Children's Understanding of TV Advertising: Effects of Age, Gender, and Parental Influence

Parents, consumer organizations, and policy makers are generally concerned about effects of TV advertising directed towards children. These effects might be mediated by children's understanding of TV advertising, that is their ability to distinguish between TV programmes and commercials and their comprehension of advertising intent. In this paper, we investigate children's understanding of TV advertising, using verbal and non-verbal measurements. The sample consists of 153 Dutch children, ranging from 5 to 8 years old, and their parents. The results based on non-verbal measures suggest that most children are able to distinguish commercials from programmes and that they have some insight into advertising intent. The results based on verbal measures are not as conclusive; the percentage of children who show understanding of TV advertising is then substantially lower. Effects of age, gender, and parental influence are assessed using MURALS, a regression analysis technique for categorical and continuous variables, and CHAID, a technique for identifying homogeneous segments on the basis of the relationship between categorical dependent and explanatory variables. The age of a child turns out to have a positive effect. The effects of gender and parent- child interaction are rather small, both for verbal and for non-verbal measures of understanding of TV advertising. A high level of parental control of TV viewing may result in lower understanding of TV advertising. Implications for consumer policy and directions for future research are discussed.     

Transferring game attitudes to the brand: persuasion from age 6 to 14

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to replicate previous findings regarding the differential impact of TV advertising and advergames on children's brand attitudes and pester intentions. Using a large data-set (N = 940, M_age = 9.8, SD = 2.4), with children ranging between 6 and 14 years old, the influence of passive exposure to TV advertising is compared to active exposure to an advergame. In addition, the potential moderating effect of age is explored. In a between-participants experiment, Flemish children were randomly assigned to watch a TV ad, play an advergame, or a no marketing control condition. Results revealed that children who had played the advergame reported significantly more positive brand attitudes compared to children who had watched the TV ad and children in the no advertising exposure control group. Children's pester intent was significantly higher for the advergame compared to the TV ad, but not compared to the no advertising exposure control group. The findings further showed that children's attitudes towards the ad format mediate the impact of the advertising format on pester intent. The advergame was indirectly more persuasive than the TV ad since children reported more positive attitudes towards the advergame compared to the TV advertisement. Moreover, this mediation effect did not differ by children's age. Persuasion knowledge did not mediate the influence of the advertising format on pester intent since children's persuasion knowledge was not significantly related to pester intentions regardless of children's age.     

Television advertising and childrens' attitudes toward proprietary medicine

The effect of exposure to television drug advertising on children's attitudes toward proprietary medicines and medicine use was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment presented the commercials in a realistic program context fashion. The second experiment presented the commercials in a more direct and controlled manner. Using drug questionnaires, the subjects were assessed for their attitudes regarding the use of proprietary drugs. The results of both studies indicated that exposure to drug advertising had little influence on children's attitudes. Furthermore, children preferred not to watch drug commercials in comparison to a TV program or other types of commercials.     

Pretesting TV Commercials: Methods,Measures, and Changing Agency Roles

Abstract

Research directors with the largest 200 agencies and advertising executives with the largest 200 advertisers were surveyed to examine their views on the current state of TV commercial pretesting. One-hundred and one agency researchers and 89 ad executives returned completed questionnaires (adjusted response rates of 52% and 49.7%), which asked them 23 closed-ended questions about (1) the methods and measures used to pretest TV commercial executions; (2) the perceived role of the agency versus the client in the selection of pretest methods; and (3) perceived changes in the role of the agency research department in TV commercial pretest research. Of those responding, 18 percent of the agency researchers and 19 percent of the advertising executives indicated that their agencies do not pretest TV commercials for assigned brands. Based on the responses of the 83 agency researchers and 72 advertising executives whose agencies pretest commercial executions, the findings suggest that the role of the agency research department has changed over the past 10 years. Most notably, there has been a proliferation in the use of qualitative methods and measures in TV commercial pretest research.     

Newsom,Doug and Alan Scott. This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1976

Abstract

The use of music and lyrics in commercials run in the United States is compared with their use in commercials run in the Dominican Republic (D.R.). The authors briefly review present theoretical perspectives on the role of music in advertising and address the need to conceptualize music as a culturally situated variable. They discuss the structure of Dominican TV media and examine the influence of U.S. media culture in the D.R., then develop a set of propositions about cross-cultural differences in the extensiveness of music and lyrics in commercials, the style of music used, and the product meanings conveyed in lyrics. The propositions are tested in a content analysis of commercials. The findings support the propositions and indicate a need for sociological and interpretive approaches to the study of the role of music in advertising.     

