In the present era of consumerism and continuous fight for market shares, an ever growing number of business organizations are indulging in overt and covert child-directed marketing activities, in myriad ways, to get higher and higher levels of children attention. In what is known today as ‘the commercialization of childhood’, children are getting coaxed than ever before in shopping, product placement, media, celebrity, brand and other consumer practices. At the core of all these attempts is children’s growing role as both independent consumers and influencers in family buying decisions. The situation is not vastly different in developing countries such as India. Such rampant and indiscriminate marketing efforts to influence the tender minds at their early ages have raised serious concerns at various quarters. Different voluntary and self-regulatory mechanisms should be adopted to reorient the marketing practices to reach a holistic solution to build a generation of healthy and well-informed future citizens of the world. This book discusses current marketing practices and their impact on various overt and covert marketing programs that have targeted children. The fact that marketing exploits children’s developmental vulnerabilities is highlighted. This book also draws attention to the regulations and solutions adopted by the marketers in the face of mounting criticism and help readers to form well-informed viewpoints on a contemporary issue, which affects various segments of business and also the ethical issues involved, to help the marketers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amitabha Ghose
Amitabha Ghose holds an MBA degree with specialization in Marketing and Export Management from Indian Institute of Business Management, Patna and MDP in Marketing using IT and the Internet from IIM Calcutta. Besides these, he is also a member of the Calcutta Management Association, Kolkata. He has over 15 years of corporate experience in the area of sales, marketing and export, market research, channel development, branding and strategic management. He is currently working as Faculty Member at Icfai Business School Research Centre, Kolkata. Prior to joining Icfai, he was working with Tata Group Co in various capacities, including Sales Manager for eastern region and SAARC countries. He later joined in the marketing division of Indian Oil Petronas (PSU-Malaysian MNC JV Co.) with national responsibility. He also worked for an FMCG company and a Management Consultancy firm in the capacity of Regional Manager. His research areas of interest include - competitive intelligence in the global economy, marketing strategy, global branding, retailing, mergers and acquisitions and strategic management.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S.N. Mookherjee
S N Mookherjee obtained BE (Hons.) from Jadavpur University and PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is presently working as a faculty member at Icfai Business School, Kolkata. Prior to joining Icfai, he has served for over 30 years in senior managerial positions at leading industrial organizations like ITC, Tribeni Tissues Ltd., Andrew Yule, and Paharpur Cooling Towers. His areas of interest include marketing, international business and strategic negotiations.
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