The role of product placement strategies in animated film on children's brand awareness

With the rise in digital media consumption, children have become a primary target audience for advertising activities. In this context, product placements—particularly in content that garners significant interest from children, such as animated films—are strategically employed to enhance brand visibility. This thesis explores the role of product placements in animated content on children's brand awareness. The study demonstrates that children's susceptibility to media content varies depending on factors such as age, social environment, frequency of media use, and parental supervision. Furthermore, it addresses how children respond to product placement strategies, how the types and effects of product placements differ according to their level of education, the extent to which they recognize brands, and the meanings they construct around these brands. Within this framework, in-depth interviews were conducted with 45 children between the ages of 6 and 17, and the data were analyzed using qualitative methods via the MAXQDA software. Three different animated films were selected for the interviews, with careful attention paid to include examples of visual product placement, auditory product placement, and combined (hybrid) product placement. The children were asked questions based on these animations to examine their ability to recall specific brands, express their emotions and thoughts about these brands, and describe the nature of their relationship with these brands in daily life. In this way, the study offers a detailed analysis of how children develop brand awareness through media content, the role of animated content in this process, and the potential impact of such awareness on their consumer behavior. Keywords: Product Placement, Brand Awareness, Animation, Child Consumer