“Now it's up to you!” Children consuming commercial television

Purpose – This paper seeks to report from a qualitative study of the global television concept Pop Idol with the aim of evaluating children's and teenagers' involvement as consumers, both in their roles in purchasing goods and services, and being targets for well‐designed promotional activities. Design/methodology/approach – Based on content analysis and interviews with children, the paper analyses the dynamics between marketing strategies, program content and child audiences. Findings – The paper discusses how young consumers distinguish between two “regimes of truth” in the television concept: first the creation of a superstar, and second the broader phenomenon that Pop Idol represents, which is mainly about creating consumers through participation. Originality/value – The paper contributes to acknowledging children's perspectives and childhood as not only valuable but necessary to inform consumer research, since children are deeply and unavoidably enmeshed in consumption in fundamental ways.