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Estonian Human Development Report

Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu

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Table 5.4.3. Young people’s assessment of the importance<br />

of brands and their effect on popularity (%)<br />

Assessed as<br />

important or<br />

very important<br />

Girls Boys<br />

Importance for the respondent in the case of clothes 38 55<br />

Importance for the respondent in the case of sports<br />

clothes and equipment<br />

41 56<br />

Importance in the respondent’s school in the case of clothes 55 55<br />

Importance in the respondent’s school in the case of<br />

sports clothes and equipment<br />

56 55<br />

Importance of clothes among the respondent’s friends 50 50<br />

Importance of sports clothes and equipment among the<br />

respondent’s friends<br />

Effect of clothes and shoes bearing trendy and wellknown<br />

brands on the popularity of boys<br />

Effect of clothes and shoes bearing trendy and wellknown<br />

brands on the popularity of girls<br />

Source: Noorte elustiil 2007<br />

42 56<br />

48 61<br />

58 61<br />

Figure 5.4.4. Percentage of children aged 6–17 who<br />

use the Internet and the percentage of parents who<br />

often discuss online activities with their children<br />

(percentage of parents with children who use the<br />

Internet) in EU countries<br />

100<br />

90<br />

80<br />

70<br />

60<br />

50<br />

40<br />

30<br />

20<br />

10<br />

0<br />

73<br />

63<br />

50<br />

62 61<br />

87<br />

77 75<br />

72<br />

69<br />

57<br />

47<br />

61<br />

84<br />

94 93 93 93 91 91 89 88 88 88 86 84 83 81 81 78 77 76 75 75 75 71 70 70 68<br />

50 50 45<br />

59<br />

be of high quality and durable (93%). Boys (70%) believed<br />

it to be important that the purchased product be the latest<br />

model and also widespread. Girls attribute more importance<br />

to buying school supplies than boys (77% and 50%,<br />

respectively). Better prices are not considered very important<br />

by either boys (37%) or girls (32%).<br />

Both girls and boys also consider having the opportunity<br />

to make their own choice very important in the case<br />

of buying clothes, since clothes have to match their style<br />

and look good (both criteria are considered important<br />

or very important by more than 90% of boys and girls).<br />

School pupils also stressed the importance of their clothes<br />

being comfortable, fashionable and trendy (all of these<br />

characteristics are considered important or very important<br />

by over 70% of the respondents). Brands are allegedly<br />

52<br />

74<br />

62<br />

85<br />

78<br />

74<br />

66<br />

85<br />

62<br />

80 79 80<br />

77<br />

Finland<br />

The Netherlands<br />

Estonia<br />

Denmark<br />

Sweden<br />

United Kingdom<br />

Poland<br />

Malta<br />

Slovenia<br />

Hungary<br />

Lithuania<br />

Czech Republic<br />

Latvia<br />

Ireland<br />

Bulgaria<br />

Slovakia<br />

Austria<br />

France<br />

Germany<br />

Luxembourg<br />

EU 27<br />

Belgium<br />

Spain<br />

Romania<br />

Portugal<br />

Cyprus<br />

Greece<br />

Italy<br />

Children’s Internet use<br />

Source: Flash Eurobarometer 248, 2008<br />

Frequent Internet-related discussions<br />

with children<br />

less important (only 21% of the girls as opposed to 51% of<br />

the boys consider brands to be important or very important).<br />

At the same time, being affected by brands is usually<br />

something that people do not want to admit openly.<br />

Furthermore, young people are often unable to reflexively<br />

analyze the impact of commercial symbols on their behaviour.<br />

“My buying decisions are not affected by advertising<br />

and brands” is simply the socially desirable response and<br />

should therefore be treated with reservation.<br />

More general assessments of the importance of brands<br />

in different situations are provided in Table 5.4.3. Boys<br />

consider brands to be personally more important than<br />

girls (respectively, 55% and 38% in the case of clothes). It<br />

is interesting that girls do not attribute as much importance<br />

to brands with regard to the popularity of boys (48%<br />

in the case of boys and 58% in the case of girls), while for<br />

boys brands affect the popularity of both genders equally<br />

(both 61%). So, contrary to the stereotype that might characterize<br />

brands primarily as the girls’ domain, they actually<br />

play an important role in the values of <strong>Estonian</strong> boys.<br />

The role of the brands is also connected to school violence<br />

arising from clothes and appearance. According to<br />

the 2005 student survey Noored ja meedia (Youth and<br />

the Media) (N=948), 49% of the respondents reported<br />

that someone in their class had been bullied due to their<br />

clothes or appearance. Of the entire sample, 28% (but a<br />

total of 38% of the pupils of Russian language schools)<br />

stated that nobody had been bullied due to their clothes or<br />

appearance, while 23% said that someone was constantly<br />

being bullied. A shift occurs when young people reach the<br />

age of 16: nearly 50% of secondary school pupils said that<br />

nobody in their class had ever been bullied as a result of<br />

their appearance (see Kalmus & Keller 2008).<br />

Internet use of children and youth<br />

According to the international comparison data for recent<br />

years, <strong>Estonian</strong> children are among the leaders in Europe<br />

in terms of the percentage of Internet users. The Flash<br />

Eurobarometer 248 survey (N=12750) conducted among<br />

parents living in EU member states in October 2008 indicates<br />

that 93% of all <strong>Estonian</strong> children aged 6–17 use the<br />

Internet. In terms of this indicator, Estonia shares the 2 nd<br />

– 4 th place among 27 EU countries with the Netherlands<br />

and Denmark, being outpaced by Finland by only one percentage<br />

point (Figure 5.4.4.).<br />

With regard to parent awareness and supervision,<br />

Estonia remains at the bottom of the pan-European rankings,<br />

however. For example, only 50% of <strong>Estonian</strong> parents<br />

engage in discussions with their children regarding<br />

the latter’s online activities (the EU average is 74%). Figure<br />

5.4.4. demonstrates that in terms of the relative indifference<br />

and liberal approach to their children’s online activities,<br />

<strong>Estonian</strong> parents differ not only from their counterparts<br />

in Southern European countries (where the level<br />

of children’s Internet use is relatively low and most parents<br />

with children who use the Internet talk to them often<br />

about online activities), but also from those in the Nordic<br />

countries and the United Kingdom where the level of<br />

Internet use among children is high, just like in Estonia.<br />

The attitudes and practices of <strong>Estonian</strong> parents are comparable<br />

primarily to those of parents in the other countries<br />

of “new” Europe. For example, Estonia, along with<br />

the Czech Republic and Slovakia, has the lowest percent-<br />

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