• Describe, and be able to discuss the theories related to the study of children as consumers.
• Independently reflect and discuss the public discourses regarding children as consumers; “competent” vs “vulnerable”.
• Apply and justify choice of relevant theory, concepts, and models presented during the course to concrete cases and problem areas.

Over the past several years there has been an increasing interest in children as consumers; both from companies and consumer organizations but also from the general public. Today children live in a more commercialized childhood and children are to a greater extent than previously considered independent consumers. They are constructed as “Tweens”, “Teens”, “Digital natives” etc., and are related to concepts like “cradle to grave marketing”. The course will focus on children as consumers from a cross disciplinary theoretical perspective based in consumer research, media research and childhood research. The theoretical framework will be linked to several forms of practice such as businesses and consumer organizations/councils.

Course topics include consumer socialization, marketing to children, children’s influence in the family, children’s media culture, children’s perception and understanding of advertising (off-line and online), children and branding and children as informants.

The overall aim of the course is to give students insights and a deep understanding of theories concerning children as consumers including marketing, legal and ethical issues regarding children’s participation in consumer society. Furthermore, the course aims at giving the students competencies to understand, analyze and discuss some of the public discourses regarding children as consumers.  


The student will develop competencies within the field of consumer behavior and communication related to children as consumers. With these competencies the student will be able to understand and solve relevant practical problems regarding communication and marketing to children.
 

Marshall, David et al (2010): Understanding children as consumers. Sage Publications
Buckingham, David (2011): The material child – growing up in consumer culture. Polity Press
John, D. Roedder (1999): Consumer socialization of children: A retrospective look at twenty-five years of research: Journal of Consumer research. Vol. 26.
Andersen, Lars P.; Birgitte Tufte; Jeanette Rasmussen; Kara Chan (2008): The tween market and the responses to advertising in Denmark and Hong Kong. Young consumers. Vol. 9 (3), p. 189-200
Wright, Peter; Marian Friestad; and David M. Boush (2005). The Development of Marketplace Persuasion Knowledge in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 24 (2), 222-33.
Ali, Moondore; Mark Blades; Caroline Oates; Fran Blumberg (2009). Young children’s ability to recognize advertisements in web page designs. British journal of developmental psychology, vol. 27(1), p. 71-83
Holsanova, Jana; Kerstin Gidlöf; Nils Holmberg and Helena Sandberg (2012). The use of eye-tracking and retrospective interviews to study teenagers' exposure to online advertising. Visual Communication, Vol. 11(3), p.329-345
Parreno, José Marti; Silvia Sanz-Blas; Carla Ruiz-Mafé; Joaquin Aldás-Manzano (2013). Key factors of teenager’s mobile advertising acceptance. Industrial Management & Data systems, Vol. 113(5), p. 732-749
Van den Beemt, Antoine; Akkerman, Sanne; Simons, Robert-jan (2010). The use of interactive media among today’s youth: Results of a survey. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 26(5), p. 1158-1165

Bruce, Amanda S et al. (2014): Branding and a child's brain: An fMRI study of neural responses to logos. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2014, Vol. 9(1), pp.118-122.
Montgomery, Kathryn; Jeff Chester (2009). Interactive Food and Beverage Marketing: Targeting Adolescents in the Digital Age. Journal of Adolescent Health. Vol 45(3), p. S18- S29
Wartella, Ellen A. & B. Reeves (1985): Historical trends in research on children and the media: 1900-1960. Journal of communication, vol. 35