Children are more attracted to advertising than their parents

According to the study, part of a Phare project, 75 percent of six-year-olds watch commercials.

While children are more attracted to advertising than their parents, main emotions by the former while watching commercial is boredom (36.9 percent), indifference (21.7 percent), curiosity (18.7 percent), aggravation (13 percent), and joy (7.4 percent). The main reason children feel discomfort when watching commercials is the repetitiveness, the loud noise, and the fact that commercials are hard to understand. The study also shows that children do not normally believe what commercials say, although 72 percent of them asked their parents at least once to buy a product they saw on TV.

Children do not generally remember brand names but rather products, so they can not be “branded,” says Professor Ioan Dragan, project coordinator at the Media Studies Center.

The study was conducted nationally from October-November 2007 on a sample 1,530 individuals.