#9551 - Definitions And Examples - Children & Youth Markets

Schema – A schema is a mental construct that is based on past experience and generates future expectations. Using past events in memory to predict future events is one way of constructing a mental world that is stable and predictable. Memories and plans can be summarised in the concept called schema. Schemata (the plural of schema) constitute a structure of the mind. The concept was first put forward in the 1930s by an English psychologist called Frederic Bartlett. The very young child is driven by the senses and as the schemata in her mind grow and develop her behaviour becomes more and more driven by mental schemata.

For example, if you have a positive experience in a specific retail store, you will expect you future experiences to also be positive. I myself have had repeatedly positive experiences at the retail store, “The Bodyshop”. My shopping experience would become unstable if I suddenly had extremely poor customer service at “The Bodyshop”, and I would question my current schema and would, to some degree, subconsciously alter it.

Children are born with some schemata; however regularities in the environment enhance these and help children build other mental schemata through learning. In the early stages much learning is stimulus drive, however there is gradual shift overtime with age to a more schema driven learning process.

Script – Scripts are expectations of how to behave in different contexts. They are often acquired as part of socialisation and as such can, and do, differ across the globe. For example, in the UK we have eating conventions which dictate how we should behave at the table; however eating conventions in India, for example, would be very different. In other words they are the rules and regulations of culture, or social groups and are picked up by individuals rather than specifically taught.

For example, I have never been specifically taught how to conduct myself and a formal networking event, however I instinctively know, based on the scripts I have to date, that I act with decorum, engage in conversation, introduce myself and listen intently to what the other person has to say.

Stereotype – A stereotype is a description of a particular group of people that is limited to a few characteristic. They are often distortions and can lead to prejudice (for example, Americans are obese), however some stereotypes are positive but can lead to unrealistic expectations derived from schemata (for example, women can multitask). They arise out of information overload and a necessity for us to take shortcuts. One of the common stereotypes on the Exeter campus is that if you wear Jack Wills clothing you must be posh and upper-class.

Social Construction – This is an idea in social science that some cultures at some times in history have produced an idea that many people in the culture thinks is the ‘natural’ way the world is. The theory of social representations is often associated with the French scholar Moscovici (1988) who had a strong influence on social psychology. A social construct is a mental representation shared by groups of people to facilitate everyday communication and thinking in order to transform something strange and complex into something more familiar.

Marketing – Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients , partners and society at large (AMA, July 2013). Essentially it is producing an offering for interested parties and as such is an integral part of 21^st century life. There is an emphasis on process and a nod to wider concerns such as social responsibility.

There are four P’s of marketing – product, promotion, price and place.

An example of recent developments using the 4Ps is that of alcohol. Regulating hours of availability, limiting the outlets where it is available, price control, banning special offers are some of the ways the product can become de-normalised. So if we want to reduce the consumption of drinks containing alcohol then we need to consider the following:

Product – glossy packaging of different brands for different occasions – it’s necessary to emphasise in the debate that ‘alcohol’ is being sold. In fact health campaigners deliberately do this and the industry emphasises the different products (beer, wine, spirits) and subcategories and brands. If you are a health campaigner you will deliberately emphasise that all these products are similar i.e. they contain alcohol but the industry will stress the diversity.

Promotion – this include advertising and health campaigners argue from research that advertising is a powerful force that causes increases in consumption whereas the industry claims that the contribution to consumption from advertising is small and at brand level rather than having a generic effect on alcohol products.

Price – a minimum pricing strategy based on alcohol content has been approved by the Scottish government although not yet implemented. The industry has fought this on the basis of free trade between EU members and HC have argued that it would effectively reduce off-licence consumption.

Place – Distribution has already been restricted in Scotland by prohibiting off-licence sales before 10am and after 11pm.

But health campaigners run the risk of alcoholic goods becoming ‘forbidden fruit’ – especially with adolescents - and the

paradox of increasing consumption by social marketing.

Advertising - A structured type of communication that has a topic (the brand) and a comment (the rest of the advertisement). The comment is somehow relevant to the topic.

Advertising is involving and attracts the child’s attention. Getting the child to pay attention is difficult as they are stimulus driven rather than schema driven and so are easily distracted by another stimulus.

Advertising provides information. Between age 6-8 children begin to realise that advertising is telling them information about a brand. However, they do not understand completely that this information is partial and only give positive information about the brand.

Advertising is about goods and services. Advertising is promotional and tells you about the positive aspects of a brand but never the negative qualities. Advertising is rhetorical. It uses visual and verbal rhetoric in order to communicate propositions about brands.

There are three parts to reading an advert; parts of an event, cultural interpretation and ideological interpretation. Children should be able to describe what is going on in the advert, though for preschool children memory and attention limitations may only produce fragments and might require prompting. By 7 years old a cultural understanding may appear as at this age there is an understanding of peoples emotional states. Only adolescents are capable of examining the advert in the abstract and giving an ideological interpretation.

The Evolution Gag – This is used frequently in popular culture and is...