Abstract
This study explored children’s level of persuasion knowledge and peer influence susceptibility concerning advertising in online social communities and investigated how these variables affect children’s desire for brands advertised in these communities. A descriptive correlational study was conducted with 148 Dutch children (ages 9-12) to explore their responses to the popular online social community Habbo. Results showed that (1) children have a fairly good knowledge of advertising in online social communities, yet hold relatively positive attitudes towards it, and (2) claim to be not very susceptible to peer influence regarding brands, and (3) the most important predictors of children’s desire for advertised brands in online social communities are a low critical attitude and high susceptibility to peer influence regarding brands advertised in the community. The theoretical contribution of the study and implications for the development of appropriate advertising-related policies and interventions are discussed.
