Targeting Youth

Although the kinds of products marketed to

children have remained much the same, the

buying power of children and adolescents has

increased exponentially over time.9 The

affluence of today's children and adolescents

has made youth a market eminently worthy of

pursuit by businesses. Youths now have

influence over billions of dollars in spending

each year.10 In 2002, U.S. four- to twelve-year

olds spent $30 billion.11 American twelve- to

seventeen-year-olds spent $112.5 billion in

2003.12 In 2003, 33 million U.S. teens aged

twelve to nineteen each spent about $103 a

week.13 According to one report, parents

supply 87 percent of young children's income.

UniversityChildren as Consumers: Advertising and MarketingAuthor(s): Sandra L. CalvertReviewed work(s):Source: The Future of Children, Vol. 18, No. 1, Children and Electronic Media (Spring, 2008),pp. 205-234Published by: Princeton UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053125 .