Journal of Consumer Marketing

The influence of parental styles on children's consumption

Joseph Z. Wisenblit Randi Priluck Stephen F. Pirog
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Joseph Z. Wisenblit Randi Priluck Stephen F. Pirog, (2013),"The influence of parental styles on children's consumption", Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Vol. 30 Iss 4 pp. 320 - 327
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Michael J. Dotson, Eva M. Hyatt, (2005),"Major influence factors in children's consumer socialization", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22
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Steven Lysonski, Srinivas Durvasula, (2013),"Consumer decision making styles in retailing: evolution of mindsets and psychological impacts",
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 The influence of parental styles on children’s
consumption
Joseph Z. Wisenblit
W. Paul Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
Randi Priluck
Lubin School of Business, Pace University, New York, New York, USA, and, and
Stephen F. Pirog
W. Paul Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, USA

Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to examine parental styles based on levels of nurturing and authoritarianism to determine mothers’ awareness of children’s
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media exposure, likelihood of setting media and consumption limits and communications with children about commercial messages.
Design/methodology/approach – The research design included a survey aimed at mothers of children ages four-eight. The researchers collected
demographic, behavioral and consumption information regarding the mother’s youngest child.
Findings – The results suggest that nurturing mothers are more aware of advertising aimed at children and talk more to children regarding advertising
and consumption than authoritarian mothers. Mothers who are nurturing and not authoritarian are more likely to yield to requests and favor more
regulation than other parents.
Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a convenience sample of mothers who were willing to provide confidential personal
information about their children.
Practical implications – From a marketer’s perspective, nurturing mothers represent a barrier to reaching children with persuasive messages. Such
mothers not only limit access, but train children to be skeptical of advertising. Marketers who deal honestly with customers will be more successful in
appealing to nurturing mothers and their market-savvy children.
Social implications – For public policy makers, distinctions in parental style can be useful in developing and promoting policy regulating food
marketing practices. Nurturing mothers are more supportive of regulation than are authoritarian mothers, and efforts to promote such regulation should
target nurturing mothers. The factors that influence mothers to intervene and limit children’s media and consumption behavior also affect attitudes
toward regulation of food-related advertising.
Originality/value – The paper is the first to examine mothers’ parental styles and attitudes toward regulation and tie together attitudes toward
consumption and policy with the same sample.

Keywords Consumer socialization, Children and media, Parental styles, Food regulation, Mothers’ advertising awareness, Parents, Advertising,
Advertising media, Influence, Children (age groups)

Paper type Research paper

Introduction half of the children studied reported having parental rules

The growth of the internet and electronic technology resulted
in a significant increase in the amount of time children spend
with various forms of media. A study by The Henry J. Kaiser
Family Foundation reports that children ages 8-18 increased
their time spent with electronic devices by one hour and 17
minutes between 2004 and 2010 and now spend an average of
seven hours and 38 minutes a day with televisions, computers,
iPods, mobile phones or video games; moreover, through
multitasking they actually consume ten hours and 45 minutes
of media content during that time. Furthermore, fewer than
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
30/4 (2013) 320– 327
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]
[DOI 10.1108/JCM-02-2013-0465]
regarding media viewing (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010).
Media consumption provides marketers with increasing
opportunities to target children with marketing messages
designed to influence their purchase behavior. Food and
beverage marketing has been a particular public policy
concern because of its influence on the diets and health of
children. A study by the Committee on Food Marketing and
the Diets of Children and Youth (Institute of Medicine of the
National Academies, 2006) found that television advertising
influences children aged two to eleven promoting high calorie,
low nutrient foods associated with adiposity. Research
sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest
discovered that marketing high-calorie, low-nutrition foods to
children has been increasing dramatically and becoming more
aggressive and sophisticated (Linn, 2004; Story and French,
2004). The report concluded that such marketing has
undermined parental authority regarding food consumption
and called for restricting the marketing of foods to children
(Wootan, 2003). In the absence of regulation parents play a

