INTRODUCTION
Television is one of the strongest media and due to its reach it is influencing the cultures of the country. Children of course are the worst victims of TV influences. Its impact on the children are universal.
The gravity of TV influence varies from child to child. It depends on factors such as age and personality of the child, their viewing habits that is inclusive of duration of TV watching, types of programs, and guidance provided by the parents. TV viewing has its pros and cons. On the negative side, excessive TV viewing leads to laziness and inactivity and thus contributes towards childhood obesity. Children who watch lot of television are found to be the ones who are not involved in healthy and sport activities and are consumers of high fat and high energy snack foods.
Commercials could be attributed as misleading. They do not portray the foods children should eat to keep themselves healthy (Dorr and Koyarii, 1980; Young 1990). “Television viewers tend to get a sense of relaxation when they are watching TV, which of course only last till the TV is on. Sports activities and hobbies are the source of energy whereas TV viewing is a source of depleted energy” (Bartsch and London, 2000) The positive aspects of television viewing are that it helps in educating viewers about factual knowledge and how to handle different people in different social situations.
Television is a pervasive medium which is readily available to nearly all children. Most of the children world over spend about three to four hours daily watching television. Initially, children face problems in comprehending television programs. But being quick learners, they can make rational decisions about right or wrong under proper guidance of the parents. Thus it is advisable for the parents of young children to monitor the TV viewing habits of their children. (Bartsch and London, 2000). 2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is
- to deliberate upon the impacts of television advertising on children.
- to identify these critical “impacts”,
- empirically test some of the critical factors.
LITERATURE SURVEY ADVERTISING
Different authors have defined advertising differently. “Advertising is a paid, oneway communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. Variations include publicity, public relations, product placement, sponsorship, underwriting, and sales promotion.
Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including: television, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and billboards” (Kunkel and Gantz, 1992). Advertising can be attributed as persuasive commercial messages for selling and informing consumers about new products (Kunkel and Gantz, 1992). A television advertisement or commercial is a form of advertising in which goods, services, organizations, ideas, etc. are promoted via the medium of television.
Most commercials are produced by an outside advertising agency and airtime is purchased from a Media Agency or direct from the TV channel or network. The main process used to “talk” to consumer is “advertisiing” (Donhaue, 1975). Advertising and marketing is one of the major sources of influencing the culture and society (Friestad, 1994). It may also be pointed out that the culture also influences the pattern of advertising.
THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING
The advertising sectors deliberately tones down the influence and possible adverse influence of the product they are advertising. They tends to portray an ’innocuous” aspect of daily life in their commercial messages and hope that this innocent aspect of life would not only attract the attention of potential customers but would also influence them (Adler and et. al, 1997). The advertising has positive and negative influences. The opponents and critics of advertising portray the negative effects, while those in favor emphasize the positive aspects. Some of the commonly deliberated impact of advertising are discussed below: a) The Ability of Advertising to Attract Children’s Attention
Young children are more influenced from the TV advertisements as compared to other age groups. And they generally believe in what advertisements have to say about the products. If the advertisements are not very complex, and it says some thing new, then, likelihood of attracting children’s attention would increase (Rice and et. al, 1986). A direct relationship was found in the frequency (repetition) of commercial and ability to attract children’s attention. Children up to five years old are generally fond of hearing the same story again and again.
Similarly, these younger children enjoy repetition of same advertisement again and again. This repeated transmission generally enhances their attention towards the ads, and in a few cases, it was found that the children tend to lose interest due to repeated transmission of the TV commercials (Wellman,1990). The advertisers prefer to advertise their products to children due to its deep impact. In view of the children’s importance of influencing purchase decisions the advertisers not only target them at home through television but also target them through advertisements in class rooms and schools (Palmer and et. l, 2004).
