising encourages continuous consumption and acquisition at the expense of reasoned decision-making, thrift, and environmental sensitivity. At a time when kids need to learn how to consume thoughtfully, numerous promotional messages are teaching the opposite.