The influence of fictional characters on today’s young people

Young people are spending more time indoors and less time being active – significantly so in the last five years. As a result, young people are interacting more with fictional characters, explains Kantar Media’s Alice Dunn – and capitalising on the right characters could prove lucrative for the canny marketer when it comes to engaging with young people.

While gravitas is often given to the impact of celebrities on young people in Britain, it is important to consider the profound impact that fictional characters can also have on them.

Latest insight from Kantar Media’s Youth TGI study reveals that over the last five years the number of 7-19 year olds who prefer to be active in their leisure time has decreased from 5.4 million to 4.6 million – a percentage change of 15%.

While this indicates that young people are, perhaps, becoming less physically active, our research also shows that over the same five year period, the proportion of 7-19 year olds who enjoy reading books has risen from 46% to 51% (4.8 million) – indicating a rise in young people interacting with fictional characters.

Additionally, 77% of young people enjoy spending time on a computer – and perhaps unsurprisingly, this figure has increased annually for the last eight years.

It is, therefore, key for marketers to understand which fictional characters tick the right engagement boxes for young people and which ones do not.

There is arguably a blurred line between the impact of celebs and fictional characters on young people, with this group just as likely, if not more so, to look up to the likes of Harry Potter and Batman as they are to Usain Bolt and Cheryl Cole.

Looking at all 7-19 year olds, The Simpsons almost sweep the board, ranking ‘most cool’ for 7-10 year old boys and girls and 11-19 year old boys. It is only 11-19 year old girls who find Harry Potter cooler yet The Simpsons still rank second for this group.

For 7-10 year old girls, while 66% think the Simpsons are cool, 64% also think that Moshi Monsters hit the mark. The personal experience involved in giving children the chance to customise their own pets is something that these girls value – more so than boys in the same age group, of which 28% think Moshi Monsters are uncool.

7-10 year old girls, on the other hand, think the popular superheroes are the least cool fictional characters – Spiderman, Batman and Superman are all uncool for these girls.

For older girls, aged 11-19, 53% think Super Mario is cool. This perhaps ties in with the fact that young people are spending more time on computers and games consoles. With Super Mario’s large franchise of games, there are many opportunities for young people to interact with him.

As Super Mario has been around for close to thirty years, young people in Britain have grown up with him, and this sense of familiarity could be partly why Super Mario is so popular.

Older boys in the 11-19 age group also like Super Mario, but in terms of who they think are uncool, Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse rank highly – indicating they have perhaps outgrown Disney at this point.

Angry Birds have the cool factor for boys: 77% of 7-10 year old boys and 58% of 11-19 year old boys think Angry Birds are cool. The fact that Angry Birds is an app reveals the dominance of mobile phones in young peoples’ lives, and the importance that apps may have in shaping their world view.

Given that 7-10 year old boys hold Angry Birds in higher esteem than the likes of David Cameron or David Beckham, marketers would do well to use such fictional characters as a means of efficiently reaching these children.

Perhaps the reason for Angry Birds’ popularity is the fact that children and teens can interact directly with the characters, whereas celebrities are far more abstract and removed from their day-to-day lives.

This hints at the importance of fictional characters for marketers: young people can develop a much stronger emotional connection to fictional characters, so understanding which ones they like and don’t like is vital for marketers.