Topic 6 Impact of advertising on children

Question 1

Johnson and young

Answer 1

Content analysis (quantitative) and discourse analysis (qualitative) was done of TV advertisements
broadcast in between children’s cartoon programmes in the USA between 1996 and 1999. They focused
on 147 different toy adverts in particular. This brought out various ways in which gender roles are
reinforced for children through the linguistic side of adverts. For example,
● Names of toys – whereas boy-orientated toys emphasised size (e.g. ‘Big Time Action Heroes’),
those aimed at girls emphasised parenting (e.g. ‘Take Care of Me Twins’)
● Voice-overs – in the boy-orientated toy adverts, all of the voice-overs were male (and 80% of
the time these would have exaggerated loudness and deepness); in adverts aimed at girls,
voice-overs were mainly (but not always) female, and 87% of the time these would have
exaggerated female features (e.g. high-pitched, or sing-song)
● Gendered verb elements – boy-orientated adverts contained more elements emphasising
action, competition, destruction, agency, and control; for girls, their adverts emphasised limited
activity, feelings, and nurturing.
● Speaking roles of girls and boys in the adverts – there was speaking in only 26% of the boy-
orientated adverts compared to over half of the girl-orientated adverts; when both boys and
girls spoke in adverts, girls spoke only in response to the actions or statements of boys
● ‘Power’ discourse – the use of ‘power’ words was much more prevalent in adverts aimed at
boys (e.g. ‘more power than before’; ‘Super Sonic Power Crash Pit Racers’)

It was found that these adverts were reinforcing gender stereotypes rather than challenging them.

Question 2

pine and nash - advert and christmas tree

Answer 2

aim- if TV advertisements would influence how many Christmas presents children want at Christmas.
sample - 83 children aged 4.8 to 6.5 years who had written letters to Father Christmas were interviewed regarding the extent and nature of their TV viewing. They also compared to 16 nursery school children (3.8-4.8yrs) with parents completing a questionnaire, and found the same.
They found:
- Children who watched more commercial television asked for more items from Father Christmas, and also more branded items than children who watched less.
- Requests didn’t correlate significantly with the most frequently advertised toys in the run-up to Christmas. 90% of toys seen in advertisements were NOT asked for in the Christmas lists. This suggests that children under 7 do not recall specific brand names.
- Children who watch television alone asked for more than those who watched television with their family. This suggests that a child is more susceptible to advertising when they are on their own.
- A comparison study in Sweden (where advertising to children is banned) found that children asked for significantly less items.

Question 3

Griths - production techniques in advert

Answer 3

117 toy advertisements in the UK

boys vs girls advert

Varied camera work: use of split screens, slow motion and high speed
More constant pace of editing

Blurred shots made to make the viewer feel as if they are really there
Passively watching staged events

Camera’s tilting down (mimicking the action of looking down at someone – a signifier of dominance)
Camera’s tilting up (mimicking the act of looking up at someone – signifying submissiveness)

Rapid editing pace for excitement
Slower fades and dissolves that reflect gentleness

More use of energetic rock music
Soft background music

Male voice overs only
More female than male voice overs

Question 4

pike and jennings - reduce stereotypes of gender

Answer 4

sample
- 62 mixed gender first or second grade students recruited,
- consent gained from teachers, parents ad the student themselves.

• The toy adverts used were Harry Potter Lego and Playmobil Airport Set (believed to have equal gender appeal).
• They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions:
  1. Shown all boys playing with toys (original advert format = traditional condition).
  2. Shown all girls playing with toys (edited to have girls = non-traditional condition).
  3. Non-toy commercials (control condition)
• After watching the advertisements the children were given 6 toys and asked to sort them to 3 categories (“boys”, “girls” or “boys and girls”).
• The two used in adverts (Harry Potter Lego and Playmobil Airport), two similar type toys (a wooden train and wooden blocks) and two toys traditionally gendered (a doll and a dumper truck)

Result
- Participants in the traditional condition - likely to say the toys were all for boys.
- Participants in the non-traditional condition - likely to say the toys were for both boys and girls.
* Effect was stronger in boy participants.

Conclusion
Overall, the findings suggest that the gender of the model in commercials can have an impact on whom children perceive should play with particular toys.

result 2 - This seems particularly true for boys, which suggests that boys may pay more attention to the models presented.

Question 5

MediaSmart resources

Answer 5

• Media literacy
• a non-profit programme designed for parents/teachers to use with children aged about 6-11 years.
• teach children to think critically about advertising, using real life examples.
• Resources are designed to teach children how advertising works and the persuasive methods (e.g. celebrities, mood music) they might use to entice them.
• Examples of activities are identifying adverts in everyday life, analysing them and even making their own advert.
• Helping them see the ‘tricks of the trade’ and how adverts aren’t always purely factual!