Parent and adolescent interaction in television advertisements as consumer socialization agents

Özmete, Emine. 2009. "Parent and adolescent interaction in television advertisements as consumer socialization agents." Education 129, no. 3: 372-381.

This article delves into the relationship between parents and adolescents, while discussing the effects of advertisements on adolescents’ purchasing decisions. It offers a literature review and background information on consumer socialization, which the article defines as, “the process ‘by which young people acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace.’” The author, Emine Ozmete, notes that both parental influence and media act as agents in an adolescent’s consumer socialization.

Ozmete’s experiment was performed using a sample of 240 high school students residing in Turkey. The study considered age and gender as factors in parental influence and the effectiveness of television advertisements. In short, the study found that boys were affected by advertisements and parental influence more so than girls. The study also showed age as a significant factor, as adolescents between the ages of sixteen and eighteen appreciated advertisements more. The older adolescents also based their purchasing decisions on these advertisements.

While this article is current, it does not go into great detail of cultural differences that factor into adolescent behavior. It mentions studies performed in America and Japan, but doesn’t offer extensive comparisons. I think the information in this article will be helpful, especially to those comparing participants’ ages in their research projects. However, I believe the article will be more effective if I compare it to similar studies performed in the United States, as I’ll be studying American television advertisements for my research project.