As an emerging value, materialism helps explain the consumer behavior of youth. Using a national sample of 9to 14-year-olds, in this study we developed a Youth Materialism Scale. The findings suggest that more materialistic youth tend to shop more and save less. They are most interested in new products and most responsive to advertising and promotional efforts. Their parents view them as more expert with regard to products and they wield more purchase influence on their parents. Parents who are more materialistic tend to have children who are more materialistic. This study also reveals a modest negative relation between materialism and liking for school and school performance.Children account directly for an estimated $36 billion in sales annually, and when their indirect influence over far-ranging product decisions from stereos to vacations is considered, the estimate of the total economic spending impacted by children in the United States is $290 billion (McNeal, 1999). With 70% of mothers working either full-or part-time, more household-and consumer-related tasks, including helping with shopping for family groceries, have fallen to children. It is estimated that by age 10, the average child makes over five trips a week either to a store or a shopping center (McNeal, 1992). With baby boomers now having their own children, the sheer increase in the number of children is another reason for increased efforts to market to them (Acuff, 1997). The culture in which children now grow up is Requests for reprints should be sent to

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In designing print ads, one of the decisions the advertiser must make is which color(s) to use as executional cues in the ad. Typically, color decisions are based on intuition and anecdotal evidence. To provide guidelines for these decisions, this research proposes and tests a conceptual framework linking the hue, chroma, and value of the color(s) in an ad to consumers' feelings and attitudes. In an experimental study, the three dimensions of color used in an ad are manipulated using a between-subjects design. The results support the hypotheses that ads containing colors with a higher level of value lead to greater liking for the ad, and this effect is mediated by the greater feelings of relaxation elicited by the higher value color. Feelings play an equally important role in the effect of chroma. Consistent with the hypotheses, higher levels of chroma elicit greater feelings of excitement, which in turn increase ad likeability. A follow-up study found that although managers often select higher value and higher chroma colors, in a large number of cases they do not. The findings of both studies are integrated in our discussion of the importance of value and chroma in increasing the range of options available to a manager faced with the selection of colors in an ad.marketing, advertising and media, buyer behavior