THE INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN'S BUYING BEHAVIOUR: A CASE STUDY IN SLOVAKIA

. Advertising is an essential tool in influencing the customer's buying behavior. However, customers tend to have various levels of understanding and decoding advertising messages. Even though children do not have purchasing power themselves, they still create a key customer segment that can influence the purchase decision of the whole family. The paper focuses on how media usage by children and their attitudes towards advertisements determines their buying behavior. The main purpose of the research is to present and describe how children's advertising literacy develops and its connection with the concept of the theory of mind. The relevance of the decision of this scientific problem is that according to several types of research, children are increasingly targeted through various advertising media. Even though their advertising literacy is not fully developed yet. However, nowadays, there is a growing importance of media in our lives and a need to socialize children as consumers because they represent a huge market for advertisers. An empirical study was carried out by designing a questionnaire filled by Slovak children between the ages of 11 and 15. The advertising impact and the degree of impact of the selected types of advertising media on children's consumer behavior were evaluated. The study involved the online method of computer-assisted web interviewing to investigate the influence of advertising media. The authors assessed the degree of the disruptive effect of the selected advertising media on children and the perception of a chosen medium within gender. The most and the least influential type of media were identified. The findings showed no significant difference within gender in the case of advertising media perception by children. The research empirically confirmed and theoretically proved commercial messages aimed at children through different kinds of traditional and electronic media. According to the results, children's buying behavior is mostly influenced by advertising on social media platforms. This type of media mostly integrates sponsored content which has a huge influence on decision making and forming future preferences. The research results can be helpful for further research of commercial messages of social media aimed at children and how those messages affect the whole family and children's future preferences.

Introduction. Many societal and scientific discussions about the appropriateness and fairness of advertising aimed at children have been held for decades. One of the primary concerns in this area is that children are more sensitive to the effects of advertising than adults because they have a low level of advertising literacy (Kunkel, 2010). Advertising literacy means that a wide range of knowledge, attitudes, and skills is needed to process an advertising message critically. It incorporates a conceptual and attitudinal dimension that gradually evolves during their lives, from simple to more sophisticated knowledge of the nature and functioning of advertising (Hudders et al., 2017). The article aims to present how children interact with advertising through various advertising media. For this, the own and previous researches were used. In this article, children are defined as a target group with an emphasis on developing their understanding of advertising. Their development and behavior as consumers were analyzed. The assumption of the advertising media's influence on children's consumer behavior is expressed. Furthermore, assumptions about the issue were supported by research conducted on a group of Slovak children. For that, the online method of questionnaire data collection CAWI -computer-assisted web interviewing was used.
Literature Review. Children are increasingly confronted with advertising on television, radio, the press, the Internet, mobile phones, and other media types. Promoting such ads can appear in various forms, e.g., images, videos, or games. However, since the widespread use of mobile phones among children and teenagers and very easily accessible Internet connection, a wider range of marketing approaches has entered the issue of advertising sharing. The impact on a child's behavior has not yet been sufficiently described. Therefore, this study emphasized those forms of advertising that most often reach children while digital and sponsored content forms are associated with the persuasive design and personalized behavioral marketing. According to the findings concerning the sponsored content, watching vloggers' online videos on YouTube has become a popular leisure activity among children (Folkvord et al., 2019). A recent Ofcom study (Ofcom, 2017) found that up to 40% of children aged 8 to 11 and 52% of children aged 12 to 15 in the UK watch some vloggers or YouTube personalities. In addition, 49% of 8 to 11-year-olds would rather watch content on YouTube than traditional television programs, while only 14% still prefer traditional television programs. Vloggers with a large number of followers and a significant influence on the decision-making of their followers, also known as social media influencers, often integrate sponsored content into their vlogs in exchange for a financial or non-financial reward (e.g., vlog advertising or sponsored vlogging). Therefore, this integrated type of advertising must be concerned because children are considered followers, who need to be encouraged to efficiently apply their developing advertising literacy (Ofcom, 2020).