Information Contents in Japanese OTC Drug Advertising from Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective: Content Analysis of TV Commercials and OTC Drug Websites

Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current study investigates information types that are cross-promoted in Japanese pharmaceutical advertising. The results from a quantitative content analysis of OTC drug brands' TV commercials broadcasted in Japan between 2014 and 2015 and their corresponding product websites (n = 150) show that Japanese OTC drug promotions feature more informational cues in the latter; cues such as price, safety, quality, components, and guarantees/warranties are particularly prominent. Furthermore, product websites tend to focus more on rational appeals, whereas TV commercials emphasize emotional appeals. No difference is found between these media types regarding celebrity and noncelebrity endorser usage.     

Chinese Viewers' Perception of Informative and Emotional Advertising

A systematic analysis of Chinese viewers' perception of television advertising was conducted using a sample of sixty commercials which were viewed by 160 respondents per commercial, who selected from a list of twenty adjectives adopted from the Aaker and Bruzzone (1981) study. Results indicated great differences in viewers' perceptions: informative commercials were most frequently considered to be ‘dull’, ‘uninteresting’ and ‘informative’, while emotional commercials were described as ‘appealing’, ‘interesting’ and ‘original’. Emotional advertising scored higher on ‘liking’ and perceived brand image than informative advertising. Factor analysis was carried out across commercials and individuals.     

Information content in TV advertising. Consumer policy implications of the growing supply of TV advertising in Europe

The growth of both national and transnational television and TV advertising in Europe raises many issues. One issue of high relevance to traditional consumer policy is, however, barely mentioned, namely the consequences for consumers of the growing quantity of international TV advertising and the consequences of a growth or introduction of TV advertising in general. The purpose of the study reported here is to contribute to an objective evaluation of TV advertising strictly from a consumer point of view. For this purpose the article analyses the information content of the commercials on the satellite channel “Sky Channel” and on the West German channel ZDF. The results of that study are supplemented with the results from a review of those relevant investigations into the information content of print and TV advertising which can be found in the international literature. This includes an attempt to make the studies comparable and a critique of the prevailing tradition in measuring “informativeness”. It is concluded that from a consumer point of view, TV advertising has limited value since information relevant for most purchasing decisions is not communicated to a degree that would seem to have any practical significance for consumers. Furthermore, the information content of print advertising appears to be clearly superior to that of TV advertising.     

Chinese children’s attitudes towards television advertising: truthfulness and liking

This benchmarking study examines Chinese children.s perceived truthfulness of and liking for television advertising in three Chinese cities with different developmental levels of advertising. An in-person survey of 1758 children (ages 6 to 14) was conducted between December 2001 and March 2002 using a structured questionnaire. Results indicate that a majority of children perceive half of the television commercials to be true, although this varies by grade and geography. Children in Beijing perceived television commercials to be more trustworthy than did children in Nanjing and Chengdu. The percentage of children who perceive all commercials to be true declines consistently with grade in all three cities. There is a high proportion of first graders who perceive all commercials to be untrue. The basis for judgement varies predominantly by grade. Children in higher grades depend more on brand and user experience while children in lower grades rely mainly on authority (i.e. parents or teachers). A high proportion of first graders hold both a strong liking and disliking for commercials. These strong feelings towards advertising decreased with grade, being replaced by a marked increase in neutral or indifferent feelings. Gender and level of television viewing do not show a consistent impact on perceived truthfulness and liking for commercials. Perceived truthfulness of television advertising is related positively with liking for commercials.     

Eye-tracking evidence that happy faces impair verbal message comprehension: the case of health warnings in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical television commercials

Risk warning or disclosure information in advertising is only effective in correcting consumers’ judgments if enough cognitive capacity is available to process that information. Hence, comprehension of verbal warnings in TV commercials may suffer if accompanied by positive visual elements. This research addresses this concern about cross-modality interference in the context of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical commercials in the United States by experimentally testing whether positive facial expressions reduce consumers’ understanding of the mandated health warning. A content analysis of a sample of DTC commercials reveals that positive facial expressions are more prevalent during the verbal warning act of the commercials than during the other acts. An eye-tracking experiment conducted with specially produced DTC commercials, which vary the valence of characters’ facial expressions during the health warning, provides evidence that happy faces reduce objective comprehension of the warning.     

