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Children and advertising: The influence of cognitive development models on

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Despite more than two decades of research on children and Within this framework, Piaget posited two invariant themes:
advertising, a consensus among researchers and policymakers (1) lessons learned in one stage transfer to all subsequent
remains elusive. Why? Perhaps the answer lies in the metatheory on stages, and
which much of the research is grounded: the cognitive develop-ment (2) children do not progress to the next stage until they attain
metatheory of Jean Piaget. Here, we briefly overview and critique the cognitive skills of their current stage.
Piaget’s stage model, discuss applications of Piaget’s metatheory to The effects of advertising on second-stage or preoperational-stage
advertising, and suggest alternative metatheories to research on (PS) children are of most interest to researchers and policymakers.
children and advertising. Application of Piaget’s Metatheory to Children
and Advertising
Introduction Although ads may depict a learned scheme, PS children are
In a follow-up to a related National Science Foundation (1977) unable to integrate across learned schemes. Such children have
study, Adler et al. (1980) argued that the four major issues about difficulty predicting what will happen next when ads incorporate
children and advertising have been: elements of two known events to present a novel event. Yet, ads
(1) children are exposed to TV ads for products or product often depict novel situations congruent with children’s experiences;
categories that may be hazardous if misused; for example, ads for products targeted at one age group show
(2) any TV ad directed at children is bad because such an ad children of that age group interacting with those products (Smith
exploits their vulnerability; 1995). Á là Piaget, ads that show children using a familiar object
(3) selling techniques used in some TV ads may be deceptive in a new way provide a learning experience for children.
or misleading to some children; and Children attend to an ad until functional assimilation has
(4) cumulative exposure to TV ads may warp children’s occurred; subsequently, children attend less to that ad. Both
values, attitudes, and behaviors. sensorimotor-stage and PS children attend progressively less when
Despite these well-established issues and the extensive concomitant repeatedly exposed to the same stimuli; even sensorimotor-stage
research, a research consensus remained elusive. Why? Some children show attention decrement and ignore a stimuli after a few
researchers contend that the inconsistent empirical findings are interactions (Lewis 1969). As per Piaget, the child has received all
caused by inadequate theoretical frameworks (Young 1990) or new information from the ad and no longer needs attend to it.
research-methods artifacts (Adler et al. 1980; Barry 1980; Smith The link between attention and information processing is well
1988). Regardless, policymakers and others remain stymied by these established for adults, but not for children (Calder et. al. 1975;
inconsistent empirical findings. Sternthal and Craig 1982). Many researchers use attention to the
An alternative explanation for this lack of consensus may be the ad as a surrogate indicator of information processing (Wackman and
metatheoretical belief system (Byrnes 1992) of researchers who Wartella 1977). Advertisers use various attention-getting
studied children’s cognitive abilities; i.e., Jean Piaget’s metatheory devices–such as animation, lively music, singing, dancing, and
for cognitive development. Because this belief system influences the rhyming–to ensure that children attend to ads (Smith 1995). These
research problem formulated, the research methods used, and the attention-getting devices fit with PS children’s thinking, which is
populations studied, understanding Piaget’s metatheory is crucial to based on “non-verbal cues and mental imagery” (Smith 1995, p.24).
understanding the extant research on advertising and children. Ads are repetitive and contain familiar words, situations and
concepts, which offer children an opportunity to practice non-
Piaget’s Metatheory communicative speech by modeling what is shown in the ads. In
fact, this modeling causes children to attend more to TV ads than to
After years of observation, Piaget concluded that intellectual
TV programs (Smith 1995).
development occurred into four stages:
PS children are unaware that they only perceive part of the
(1) sensorimotor, which occurs from birth to age 2,
messages contained in ads (Smith 1988). Such children are also
(2) preoperational, which occurs from ages 2 to 7,
unaware of the impact of ads on their purchase requests or
(3) concrete operational, which occurs from ages 7 to 11, and
preferences (Wilson and Weiss 1992; Goldberg and Gorn 1983).
(4) formal operational, which occurs from age 11 onwards
When asked in recall studies to recount TV ads, children aged 4 to
(Ginsburg and Opper 1988).
6 years tend to omit parts and details of those ads (Goldberg and
Gorn 1983). Advertising researchers have concluded that these
Implications for Marketing Researchers
These new insights into how children process information and
omissions show a failure to watch or to understand the whole ad
develop cognitive abilities pertain to research on children and
(Wackman and Wartella 1977). Piaget noted that children often omit
advertising. By replacing the notion of children as naive scientists
parts and details of stories because they assume that listeners already
using a deficient set of tools with the notion of children as
knew those parts and details; he classified this as an egocentric
competent organisms able to adapt and understand their
tendency that diminishes as children age.
environments, different research questions are suggested. Rather