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 The influence of parental styles on children’s consumption
Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog
meditational role in children’s consumption and media
exposure and may welcome intervention from public policy
makers.
The purpose of this study is to examine parental styles of
mothers of children ages 4-12 and the degree to which
mothers manage children’s media and consumption behavior.
Though researchers have examined children’s responses to
media and the influence of parental styles on consumer
socialization (Roedder John, 1999), relatively few (Carlson
et al., 2001; Neeley and Coffey, 2007) have delved deeply into
the role of mothers in influencing media and consumption
behavior of young children. Studies to date have not
examined mothers’ attitudes toward regulation of food
distribution and placement in schools.
Children’s consumer socialization
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Consumer socialization is defined as “processes by which
young people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant
to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace” (Ward,
1972). A comprehensive review of 25 years of research on
consumer socialization identified three stages of this process:
1 Perceptual stage (3-7 years old) during which children
begin to distinguish ads from programs, associate brand
names with product categories, and understand the basic
script of consumption.
2 Analytical stage (7-11 years), during which children
capture the persuasive intent of ads, begin to process
functional cues regarding products, and develop purchase
influence and negotiation strategies.
3 Reflective stage (11-16 years), when children understand
ads’ tactics and appeals, become skeptical about ads,
understand complex shopping scripts, and become
capable at influencing purchases (Roedder John, 1999).
Much of the early teaching of consumption patterns takes
place as a result of interactions with mothers. Although
children’s food choices are influenced by commercials on
television (Borzekowski and Robinson, 2001), the role of the
mother is key in mediating advertising messages and limiting
purchases. Mothers set limits on children’s media and
product consumption and communicate consumption
knowledge to children directly through conversation and
teaching (Neeley and Coffey, 2007). By the age of two, most
children have been taken shopping more than 200 times and
have begun to ask for products and brands, either verbally or
through gestures (McNeal, 1992) giving mothers the means
to model consumption behavior.
Children become brand aware as they age and begin to
prefer brands over non-branded items (Borzekowski and
Robinson, 2001; Ward et al., 1977). Brand knowledge starts
with child-oriented product categories such as toys and food
and by age eight children can name multiple products in
categories targeted to them Children’s consumption requests
start with food related items and grow to include toys,
clothing, sporting goods and video games as children age
(Roedder John, 1999). Children have the most influence over
child-related items and children from higher socio-economic
classes influence parents more than those of lower socio-
economic status (Belch et al., 1985; Corfman and Harlam,
1997; Foxman and Tansuhaj, 1989; Isler et al., 1987;
Swinyard and Sim, 1987). Overall, the older the child, the
more influence he or she has on a parent’s purchase behavior.
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 30 · Number 4 · 2013 · 320 –327
Older children are better negotiators and learn strategies
including bargaining and persuasion that are more effective
with parents than emotional strategies such as begging and
crying (Palan and Wilkes, 1997). Some children perceive
themselves as having more influence over purchases,
particularly with regard to food items, than do their parents
(Marshall et al., 2007).
Throughout the socialization process, family members,
peers, mass media and marketing communications influence
kids’ consumption knowledge and preferences, including
understanding and responding to advertising stimuli
(Marquis, 2004; Kraak and Pelletier, 1998). Whereas
younger children rely heavily on parental influence, older
children begin to rely on peers for more socially relevant
consumption cues (Moschis and Moore, 1979). Parents
remain influential throughout adolescence as role models and
in helping children process purchase related information
(Clark et al., 2001).
The role of parental styles
Parents’ distinct socialization orientations have been named
parental styles (Baumrind, 1968). Throughout the years, the
terms of characterizing the styles have varied. For example,
parental “warmth” versus “hostility” has also been termed
“overprotective” versus “authoritarian” (Carlson et al., 1992)
and “warmth” has also been called “nurturance” (Carlson
