Children, as children ,are significant spenders and consumers ; as prospective adults, they are the market of the future. As young consumers they are also students of the market, learning to recognize brands and associate them with products and ultimately preferences. Advertisings influence on children has received considerable attention (Mizerski 1995), but it does not operate in isolation. The purpose of this study is to determine the ability of young children (ages3-5) to recognize brand logos and their associated products. A model of recognition that includes age, product exposure ,television viewing, and gender considered jointly as well as the effect of age on the influence of television, is proposed and empirically tested with 300 pre-school children.
The process of brand learning begins when children are very young. Brand recognition is the first step in a hierarchy that may lead ultimately to purchase. What children are exposed to in the marketplace as they grow and learn may play an important role in their future brand selection behaviour. This study found that the pre-school subjects (n=300) were quite adept at recognising brands and logos of both children and adult products and associating brands with products using a picture matching game. Factors found to be related to brand recognition and matching ability were age, product exposure, and commercial television viewing.