As elaborated earlier, the children’s attention towards the advertisements is highly dependent on two factors. One is that it must be simple, and second is that it must contain some thing new for the children ( Rice and et. al, 1986). b) Children’s Comprehension of Television Advertising Children’s comprehension of advertising messages is dependent on (1) they must posses the skill to distinguish between commercial from noncommercial content; and (2) they must be skeptical towards the ‘persuasive intent’ of advertising within the limitation of their knowledge.
This process of assessing TV commercials is known as cognitive growth and intellectual development (John, 1999; Young, 1990). By the time the children reach the age of 8 years, their responsiveness to advertising gets sophisticated, they tend to evaluate the messages in true perspective and are capable of responding to commercial advertisement in a mature and informed way (John,1999). The children between 8 and 12 years develop the ability to retrieve and make effective use of the information they have stored in memory, though this ability is not fully developed yet.
Comparatively, children below the age of 8 years are not very comfortable in retrieving the stored information. However, a certain degree of prompting would make it easier for children below eight years age group to retrieve and utilize stored information. Thus younger children are more vulnerable to commercial influence (Deborah, 1981). c) Children’s Ability To Understand The Purpose Of Advertising One of the major reasons for television advertising is to change the attitude and behavior of the audience. Adults while watching television advertisements comprehend them though a process known as a cognitive filter.
This process is inclusive of the following:
- the viewers presume that there is a different perspective between the source of the message and the receiver of the message,
- the intentions of the source are always persuasive,
- there is bias in all the persuasive messages
- interpretation strategies must vary from biased message to unbiased message (Roberston and Rossitter, 1977).
Once the children reach a level of understanding advertisements through all the four processes of interpretation, they have developed mature comprehension process of interpreting advertising messages (Carroll, 1984; Flavell, 1977; Selman, 971; Shantz, 1975). Children below 7–8 years group lack the ability to understand the TV commercial’s cognitive development process. Egocentrism is the common trait of this age group, which means that this age group lacks the ability of perceiving another person perspective (Carroll, 1984; Flavell, 1977; Selman, 1971). Children’s beliefs, desires and motives are not fully developed until they are six years old (Wellman, 1990). Therefore, they lack the ability to fully comprehend advertisers persuasive intents at this age group (Friestad & Wright, 1994).
The children belonging to age group 3-6 years lack comprehending advertisers persuasive intent but possess interpersonal skills of influencing the behavior of peers or parents, and others (Bartsch & London, 2000; Kline & Clinton, 1998; Weiss & Sachs, 1991). Children could only form an attitude towards the advertisement if they could understand the purpose and intention of TV advertising. This of course helps in forming an image of the product (Dorr and Kovaric, 1980). Children understand the purpose of advertising that appears on television as early as 5 years of age (Macklin, 1987).
The age of 8 to10 years possesses a fundamental understanding of the purpose of advertising (Bartch and London, 2000). d) Unnecessary Purchasing: Children’s purchasing behavior and demand for goods seem to be influenced by TV commercials. However, besides TV commercial and other forms of commercial the significant factors in making the purchase decisions are peer group, friends, parent and direct experience. Other factors that may also contribute in the purchasing decisions of the children are their age, socio-economic and cultural background (including the parents’ level of education) (Galst & White, 1976).
A single commercial may marginally affect the Brand preferences. However, repeated exposure of the commercial may create a strong desire for the advertised products, as compared to competitive products (Gorn & Goldberg, 1982; Robertson & Rossiter, 1977). Children may not be able to recall TV commercial over time; however, positive attitudes toward an advertised product may last for another week despite the fact that the ad has been forgotten (Silverman, Jaccard, & Burke, 1988).
The products such as toys, cereals, and ice creams have a longer impact even if the frequency of these ads is limited to one per program (Gorn & Goldberg, 1977, 1980; Zuckerman, Ziegler, & Stevenson, 1978). The researchers have shown that children’s product knowledge is primarily based on TV commercials (Caron & Ward, 1975; Donahue, 1975). e) Increasing Materialism The primary objective of the ads is promoting products and its features. However, if perceived differently it appears to have broader sociological influence (Baran, Mok, Land, and Kang, 1989).
