Few shocks in survey of teenagers

Typical Irish teenagers love hanging around shopping centres, mostly agree with their parents' values, drink Coke, wear Nike and, with up to £46 (€58) per week, have enough pocket money to make them valuable targets for marketing departments.

These are some of the findings in Youthscape, commissioned by the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland and conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes.

And while the findings above might seem obvious, the wide-ranging research into the attitudes of people between the ages of 12-18, particularly towards brands and the media, makes for interesting reading.

One quarter of all teenagers have some income from work, mostly part-time; by the time they are 17, more than half of all teenage males have some income from work. This gives the typical teenager a weekly disposable income of just under £20, rising to £46 by the time the boys are 17.

"There seems to be a lot of pressure on young males," says Mr Des Byrne, of Behaviour & Attitudes. "They feel they have to earn more and spend more. The fact that they go to the hairdressers more than females of the same age says a lot."

Like teenagers everywhere, Irish teens are highly brand aware and even by the time they are 13 years old, they have definite preferences.

In the soft drinks sector Coke is far ahead of all other brands in terms of preference. Some 54 per cent of the teens surveyed preferred Coke. Next came 7 up at a very modest 7 per cent.

Interestingly, even among the notoriously weight conscious 17-18-year-old female cohort, Diet Coke was the only diet drink that featured and even that came in at only 8 per cent.

Branded sports clothing does seem to be losing its appeal. Nike is particularly strong among boys in the 12-13 age category.

Among other clothing brands, Levis comes into its own in the late teenage years and Susst is in second place for females aged over 14.

However, when it comes to footwear, sports footwear wins out above all others, with Nike a strong number one followed by Adidas, with Reebok a relatively distant third. McDonald's is unsurprisingly the most popular fast food brand at 38 per cent but what is surprising is that the second most favoured chip shop is Supermacs, the Irish chain, which is twice as popular as Burger King.

It might be disheartening to know that hanging around shopping centres is the most popular activity in the age group but at least reading habits run against stereotype.

One-third claims to be currently reading a book while one in four teenagers reads a daily newspaper, mostly tabloids. Young males are the most enthusiastic consumers of newsprint, with 41 per cent saying they read a newspaper every day.

The survey revealed interesting television habits. Some 80 per cent watch an average of three hours per day and soap addiction starts early, with 68 per cent of 12-year-old females saying they watch Coronation Street.

At least that is aired well before their expected bedtime, which is more then can be said of their favourite programme, Friends, which is tops with 89 per cent of 12 and 13 year olds. A further 40 per cent never miss Ally McBeal.

Against this fascination with neurotic US twentysome things, the report did at least offer the comfort of showing that youths in this age group are more influenced by their mothers than by the media.