Material World

hink your kids are spending too much time in front of the TV? You may be right, but not because of the programming content. Advertisements, including TV commercials, are being targeted toward younger groups these days. The 9- to 14-year-old group — referred to as "tweens" — are increasingly becoming the focus of marketing efforts. "We're seeing the Britney Spears-type phenomenon: the highly charged/highly sexual marketing efforts that are targeted to tweens," says Marvin Goldberg, professor of marketing in the Smeal College of Business. His study, "Understanding Materialism among Youth," was based on a nationwide survey of tweens and their parents. The study found that the 9-year-olds were at the same level of materialism as the 14-year-olds, judging by their answers to questions like, "Do you ask your parents to buy a product because you have seen it on TV?" as well as by information about how much money they save. The effort to market to the 9-14 age group is "in a sense, robbing children of their childhood," says Goldberg. Tweens themselves do not control much money, but they do influence what their parents purchase. In addition, youth carry values such as materialism with them into their adulthood, along with their spending habits. Parents, take caution, too: materialistic parents were more likely to have materialistic children.

—Barbara Prater

Marvin Goldberg, Ph.D., is chair of the department of marketing, Smeal College of Business Administration, 707J Business Administration Bldg., University Park PA 16802; 814-863-3420; mgold@psu.edu. Reported by Steve Infanti.

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