Under Piaget’s metatheory, children are incomplete adults
than ask the age at which children understand the selling intent of
because they are unable to reason and form logical conclusions. This
ads, researchers might ask (1) what information children use to learn
deficit-model, which underlies both the FTC’s call for a ban on
that ads have a selling intent, and (2) how to infuse children’s
advertising to children, characterizes children as a special group of
environment with that information. The first question assumes an
people who need protection.
inherent defect in children; the second question assumes an inherent
Seemingly, many research questions concerning advertising and
ability in children. On this view, children are active participants in
children follow from Piaget’s metatheoretical framework.
their own learning, free of the constraints imposed by Piaget’s
Nonetheless, many psychologists argue that Piaget’s framework is
metatheory. The developmental biology perspective assumes that
passé.
children have limited capacity to process information due to brain
growth. However, psychologists researching young children’s
Criticisms of Piaget cognitive processing abilities report that even young children can be
Despite its historic and widespread acceptance, many scholars taught complex processes and form complex relationships
reject Piaget’s metatheory for cognitive development. Table 1 heretofore believed beyond their abilities (Gelman and Baillargeon
summarizes some Piagetian concepts and criticisms of these concepts. 1983).
The deficits and anomalies in the Piaget theory opens the door to new How do we access the information that children possess?
theories of children’s intellectual and cognitive development. If the Surveys and experiments yield very different results; even the type
stages do not exist, or if they are not universal, then how do children of survey affects the results (Goldberg and Gorn 1983; Martin
process information? Is there a cognitive development framework 1997). For example, young children often confuse concepts such as
that offers researchers a new perspective? how often, how many, and degrees of liking. Instead, researchers
could use the observational, experimental, and longitudinal designs
now used in many early childhood studies. Such research rarely
New Theories of Cognitive Development depends on questionnaires because children’s language patterns
To address these and other criticisms of Piaget, neo-Piagetian
differ markedly from adults’ language patterns.
psychologists have added new components to Piaget’s cognitive
Although environment plays a crucial role in newer models of
development model. Proponents of the historico-cultural tradition
cognitive development, advertising researchers rarely study
added children as products of their culture (Bruner 1997);
environmental influences. The extant literature suggests that the
proponents of information processing models added the brain as a
minimal effect of ads on children is moderated by parental
computer metaphor (Flavell, Green and Flavell 1995); Pascual-Leone
involvement, socio-economic status, mothers attitudes and
added children as multi-source energy systems whose ability to learn
behaviors, and family communication patterns (Carlson et al. 1994;
is constrained only by their available resources (Pascual-Leone
Macklin 1996). The research on children and smoking consistently
1983); and proponents of developmental systems theory revamped
concludes that children fitting a certain profile are more likely to
the definition of development (Ford and Lerner 1992, p.49). With
begin smoking and more likely to regard cigarette ads positively
these additions, children are no longer restricted or constrained by
(Henke 1995). Such findings suggest that researchers investigate
age or development stage; rather, learning is an adaptive process
children’s environment and the information that can be placed
determined by internal and external factors. Thus, Piaget’s notion of
within this environment.
invariant, universal developmental stages was abandoned in each of
By broadening our framework to include alternate theories of
these theories and replaced by development as an more idiosyncratic
cognitive development, researchers bring in new ways of looking at
phenomena.
old questions. The four fundamental issues delineated in Adler et
These various theories are converging into a new metatheory of
al. (1980) can be addressed in new ways. Table 2 contrasts Piaget’s
cognitive development, one that Bjorklund (1997) calls
original framework with the neo-Piagetian framework. For
developmental biology. Developmental biology links the
policymakers, this revised framework suggests a re-examination of
development of the nervous system, the evolution of species
their assumptions about (1) the ability of young children to
intelligence, and the species-typical contexts in which cognition
understand the selling intent of ads, and (2) the need for adults to
evolved. This theory considers cognitive development in terms of
provide information necessary for children to understand ads. For
evolution, in that organisms must develop cognitive programs to
researchers, this revised framework suggests that a consensus about
accomplish adaptive functions. Unlike other development theories,
the affect of advertising on children may be
which seek universals and treat individual variation as error,
developmental biology assumes individual variation is favorable,
especially if some organisms adapt in successful ways. These
adaptations are the basis of evolution. On this view, childhood is not
a deficit stage of life–á là Piaget–but rather a necessary condition of
young organisms. Children’s abilities differ according to the
environment in which they are placed.
Table 1. Piaget’s Preoperational-Stage Children (PSC): Theory, Implications for Advertising Research, and Criticisms

