The urban influence
Just who says
what’s cool with kids
It’s blacks when it comes to music and sports
By Kevin Downey
Nov 29, 2005
Children are growing up in a far more ethnically diverse society than their parents did, but this multicultural population is one that kids see in the media more than it is in their neighborhoods and classrooms.
Most kids grow up surrounded by people of their own ethnicity, particularly non-Hispanic whites, according to the findings of a recent multicultural study by Nickelodeon.
Yet ethnic groups, notably African Americans, are highly influential in determining what is cool in popular culture because of the portrayal of these ethnic groups in media like television programs and music videos.
Nickelodeon found that white people are most influential to kids when it comes to movies, the internet, video games and electronics. Blacks are most influential to kids in music, fashion and sports.
Marsha Williams, senior vice president of consumer insights at Nickelodeon, says the influence that ethnic groups have on other kids is the result of the media’s portrayal of these populations as much as it is direct contact with different ethnicities.
“Pop culture suggests the melting pot that people associate with the United States,” she says. “But our data suggested that a sizable number of kids grow up in environments that are largely segregated.”
Williams says the influence that various ethnic groups have on other kids’ choices in popular culture is beginning to be reflected in media content, such as TV programs, and advertising.
“Ad sales, for example, benefits in terms of recognizing where their external clients will be best advised to tailor their campaign,” she says. “Production, of course, uses this information. Even the [Nickelodeon] magazine group uses this in terms of content and how best to find a balance in that content.”
Nickelodeon earlier this month released the findings of its 2005 Multicultural Kids Study, the second to include the influence of ethnic groups on kids’ entertainment choices. The survey was conducted in one-on-one interviews with a representative sample of 375 kids ages 6-14 in each of the four major racial and ethnic groups, also including Asians and Hispanics.
Most kids said white and black people are the most influential on virtually all pop culture measures, with Asians ranking relatively high in technology. But Hispanics, the largest and fastest growing minority group, ranked low in its influence on pop culture.
Hispanics account for 14 percent of the overall population but 20 percent of kids under 15 years old, according to the Census Bureau.
“Hispanics have become the numerical majority of minority groups, and the fastest growing, so numerically there is a reason why marketers and advertisers need to keep their eye on the Hispanic segment,” says Williams.
“But in terms of influencers the focus needs to be more on African Americans because Hispanics are not seen as thought leaders or category leaders in any of the ways we asked.”
Nickelodeon found that media probably plays the biggest role in exposing kids to a multicultural society.
The cable network, for instance, found that about 70 percent of white kids live in predominantly white neighborhoods and attend predominantly white schools.
“That suggests to us that about seven out of 10 white kids rely on the media for their access to other ethnic groups,” says Williams.
“For African American and Hispanic kids it’s more like 46 percent live where it’s predominantly segregated, meaning that more than 50 percent have direct access to other ethnic groups.”
Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.