Relationship between Parental Overindulgence and Buying Behavior in the Context of Invasive Marketing: A Comparative Study of Two Cultures

Abstract

This scientific investigation adopts a cross cultural perspective in

studying the relationship between parental overindulgence and

perception of parents regarding the influence of children in bringing in

awareness, creating interest, desire and influencing final purchase

decision of packaged food products. Child rearing practices differ from

culture to culture and can be an important factor influencing the buying

behaviour of families.Parenting styles in two cultures (American &

Indian) were studied to gauge the level of influence of children to the

four levels of AIDA(Strong 1925). The sample size was 117(40 American

parents and 77 Indian parents). The results indicate that there exists no

significant difference in the two cultures regarding the contribution of

children in bringing in initial information, creating interest and desire

about packaged food products in the family but the two cultures differed

significantly in terms of the contribution kids have in influencing the

actual buying decisions regarding packaged food products. The

influence of American children was lower in final purchase than Indian

children. Indian parents showed higher level of indulgence (M=3.33,S.D. =1.7) than American parents (M=2.02, S.D. =1.86).The level of

indulgence was found to regress on actual buying behavior of parents.

The study points at the shift of Indian parents towards over indulgence

as a result of invasive marketing practices targeted at the children. The

study has implications for marketers, social agencies, and parents and

attempts to highlight the growing in marketing influence in the socio

cultural fabric.