Children and consumer culture

Children have been identified as an important consumer market by brands and marketers. Food and beverages, toys, entertainment are major product categories that market to children aggressively. This chapter examines the historical development of the children's consumer culture in the U.S. It continues to study how the global toy marketer and scholars adopt gender, age, interests, and activities as market segmentation tools. The chapter then discusses how children employ brands and media entertainment consumption as a way to develop self-identity and expression of social-economic status and values among peers. Children's perceptions and attitudes toward material possessions were presented. The chapter ends with the analysis of the Disney brand in the international context.