Children can distinguish advertising from non-commercial media content from five years old (Livingstone and Helsper, 2006). Around the age of eight, most children understand the advertising's selling intent and the meaning of reviews. Children between the age of eight and eleven also begin to understand the persuasive intent of advertising, which is the knowledge that advertising is created to gain a favorable view of products. The comprehension of clear intent itself is more difficult for children than the selling intent concerning the theory of mind because the persuasive intent relates to changes in beliefs. In contrast, the selling intent refers to changes in behavior (Hoek et al., 2020). The cognitive perspective suggests that individual differences between children's social development can only be assessed once they have developed a so-called theory of mind. The American psychologists Premack and Woodruff first defined the mentioned concept of the theory of mind. According to them, the theory of mind represents an ability to think about the mental states of others. Thanks to this ability, individuals are further able to understand and predict the behavior of others. Besides, the good level of the theory of mind development allows an individual to reach for different reactions in different social situations. Terms such as «mindreading» or «mentalization» are also used in the literature to describe this term in more detail (Margolis et al.,2012). However, in simple terms, the theory of mind explains that children need to develop the ability Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3 201 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en to understand another person's perspective because they need a mental basis to realize that there are various other essential prerequisites for understanding persuasive intents (Diener and Suh, 1997). Concerning the theory of mind, children later develop an attitudinal advertising literacy, consisting of skepticism and disliking (Moses and Baldwin 2005). Skepticism tends not to trust advertising, while a sense of dislike is a generally negative attitude towards advertising.
Critical views on advertising begin to develop around the age of eight and become more negative as children move into adolescence. Typically, advertising literacy develops in parallel with their understanding of the persuasive intents of advertising. The more they are aware of the persuasive intent, the better they understand that advertising is sometimes biased and untrue, leading to a more negative attitude towards advertising in general (Rozendaal et al., 2016). Conceptual and attitudinal advertising literacy are dispositional, which means that even if children do not actively use them, they are still present in their minds. Dispositional advertising literacy of children is grouped in advertising schemes (Hudders et al., 2017). In this concept, schemes are the mental structures that people use to understand the meaning of the world. For example, advertising schemes assemble all the knowledge and beliefs about advertising in general and specific advertisements (Dahlen and Edenius, 2007).
Advertisers repeatedly apply a variety of marketing techniques to increase sales of their products. Therefore, it is important to approach the traditional marketing techniques and the latest ones used in television and other online media.
Television marketing techniques. Repetition: The marketing technique of repetition is simply the repetition of the same advertising message, the essence of which is that the knowledge of the product increases the possibility of its purchase or use. For example, Colgate has used this advertising frequently for a long time. The consumers adopted it to the extent that Colgate has replaced the word toothpaste in India (Koganti, 2020). Branded animated characters: Well-known characters are used to sell various products like food, toys, clothes, and many others. To attract children and young people to their products and services, companies often create an animated branded characters to promote their products. These brand characters are specifically designed for brands by marketing companies to explain and demonstrate the products to children through advertisement (Garretson and Niedrich, 2004). Audiovisual attentiongetting elements: This marketing technique is used to attract children's attention in particular (as they have a brief attention span) through various types of catchy sound effects, loud music, and VFX (Kognati, 2020).
Celebrity endorsement: Actors, athletes, musicians, or influencers are either displayed on the product or depicted on how they use and approve the product. It is one of the most frequently used marketing techniques because celebrities have many fans. Thus, their display on the product creates a feeling of familiarity and trust, which leads to purchase. Studies resting on management reveal that celebrity endorsement promotes loyalty, purchase willingness, and consumption encouraging effects, which directly influence endorsement (Wang et al., 2019). Premium products: Toys or products offered for free and the purchased product are mainly used to entice children to buy them. Premium products such as toys or cards are used very often. For example, a well-known Kinder Joy adds a toy to the purchased product (Kognati, 2020). Product placement: Placing an ad on a product so that the viewer cannot distinguish the content from the ad. According to the implicit-persuasion model, implicit attitudes affect children's spontaneous choice. Thus, they will more likely have future automatic reactions and choose the featured product (Brown et al., 2017).
Integrated marketing strategies: Applying integrated marketing communication is a powerful solution that effectively navigates the complex communications landscape. It can be achieved through a systematic process that starts with detailed research on target audiences, the proper channel selections, and effective messaging. Thanks to this technique, children consider products recommended by their favorite cartoon character as more attractive (Gordon, 2013).

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Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en Video news release: Video news releases are video segments that companies use to send details of their products or services to news agencies to broadcast as news programs to influence young people and children. Those channels have consumers' trust that they will bring relevant news to their viewers. Examples could be interviews with the CEO or a senior official of a company or a documentary about making a product, and many other things (Kognati, 2020).
