CHRISTMAS 2022 is around the corner, and many South Africans are planning for their family celebrations which are usually beautiful and meaningful, simultaneously stressful, expensive and pressurising.
Planning social gatherings and activities, as well as meals for Christmas Day and the holidays, are challenging enough without the additional stresses of sustaining old traditions of exchanging gifts between family members and friends.
Pursuing gifts for the entire family can be tedious and difficult for many, especially if there is no means to leave children at home with childminders, while the adults are at the mall window shopping and deciding on their Christmas gift purchases.
Children can nag or make demands on parents for specific toys, sugary treats, fast foods and other items, especially when they are out at malls during the holidays. This type of behaviour is classified as pester power, and the term defines explicitly this type of communication between the parent and child.
In many instances, children can easily constantly and continuously annoy their parents and ultimately pester them until their demands are met. If their requests are denied, children can often express unhappiness, become defiant and opt to engage in a negotiation with the parent. This behaviour is also evident outside of the holiday periods, and demands can vary from requests to consuming sugary drinks and treats and fast foods.
Researchers attribute the request for fast food to the way multinational corporations advertise them.
Classic examples include the televised advertisements of McDonald’s and KFC. Both these franchises have carefully decided to involve children in their promotion, and the depiction of a milieu of happiness and fun consuming these foods contributes towards the development of a happy and fun, emotional appeal which children look to with admiration and aspiration.
McDonald's, in particular, have had years of experience and success in attracting the child client. Their marketing techniques have effectively attracted children with their various meal packages.
A popular meal deal to note is the 'Happy Meal', a customised meal for children that includes a surprise toy individually packed according to your child's gender. A recent KFC televised advertisement depicts how a rural South African child changes the foodways of a traditional African patriarch within a rural setting.
The messages attached to these advertisements are influential and indirectly attempt to create new eating preferences and patterns for South Africans. It can be perceived that one of the primary objectives of the advertisements is for families to allow children to have decision-making power when it comes to meal types and preferences. Through these avenues, so the foodways of South Africans have changed, and fast food meals have inevitably become regular meals for South African consumers.
Pester power capacities of children have influenced the frequent consumption of fast food meals. Still, we can also argue that the marketing strategies devised and implemented by these multinational corporations contribute to the prevalence of children wanting to consume these foods.
In addition, these fast food meal deals also include sweetened and sugary drinks, which make them far more appealing to a child. This process is often termed consumer socialisation.
Similarly, many retail outlets that were primarily supermarkets and previously only specialised in consumable items, now stock a wide selection of toys and other accessories appropriate for children, among other fast selling consumer goods. These retail franchises often advertise toys and treats around Christmas time, once again targeting children as one of their primary clients.
Therefore, we can presume that advertising agencies and other business companies alike are fully aware of the impact of pester power, and the influence children have over their parents’ spending capacities and budgets.
Within the context of our current socio-economic circumstances, where we are reckoning with a rising cost to the American dollar, the increase in the price of fuel and the inflating prices of necessities and other consumer-able items, the leeway to accept and manage pestering behaviour from children is a challenge.
Families have to find new ways of balancing their finances and simultaneously prepare for a Christmas without overspending and overindulging their children.
The current economic pressures force South Africans to continually adapt their budgets and monthly expenditure, so that the year-end holidays and Christmas celebrations are experienced comfortably.
The continual influence of mass media advertisements directed at children needs to be curbed during times of economic uncertainty. Parents, in particular, need to be aware of the pestering behaviour of children and predetermine how to address them before the big Christmas rush and shopping spree.
We need to ask ourselves if the adults or the children are the decision-makers in the family. What reason determines the decision to purchase certain consumer-able items? And to what extent do we agree to the nagging ways of our children? Big or small spending, which is unnecessary, should be avoided to prevent new debt in the new year, which is less than one month away.
Dr Bhoola has a PhD and two Master’s degrees in the social sciences. She is a lecturer, researcher and a freelance writer. Bhoola has been the recipient of awards and academic scholarships throughout her career. Visit www.sheetalbhoola.com