Casting  children in ads can increase 'cuteness value' of a product

Children are often used by advertisers and are definitely a treat to watch. Kids in advertisements can help create affinity towards a product but it is a tightrope walk. BestMediaInfo talks to experts to analyse

Roshni Nair | Mumbai | June 9, 2016

One of the most iconic advertisements will undoubtedly have to be the Amul print ads that grace the newspapers and send the message across in an utterly-butterly simplistic way. But when we do think of Amul ads, it is not the quick wit with pun that comes rushing to one's mind but the Amul girl in her trademark polka dot dress and her high ponytail.

There are examples galore of how companies have used children to become the face of their products and succeeded. The Parle G girl and the Nirma girl on the product packing, though notoriously similar to the Amul girl, are characters people still remember.

As time passed and television became a household phenomenon, children started gracing our television screens and ad spaces. Who can forget the Dhara oil ad with the runaway kid and his love for jalebis? Since then children have sold us everything from diapers to cars to washing powders, “Kyunki daag ache hote hai.”

Abhijit Avasthi

But whether children should be used in ads is still debatable. “There could be many reasons for using children in advertisements. The story, the product, the need to reach out to parents, to increase the 'cuteness value' of the product, could all be reasons for using children in advertisements,” said Abhijit Avasthi, Founder, Sideways Consulting.

Rajiv Rao

“It all depends on the script. The intension is not always to make an advertisement around children. First you think of a script and if the script requires a child then that's how they come into play,” said Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director, Ogilvy and Mather.

But children don't have the purchasing power, so why use a child to sell a product?

Dhunji Wadia

Giving the example of the SBI Cap Securities ad conceptualised by Rediffusion Y&R, Dhunji Wadia, President, said, “SBI Cap Securities is not something that children would buy but we wanted to give out the message that 'it is child's play', which is easy, and therefore we thought of a concept around the children.”

What one needs to look at here is that advertisements with children in them need not necessarily be targeted towards children. No one-year-old is going to purchase a diaper tomorrow but to have a diaper ad without a baby in it would mean that the message is lost even before it is delivered. Most of these ads are targeted at urban parents who want the best for their children and will go to any lengths to provide it.

Sanjay Tripathy

“The life insurance category in general enables people to plan for goals and protect the future of their loved ones in their absence. Every parent naturally wants the best for his or her child in every sphere of life, particularly education. HDFC Life's child plans are crafted to help parents secure their children's dreams. Therefore, while children and their future needs are at the core of the category, our communication addresses the parents directly as they are the primary decision makers. Hence, for communication, we do use children but as a part of the family or as the story requires us to,” said Sanjay Tripathy, Senior Executive Vice President and Head Marketing, Analytics, Digital and E-Commerce, HDFC Life.

Another aspect to look at is, while children may not have the purchasing power, they definitely are influencers. A child throwing tantrum for a chocolate in a department store is most likely to get his/her way. If an advertisement appeals to a child, they can influence their parents into buying the product, who have the purchasing power that their children lack.

Titus Upputuru

“Increasingly, children are making decisions in families, so it makes sense to show them,” said Titus Upputuru, National Creative Director, Dentsu Creative Impact.

Children are also used by advertisers and companies to increase consumers' affinity towards a particular brand or product.

“If children in advertisements are used well then they can enhance the 'cuteness value' of the product,” added Avasthi.

But can children be used for any and every product? “There are some taboo categories where children cannot be used but ultimately idea is supreme,” said Avasthi.

Upputuru was of the view that the portrayal of children should be sensitive as it can impact culture and upbringing.

Harish Bijoor

Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., strongly believes that children in advertisements should not be used as active endorsements.

“I think the child audience in the country is an innocent audience and we should try to preserve that innocence and not make them into brand endorsers early in life. Brand endorsements should come to human beings after the age of 18. Until then I don't believe children must be allowed to endorse products,” Bijoor added.

The use of children in ad-communication will be the most effective if the product is child-friendly and appeals to the sensibilities of parents and children alike and will greatly depend on how the company wants to brand its product. For example, a company making sports cars are better off with an ad that shows off the speed of the car but a company wanting to brand their car as a family car would gain from focusing on how child-friendly the car is rather than the horsepower.

But using children in advertisements comes with its own set of challenges. Many say it an ethical and moral dilemma to feature children in ads and psychologists compare it to child labour.

“This is something that has been debated for long without much conclusion. The thing is, in advertising we try to reflect powerful insights into life and that would be incomplete without showing one large segment of society. On the other hand, children can be powerful instruments of change. When they say something we listen. It's incredible how children are teaching elders how burning crackers is bad. And this is done via schools. In that case can we say schools are 'using' children?” asked Upputuru.

Avasthi disagreed with the psychologists' take and Rao explained how a child working in advertisements is not child labour. “Children are extremely sensitive. They don't do ads for the money or the fame. They do it because they like it. Advertisements use only the most talented kids, it is like an art form and talent should be showcased. It is far away from being child labour.”

To look at the bigger picture, it might be a 'G mane genius' idea to have children advertising your products as forgetting a cute face can be quite difficult. Upputuru likes to put it like this: “All of us love children, don't we?”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com