Key insights

Young Consumers

ISSN: 1747-3616

Article publication date: 19 June 2007

310

Citation

(2007), "Key insights", Young Consumers, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/yc.2007.32108baa.002

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Key insights

  • P. Deriemaeker et al. found that in their investigation nutritional and physical activity habits were poor: 70 per cent of children had a caloric intake below the recommended daily allowance and 23 per cent had an intake above it. The physical ability of children was also far lower than the same data taken from children in the 1990s.

  • The authors conclude that the promotion of food products needs to be done in a responsible way, taking into account the nutritional status of the target population. Furthermore, if healthy eating is encouraged, the positive relation between several health behaviours and health behaviour changes can be a marketing advantage if used in a proper way.

Toy stories, horror stories and fairy tales: the role of the media in highlighting issues of corporate responsibility

  • Stephan P. Hogan examines the role of the media in encouraging corporate responsibility in the toy industry. Is media coverage balanced or does it concentrate too much on any negative stories that emerge from the toy industry? Through qualitative research, Hogan taps into the opinions of those inside the industry.

  • Many managers feel that most media stories were overly negative about toy companies and fail to reflect the many responsible activities they pursue. As such, Hogan argues that toy companies need to work closely with the media to keep them informed of their activities.

Youth culture uncut: youth tribes 2007

  • The vibrancy and dynamism of UK youth culture means Channel 4 have looked for new ways to understand today’s youth.

  • Through extensive research Channel 4 came up with 23 tribes, or segments, that the majority of young people slotted into. These can be profiled to get information on each tribe’s chosen brands, expenditure and lifestyle choices.

  • Anyone needing to communicate with young people, from brands to government, can benefit from this innovative study.

Tweens’ satisfaction and brand loyalty in the mobile phone market

  • Anne Martensen looks into satisfaction and brand loyalty of Danish tweens in the mobile phone market.

  • Results indicate that tweens are far more satisfied with their mobile phones than adults are. Still, brands are not able to turn tweens into loyal customers who will recommend their mobiles to friends. Moreover, tweens loyalty is lower than what is experienced for adults and the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is very weak.

Video research – a way forward for the industry

  • To Andrea Geeson, if a picture tells 1,000 stories then video research is worth a million paper based customer surveys. This new and ever growing form of research has the potential to transform not only the way research is conducted, but also the image of the market research industry.

  • In respect to young consumers, who can find it difficult to articulate their thoughts in other forms of research, the medium of video means they can be observed and understood much more effectively.

An experimental study of female tweeners’ evaluative beliefs regarding ads, attitude toward the ad, and purchase intent for fashion apparel

  • The authors of this paper seek to analyse the characteristics and purchasing behaviour of female tweeners with a focus on the components of visual content targeting.

  • By conducting a controlled experiment analysing the influence of outfit, backdrop and model size in adverts, the authors found the tweeners’ choices were significantly different to those made by older women.

Uncovering retail shopping motives of Indian youth

  • Very few studies have been carried out on an Indian market segment making Kaur and Singh’s study of young consumers’ shopping motives in India a very interesting and necessary piece of work.

  • Results from a questionnaire of 115 young Indian consumers show that they shop primarily from a hedonic perspective. Importantly for marketers, the youth segment serve as new product information seekers, so the retailing firms can directly communicate product information to them.

Living in a celebrity-mediated social world: the Chinese experience

  • The purpose of Kara Chan and Cong Zhang’s paper is to examine the influence of peers and celebrities on young people’s endorsement of materialistic values in Beijing, China. Results showed both social comparison and imitation of celebrities were positive predictors of materialism.

  • Chan and Zhang subsequently argue that materialism is a negative value orientation and as such, media educators should help young consumers to reflect on how their purchase decisions are influenced by both personal interaction and celebrity-media communications.

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