Television food ads aimed at children in South-Eastern Europe: Cultural outlook and implications

South-East Europe (SEE) has the highest obesity rates and the most substantial consumption of television programs among young people compared to other parts of the continent. However, studies on this subject are notably absent from the existing body of literature. This research investigates differences in ad recall and preferences related to the healthiness of featured products and the alignment of advertising settings with specific cultural dimensions of SEE's ethos. The study utilizes two multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks: the social cognitive theory and the two-dimensional Minkov-Hofstede model of culture, and it employs a mixed-methods approach. Results from a survey conducted with children and a content analysis of TV ads from the region reveal that commercials promoting low-nutrition foods are more persuasive than those featuring healthy products. Consistent with the collectivist nature of SEE's culture, ads using group settings are predominantly recalled. Contrarily, in opposition to prior knowledge, the use of monumentalistic (vs. flexibility) attributes in commercials does not enhance the memory retrieval of ads. Children's ad preferences are significantly influenced by their self-concept. The implications of these findings for various stakeholders are discussed.     

Television ad-skipping,consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising

Endogenous consumption of advertising is common. Consumers choose to change channels to avoid TV ads, click away from paid online video ads, or discard direct mail without reading advertised details. As technological advances give firms improved abilities to target individual consumers through various media, it is becoming increasingly important for models to reflect the endogenous nature of ad consumption and to consider the implications that ad choice has for firms’ targeting strategies. With this motivation, we develop an empirical model of consumer demand for advertising in which demand for ads is jointly determined with demand for the advertised products. Building on Becker and Murphy (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(4), 941–964 1993)’s ideas, the model treats advertising as a good over which consumers have utility and obtains demands as the outcome of a joint utility maximization problem. Leveraging new data that links household-level TV ad-viewing with product purchases, we provide empirical evidence that is consistent with the model: ad-skipping is found to be lower when a household has purchased more of the advertised brand, and purchases are higher when more ads have been watched recently, suggesting that advertising and product consumption are jointly determined. Fitting a structural model of joint demand to the data, we evaluate consumer welfare and advertiser profitability in advertising targeting counterfactuals motivated by an “addressable” future of TV. We find that targeting on the predicted ad-skip probability is an attractive strategy, as it indirectly selects consumers that value the product. Reflecting the positive view of advertising in the model, we also find that net consumer welfare may increase in several targeting scenarios. This occurs because under improved targeting, firms shift advertising to those who are likely to value it. At the same time, consumers that do not value the ads end up skipping them, mitigating possible welfare losses. Both forces are relevant to assessing advertising effects in a world with improved targeting and ad-skipping technology.     

Cultural differences affect interactive television advertising

Comparing results from the UK and the USA, this study shows that even subtle cultural differences between two very similar countries can affect new forms of advertising such as interactive television (iTV) commercials. The UK pioneered the mainstream use of iTV advertising, and now it is a mainstream advertising option in the USA on cable networks and online TV networks like Hulu. This study tests whether effective iTV-ad execution factors identified by a previous study of 500 UK iTV campaigns are similarly effective in the USA based on data from 257 iTV campaigns run on the experimental Wink platform between 1998 and 2004. It finds that specific cultural differences make iTV advertising in the USA unique, but also identifies potential globally effective universals for iTV ads. The results of this study allow advertisers to predict the most effective alternative ideas for iTV advertising campaigns run in the USA and potentially in other countries around the world.     

How advertising literacy training affect children's responses to television commercials versus advergames

This study examined children's advertising literacy level for traditional versus embedded advertising formats by comparing their cognitive and affective advertising literacy level for television commercials vs. advergames. The study also explored how cognitive and affective advertising literacy further attenuate advertising effects by investigating the mediation impact of cognitive and affective advertising literacy on the relation between the ad's format and the purchase request. Third, the study investigated how an advertising literacy training session moderates these effects.

The results of this experimental study showed that advergames lead to a higher purchase request rate among children than television commercials. However, only affective but not cognitive advertising literacy mediated the effect of the advertising format on purchase request. In addition, a training session was shown to accelerate children's cognitive (but not their affective) advertising literacy for advergames, but not for television commercials.     

