Surviving Pester Power Marketing: A Complete Guide for Parents

In today’s world, the role of children in modern consumption has increased tremendously. Needless to say, various mediums of advertisements have played a pivotal role. The influence of media on children has brought about a key change in the child-parent purchase relationship. This has led to a drastic change that affects the overall buying behavior leading to pester power by children with their parents.

In the following few minutes, I will try to explain the problem and also explore ways by which we can cope with this problem.

What is Pester Power?

If we go by the definition, the term pester power or also known as the “nag factor” refers to the ability of children to pressurize or coerce their parents into buying them products/ items which are advertised in the media. The phrase is commonly used to describe the association of children’s influence on their parent’s buying power. Pester power or nag factor came into being with the rise of child advertisements, with Mr. Potato Head aired in 1952, to become the first children’s’ toy to be advertised on television. This cemented the way for pester power, as marketers saw that pitching to children was an innovative idea of selling their products. Children have now assumed the role of being the ultimate weapon when it came to family spending due to their consistent nagging towards their parents.

Advertisements: use of children as marketing tactics

If you follow the world of advertisements, you will clearly see that children have become an immense market segment where they act as a purchaser and influencer for an assortment of consumable products. This driving force can be attributed mainly to the influence of the media. Children’s participation in family purchase decisions is rapidly increasing. And, television advertisements are playing a pivotal role in defining their product choice and buying behavior pattern.

Kids get their dose of information from advertisements through radios or televisions or other sources. However, television or other visual media like youtube has had an immense effect on a child’s psyche and reach them at a much younger age. Also, children get attracted to television advertisements due to the lucrative portray by advertisers. They then try to change the behavior of their parents. That is why marketers target children through television advertisements.

You can see this influence on the child when parents go for grocery shopping along with their kids. We can see that many children create their own opinions and taste about certain foods they wish to eat. They are becoming independent when it comes to choosing their food preferences while parents seem to be losing their control of the buying situation.

Kinds of Nagging or Pester power:

When we talk about pester power or nagging, we can identify three distinct types of nagging according to studies;

• Juvenile nagging,
• nagging to test boundaries and
• Manipulative nagging.

Studies concluded that both nagging as a whole and manipulative nagging extensively increased with the age of the child. Again another study showed that there are two ways children pester their parents.

• The first way consists of ‘persistent nagging’ while
• The second is that of ‘importance nagging’.

In ‘persistent nagging’ the child tries to whine about the things he wants by behaving badly until his demands are met and his plans are successful. In ‘importance nagging’ the child does not throw any rowdy tantrums but tries to rationally convince why the product is particularly important. For example, he/ she will try to identify the benefit of a particular food item in relation to others. However, not all parents get overwhelmed by the child’s pestering.

 

Parenting styles and susceptibility to pestering

However, the whole concept of pester power or nagging depends a lot on the income of the parents and parenting styles. Parents who can all be influenced by their child’s pester power can be identified into four types.

1. The bare necessities parents:  These are the parents who are financially able to indulge in the whims of the children. For example, if the child needs a certain thing, he/she will have to demonstrate a need or convince them that the thing is of certain benefit. When the parents are fully convinced then they will buy it for their children.
2. The Kids Pals: This kind of parents tend to be relaxed and give in to the demands of the child.
3. The Indulgers: This category of parents generally tries to buy their children’s affection by giving them whatever they need or demand. By doing this, parents tend to make up for the lack of time with their kids.
4. The Conflicted: In this category parents deliberately do not buy things on an impulse, but end up doing so nonetheless. They are also more likely to submit to persistence, because when they say ‘no’ they are more likely to face strife and family conflict.

In which category does your parenting style fall? Let us know in the comments below

Now coming to the point…

Why Children Pester

For a child, the world is full of interesting things. When you take your child out to shopping malls, they can see everything. Children like adults cannot differentiate between good and bad and as such kid’s marketing tactics easily influenced them. For example, unhealthy foods or hyped toys.  It is difficult for children to comprehend that whatever they see or want is not always good for them and a waste of money. When parents try to reason with their kids and when it fails, then pestering comes into force.

Sometimes, when the kid wants something, he can put the parents in a situation which can be really embarrassing. We as parents we realize that when our kids want a toy and if we do not oblige, then they will start to nag. To avoid such situations the parents give in to the whims and fancies of the child to avoid any temper tantrums which may follow. This also has a different result. When the child sees that when he throws any temper tantrums, the parents give them anything they want, they will associate pestering as a mode to gain anything they want.

By the way, when kids ask for things, this always does not refer to pestering. The way parents reciprocate to their kid’s requests teaches them lessons about how to communicate, negotiate, and influence.

How to Reduce Pestering

We all have gone through this phase. However, if you are looking for ways to curb this habit in your child then here are some pointers.

Lay down the ground rules

Once you are out shopping with your child, lay down some ground rules. Make your child realize that when he is out shopping with you, he needs to behave well and what will your reactions be once he starts pestering.

