Examining the effects of addressable TV advertising on children and their parents

Abstract

This study simultaneously examines children’s (aged 7–12) and their parents’ responses to a television ad designed to directly target, address, and influence the child. Employing a between-matched subjects experimental design, results from a path analysis indicate that (1) children perceive a heightened connection to addressable TV advertising, (2) they are more likely to make purchase request as a result of this connection, indicating that they are more susceptible to addressable TV advertising than their parents perceive them to be since (3) parents do not think it exerts a greater influence on their children than advertising generally. Further, (4) parents’ perceptions of their child’s advertising susceptibility influences their anticipation of a purchase request and (5) that anticipation positively influences their purchase intentions. Parents also anticipate purchase requests (6) as a direct result of their child’s exposure to the addressable ad. However, (7) the level of parents’ purchase request anticipation does not have an associative connection with the child’s own purchase request intentions. Theoretical, practical, and societal implications are discussed; and areas for future research are suggested.

Keywords:

• Persuasion knowledge
• influence of presumed influence
• inclusion-of-Other-in-the-Self
• addressable TV advertising

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research, supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nancy H. Brinson

Nancy Brinson broadly investigates the influence of data privacy concerns on consumer decision making, with particular emphasis on advertising outcomes, consumer wellbeing, and U.S information privacy policy. Her work has been published in major marketing and advertising journals, including Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Computers in Human Behavior, and Young Consumers.