et al., 2001). More recent parental style typology identified
four categories depending on parents’ levels of nurturing and
authoritarianism (Neeley and Coffey, 2007). The four
parental styles are: authoritative (high nurturing/high
authoritarian), authoritarian (low nurturing/high
authoritarian), permissive (high nurturing/low authoritarian)
and neglecting (low nurturing/low authoritarian).
Consumer socialization researchers use different categories
of parental styles to examine family communication and
consumption. Adolescents who come from homes that are
pluralistic (nurturing) continue to rely on parents more than
those from laissez-faire families (neglecting) who pay less
attention to children overall or protective families (strict) who
do not allow children to maneuver consumption on their own
(Moore and Moschis, 1978). Another set of studies is based
on high and low concept and socio-oriented communication
styles (Bakir et al., 2005). Concept orientation has been
linked to nurturing parenting, while a socio-orientation
suggests authoritarianism. Pluralistic (nurturing) parents
encourage active discussion leading to children with
independent perspectives. Consensual parents (strict)
support independent thinking among children, but control
consumption behavior. Laissez-faire parents (neglecting)
spend little time with children and do not strongly influence
purchase behavior, while protective parents (disciplinary)
expect obedience from children (Bakir et al., 2005).
Parents with nurturing styles engender such power in their
children that the children also influence family purchase
behavior (Bao et al., 2007). Parental style has also been shown
to influence parents’ concern for food related advertising
(Grossbart and Crosby, 1984), preference for regulation of
advertising to children (Walsh et al., 1998) and parental
concerns over media exposure (Carlson et al., 2001).
 The influence of parental styles on children’s consumption
Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog
Hypotheses
Perceived parental awareness and mediation of
children’s advertising exposure
The effects of advertising exposure on children have been
widely examined in the sociology literature and many
sociologists expressed concern over how much media
children consume and their level of cognitive processing of
commercial content (Levin and Linn, 2004). Understanding
of advertising’s persuasive nature increases with the age of the
child (Andronikidis and Lambrianidou, 2010). By age five,
children can distinguish advertisements from programming
(Blosser and Roberts, 1985; Butter et al., 1981; Stutts et al.,
1981), but they do not understand the persuasive intent of
advertising (Bever et al., 1975; Blosser and Roberts, 1985;
Rubin, 1974; Ward et al., 1977). Whereas only half of six to
seven year olds understand the persuasive intent of ads,
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almost all ten to eleven year olds have developed this
knowledge (Robertson and Rossiter, 1974). Additionally, by
age eight most children are familiar with advertising’s bias and
deception (Bever et al., 1975; Ward, 1972; Ward et al., 1977).
Mothers mediate commercial messages aimed at children
more than fathers and the level of mediation depends on
mothers’ parental styles (Neeley and Coffey, 2007).
Nurturing mothers view media together and discuss
commercials with children more often than neglecting or
authoritarian mothers (Carlson et al., 1990). Neglecting
parents spend less time monitoring children’s television
viewing and subsequent responses to advertising than do
nurturing parents (Rose et al., 1998). Nurturing leads to
greater consumption socialization of children, more mediation
in television viewing, increased discussion of advertising and
more influence of children on parental purchase behavior
(Bakir et al., 2005). In addition, children report that
nurturing parents are more likely to co-view and discuss
television content with them than neglecting or authoritarian
parents (Carlson et al., 2001).
Communication among parents and children is important
in children’s development of skepticism for advertising and
promotion. The more intense the parental discussions of
marketing with children, the more likely the children are to
understand the persuasive nature of advertising. Issue-
oriented discussions with children are associated with higher
levels of the kids’ consumption related skepticism
(Moscardelli and Liston-Heyes, 2005).
Based on the findings of prior research, we predict that
more nurturing mothers will be more aware of the advertising
their children are watching and talk with children about
advertising more often than less nurturing mothers:
H1. Mothers’ nurturing is positively related to awareness of
the advertising children see on television and online.
H2. Mothers’ nurturing is positively related to talking to
children about advertising.
Parental limits on media consumption and children’s