Reward Good Behaviour

Praise your kid when they are with you for good shopping behavior. You can give them a lot of positive attention when you notice that they are not pestering.

When you are giving your kid positive attention for their good shopping behavior, offer them healthy rewards. For instance, if you can get your kid through the shopping trip without asking for anything, then you may do things for them which will make them happy, like giving them an ice-cream or going to the amusement park.

Do not give-in

Another way to reduce pestering is by not giving in. Children can perceive from a young age that annoying their parents into submission can get them anything. Be mindful that whenever your kid tries this technique, you should not give in to their pleadings. Once you do that, they will associate pestering as a means to get anything they want. You should make it clear that pestering and nagging won’t work. If you have said no, stick to that and make it clear that no amount of begging will change your mind. This might make you feel bad for a while but it will reinforce good behavior and decrease the chances of behavioral problems in the long run.

Ignore attention-seeking behavior

We as parents tend to overlook certain behavioral traits of our child. However, ignoring attention-seeking behavior is one powerful way to stop annoying habits. If your child is pestering for something continuously, just turn away and don’t give your child any attention.  When they can see that their effort to gain attention isn’t getting anywhere, they will ultimately give up. You will have to realize that sometimes, behavior problems get worse before getting better especially when you withdraw your attention. So if you find your kid raising their voice or becoming more frenzied, just keep calm and don’t give in to their pressures. When you are not responding, they may get more upset over it and try hard to get your attention. But, if you are consistent, they will learn that things don’t work that way.  In the long run, they will get tired and give up.

Strict warning and withdraw privileges when they cross the line

This point is critical in the sense that if your kid is still persistent and has been pestering then you may want to provide a warning to them. When you find your child’s behavior has crossed the line, for instance when your kid starts rolling on the floor or starts yelling or crying in public places, give them a strict warning. For example, you can say that “if you don’t stop…….then you will not be able to watch your favorite show for so and so time”. Just pick an effect that we as parents are ready to use.

However, when you find that even after giving your kids a strict warning has fallen on deaf ears, then you will need to follow it with a negative consequence. Now, this is a stage where you should not offer any repeated warnings. Instead, do what you have been telling them if they did not comply with your warnings. You can stop their TV privileges or (think of an idea). Just put across the idea that you will not tolerate it when pestering crosses the line.

Be Mindful of What the watch and their exposure to advertisements

Another way to reduce pestering is to be aware of advertisements in your home. Nowadays, we are flooded with ads on TV, through the internet, radio, social media, or emails, etc. are flooded with ads. These have a direct influence on your kids. The more advertisements he sees the more influence they will be and hence, the more they will want those products.

Introspect into your Parenting practice 

If you have tried all the methods to avoid pestering or if your kid has this bad habit of whining or begging then it is time for you to take a break. You should take a step back, count to ten, and relax. Just go through your parenting practices and find out what your shortcomings are in handling the situation.

Try teaching and practicing gratitude

If you feel that your warnings are not giving any results, then try teaching your kid gratitude. Let them know that what they have is something many people cannot afford to have. This may help instill a sense of understanding that what they are getting they should value it and not resort to pestering to get more than what they need. Try making them understand about the habit of needs versus wants. When they nag you for something make them realize that what they want is a need or a want. If they can logically justify their decision that what they need is something they need and not want, then kids will be able to live without a lot of things they want.  Thus, the habit of pestering and nagging will slowly diminish.

Inculcate the concept of saving and the value of money 

Another trick that can help with pestering is by teaching your kids to value money. Very young kids may not be able to understand the concept of saving and spending. But kids who are older than 5 years and above can be taught about the usefulness of saving.  When your kid receives money from their family members for any occasion, parents can open a piggy bank for them to save the money so that they can buy what they want. Accordingly, help them save money if they want to buy a toy set or maybe a princess dress.

When your kid starts to pester, remind them that there is no point in nagging and they should be able to save money to buy their own things. Also make them aware of your family budget, so that you can honestly communicate to your child that what he or she is asking for is not possible every month. For example, you can tell your kid that it is impossible to buy a toy or a Barbie set every week as they have to maintain a budget. This step will help a lot in curbing down the pestering habit.

Teach them to manage emotions 

Lastly, it is very important to teach your kid to channel out his/her emotions in an appropriate manner. Why do kids pester? Because they want things to be their way and they don’t want to feel bad about it. When parents let them down, they become sad and disappointed and so the habit of pestering begins. It is very imperative that parents teach their kids how to deal with emotions like anger, grief, anxiety, jealousy, and so on. When your kids can demonstrate emotions in a regulated and socially acceptable manner, this will help them cope with anything as they grow up. For example, when your child can better handle their emotions, they will be less hysterical about trying to control other people’s behavior

This is a huge topic and I tried to give some practical insight into it. Hope it helps you. If you do something different that you think is very effective, please let us know in the comments.