Impact of Advergames on Children

Abstract

Advergames are new form of advertisements in which, the products are positioned within games offered online. The products are positioned in the events of the game, in the game scenes and on the bodies of the characters.

This paper studies the effectiveness of Advergames on young children in India in relation to the modified hierarchy of effects model. The sample consisted of 84 children in the age group of 8-12 years who could use internet and could also respond to simple paper and pencil surveys. A survey was conducted over young children immediately after they played a select online game to identify their response with regard to attention, recognition, liking, preference, intention and choice.

After a stipulated gap certain questions were asked and to identify the effect of Advergame on the young minds and to test the recognition and recall of the brand. It was observed that Advergames are very effective in influencing children buying behavior as majority of them were able to retain the character showed in the game and they preferred Pepsi to other brands. Their awareness of the brand Pepsi increased and they could recognize the brand among other competitors thus giving a competitive advantage to the brand.