Exploring children's choice: The reminder effect of product placement

Abstract

There has been little attempt to understand the influence on children of branded products that appear in television programs and movies. A study exposed children of two different age groups (6–7 and 11–12) in classrooms to a brief film clip. They were then individually asked to demonstrate their witness skills by describing in as much detail as possible what they had seen. Half of each class was shown a scene from Home Alone that shows Pepsi Cola being spilled during a meal. The other half was shown a similar clip from Home Alone but without branded products. All children were invited to help themselves from a choice of Pepsi or Coke at the outset of the individual interviews. Those who had seen the branded clip made a significantly different choice of drink. The responses to the interviews suggest that it is not simply exposure to the film but rather previous exposure together with a reminder in the form of recent exposure that affects choice. Age (and by implication processing skill) does not appear to be a mediating factor affecting choice, because implicit memory (mere exposure) seems to be more important than explicit recall. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.