Question about TV ad. targeting

mrginge

They aren’t targeting people who don’t have money. They are targeting people who don’t have kids.

Most people could get the money to buy an iPhone X if they really wanted to. Having children focusses most people’s minds on the long term finances and the question becomes do I need this iPhone X and can I afford it. Those without children will instead think do I want it.

LydiaJ

I remember once, years ago when I was working as a "student assistant" during my gap year in the late 1980s, sitting at lunch in the canteen at work with several older employees. One of the middle aged ones was laying down the law with unshakeable confidence that he was right, telling me that I was much better off than him, because although my salary was lower, I didn't have the kind of outgoings that he had, and therefore I had much more disposable income.

I found myself quite unable to stand up to his argument, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was wrong. I knew this because he was saying all this while eating apple pie. He had two courses at lunch every day, with constant jokes along the lines of how apple pie "was fruit really" and how his wife must not be allowed to find out about it. I never had any kind of second course with canteen lunch, because I couldn't afford it. I couldn't say that, though, because he might have thought I was asking for pity, or for someone to pay for my lunch.

zagubov

It takes a while to realise that the sole primary function of the world wide web portion of the internet is to perform as an advertising and/or marketing medium, and only incidentally to be a utility.

Moby

Sapphire wrote: »

Why is it that TV advertising is increasingly targeted at those in society who, we are led to believe by some, have the least money to spend, like the under 25s, and would thus presumably not be able to afford many of the products on offer? This seems to be a phenomenon that has developed over the last five years or so in particular.

Most ads appear to be aimed at such people, including ads for expensive cars encouraging people to take out loans (in their parents' generation those of that age group were lucky, and proud, if they managed to buy a clapped-out old banger). There are ads for acquiring expensive 'must-have' technology of various kinds, for clothes and expensive oddments like make-up and perfume, and for travelling to exotic destinations. There's very little about saving for the future.

It's all quite off-putting for anyone else watching such ads.

Just wondered if anyone knew what the reason was for such targeting.

Advertisers know that young people care about their physical appearance, self image and their status among their peer group more than other age groups. Cars, phones, grooming products, fashion, exotic holidays etc are sold to them on the basis that such things will make them more successful or attractive among their peers. The tory supporting millionaire Ray Winstone for instance, is forever on our screens telling young people in his hard man East London slang how parting with their dosh through betting makes them a player.

I have a nephew who has chosen to buy a sports car on finance while still living with his mum. To me it's a poor decision, I advised him to save money towards his own flat but to him the status and kudos of having a nice car with his peer group was more important.

I think as we get older we forget how powerful peer pressure was and how important self image was when we were young. Deferred gratification is an alien concept when you are full of raging hormones. Advertisers know our vanities and vulnerabilities.

Of course the bigger issue is that capitalism is our way of life and that depends on us going to market and buying and selling things. If we only bought what we needed the system wouldn't work, advertising and marketing is therefore there to blur the boundaries between need and want.

worried_jim

What adverts are you talking about op? Let's have some examples? Remember houses are mostly only expensive in the S.E. cheap as chips in Bradford.

prowla

I record most programmes and skip the ads when I watch them.

I have noticed that some ads "sponsor" the programme, so they get the first and last ads of the break. (Apparently Volvo cars are pronounced "Bolbo"!)

I will channel hop if I am watching in real-time and the ads come on and I may find something else which grabs my (admittedly limited) attention.

Graham_Devon

Lot of ageism and "I'm better than them young 25 year olds" going on in this thread.

Theres a massive broad range of adverts on TV. We simply see what we want to see and tune out the rest. In this case, you are linking the conversations held around younger people not being able to afford a house as easy as a generation 20-30 years ago and the advertisement of products.

I see adverts for Fairy liquid, VW, Dolmio, Asda, Sunlife, Jaguar, Mattresses, Food, Slimming, Insurance, Hellmans Mayonnaise, Danone Yoghurt, L'oreal, Cruises, Aldi, and a mountain of "sale now on" sofa ads etc etc etc

Honestly can't say most adverts are aimed at people under 25. Most seem to be aimed squarely at the family to be honest.

