To help your kids become financially responsible, you must engage them in conversations around money as early as you can. This way, you can equip them with essential financial skills to help them deal with money matters as independent adults.

In this guide, let’s delve into the effects of advertisements on consumers’ spending habits and learn some ways to educate kids on this topic.

Learning about Finances While Young

It’s essential to start early in teaching your kids about spending, lending, borrowing, saving, and investing, among many other financial skills they must be aware of. Besides these, you can also introduce financial topics like investing, fixed rate loans and variable rates loans, and lending, among other topics on basic financial management. 

However, this blog will focus on the impact of advertising on consumer spending and how kids can make intentional spending choices. 

About Advertising

Advertising is a way to plug commercial offerings into different types of media, like printed materials, televisions, radio, and social media. They persuade the audience to take action, whether to try, buy, or do something related to the message conveyed in the advertisement. 

These days, the most common types of advertisements are TV ads, online ads, and influencer promotions. With side reach, frequency, and impact, TV ads are known to be the most conventional yet effective type of ad today. 

Meanwhile, those ads that appear on websites and emails are called online advertisements. By generating traffic through the internet, online ads can reach their target audience and potentially turn them into customers. 

Lastly, with the rise of influencers in the modern world, many businesses leverage the popularity of these individuals by collaborating with them and asking them to endorse and mention their products and services in their content. 

The bottom line is that all these types of advertising campaigns are designed to persuade the target audience and sell products and services to them.

How Ads Capture Attention

In creating an effective advertisement, marketers always consider what will hook their target audience. For instance, although kids aren’t the ones to buy toys and stuff, they can influence their parents’ buying decisions. That’s why marketers would focus on making ads relatable to kids. They would use catchy jingles, relatable characters, or colorful visuals that children would find attractive.

Teach your children about the intention of businesses behind these engaging advertisements. In addition, teach them to look beyond these advertisements before making a decision. 

Differentiating Between Wants and Needs

It’s also important to talk to kids about wants versus needs. It can be tricky to strike up a conversation with kids on this matter. You might be thinking that needs always cover shelter, clothes, and food. However, these days, technology like a smartphone or a computer can also be considered a need. 

You should also think that not all types of houses, clothes, and foods are needed by an individual to survive. For instance, ice cream falls into the food category but isn’t an essential food.

Another example is a recreational vehicle (RV). While RVs have essential home features, purchasing them won’t be necessary if you already have a home. You can give them other examples like these to help them understand the differentiation. 

Identifying Sneaky Tactics

As adults, we are fully aware of the sneaky tactics in advertisements we see everywhere. Introducing these marketing techniques to your kids teaches them how to think critically the next time they encounter such ads. 

For instance, techniques like “buy one, get one free,” “low stock,” and “limited-time offer” may sound attractive, but most businesses use these lines to encourage consumers to buy a product or a vail service from them. 

Tell your children about the motives behind these tactics so you won’t get pressured into making buying decisions because of these advertisements.

Recognizing Product Placement

While it may seem subtle, product placements make great advertisements. Hence, you must discuss them with your children. Teach them how businesses use this strategy to reach a wider audience. Mention examples, like how branded products and services are positioned in shows and movies less directly. 

One of the most popular and iconic product placements in history can be found in Wayne’s World. Branded products like Pizza Hut, Pepsi, Doritos, Reebok, and many more were featured in the films, adding comedic value. 

By teaching kids about product placements, you can encourage them to think critically about why a product is shown in their favorite shows or movies. 

Setting a Budget

The most basic thing you can teach your kids is to set a budget. Also, emphasize the importance of making intentional spending choices as they try to allocate money for saving and investing. Tell them to think of their financial goals, whether short-term or long-term, and spend money without compromising it. 

Teach them to align their spending habits with what matters to them. Most importantly, teach them how to be patient until they have enough money to buy what they want. 

Takeaway

Introducing the relationships between advertisements and spending to your kids is one way to help them become mindful consumers. With the steps mentioned in this guide, you can equip your little ones with critical thinking skills they can use for wise buying decisions. By continuously discussing this with them, you encourage open conversations, thus facilitating exploration and education for financially aware consumers from a young age!