Children as Consumers
Figure 8: Children's use of ‘pester power’ (self-reported)
If you really want something and you know your parents don't want you to buy it, do you ever keep on asking for it until they let you have it?
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Source:TNS Omnibus Survey, 2011
Weighted base: 520 children aged 7-16 in Great Britain
12.
Children in their turn are influenced by their friends and what is popular at school: the large majority of the children and young people in the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England's survey thought that children and young people are under pressure to own certain items. Most said that it was because they wanted to fit in, look cool, because of peer pressure or to not feel alone, and some said it was to avoid the risk of bullying or people making comments (Children's Commissioner and Amplify, 2011). In the omnibus survey for this Review, children ranked their friends having or liking something second only to price in a list of factors influencing their buying decisions. And 57 per cent of children surveyed said that they had bought or asked their parents to buy them something just so that they would be the same as their friends.
"If you don't have something other young people will make fun out of you or you feel left out when everyone else is using it."
"People want to fit in with their friends and don't want to feel left out."
Young people, Office of the Children's Commissioner for England survey
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