As for payday loans - Citizens Advice statistics show that the biggest group of people to be using such loans is actually the 20-35 year olds. Not just those under 25. But at the other end of the spectrum, we have quite a few ad's for equity withdrawal, showing the older generation sat on beaches drinking wine etc.

Think you are just seeing what you want to see to back up your thoughts on the younger generation in truth.

Cakeguts

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Lot of ageism and "I'm better than them young 25 year olds" going on in this thread.

Theres a massive broad range of adverts on TV. We simply see what we want to see and tune out the rest. In this case, you are linking the conversations held around younger people not being able to afford a house as easy as a generation 20-30 years ago and the advertisement of products.

I see adverts for Fairy liquid, VW, Dolmio, Asda, Sunlife, Jaguar, Mattresses, Food, Slimming, Insurance, Hellmans Mayonnaise, Danone Yoghurt, L'oreal, Cruises, Aldi, and a mountain of "sale now on" sofa ads etc etc etc

Honestly can't say most adverts are aimed at people under 25. Most seem to be aimed squarely at the family to be honest.

As for payday loans - Citizens Advice statistics show that the biggest group of people to be using such loans is actually the 20-35 year olds. Not just those under 25. But at the other end of the spectrum, we have quite a few ad's for equity withdrawal, showing the older generation sat on beaches drinking wine etc.

Think you are just seeing what you want to see to back up your thoughts on the younger generation in truth.

It depends on the time of day. The food ones are at mostly at meal times. The Sunlife and funeral planning are on during the day with bingo and payday loans. The car ones, mobile phones, computer games and any other gadget are all at the same time. So you can see that it aimed at a particular age group because the computer games are lumped in with it.

Sapphire

Moby wrote: »

Advertisers know that young people care about their physical appearance, self image and their status among their peer group more than other age groups. Cars, phones, grooming products, fashion, exotic holidays etc are sold to them on the basis that such things will make them more successful or attractive among their peers.

I have a nephew who has chosen to buy a sports car on finance while still living with his mum. To me it's a poor decision, I advised him to save money towards his own flat but to him the status and kudos of having a nice car with his peer group was more important.

I think as we get older we forget how powerful peer pressure was and how important self image was when we were young. Deferred gratification is an alien concept when you are full of raging hormones. Advertisers know our vanities and vulnerabilities.

Of course the bigger issue is that capitalism is our way of life and that depends on us going to market and buying and selling things. If we only bought what we needed the system wouldn't work, advertising and marketing is therefore there to blur the boundaries between need and want.

Yes, I agree with this, though there simply weren't the sorts of 'must-have', enormously expensive things available, apparently to all, that there are now until recent times. Not sure whether credit was so easily available, either. I also think that again, until relatively recently, people were too busy earning money in order to survive to be concerned with luxuries (conditions were very grim in parts of London like the East End, for example, until the late seventies). We have been increasingly brainwashed into being much more materialistic as a society (that's mainly due to advertising propaganda).

Many people don't consider that we can get enormous pleasure out of simpler things in life. There's wildlife and nature in general, for example, which is something my grandfather taught me about. Someone in my family who is in his early thirties doesn't even notice a panoramic view, no matter how beautiful a location, though he is interested in characterful old trains: I'll give him that. He doesn't own a car and has no aspirations to own one, though he could probably afford it. Don't think he's particularly susceptible to peer pressure – but that's probably quite unusual.

antrobus

Sapphire wrote: »

...

It's all quite off-putting for anyone else watching such ads.

Just wondered if anyone knew what the reason was for such targeting.

Here's the Top 10 Advertisers in the UK in 2017
https://www.adbrands.net/uk/top-advertisers-in-the-uk.html

We have 3 telcos, 2 supermarkets, 3 consumer goods companies, McDonalds and Samsung.

Of course, I realise that the above link refers to advertising in general. The best I could find for TV advertising was;

Television advertisers ranked by broadcast views in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017
https://www.statista.com/statistics/297586/most-viewed-tv-advertisers-uk/

It has many of the same names.

I therefore suspect that your belief that "most TV ads" are directed at those who have the "least money to spend, like the under 25s" is just plain wrong. It's selective recall; you remember only those ads you've tut-tutted over, whilst the rest wash over you.

I any case, advertising on daytime TV is largely wall to wall ads for over 50s life insurance, luggis, quingos, and reclining chairs.:)