TV advertising is one of the major source of consumption ideology more commonly known as increasing materialism. Demanding more consumers’ goods as a result of exposure to TV commercial comes in the category of television advertising (Kline and Clinton, 1998). The above study has two weaknesses. One is that demanding product is not necessarily an indication of materialistic attitude, as acquisition and ownership lead towards happiness. The other weakness in the above study was that the subjects were mothers, who may have their own biases (John, 1999). )
Low Nutritional Foods Children who watch television excessively tend to be overweight, as they are less involved in healthy activities such as running, jumping and exercise. Additionally, these children take unhealthy foods, such as candy, snacks, sugary cereals and drinks (Macklin,1987). Generally, the prime time commercials are promoting unhealthy dietary practices, which also contribute towards obesity (Barcus, 1980). Commercials tend to ignore healthy dietary practices. Therefore, children persuade their parents to buy unhealthy foods.
As these children spend lot of time watching TV. Therefore, the chances are that these children are physically less fit, and consume high fat and high-energy snack foods (Dorr and Koyaric, 1980). Extensive research has been undertaken on the advertising effects on children’s eating habits. As most commercials targeting children are of candy, snacks, and fast food, such ads therefore act as catalysts in persuading children to demand these unhealthy products (Borzekowski & Robinson, 2001). Children food preference is highly dependent on television advertising.
However, it conveys a grossly imbalanced nutritional message. Most of the ads targeting children are of fatty and sugary foods. The research has demonstrated a direct relationship between food advertisements children remember and the number of foods like soft drink, crisps and savory snacks that children eat (Borzekowshi and Robinson, 2001). Occasional consumption of candy, sugared cereals, and desserts are generally not considered harmful by most of the parents and pediatricians. But excessive use of the same is considered harmful.
Frequencies of commercials for candies, snacks, and sugared cereals are far more than the commercials for more healthy or nutritious food, which worry the parents (Atkin & Heald, 1977; Barcus, 1980; Kunkel & Gantz, 1992). The impact of media on children varies from age to age. It is generally assumed that younger children tend to be more influenced by television as compared to older ones. A strong correlation was found in television viewing habits, and poor diet, poor health and obesity among both children and adults. While watching one remains physically inactive, which reduces metabolic rates and displaces physical exercise.
Habitual television viewers very frequently consume pre-prepared meals and/or fast foods (Livingstone, S. , and Helsper, E. , 2000). Children have developed habits of taking breakfast, lunch, and meal while watching TV which is not very healthy. Children think that food is a primary necessity of life, whereas mothers consider food primarily as a pleasure for their child (Macaux, 2001). g) Violence Children’s attitudes are also governed by the Media violence. TV advertising contains lot of action, a fixed tempo and rapid image changes which tend to increase aggression in younger children. (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).
Other research shows a strong association between exposure to media violence and fears, anxieties, and sleep disturbances (Cantor, 1998; Harrison & Cantor, 1997). Whether the television is really harmful to children depends from child to child. It could be harmful to some children in some conditions while under the same conditions; it may be beneficial to other children (Bushman and Canter, 2003). h) Exposure To Advertising: Children’s exposure to advertising is dependent on their viewing habist. Those children who watch TV frequently are more vulnerable to parameters such as increased obesity and chronic disease risk, materialism etc. Bushman and Cantor, 2003).
DETERMINANTS OF CHILDREN’S ATTITUDES TOWARD ADVERTISEMENTS
Based on the literature survey the following determinants were identified, each of the variables contains several sub variables as illustrated in the questionnaire Annexure 1: a. b. c. d. e. 2. 4 Unnecessary Purchasing Low Nutritional Food Violence Materialism Exposure To Advertising HYPOTHESES Based on the literature survey the following hypotheses were developed: There advertising” There and There and There and is no significant difference in respondents’ opinions on “Exposure to “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional food”,” Materialism”. s no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” dependent variable “Low nutritional Food” is no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” dependent variable “Unnecessary purchasing”. is no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” dependent variable “Materialism”
METHODOLOGY
The respondents of the study are the parents of preteen age children. Traditionally, the opinions of the parents are generally taken in this kind of research. The reason for selecting parents as a subject has advantages and disadvantages.
