Social class, smartphone advertising exposure, self-esteem, and materialism: The case of children in Lebanon

The current compounded economic crisis in Lebanon has increased poverty rates and widened the gap between families of different socioeconomic classes. Little is known about the impact of advertising, particularly smartphone advertising, on the self-esteem and materialism levels of children in developing countries like Lebanon. This study aimed to measure the differences among children coming from lower and upper socioeconomic classes in the following: smartphone advertising exposure, materialism and self-esteem, vulnerability to the effects of smartphone advertising exposure on materialism, and vulnerability to the effects of materialism on self-esteem. It was found that advertising affected negatively the self-esteem of the children coming from lower social classes, including the "newly poor," because in the current economic situation, children who are more exposed to advertising are more likely to believe in advertising, have lower self-satisfaction, and believe themselves to be inferior for not owning the various products that are advertised, which lead them to become more materialistic than children from wealthier families. On the other hand, advertising had a reinforcing effect on materialism among more affluent children. In addition, and contrary to the expected, children from higher social classes, and not children from deprived households, were more susceptible to the impact of advertising on materialism. These findings enlighten us on the significant role that today's advertising plays in societies with wide socioeconomic disparities.