Understanding The Impact Of Television Advertising On Children

Concern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. The current rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, sattelite, and cable formats will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercialization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.

"We all know the box was not the best invention for children. A recently released tome, The Impact of Television Advertising on Children reinforces our trepidations. Written by Shailaja Bajpai and Namita Unnikjrishnan and published by Sage, the researched work also alerts us to the hazards of consumerism that TV exposes innocent minds to." --Metropolis on Saturday "Questions the notion that children are mature enough to recognise the commercial intent of advertising. The book concludes that a child 'instinctively trusts the adult world1⁄4 consequently television, which is peopled by grown ups, inspires them with the faith that whatever appears on TV is real and not be doubted'." --Times of India "Meticulously researched, yes. Cogently argued, perhaps1⁄4. In many ways, this is a seminal book." --Business World "The Impact of Television Advertising on Children is a book that deserves to be read by all adults responsible in any way in shaping the life of children in their charge." --Times of India "An important point of view in the discussion about media responsibility. This research study is a welcome contribution to public discourse because it is calmly argued and eschews the fashionable tendency to bandy weather-beaten buzz words. The book will be valuable to anybody wanting to understand how television bends the mind, because although Unnikrishnan and Bajpai focus on children, the scope of the work includes and informed analysis of the medium itself." --Newstime "This is a timely book. Also a useful one. In fact, a given its capsule format and its passion for facts, statistics and tables, it is really more a book to be used by professionals of various kinds. Some kinds of data that they have chosen to elicit... would be of interest to advertisers.... Of interesting data there is plenty. In essence, this is a field study, the first to be put out by a major publisher on the specific topic of children and television advertising in India." --Biblio "A seminal study.... The most complete analysis yet of the child as consumer." --Business Today The manner in which ideas conveyed by television programs and advertising shape our children's consciousness is of growing concern in India and throughout the world today. Children, the most impressionable of any group, are continually targeted by the media, and despite the rapid proliferation of television in India, there is little informed research on its effects on India's "littlest consumers." Based on in-depth interviews with over 730 children between the ages of 5 and 15, The Impact of Television Advertising on Children highlights the impact that TV has on the values, attitudes, and aspirations of Indian children. The book provides an insight into the lives of children from different social strata, and their respective ways of handling, negotiating, and understanding information made available to them over television. In particular, the authors closely examine children's view on advertising and what it means to them in their lives. This lively book, the first of its kind pertaining to India, draws the reader into a healthy questioning of the role of television and advertising in society. Lucidly written, it will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and professionals in mass communication, media studies, sociology, and social psychology and to all those concerned with the impact that television advertising has on our lives.

This volume includes the full proceedings from the 1997 World Marketing Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The focus of the conference and the enclosed papers is on marketing thought and practices from a global perspective. This volume presents papers on various topics including marketing management, marketing strategy and consumer behavior. Founded in 1971, the Academy of Marketing Science is an international organization dedicated to promoting timely explorations of phenomena related to the science of marketing in theory, research and practice. Among its services to members and the community at large, the Academy offers conferences, congresses and symposia that attract delegates from around the world. Presentations from these events are published in this Proceedings series, which offers a comprehensive archive of volumes reflecting the evolution of the field. Volumes deliver cutting-edge research and insights, complimenting the Academy’s flagship journals, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) and AMS Review. Volumes are edited by leading scholars and practitioners across a wide range of subject areas in marketing science.

Advertisements have become a trend these days for promoting the product or any service. It plays a vital role in forming an image in mind of family members because they are the means with which the manufacturer indirectly communicates with the family and provides necessary information to them. Advertising has become so integral part of our life & society that we cannot imagine any event, newspaper, magazine, TV serial, Cinema etc. without it. The advertisements are focused on the audience which mainly may either be persuaded by them or watch and pay attention to this medium. Television is an ideal way for advertisers to reach children as it is so omnipresent in homes around the world. Indian child watches 14 hours of Television each week. It was a vital marketing tool to appeal to the parents earlier but now they appeal directly the children who do not have the emotional or cognitive tools to evaluate what’s being sold to them. Prior children used to play outdoor games, magazines, and comics but now most time is spent in watching television and with the increase in the trend of dual responsibilities of parents, they pay very less attention on the watching habits of their children. In addition to this the marketers use various stimulus in television commercials that includes repetition, branded characters, catchy and interesting production features, celebrity endorsements, and premiums free merchandise that accompanies a product.

This important source for students, researchers, advertisers and parents reviews the debates and presents new research about advertising to children. Chapters cover food and alcohol advertising, the effects of product placement and new media advertising, and the role of parents and teachers in helping children to learn more about advertising.