Advertising, Intended vs. Unintended Effects of

Abstract

The effects of television advertising on children and adolescents can be divided into two general types: intended and unintended. Intended effects are the effects that advertisers wish to achieve with their advertisements, and unintended effects include the often-undesired side effects of advertising exposure. Intended effects research typically focuses on three kinds of effects of advertising on children: (1) cognitive effects, including children's awareness of brands; (2) affective effects, such as children's product preferences; and (3) behavioral effects, including children's purchase requests. Cognitive effects research focuses on children's recognition or recall of commercials and brands, which are often qualified as children's brand awareness. Both brand recognition and recall are usually operationalized by showing children a series of brand logos, brand characters, or commercials. In the case of brand recall, children are asked to name the specific brand when cued by the stimulus.