Is your child influencing your buying decisions? And are you allowing them to impress you so much that you lose sight of reason? The ‘dream merchants’ or advertisers in India certainly seem to think so.
Once upon a time, when I was a rookie studying marketing management, we learned about the buying process, and how there was an influencer and a decision maker. Just for a change, I am relying on memory as it is, without resorting to this decade’s addiction of trying to Google the ‘buying process’ or something similar just to make sure I am saying the right thing. And giving in to another lifelong addiction – laziness – I am not going to trudge across the house to hunt out my copy of Philip Kotler to look for some diagram I vaguely remember. For now, let us agree that most promotions such as advertisements are targeted toward a specific person or buyer. It is assumed that the target audience or customer will identify with the character in the advertisement, and then want the same thing for himself or his loved ones.
From the protective husband in the Prestige pressure cooker ad, or a grandpa selling chyavanprash for vitality, to a housewife endorsing some detergent, these were mostly adult folks. The few advertisements that featured kids were related to food items such as cooking oil or Bournvita, soaps (Pears) that made little girls pretty like their mommies, and Rasna, the Indian equivalent to KoolAid or Tang. When we were growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, kids were a happy lot, busy stuffing themselves with candy/chocolates, chasing butterflies and scraping their knees ( Savlon, Burnol etc.).
Flash forward to some of the current ads on Indian TV. Ad makers have really put the spotlight on children now. Judging by the money that goes into making these ads, and the millions needed for buying spots on cable networks, the number crunchers must really believe that kids are the influencers today. And that kids can pester or persuade their parents until they make, or rather submit to a buying decision. Kids have a footprint on almost every product line. Hundreds of kids sing for the Coca Cola video, some frolic because Hyundai the car maker has a big sale on, kids warn their parents to buy them the proper insurance cover, or save up for college, kids take their parents and other grown-ups to McDonald’s, and what not! Almost every billboard for housing has a few kids splashed across them proclaiming how they ‘love’ certain things in their new home.
How effective is this kind of advertising? Is this supposed to strike a soft spot in the adults’ mind, evoking emotions such as ‘how cute’ and prompt them into action? Or is this supposed to make an instant connection with the kids, who will then become brand ambassadors who will not rest until they bring a Hyundai car home? Or make their parents invest in a fund for the kids’ future.
Rapid urbanization, elevated lifestyles, excessive media exposure, and a growing (as opposed to aging) population can all be contributing factors to a new social environment. Does this threaten the sanctity of the family unit? I think the onus is still on the adults to enforce ground rules and keep things in perspective. A four year old demanding a Mercedes or a trust fund should still be ignored (unless belonging to the Pitt-Jolie or Trump clan maybe). Coke or Pepsi cannot be allowed to replace drinking water. Parental controls need to be enforced on cable channels and websites and eight and ten year olds maybe do not need Facebook or Twitter accounts. Parents still hold the reins over what is acceptable behavior, and hopefully they also hold the reins to their wallets.
How effective then are promotions featuring toddlers and pre-teens? Only time will tell, and it will certainly depend on how much ‘influence’ the decision maker in the buying process (You) allows them to have.