One of the major disadvantages is that the bias of the parents reflect even when they are talking about the behavior of the children. The disadvantage for selecting children as subject is that the questionnaire some time is very complicated for the children to answer. The present study is also administered to the parents of the children. Based on the literature survey a closed-ended questionnaire was developed and was pre-tested before being launched. The author personally administered the questionnaire by visiting the respondents. The instrument contained 18 questions of which six were related to personal data and the rest were elated to the subject study.
The questionnaire comprised of nominal and rating scale. Stratified, non- proportionate sample technique was used for collecting the data. The population for the subject study is Parents in Karachi. According to an estimate there are 2 million households in Karachi. If sample were to be drawn on simple randomness, the approximate sample size comes out to 80. (20 samples for each variable is generally an acceptable norm). However to have a better representation about 108 samples were drawn. These were drawn non-randomly from pre-selected areas.
DATA ANALYSIS METHOD
The data analysis was inclusive of measure of central tendencies, measure of dispersion and empirical testing were based on Simple ANOVA and Regression. The software Excel was used for generating the results. Qualitative analysis was also carried out for studying variation in demographic and determinants of the study.
SURVEY FINDINGS MEASURE OF CENTRAL TENDENCIES
The respondents’ opinions on the determinants of “Impact of TV advertising on children” were obtained. The determinants were “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional food”, “Materialism” and “Exposures to advertising”.
The respondents’ opinions indicate that “Impact of TV advertising to children” has a higher degree of influence on “Low nutritional food” with a mean of (3. 90) and lower degree of influence on “Materialism” with a mean of (3. 50). The standard deviation of respondents’ opinions on “Low nutritional food” was the least (0. 53), as compared to other dimensions. This indicates that there is less polarization on the respondents’ opinions on this “Low nutritional food” dimension. The Standard Deviation of respondents’ opinion on “Materialism” was the highest (0. 1), as compared to other dimensions.
This indicates that there is a high polarization of the respondents’ opinions on this “Materialism” dimension. However, the polarizations of the respondents’ opinions from one determinant to other do not appear to be high. The Skewnesses for all the determinants of “Impact of TV advertising on children” were negative. It was as low as (0. 07) for “Low nutritional food and as high as (0. 51) for “Exposure to advertising”. The negative skewness indicates that the respondents’ opinions on the respective determinants were below average.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
Four different hypotheses were developed and tested: .
HYPOTHESIS ONE
Consumers’ responses were classified into four determinants such as “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional food”, “Materialism” and “Exposures to advertising”. An analysis was carried out to measure whether significant difference exist between the selected determinants. The hypothesis developed in this context is presented below: Statement of hypothesis: H1o: There is no significant difference in respondents’ opinions on the four variables such as “Exposure to advertising”, “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional Food”, “Materialism”. H1A: There is a significant difference in respondents’ opinions on the four variables such as “Exposure to advertising”, “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional food”, “Materialism”.
The hypothesis relating to no significant difference of respondents’ opinions on different types of children’s attitudes
- “Unnecessary Purchasing”,
- “Low Nutritional Food”,
- “Materialism”,
- Exposure to advertising” was rejected.
At 95% confidence level and (3,428) degree of freedom the F critical value is less than the F calculated value of 10. 08. .
HYPOTHESIS TWO
Exposure to advertising is dependent on viewing habits. However, it is treated as an independent variable in reference to variables such as
- Unnecessary Purchasing,
- Low Nutritional Food,
- Materialism.
An analysis was carried out to measure the relationship of the independent variable “Exposures to Advertising” and dependent variable “Low Nutritional Food”. The hypothesis developed in this context is presented below: H2O: H2A: There is no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to Advertising” and dependent variable. Low nutritional Food”. There is a relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variable “Low Nutritional Food”.
