Past research with adults has shown that image advertisements are especially appealing and persuasive to adults with high social-image concerns. In this study the appeal of such advertisements to young adolescents as a function of age, gender and imaginary audience ideation was assessed. One hundred fifty-six males and females 8 through 16 years of age rated the appeal of image and quality oriented advertisements for alcohol, tobacco, clothing, and personal care products, and completed the Imaginary Audience Scale. Major findings include a differential effect of imaginary audience ideation by age and by product, and gender differences among the 11- through 13-year-olds. A stronger preference for image oriented alcohol and tobacco advertisements was shown among 14- through 16-year-olds and 11- through 13-year-old girls than among 11- through 13-year-old boys and 8- through 10-year-olds.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aiken, P.P.
, Leathar, D.S., & O'Hagan, F. (1985). Children's perceptions of advertisements for cigarettes. Social Science & Medicine, 21, 785-797.
2.
Avery, R. K.
(1979). Adolescents' use of the mass media. American Behavioral Scientist, 23, 53-70.
3.
Barton, J.
, Chassin, L., Presson, C., & Sherman, S. (1982). Social image factors as motivators of smoking initiation in early and middle adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1499-1511.
4.
Bretl, D. J.
, & Cantor, J. (1988). The portrayal of men and women in U.S. television commercials: A recent content analysis and trends over 15 years. Sex Roles, 18, 595-609.
5.
Canadian Radio-Television Commission urged to ban alcohol ads
. (1990, October, 26). Globe & Mail, p. B3.
6.
Elkind, D.
(1967). Egocentrism in adolescence. Child Development, 38, 1025-1034.
7.
Elkind, D.
(1978). Understanding the adolescent. Adolescence, 13, 127-134.
8.
Elkind, D.
, & Bowen, R. (1979). Imaginary audience behavior in children and adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 15 (1), 38-44.
9.
Enright, R. D.
, Lapsley, D. K., & Shukla, D. G. (1979). Adolescent egocentrism in early and late adolescence. Adolescence, 14, 687-695.
10.
Erikson, E. H.
(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
11.
Fox, S.
(1984). The mirror makers. New York: Morrow.
12.
Hacker, A.
(1984, June 24). Poets of packaging, sculptors of desire. New York Times Book Review, p. 1.
13.
Hess, R.
, & Goldblatt, I. (1969). The status of adolescents in American society: A problem in social identity. In M. Gold & E. Dovan (Eds.), Adolescent development (pp. 346-351). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
14.
Johnston, L.
, O'Malley, P., & Bachman, J. (1986). Drug use among American high school students, college students, and other young adults: National trends through 1985. Washington, DC: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
15.
Kannas, L.
(1985). The image of the smoking and non-smoking young person. Health Education Journal, 44 (1), 26-30.
16.
Lapsley, D. K.
(1990). Continuity and discontinuity in adolescent social cognitive development. In R. Montemayor, G. R. Adams, & T. Gullota (Eds.), Advances in adolescence research (Vol 2, pp. 183-204). New York: Academic Press.
17.
Lapsley, D. K.
, FitzGerald, D. P., Rice, K. G., & Jackson, S. (1989). Separation-individuation and the "new look" at the imaginary audience and the personal fable: A test of an integrative model. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4, 483-505.
18.
Lapsley, D. K.
, Jackson, S., Rice, K., & Shadid, G. E. (1988). Self-monitoring and the "new look" at the imaginary audience and personal fable: An ego-developmental analysis. Journal of Adolescent Research, 3, 17-31.
19.
Levanthal, H.
, & Cleary, P. (1980). The smoking problem: A review of the research and theory in behavioral risk modification. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 370-405.
20.
Linn, M. D.
, Delucchi, K., & de Benedictis, T. (1984). Adolescent reasoning about advertisements: Relevance of product claims. Journal of Early Adolescence, 4, 371-385.
21.
Linn, M. C.
, de Benedictis, T., & Delucchi, K. (1982). Adolescent reasoning about advertisements: Preliminary investigations. Child Development, 53, 1599-1613.
22.
Magnus, P.
(1985). Superman and the Marlboro woman: The lungs of Lois Lane. New YorkState Journal of Medicine, 85, 342-343.
23.
Marshall, W.
(1978). Puberty. In F. Falkner & J. Tanner (Eds.), Human growth (Vol. 2, pp. 171-209). New York: Plenum.
24.
Mosbach, P.
, & Levanthal, H. (1988). Peer group identification and smoking: Implications for intervention. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 238-245.
25.
Moschis, G. P.
, & Churchill, G. A. (1979). An analysis of the adolescent consumer. Journal of Marketing, 43, 40-43.
26.
Most people want ban on alcohol ads. (1991, June 23). Toronto Star, p. F5.
27.
Muuss, R. E.
(1982). Social cognition: David Elkind's theory of adolescent egocentrism. Adolescence, 17, 249-265.
28.
Ross, R. P.
, Campbell, T., Wright, J., Huston, A., Rice, M., & Turk, P. (1984). When celebrities talk, children listen: An experimental analysis of children's responses to TV ads with celebrity endorsement. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 5, 185-202.
29.
Simmons, R.
, Brown, L., Bush, D., & Blyth, D. (1978). Self-esteem and achievement of Black and White adolescents. Social Problems, 26, 86-96.
30.
Simmons, R.
, & Rosenberg, F. (1975). Sex, sex-roles, and self image. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 4, 229-258.
31.
Simmons, R.
, Rosenberg, F., & Rosenberg, M. (1973). Disturbance in the self-image at adolescence. American Sociological Review, 38, 553-568.
32.
Snyder, M.
, & DeBono, K. G. (1985). Appeals to image and claims about quality: Understanding the psychology of advertising. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 586-597.
33.
Tanner, J.
(1972). Sequence, tempo, and individual variation in growth and development of boys and girls aged twelve to sixteen. In J. Kagan & R. Coles (Eds.), Twelve to sixteen: Early adolescence (pp. 1-24). New York: Norton.
34.
Tobacco Products Control Act. Statutes of Canada (June, 1988).
