What youngsters get are ideas for satisfying their needs for identity, belonging, and independence. They use information in commercials, and the commercials themselves, to help them achieve their personal goals. Advertising gives meaning to goods and ultimately to ourselves. This is what advertisers refer to as 'branding,' giving an identity to a product. Indirectly, this identity rubs off on the consumer.
Advertising is a source of information about products.
As such, it is highly valued by potential consumers. Although children rely mainly on other children as their source of inspiration, adults rely on advertising for ideas about appropriate gifts for children. The majority of commercials aimed at children have a prosocial message. That it is also a commercial culture is a reflection of our times. Youth are a significant and growing economic force, responsible for billions of ECUs in sales per year, money put there, incidentally with help from advertising.