Online marketing techniques. Advergames: Research has shown that games can positively impact brand awareness, particularly in the case of interactive in-game ads, since they can uniquely present the brand positively and prominently that best reflects the brand's position. Moreover, advergames have also been shown to affect brand attitudes and purchase intentions positively. Therefore, a successful video game in this context with this kind of message means a successful marketing campaign for advertisers (Cicchirillo, 2019). Viral marketing: Viral advertising represents a «peer-to-peer communication» strategy that depends on viral content advertisements distribution. It can provide such increased value to audiences that they transform audiences from passive content receivers to active social distributors who play a key role in advertisement distribution. Therefore, viral marketing has been particularly effective for teenagers because they are mostly active on social media platforms and can be easily manipulated with big discounts, free offers, and attractive products (Hemsley, 2016).
Tracking software and spyware: Spyware or tracking software is used by corporations to predict consumer shopping behavior. Marketers pay money to tracking software that uses cookies to analyze a person's shopping behavior. Thus, they can improve the exposure of the ad to the customer. Moreover, these online trackers can be used to gather clickstream data of an individual's web-browsing behavior. On the other hand, offline trackers can serve as devices that can measure the movement and location of individuals through their mobile devices (Weber, 2015).
Interactive online agents: An online interactive agent is a form of hidden advertising. Advertisers program bots or robots for users who initiate a conversation or have doubts about the service. Such robots are programmed to converse in a one-to-one relationship, which builds brand loyalty. Moreover, visual attention refers to applying cognitive resources to relevant information in a visual environment and dealing with the information. More attention paid to stimuli indicates greater relevance to the consumer's needs and can lead to a higher chance of purchase.
Free webinars: Companies organize webinars to introduce new services and provide bonuses. During the webinars, company representatives describe the features and benefits of the services, and attendees are also provided with freebies. Cross-promotion: Marketing promotion occurs when customers of one product or service focus on promoting a related product. For example, firms promote each other services and offer freebies to their customers if they buy their counterpart's service.
Referral marketing: Two types of referral programs exist. One in which existing customers are paid an incentive, and another in which current customers work without pay. The second program benefits the referrer by increasing visibility, heightening his/her recognition as a specialist, or receiving special treatment from a firm as a reward. SEM (Search Engine Marketing): A search engine is a complex software that can be defined as a mechanism that allows the searcher to get the most appropriate online search results. It helps marketers by displaying their respective ads to the right people in the right place and at the right time. Besides, it can build a better website ranking, driving more traffic movement to the site. Therefore, it is an essential means to expand a webpage's visibility and increase the visibility so that consumers see their product more often than a competing product, thereby increasing their chances of buying (Zhang and Cabage, 2017). Content Marketing: Content marketing uses blogs, tutorial videos, influencer videos, and more. Marketers hire bloggers, influencers, and content creators to promote their products by various means to target the younger generation easily. Such creative content YouTube channel can promote a product without its viewers knowing. Therefore, it increases product exposure Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3 203 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en subconsciously (Kognati, 2020). It is an easily accessible platform for children with low barriers to participation, a simple and intuitive interface design. Its multimodal features like audio, text, special effects, animated characters can quickly gain children's attention (Neumann and Herodotou 2020).
For a marketing campaign to be successful, advertisers need to persuade children to notice the message, crave a specific product (or service), recognize and remember the product, and buy it. Commercial success depends on children's knowledge of advertising, which is simply created, processed, and manifested in the child's mind based on the following scheme (Fig.1).

Figure 1. Advertising message processing scheme
Sources: developed the authors on the basis of (Kognati, 2020).
