Pester Power

You read a lot about pester power when you're doing consumer research ie the power of children in influencing purchase decisions. It happens most commonly in supermarkets, where children ask for stuff they like or simply drop things in the trolley without you noticing.

However, at the moment all conversations with my 11 year old daughter revolve around her wanting a mobile phone. I see this as a completely irrational request - who would she phone? Hardly any of her friends have one and she never goes anywhere on her own. However, she constantly points out the 3 or 4 friends who do have phones as evidence that I'm being unfair.

It goes beyond conversations. I get print outs of competing phones left by my bed from websites. I get pages torn out of newspapers. She even asks me how my work is going as she knows I happen to working with a mobile phone operator at the moment.

When she goes to senior school in September and she has to walk to school on her own, then I can see the argument for a mobile phone. Before then, its just simply a desire to impress her friends.

Being a marketing consultant I can hardly complain about pester power...but it is annoying and I guess is how our economy works. The desire to impress others - as well as satisfy your own personal craving - lasts a lifetime.