Consumers of fashionable brands, the latest gadgets and the coolest looks are getting ever younger. Yet children who immerse themselves in consumer culture feel worse about themselves, not better, say researchers at the University of Sussex.

The Children’s Consumer Culture Project has involved three years of work with 1,500 children to investigate how materialistic and appearance-focused values develop in childhood, and to study the impact of consumer culture and advertising messages about what is “cool” and beautiful on children’s well-being.

The project’s preliminary research findings will be shared today (Friday 3 May) with researchers, policy makers and diverse organisations at a special event.

The opening address will be given by Caroline Lucas MP, and attendees include teachers, schools representatives, social, educational and clinical psychologists, academics and charity representatives.

The project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and led by Sussex psychologists Dr Helga Dittmar and Professor Robin Banerjee, combines in-depth interviews with children aged 8-14 and large-scale surveys and experiments.

Dr Dittmar says: “We are able to address – for the very first time – the pressing question of how the links play out over time between the idealised body images and acquisitive impulses of consumer culture on the one hand, and the identity and well-being of children on the other.”

Results show that children with lower well-being are more drawn to the consumer culture value system, seeing improvements to physical appearance and material possessions as a way of gaining acceptance and social status among their peers.

Yet these efforts in fact are likely to be counter-productive. The research team has shown that, over time, those who strive to achieve consumer culture ideals become more rejected within their peer groups and end up feeling worse overall.

Dr Dittmar says: “Our research findings underline the importance of raising awareness about the effects of consumer culture in contemporary Britain.

“Children can be helped – both at home and at school – and may even be able to help themselves and their peers, to put consumer culture into perspective, and to learn about the qualities that really underpin positive social relationships, emotional health, and general well-being.”

To ask a question or book a place at Friday’s event, email consumercultureproject@sussex.ac.uk

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