The r2 is 0. 14, which indicates that about 14% of the variation of dependent variable “Low nutritional food” is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is significantly low. The reason for such a weaker relations in Pakistan is the cultural factors, and comparative low purchasing powers.
HYPOTHESIS THREE
An analysis was carried out to measure the relationship of the independent variable “Exposures to advertising” and dependent variable “Unnecessary purchasing”. The hypothesis developed in this context is presented below: H3O: H3A: There is no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variable “Unnecessary purchasing”. There is a relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variable “Unnecessary purchasing”.
The r2 is 0. 29, which indicates that about 29% of the variation on the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is slightly stronger.
HYPOTHESIS FOUR
An analysis was carried out to measure the relationship of the independent variable “Exposures to advertising” and dependent variable “Materialism”. The hypothesis developed in this context is presented below: H4O: H4A: There is no relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variable “Materialism”.
The p-value is 0. 00 which is lower than 0. 025 and falls in critical region, therefore, alternative hypothesis of relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variable “Materialism” was accepted. The r2 is 0. 20, which indicates that about 20% of the variation on the dependent variable “Materialism” is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is slightly stronger.
CONCLUSIONS
The focus of the study was to determine the “Impact of TV Advertising on Children”. Literature survey shows that independent variable was “Exposure to advertising” and dependent variables were “Unnecessary purchasing”, “Low nutritional food” and “Materialism”. The questionnaire administrated for the study was based on 18 items in which 6 items were related to personal data, and the rest of the 11 were related to measuring “Impact of TV advertising on children”. The sample size of the study was 108. The questionnaire was administered to the parents of the children.
Literature survey suggests that “Impact of TV Advertising on Children” could influence determinants such as “Unnecessary Purchasing”, “Low Nutritional Food”, “Materialism” and “Exposure to advertising”. The respondents’ opinions indicate that TV advertising on children has a higher degree of influence on “Low nutritional food” with a mean of (3. 90) and lower degree of influence on “Materialism” with a mean of (3. 50). The standard deviation of respondents’ opinions on “Low nutritional food” was the least (0. 66), as compared to others dimensions.
This indicates that there is less polarization on the respondents’ opinions on this “Low nutritional food” dimension. The Standard Deviation of respondents’ opinion on “Materialism” was the highest (0. 71), as compared to other dimensions. This indicates that there is a high polarization of the respondents’ opinions on this “Materialism” dimension. However, the polarizations of the respondents’ opinions from one determinant to other do not appear to be high. The Skew nesses for all the determinants of “Impact of TV advertising on children” were negative.
It was as low as (0. 1) for “Low nutritional food” and as high as (0. 84) for “Exposure to advertising”. Four different hypotheses were developed and tested. The summarized results are presented below: a) The hypothesis relating to no significant difference of respondents’ opinions on different factors (“Unnecessary Purchasing”, Low Nutritional Food, “Materialism”,” Exposure to advertising” was rejected. At 95% confidence level and (3,428) degree of freedom the F critical value is less than the F calculated value 10. 08. b) The p-value is 0. 00 which is lower than 0. 025, the p-value falls in critical region.
Therefore, alternative hypothesis of relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising “and dependent variable “Low nutritional food” was accepted. The r2 is 0. 14, which indicates that about 14% of the variation of dependent variable “Low nutrition food” is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is significantly low. c) The p-value is 0. 00 which is lower than 0. 025, the p-value falls in critical region therefore there is relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising “and dependent variable “Unnecessary purchasing” was accepted.
The r2 is 0. 29, which indicates that about 29% of the variation on the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is slightly stronger. d) The p-value is 0. 00 which is lower than 0. 025, the p-value falls in critical region therefore there is relationship between independent variable “Exposure to advertising “and dependent variable “Materialism” was accepted. The r2 is 0. 20, which indicates that about 20% of the variation on the dependent variable “Materialism” is explained by the independent variable “Exposure to advertising”, which is slightly stronger.
