Abstract

Preschool children’s (ages three to five) advertising exposure is expected to increase over the coming years, mainly due to their changed media use. This increasing exposure might be problematic as research has shown a correlation with unfavorable outcomes, such as obesogenic eating tendencies. However, research on preschoolers and advertising is not unequivocal, and, to the best of our knowledge, no literature reviews are currently available. Therefore, this article aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the academic literature (N = 92) on advertising and preschool children published between 1980 and 2021 and so propose a future research agenda. The analysis revealed that little attention has been paid to preschool children’s exposure to and impact from embedded advertising formats (e.g., YouTube advertising). The main interest in the included studies was on preschool children’s nutrition, which was reflected in both the constructs studied (e.g., food preferences) and the publication outlets (e.g., Appetite). Further, studies focusing on behavioral outcomes, such as purchase requests, are limited, and therefore little is known about the long-term impact of advertising exposure in preschool children. Finally, most studies do not explicitly disclose a theoretical framework. Future studies should address these issues to catch up with preschool children’s advertising reality.

摘要

学龄前儿童（3 至 5 岁）的广告曝光率预计在未来几年会增加，这主要是由于他们改变了媒体使用方式。这种不断增加的暴露可能会带来问题，因为研究表明与不良结果相关，例如致肥胖的饮食倾向。然而，对学龄前儿童和广告的研究并不明确，而且据我们所知，目前还没有文献综述。因此，本文旨在对学术文献进行深入分析（N = 92) 关于 1980 年至 2021 年间出版的广告和学龄前儿童，因此提出了未来的研究议程。分析表明，很少有人关注学龄前儿童接触嵌入式广告形式（例如 YouTube 广告）并对其产生影响。纳入研究的主要兴趣是学龄前儿童的营养，这反映在所研究的结构（例如，食物偏好）和出版渠道（例如，Appetite). 此外，关注行为结果（例如购买请求）的研究是有限的，因此关于广告接触对学龄前儿童的长期影响知之甚少。最后，大多数研究没有明确披露理论框架。未来的研究应该解决这些问题，以赶上学龄前儿童的广告现实。