Impact of Advertising on Children (Social) Flashcards
What is a stereotype?
A fixed impression or belief that one has about an individual, based solely on their membership of a particular group
What is the background research for the impact of advertising on children?
Pine and Nash (2002)
Hanley (2000)
Smith (1994)
Outline research by Pine and Nash (2002)
50 children who were told to make a Christmas list
40% of children between 7-12 years old asked for at least 1 advertised toy, with younger children being more influenced
It found that children who watch more commercial TV tend to request more toys on their Christmas list.
Outline research by Hanley (2000)
Found that individuals that were in direct contact with the child had the greatest influence on children’s behaviour, but role models such as celebrities on television are highly influential.
Characteristics:
- Easy to copy.
- Similar to other acceptable behaviours.
- Jokes
- Mole models
Outline research by Smith (1994)
Smith analysed TV adverts and found that adverts featuring only one gender were gender-role stereotypical.
Girls were seen as nurturing and caring.
Boys are seen as powerful and action-based.
Advertising limits children to the ideas about how they play and what they play with and may ultimately limit the types of roles they try when they grow up.
Outline the aim of research by Johnson and Young
To determine whether advertisers script adverts differently for males and females of school ages, linking toys to gender stereotypical roles.
What was the research method used?
A content analysis study, where researchers coded filmed material shown in television adverts relating to boys’ and girls’.
What sample was used in the research?
Samples of children’s television cartoon programs on commercial
The total number of commercials included within the time boundaries was 478
How were the adverts characterised?
Classified by the type of product being sold.
Classified at the gender in which they were aimed.
Voice over elements:
- action
- competition/destruction
- power/control
- limited activity
- feeling and nurturing
What were the findings from the analysis?
The names of many of the advertised toys vividly positioned verbal images of boys and girls in their cultural context.
A male voice-over was heard in every one of the boy-oriented and boy/girl oriented adverts.
The vast majority (89%) of the voice-overs in girl-oriented adverts contained female voices though there were some with male voices.
What did Johnson and Young conclude from this research?
Gender stereotypes underlie television adverts as they portray males and females through traditional gender stereotypical discourse.
Reasons for gender-stereotypical portrayal might include reliance on historically successful marketing strategies and/or profitability in creating gender-specific consumer behaviour.
What are the potential strategies to reduce the impact of advertising on children?
Medial Literacy
Banning advertising to children
Taxing on advertising
Outline media literacy with edividence
Be AdWise’ is a set of resources produced by Media Smart that aim to teach young people to think critically about advertising within the context of their daily lives.
Pine & Nash (2002)
Reviewed studies and found that many children below the age of 7-9 years of age lack an understanding of persuasive intent. This showed that they do not know when they are being manipulated.
Outline banning advertising to children
Children should not be seen as consumers.
Research has linked the commercialisation of childhood with low self-esteem, unhappiness, bullying and premature sexualisation
Sweden has taken the step of banning all advertising to children