Theory Implications for Advertising Research Criticisms

PSC form schemes that help them Ads that show children using familiar PSC can learn through observation and concrete
interpret the world; scheme complexity objects in new ways provide potential experiences with objects
constrained by stage of development learning experiences for PSC

PSC begin to symbolically represent PSC attend more to TV ads than to TV Need to understand symbolic meanings and
objects in their environment programs cultural interpretations of ads; environments of
PSC determine these meanings

PSC move from context-specific PSC attend to an ad until its scheme is Once assimilated, attention does not indicate
understanding to functional learned; subsequently, PSC attend less to processing because ads can be a trigger
assimilation that ad mechanism

PSC produce non-communicative Ads are generally lyrical, run repetitively, PSC who repeat ads, or who are aware of brand
speech and communicative speech and use language familiar to PSC; thus ads images, are not necessarily predisposed to
offer opportunity to practice language product usage

PSC produce highly egocentric speech When asked to recount ads, PSC tend to Access to knowledge of PSC is difficult and
omit parts and details problematic, and thus requires innovative
methodologies

Alternative schemes of adult listeners Adult researchers pre-determine correct Care needed to avoid measurement bias when
leads to miscommunication with PSC answers; equally correct answers by PSC conducting research on PSC
coded as incorrect

PSC cannot simultaneously consider PSC cannot associate an ad with their PSC possess the ability, but lack the necessary
several aspects of a situation desire for a particular toy skills (which can be taught

PSC are incomplete adults (i.e., Researchers use adult level functioning as Childhood is a necessary stage of life; individual
deficient in their ability to reason and yardstick by which PSC are measured variation and adaptability, not universals, should
form logical conclusions) be studied
Based on Brainerd 1978; Bruner 1997; Calder et. al. 1975; Gelman and Baillargeon 1983; Ginsberg and Opper 1988; Goldberg and Gorn 1983;
John and Sujan 1990; Lewis 1969; Markham, Horton, and McLanahan 1980; Martin 1997; Piaget 1952; Roberts et al. 1980; Smith 1988; Smith
1995; Sternthal and Craig 1982; Wackman and Wartella 1977; and Wilson and Weiss 1992.

Table 2. The Fundamental Issues: Original and Revised Frameworks

Fundamental Issue Piaget’s Framework Revised Framework

Children are exposed to TV ads for Children practice imitating behaviors; children Children can be taught that some products
products or product categories that cannot reason logically and thus cannot understand are hazardous; parents can avoid product
may be hazardous if misused the danger of some advertised products misuse by giving children this information

Any TV ad directed at children is The deficit view of children states that children are Children are adaptive and active learners;
bad because such an ad exploits inherently vulnerable they are only vulnerable if left unequipped
their vulnerability by their environment or culture

Selling techniques used in some Some children cannot evaluate ads logically; they Children can be taught to understand the
TV ads may be deceptive or cannot counterargue claims, so they believe all persuasive nature of ads
misleading to some children claims and representations in ads

Cumulative exposure to TV ads From information in their environment, children Cumulative exposure may lead to
may warp children’s values, construct a reality consistent with their decremental attention and negative
attitudes, and behaviors developmental stage; children exposed to TV create attitudes toward ads and advertised brands
a reality based on the message provided by the
medium
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