In May 2006, Harris Interactive surveyed children ages 8 to 12 and teens ages 13 to 18 about their advertising viewpoints. Product placement was liked by 39 percent of those in the 8-12 age group and 21 percent of those in the 13-18 age group. A viral technique --giving a product to popular kids for free -- was liked by fewer: 24 percent of the younger group and 12 percent of the teens. Similarly, blogging was less likely to be favored. Overall, the tactics that were more favored had one thing in common: they are all known and proven types of product placement. The viral marketing techniques -- things marketers are extremely focused on right now -- tended not to be liked. For some tactics, survey respondents expressed a strong aversion: 37 percent of tweens disliked getting someone to mention a product in online chat sessions and 43 percent did not like the idea of giving a product to popular kids for free.
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