Attention: Children tend to believe without a doubt the messages in the advertisement. Therefore, children's attention level on viewing television advertisements can lead to children's product requests. Thus, children force parents to purchase unneeded items after seeing advertisements (Bamfo et al., 2019). Sound elements are essential in attracting children's attention. According to previous studies, children aged between three and eight pay more attention to advertisements with loud sounds and complex visuals. Audio elements have more recruiting power than visual elements because they can gain viewers' attention even when they are not watching television. On the contrary, awareness of the content and less attention paid to the sound effect in older children suggest that younger children are more prone to manipulating advertisements than older children, which supports Piaget's theory. Recognition and Retention: Advertising uses audiovisual and repetitive means to enhance the memory traces of the particular product. The study showed that young children remember more about the product if they had got an audiovisual or visual element, not just simple audio. Children aged 3-4 react to the change rather than understand the difference between program and advertisement because of the different audiovisual elements of these two contents. Moreover, children's liking for TV advertisements results in strong recall and high levels of recognition for adult-targeted advertisements. Children's liking or dislike also depends upon the nature of the advertised product (Chan and McNeal, 2003). Comprehension of commercial intent: Children under the age of eight do not understand that advertisers intend to convince them of the advantage of their product over the competition. However, they simply perceive advertising as a source of information about the attractive products they can buy. In a study on development in middle childhood, first-, third-and fifthyear students about their understanding of advertising, with only 50% of first-year students able to identify the advertiser's persuasive intent, while 87% of third-year students and 99% of fifth-year students were able to identify a persuasive intent. Requests for products and purchases: Repetition drastically increases the demand for a product (drinks, telephone, toys, etc.) compared to other means. A study was performed in two groups (children aged three to eleven) to support this finding. One group was repeatedly shown a specific ad, and the other was a control group. Both groups were sent with their mothers to a fictitious grocery store. Children from the control group had very low product requirements compared to the other group (Kognati, 2020). Consequently, it can be mentioned that children's role in the family buying decisionmaking process varies. From marketers' point of view, families receive the biggest attention as a primary

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Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en and powerful decision-making unit in the case of consumers. Therefore, children influence what the family buys, from the less expensive to the most expensive product. Methodology and research methods. This research aims to evaluate the impact of advertising on children's consumer behavior by analyzing and interpreting the results of a questionnaire survey.
The subgoals were set as follows: 1. To evaluate the dependence between the type of advertising medium and the degree of influence on children's purchasing decisions.
2. To evaluate the dependence between the type of advertising medium and the degree of disruptive effect on the child.
For evaluating the dependencies between advertising and children, the following hypotheses were set.
1. The assumption on existing the relationship between the type of advertising medium and the degree of influence on children's purchasing decisions.
2. The assumption on existing the relationship between the type of advertising medium and degree of disruption to the child.
The study was conducted on children between the age of 10 and 15. Due to the peculiarities of their development, these children develop their first consumer habits. They are already fully aware of their role as consumers and prone to the impact of advertising on various products. The survey method is the online method of questionnaire data collection computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI). The questionnaire aimed to determine whether advertising impacts children's consumer behavior and analyze their relations to advertising media depending on gender. The questionnaire examining the respondent's experience level consisted of closed, semi-closed, and interval scales questions. An electronic questionnaire was sent to 135 secondary school students. The sample of respondents included 55% of boys and 45% of girls. The share of respondents in absolute terms is 61 girls and 74 boys between the age of 11 and 15. The average age of the respondents was 13 years. In addition to the four basic demographic questions of the questionnaire, the questionnaire survey consisted of eleven questions. Their number has been adjusted to the fact that children at this age have a problem maintaining attention in less interesting activities. The included questions focused on finding out the impact of advertising on children, their experience with shopping, and general attitude towards individual advertising media, which, according to their own evaluation, influence them the most or, on the contrary, disturb them. The freely available Google Forms application for the distribution and processing of questionnaire answers was used to analyze the results. The computer program Excel was employed to create graphic presentations, and the SAS software -to verify the established hypotheses. The study involved the ANOVA model as a form of variance analysis to compare the average values of several basic sets, with each basic set being given by some level of factor A. The problem of a single-factor variance analysis can be written using hypotheses: H0: Average values do not depend on factor levels (µ1 = µ2 = ... = µa). H1: The average values depend on the levels of the factor (∋ . , ! ≠ " , , = 1,2, … … ).
Where a is the number of baselines compared (number of factor levels). Yij is the value of the jth measurement of the ith population. For each such value from the sample, the assumption is that the model determines the sum of certain parts. Generally for a single-factor analysis, the model looks like this: where µ -average; Ti -effect of level i factor A; eij -additional random component (error) -is stochastically independent with the distribution of N(0, s2e).

Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3
205 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en The size of the deviations will measure variability. These can have positive but also negative signs. That's why their second powers were used. To measure variability in ANOVA models, the sum of squares was applied: where SST -is the total sum of squares of deviations; SSM -is the sum of squares explained by the model; SSE -is the sum of squares not explained by the model.