purchases
Mothers’ monitoring and setting limits on the media exposure
and purchase behavior of their children depend on parental
styles and the children’s ages. Whereas less authoritarian
mothers give more freedom to older children, authoritarian
mothers limit all types of children’s behavior more than
nurturing parents (Neeley and Coffey, 2007). This suggests
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 30 · Number 4 · 2013 · 320 –327
that less authoritarian mothers are more likely to allow
children to influence purchases, yield to requests and discuss
consumption behavior with children more often than more
authoritarian mothers.
Marketers often target children using messages designed to
increase the “nag factor,” encouraging children to pester
parents to purchase (Linn, 2004). Parental styles influence the
degree to which parents yield to requests by children.
Therefore, we predict that:
H3. Mothers’ authoritarianism is positively related to
limiting children’s television viewing.
H4. Mothers’ authoritarianism is negatively related to
yielding to children’s requests.
Mothers’ school involvement and attitudes toward
regulating marketing to children
The US legislature has not been proactive in regulating
children’s advertising and consumption related behavior since
the FCC deregulated children’s television in 1984. At the
same time, marketers have increased their targeting of
children by doubling the amount of money spent on
advertising to children during the 1990s (Levin and Linn,
2004). Parents who have an interest in regulating children’s
food consumption are competing with global corporations
who aim to build their brands among an increasingly younger
customer base. Such parents may seek assistance in the form
of government regulation.
A 2001 US Department of Education study found that
parental involvement in schools is dependent, in part, on
family composition. Families with two biological parents are
more likely to have at least one parent highly involved. Of
families with two parents, 62 percent reported high
involvement with schools, compared to less than 50 percent
of other family types. Involvement was predominantly by
mothers and included attending school meetings, parent-
teacher conferences, events and volunteering (Nord and West,
2001).
Parental style has been found to influence the degree to
which parents support government intervention in advertising
to children (Walsh et al., 1998) with nurturing parents, rather
than authoritarian parents, favoring regulation. We further
suggest that nurturing influences the degree to which mothers
expect schools to alter public policy regarding advertising and
the availability of food products in schools and predict that:
H5. Mothers’ nurturing is positively related to favoring
regulation of food advertising to children.
H6. Mothers’ nurturing is positively related to favoring
regulation of food distribution and placement in
schools.
Method
Sample
This study employed a survey where self-administered
questionnaires were distributed to mothers who had at least
one child between the ages of 4 and 12. Qualified respondents
were located among family members, friends and neighbors of
students from universities in New Jersey and New York. The
mothers were asked to answer the questionnaire items as
applied to the youngest child in the family within the range of
ages 4 and 12. Our convenience sample consisted of 271
 The influence of parental styles on children’s consumption
Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog
mothers who returned useable questionnaires. Nearly 90
percent of our respondents were the children’s primary care
givers, indicating a high level of the sample’s involvement with
children.
Data collection procedures
Students in sections of undergraduate consumer behavior
courses located mothers with a child in the appropriate range
and administered the surveys as part of a class assignment.
The package given to the mothers asked for contact
information and students were told that respondents would
be contacted randomly to verify the proper administration of
the survey. A random selection of 30 surveys confirmed the
students’ compliance with the survey’s requirements.
The package contained a questionnaire on parental style,
parenting techniques and behavior of children, a personal and
financial information section that mothers were told to put
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inside an envelope and seal to ensure confidentiality (since
most of the interviewers and respondents knew one another),
and another, larger return envelope. Each student also filled
out a separate form for each respondent indicating the
mother’s name, her relationship to the student and her
contact phone numbers. The students signed these forms
verifying the information and the proper administration of the
questionnaire. These forms were unattached to the returned
