percent of the product or commercial storyline elements across recognition measures which offered three choice alternatives). Furthermore, when the information about a relatively simple game product which the kindergartners appeared interested in was presented, they answered three-fourths of the recognition measures accurately. Nevertheless, kindergartners' recognition trailed third graders' recall and recognition memory. Across studies, third graders remembered between two-thirds and three-fourths of the product and commercial elements compared with the kindergartners' 40 percent. While the Wackman et al. studies involved children's memory for novel advertisements, there is evidence from other sources that even young children learn particular brand name slogans. For instance, Atkin (1975b, 1975c) reports that memory for slogans is well established by the time children reach grade school. In a survey study he presented three different slogans with the brand name missing. Almost half of the preschool-kindergarten children interviewed and 80 percent of the first to third graders interviewed identified the correct brand referred to in the slogan. In summary, age-related increases in children's memory for commercials are indicated by the research. In particular, recall of brand name and mention of attributes about the product seems to increase substantially between kindergarten and third grade. There seems to be some indication, also, that young children have an easier time recognizing product information through a multiple-choice test than they do via open-ended measures. In general, kindergartners perform less well in recollecting advertising information, even immediately after watching the ad, than do third grade children. These findings certainly are in keeping with the research on children's memory for television plotlines and narrative information, as discussed in the previous section of this chapter. IV. SUMMARY AND POSTSCRIPT In th...
