There are a myriad of advertising techniques that can be used to influence children. Bootstrap recognizes these as very effective, and condemns the all too frequent abuse of this knowledge in the marketing industry. We feel it is our responsibility as adults and as advertisers to proceed with caution when using these methods and require all Bootstrap clients to fairly market to children without an abuse of power occurring.
Advertising Techniques:
- Using slightly older children than target audience. This creates an implied role model and therefore a level of trust. Watching other children having a good time with a product is in general highly effective in convincing children of desirability and adding a slight increase of age compounds the success of this tactic.
- Showing products in lifelike settings (Example: Barbie’s car doesn’t come with the real beach setting it is shown in, and many of the props used to elevate the perception of the toy are not for sale and unrealistically animated).
- Unrelated “cool things” occurring in the background (Example: a commercial for a simple toy might have aliens flying around in the background or bad guys that a toy is fighting off)
- Music, sound effects, and increase in volume all contribute to an increase in excitement for the audience subconsciously. Focusing on expressions of excitement adds to this illusion.
- Celebrities are always effective in advertising, however when advertising to children this extends to well known cartoons. When known spokespeople or cartoons are not available, often times a character is created as a substitute and can be more influential than unknown actors.