surveys in order to ensure respondents’ anonymity.
Measures
Parental style was measured using a set of items to determine
level of nurturing versus authoritarianism. The questions for
both scales appear in Appendix 1. Scales to measure
awareness of the amount of advertising to which the child is
exposed, the likelihood mothers talk to children about
advertising, limits mothers place on television and online
viewing, the degree of yielding to child requests and attitudes
toward advertising regulations and food advertising and
distribution in schools appear in Appendix 2. All scales were
found to be reliable at a . 0:70.
Results
The relationships between nurturance and authoritarianism
with mothers’ communications with children, likelihood to
control media and consumption behavior and attitudes
toward regulation were evaluated by examining four
parental styles. ANOVA was performed across parental
styles using the scales reported in Appendix 1. Each
measure was split at the mean yielding the frequencies in
Table I. All dependent variable means were compared across
Table I Frequencies of mothers represented by parental style
Frequency
Nurturance
High nurturance 121
Low nurturance 145
Total 266
Authoritarianism
High authoritarianism 125
Low authoritarianism 141
Total 266
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 30 · Number 4 · 2013 · 320 –327
parental styles in planned comparisons. Dependent variable
means are reported in Table II and ANOVA results are in
Table III.
H1 suggested that parental style influences parental
awareness of advertising children see on television and
online, with high nurturing mothers reporting higher
awareness. The results support this hypothesis. ANOVA
indicated significant differences across parental style
(F ¼ 15:93;262 , p , 0:01) and independent t-tests suggest
that permissive (M ¼ 1:59) and strict (M ¼ 1:65) mothers are
significantly more aware of advertising the child sees than
disciplinary (M ¼ 2:25) and neglecting (M ¼ 2:31) mothers.
Therefore, H1 was fully supported.
H2 suggested that high nurturing mothers will also talk
more to children about advertising. The results indicate that
permissive (M ¼ 2:96) and strict (M ¼ 2:90) report talking
more to children about advertising issues than disciplinary
(M ¼ 2:26) and neglecting (2.06) mothers. A significant
ANOVA (F ¼ 15:43;265 , p , 0:01) and contrasts support H2.
An authoritarian parental style was predicted to lead to
more limits parents would place on children both in terms of
television viewing. H3 was only partially supported. Though
ANOVA across the four groups was significant (F ¼ 23:53;265 ,
p , 0:01) only neglecting mothers were not found to limit
children’s television viewing.
H4 suggested that strict and disciplinary mothers would
yield less to children’s requests than permissive and neglecting
mothers. ANOVA shows a significant difference (F ¼ 27:4
3,265, p , 0:01). Strict (M ¼ 2:31) and disciplinary
(M ¼ 2:50) yield less to requests than permissive
(M ¼ 3:14) and neglecting mothers (M ¼ 3:11), providing
support for H4.
H5 and H6 related to mothers attitudes toward regulation.
In both cases, we predicted that high nurturing mothers
would favor more regulation. Specifically, permissive
(M ¼ 1:85) and strict mothers (M ¼ 1:77) favor regulation
of food advertising more than disciplinary (M ¼ 2:39) and
neglecting mothers (M ¼ 2:98), supporting H5
(F ¼ 38:33;265 , p , 0:01). Similarly permissive (M ¼ 1:88)
and strict (M ¼ 1:77) mothers favor regulating public food
distribution more than disciplinary (M ¼ 2:35) and
neglecting (M ¼ 2:67) mothers. A significant ANOVA
supports H6 (F ¼ 28:03;264 , p , 0:01).
Finally, other analyses indicated that there were no
significant differences on the dependent variables across
child’s gender, presence of siblings, age of child, age of
mother, employment of mother or mother’s marital status.
Managerial implications and applications
Parental style is an important factor that helps explain who is
more likely to mediate children’s relationships with television
and internet advertising and marketing in general. We found
Percent that nurturing parents are more involved with children’s
viewing, engaging in co-viewing and discussing advertising
with children more than non-nurturing parents. Authoritarian
45.5
parents prefer to mediate by limiting children’s exposure and
54.5 refusing to yield to market based demands. Only one parental
100 style, neglecting, was associated with a lack of interest and
concern for children and their socialization as consumers.
47.0 Nurturing parents are also interested in seeking assistance
53.0 from government in mediating children’s exposure to
100 advertising and food distribution in public locations such as
restaurants and vending machines. Permissive and strict
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Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog Volume 30 · Number 4 · 2013 · 320 –327

