The role of cognitive and affective defense mechanisms in reducing children’s susceptibility to advertising effects

The main aim of this study was to develop and test a model of children’s advertising defenses. In this model two paths to reduced advertising susceptibility (i.e., advertised brand attitude) were hypothesized: a cognitive and an affective path. The secondary aim was to compare these paths for two thought-elicitation methods (i.e., think-aloud and thought-listing). The model was tested drawing on a sample of 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 163). Structural equation modeling analysis showed that for children in the think-aloud group both the cognitive and affective path were successful in reducing advertising susceptibility, whereas for children in the thought-listing group only the affective path was effective. These findings suggest that the think-aloud method increased children’s motivation and ability to critically process the commercial.