Thus, it is necessary to recalculate squares to average amounts that reflect what variability (explained or unexplained) is a single unit. The ANOVA test statistics compare the unit variability explained by the model with the unit variability unexplained by the model. Cronbach Alpha (C's α) values are very often used to assess the reliability of scales, i.e., how reliable the scales are in measuring what they measure. The assessment of scales consists of examining the correlations between the different items of the scale, whereby Cronbach Alpha 0.7 and more mean sufficient intrinsic consistency of the scale. Based on the above, it can be concluded that the sub-scales of internet advertising, television and social networks advertising are internally consistent. Therefore, reliable sub-scales (the Cronbach Alpha values of those sub-scales at both times reached a value higher than 0.7). The remaining sub-scales have not reached the limit set.
Results. Based on the correlation (Tab. 1), according to Pearson's correlation coefficient, the findings showed that children disturbed by Internet advertising are also disturbed by television advertising and advertising on social media platforms. At the same time, those influenced by TV advertising are also influenced by Internet advertising. Sources: developed by the authors.
Based on these findings, a more detailed analysis of the advertising impact degree within individual media was conducted. The children were asked to what extent the given advertising medium influences them the most in their purchasing decisions (Fig.2) or, on the contrary, which advertising medium disturbs them the less (Fig.3). Children identified social media platforms as the most influential medium, followed by advertising on the web and television. The smallest impact was identified in billboard advertising. On the other hand, web advertising and television advertising have been identified as the most disruptive advertising media. Social media platforms have a less disruptive effect, and billboards are considered the least disruptive.  Several hypotheses were tested, from which were select, such as the impact of billboard advertising. A difference in the perception of billboard advertising within gender was hypothesized (Tab.2).
H0: The perception of billboard advertising from the perspective of boys and girls is not different. H1: There is a difference in the perception of billboard advertising from the perspective of boys and girls.
After evaluating the influence of advertising types from the gender's point of view, it can be stated that there is no difference between boys and girls in the degree of influence of individual types of advertising (Table 3).  Sources: developed by the authors.
The results indicated no significant difference between the monitored groups, which are also presented by the boxplot (Fig.4).  Sources: developed by the authors.
According to recent research in Slovakia, children are active users of social media. Previous findings stated that almost 70% of children in Slovakia actively use a profile on social media platforms or gaming platforms. Regarding the age groups, the findings allowed stating that a third of children between the age of 9 and 10 and up to 69% of children between the age of 11 and 12 use social media. Based on these facts, the research specifically mapped which social media and to what extent can influence the shopping 208 Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2021, Issue 3 http://mmi.fem.sumdu.edu.ua/en behavior of children through placed ads (Fig.5). As many as 100 out of 135 children (74%) stated that social media influence their buying intents. Children's particular preferences suggest that Instagram, a social media application that focuses on visual content such as photo and video sharing, is the most influential among children in terms of the impact of ads (45%). The second most influential platform was the video database -Youtube (42%). TikTok mobile application and social network, designed to create and share short videos, have a much smaller influence (6%). It is followed by a visual idea and inspiration sharing media -Pinterest (2%). Surprisingly, only a few children stated that they are significantly affected by the well-known social media network Facebook (3%). The least influential communication application is Discord (2%), designed especially for gamers.
Conclusions. Based on secondary data, it was found out that children generally have a low level of advertising literacy compared to adults. It gradually develops during their lives following the theory of mind. Therefore, later it can support their understanding of advertising sharing and the persuasive intent itself. Children begin to understand the selling intent of advertising from the age of five. Only later, from the age of eight, they also understand the persuasive intent of the advertising media message. In particular, due to the massive expansion of children's use of the Internet, integrated marketing techniques are more and more frequently used to increase sales, trying to leave as much product information as possible in children's minds to achieve commercial success. The influence of advertising media on the consumer behavior of Slovak children was investigated by using the online method of questionnaire data collection CAWI. The sample consisted of 135 children in the age group 10-15 years. The analysis of the results showed that within the individual advertising media, children who are disturbed by Internet advertising are also disturbed by television advertising and advertising on social media platforms. Social media platforms and advertising on the web were described as the most influential medium among children. In turn, advertising on the web and television was described as the most disturbing media. From the findings obtained about the use of social media platforms by children.
Further data analysis showed which social media platforms specifically have the most significant influence on children's purchasing decisions. Social media application Instagram was stated as the most influential, and Youtube became the second most influential platform. Based on the results of questionnaire research and research from abroad, it can be stated that companies should also take children into account when sharing advertising content in the media, as they form a significant group of potential customers. In addition, their consumer behavior can affect the whole family, and their preferences acquired in childhood can persist into adulthood.