Table II Variable means, by parental style

Variable (Hypothesis) Permissive Strict Disciplinary Neglecting
Awareness of advertising (H1) 1.59a 1.65a 2.25b 2.31b
Communication with child (H2) 2.96a 2.90a 2.26b 2.06b
Limiting behavior (H3) 4.16a 4.40a 4.11a 3.03c
Yielding to requests (H4) 3.14a 2.31b 2.50b 3.11a
Attitudes towards ad regulation (H5) 1.85a 1.77a 2.39b 2.98b
Attitudes toward food regulation (H6) 1.88a 1.70b 2.35c 2.67c
Note: Different letters indicate significant mean differences

Table III ANOVA results for hypotheses

Variable df Mean square F p
Awareness of advertising (H1) 3 9.75 15.9 0.000
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Communication with child (H2) 3 13.5 15.4 0.000

Limiting behavior (H3) 3 26.1 23.5 0.000
Yielding to requests (H4) 3 11.7 27.4 0.000
Attitudes towards ad regulation (H5) 3 21.0 38.2 0.000
Attitudes toward food regulation (H6) 3 13.1 28.0 0.000

parents may feel they are fighting a difficult battle against the
onslaught of marketer sponsored efforts to persuade children
to make demands of parents, known as the “nag factor”
(Linn, 2004). Though parental style may yield differences in
attitudes toward regulation, parents’ perceived ability to
influence laws regarding food served to children and food
advertising did not differ by parental style, suggesting that
even parents who are interested in regulation of food
marketing feel unable to effectuate change.
Advertising influences the behavior of both children and
adults with respect to food consumption. A recent study by
Harris et al.(2009) found that television viewers who were
exposed to a mix of food advertising and program content
consumed more snacks than those who were exposed only to
the program content. Importantly, adults are more likely than
children to choose healthful snacks (Marshall et al., 2007). As
children now spend over seven hours a day with media, the
increased exposure to advertising (television as well as online)
may have strong affects on eating habits (US Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2009; Moore and Rideout, 2007).
Our study not only examines mother’s concerns regarding
television advertising, but also advertising on the internet.
Prior research suggests that the concerns regarding food
marketing to children on TV may be even more pronounced
in an online advertising environment. Moore and Rideout
(2007), for example, note that the online environment
permits unlimited advertising exposure, viral marketing
tactics, direct inducements to make purchases and
persuasion through “advergames.” This potent combination
of exposure and interactivity makes mediation in children’s
media consumption absolutely essential.
We find that a nurturing style is associated with mothers’
level of awareness regarding children’s exposure to advertising
and the degree to which mothers and children discuss
advertising. While it is known that this type of discussion is
instrumental in developing a healthy skepticism toward
advertising and promotion (Moscardelli and Liston-Heyes,
2005), future research should explore the connection between
parental style and children’s sophistication in decoding
commercial messages. More generally, the mediating impact
of parenting style can play an important role in understanding
the consumer socialization process and the development
consumption theory at the household level.
For public policy makers, distinctions in parental style can
be useful in developing and promoting policy regulating food
marketing practices. Our study indicates that nurturing
mothers are more supportive of such regulation than are
authoritarian mothers, and therefore efforts to promote such
regulation should target nurturing mothers.
From a marketers’ perspective nurturing mothers represent
a barrier to reaching children with persuasive messages. Such
mothers not only limit access, but train children to be
skeptical of advertising. Marketers who deal honestly with
customers will be more successful in appealing to nurturing
mothers and their market-savvy children.
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 The influence of parental styles on children’s consumption
Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog
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My child and I have warm intimate moments together.
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I don’t mind it particularly when my child argues with me.
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Am aware of the amount of advertising child sees online.
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 The influence of parental styles on children’s consumption Journal of Consumer Marketing
Joseph Z. Wisenblit, Randi Priluck and Stephen F. Pirog Volume 30 · Number 4 · 2013 · 320 –327