Selling through entertaining: The effect of humour in television advertising in Hong Kong

Considerable research evidence has indicated that humour has a positive impact on attention but no consensus is reached with regard to the persuasive effect of humour in advertising. Two hundred and fifty-four university students were recruited to watch five television commercials and respond to a structured questionnaire in this study. Results show that humour secures attention getting while disrupts message processing. Humour enhances message persuasiveness when the moderating variable need for cognition (NFC) is controlled. Participants with low NFC are easier to be persuaded by humorous commercials than participants with high NFC do. It is also found that repeated exposure to the same humorous commercial does not harm its persuasive effect. Male audiences regard humorous commercials as more persuasive while female audiences are the opposite. The study provides guidelines for advertisers/advertising practitioners who would like to employ humour in their communication at the same time it draws ethical concerns towards the increased application of entertainment-coated persuasion.     

Nudity of female and male models in primetime TV advertising across seven countries

This study partially replicates and extends previous research on nudity by examining TV advertising across multiple countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, South Korea, Thailand and the United States) and by incorporating multiple factors (cultural values, advertising regulation and product type). Results show that female (but not male) nudity differed substantially across countries, and females were portrayed in greater states of undress than males. US and Chinese commercials showed the lowest level of nudity, whereas German and Thai ads showed the highest level. Cultural values (masculinity/ femininity) and advertising regulation (pre-clearance policy) explain only minimally the degree of model nudity in ads across the countries. Although each of the three factors offers some value for predicting degrees of male and female nudity, congruent product category appears to be the most significant predictor, supporting a match-up hypothesis and congruency theory. Results are discussed in terms of global advertising strategy.     

How coviewing reduces the effectiveness of TV advertising

In the present study – a naturalistic laboratory experiment – coviewing of TV commercials reduced their effectiveness (delayed proven ad recall) from 63%, obtained by single viewers, to 43%, for both coviewers. During coviewing, the ‘mere presence of another’ apparently distracts each coviewer's attention from the screen. The reduction in TV ads' effectiveness due to coviewing is equivalent to the loss from channel-change zapping, which reduces ad recall to 45%. More deleterious but less prevalent modes of digital video recorder-enabled ad avoidance are skip-button zapping, which reduces recall to 35%, and moderately fast zipping ( × 8 fast forward), which reduces ad effectiveness almost entirely, leaving only 6% recall. This study concludes with some practical suggestions for improving the effectiveness of TV commercials seen by a coviewing audience.     

Make product placement work for you: Get less exposure

Expenditure on product placement has grown faster (170%) than on advertising (15%) over the past 10 years, but some evidence suggests that the return on investment has been declining. For the well-known, fast-moving consumer goods/consumer-packaged goods (FMCG/CPG) food brands typically placed in local TV programming—the context of this article—the management problem of overfocusing on brand exposure hinders gaining brand choice, the ultimate strategic goal of marketing. Managers’ preconditioning, ease of measuring, and assumptions about the value of exposure contribute to their subtle placements becoming blatant or in other problems, as when other promotional devices, like a television commercial or program sponsorships billboard, get bundled into the same TV episode as the company’s own product placement. The higher brand exposure gained can evoke negative mental outcomes in consumers, weakening influences on brand choice. An experiment with a large sample of grocery shoppers supports such an outcome. More strategic value can also be gained from product placements in general by their use longitudinally, in-between campaigns of TV commercials, as an instructive tool and through normalizing a brand’s role in a consumer’s life. We provide eight checkpoints for marketers to consider when planning to use product placement to gain value for their brands.     

A nonverbal test of naturalistic memory for alcohol commercials

This study investigated a nonverbal test of memory for naturally occurring events: alcohol commercials. Such tests, supported by dual‐code and transfer‐appropriate processing perspectives from basic research, are useful for research on consumer behavior and public health. The participants were 750 adolescents who completed a nonverbal test of memory, tailored to detect prominent visual features of remembered alcohol commercials. The results showed (a) that independent judges reliably coded primary features of remembered advertisements along most dimensions, and (b) the test met important criteria for convergent and discriminant validity in comparisons with other measures. Applications were proposed for research on advertising effects, health behavior, and media copy testing. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.