Degree to which mothers place limits on children’s About the authors

television viewing
.
I place limits on which programs child can see on TV. Joseph Z. Wisenblit is Associate Professor of Marketing at the
.
I limit number of hours child can watch TV. Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. His
areas of expertise are consumer behavior and services
(a ¼ 0:77) marketing. Dr Wisenblit received his PhD in business from
the City University of New York in 1981. His articles were
Mothers yielding to children’s requests
published in the Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of
.
If my child asks for candy I buy it.
Services Marketing, Managing Service Quality and the Journal
.
If my child asks for a game or toy I buy it.
.
If my child asks for a magazine or comic book I buy it. of Brand Management. He is the co-author of Schiffman and
.
If my child asks for a specific snack food I buy it. Wisenblit, Consumer Behavior, 11th edition, to be published in
January 2014 by Pearson-Prentice Hall Publishing. The book
(a ¼ 0:74) has been published continuously since 1978 (originally co-
authored by Schiffman and Kanuk) and translated to several
Attitude toward regulation of television food advertising
languages. Joseph Z. Wisenblit is the corresponding author
to children
and can be contacted at: Joseph.wisenblit@shu.edu
.
The lack of adequate laws regulating food advertising to
Randi Priluck is Professor of Marketing at Pace University
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young children allows advertisers to take advantage of

kids.
.
Commercials that use popular program or TV characters
to sell foods to kids should be banned.
.
Government regulation of food advertising to young
children is in the best interest of kids.
.
The government should set limits on the time devoted to
food commercials during children’s TV programs.
.
TV broadcasters should have standards limiting the
amount and format of food advertising to young children.
(a ¼ 0:80)
Attitude regarding regulation of the distribution/
placement of food advertising to children
.
Fast food chains and restaurants serving kids’ meals
should be required by law to list caloric and nutritional
information on menus.
.
There should be laws prohibiting stores from displaying
low-nutrition foods on shelves at young children’s eye
level.
.
There should be laws limiting the foods placed in schools’
vending machines to products that meet strict nutritional
standards.
.
There should be laws ensuring that TV food commercials
depict reasonable portion sizes.
.
There should be laws prohibiting food companies from
advertising nutritionally poor choices during TV shows for
which more than 25 percent of the audience is children.
(a ¼ 0:73)
in New York and Director of Assessment in the Lubin School
of Business. Her areas of expertise include integrated
marketing communications, social media and mobile
marketing, consumer learning and product and service
failures. Dr Priluck received her PhD in business with a
specialization in marketing from Drexel University in 1995
and an MBA from New York University in 1990. She has
written articles for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Product & Brand
Management, Journal of International Consumer Marketing,
Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing
Education, International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Consumer
Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Managing Service
Quality and the Journal of Brand Management.
Stephen F. Pirog (PhD, Temple University, 1991) is
Associate Professor of Marketing at the Stillman School of
Business at Seton Hall University and Chairperson,
Department of Marketing. His research centers on the
economic and social impacts of marketing practice, and on
the history of marketing thought. His research has appeared
in the Journal of Macromarketing, International Marketing
Review, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of
Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, European
Business Review, Journal of Marketing Channels, Health
Marketing Quarterly, International Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics Management and the Journal of
Behavioral Addictions.

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