Televizyon reklamlarının çocuklar üzerindeki etkileri

Abstract

Türkiye'de çocuklar genç nüfus içinde geniş bir yer tutmaktadır. Dolayısıyla çocukları tüketici olarak ele alıp incelemek gerekmektedir. Ancak, tüketim davranışları bakımından yetişkinlerden farklıdır- lar. ve belli bir yaşa kadar, yetişkinler gibi, doğrum dan değil dolaylı olarak tüketim..davranışlarında bulunurlar. Çocuğun tüketim davranışında bulunmasını etkileyen ve tüketimine yardımcı olan en, önemli kaynaklardan biri televizyon reklamları dır.Özellikle televizyonun çocuklara ilgisini şok fazla çekmesi, nedeniyle, televizyon reklamları, çocuklar üzerinde olumlu ve olumsuz pek çok etkiye sahiptir. 3 Çocuklar televizyon reklamları ve televizyon rakamları arasındaki farkı tam olarak bilmemektedirler. Bu nedenle televizyon reklamlarında anlatılanların çoğunu doğru olarak kabul etmektedirler? televizyon reklâmlarının, satış amacıyla hazırlandığını anlayamayan çocuklar, reklamların içerdiği ürünleri ya kendileri satın almaktadırlar ya da aielerinden ist emektedirler? Çocukların çok fazla reklam İzleme durumunda olmaları, reklamların tekrarlanma oranları, reklamlar da çocukların en fazla hoşlandığı konuların karakterlerin ve çizgi filmlerin kullanılması ve reklamların çocukların sevdikleri program saatlerinde yayınlanmaları,. reklamı hazırlayanların eline çocukları etkileyebilecek çok güçlü araçlar vermektedir. Bu konu üzerine dikkatle eğilmek ve reklamların çocuklar üzerinde zararla, sayılabilecek etkilerini gidermek gereklidir. Televizyon reklamları hazırlanırken çocukların sinirli bir bilgi işleme yetenekleri olduğu göz önünde bulundurulmalı ve çocukların bu zayıf noktalarından yararlanmak isteyenlere karşı gerekli önlemler alınmalıdır. - x -

Öur children are so important. For not only tfeiy all tomorrow* s consumers, but also they are the Future. In this way» they are the group in the society who are mf fee ted by the television advert is inğ mostly. Since, children's imagination is so wide* they like distinguished, different things. They regard the things that are w&tohed on television* as tr«ü.ee If it is not explained to them that they »ay not he true, they can easily accept the wfong things* For this Reason, their biggest problem is that they beli^ eve everything they watch on television. They can not realise the aim of advertising that is to increase the sales of product and the trying of the product* They Can hardly underst and tbis aim. On the other hand ad vertisers know this. They try to persuade the child ren to want and^biiy the product that they plan to sell v/ith the B,elp of children's weak points. Tîi@s.«;&re very important effects of television advertising on children some effects are negative, some positive. For exeiaple j 1. Children watch too much television. 2. Advertising uses technological processes which may be deceptive (fast motion, loud, music, etc.) 3. program characters -are..potentially^ too per suasive and should not be allowed to advertise products to children during the programs on which they appear. 4* Adults dominate children's advertising 5.İönTnutriti02aal food is o ver- emphasized in advertising 6. Violence is over-emphasized in programs viewed hy children* 7. Television is anti-ednCation&l and not in formative enough. 8. Television induces passivity in children and decreases their interaction find playtime. Generally »the heaviest viewing groups of television are children. Babies start watching tele vision as early as three months old, because their - xt.._mother feed them while they are watching soap operas or talk shows. And then, children become active television watchers during all non*:soh©6l hours. Before the; impact of television advertising eh w&s explained, some important issues should he 1» Ğögniti^ı^reeall 2.* Modeling/ s ter eo typing 3» fhe persuasion effects 4, School achievement and. creativity 5* deception Omost importantly) In this s t tıûy a s igni f iöant differ en© e was found ' hy -a^ge- in the. degree of -awareness- of. commercial existence aöd the child's ability to discriminate.bet ween commercials and television progranaaing. âs children move from first grade to five grade* their cognitive focus goes from `concrete` to wratiohal`, their mode of assimilation goes from `imi-* tative'* to *»purpos ive w and different imt ion goes from `undifferenti^tion'» to «abstract/general izatiohM and, their level of judgement goes from ''impulsive/submissive` to `conscientious/ utilitarian`. Quite simply* as most children grow ©Idea? they mature in their cognitive ca- Very youhg children have no perceptual defen ses against persuasive advertising messages because of their lack of skill in information processing* younger children tended to like commercials, because they liked the product being advertised and that the complexity of recall- increases' -with age» Children's attitudes toward television adverti sing would reflect their stage of cognitive development in addition to their level öf exposure to television and their socio-economic status* A significant relationship was found to exist between cognitive development and a child's ability to ?understand the concept of a television commercial, with older children better understanding of commercials are presented. fhe level of cognitive development in children determines what a child perceives, comprehends and attends to in commercial presentation. - yii -On the other hand, over time children will develop an -understanding of commercials and will `beco me mere selective in their attitude toward them. Obviously children imitate the world they see around them. Children use television characters as ro le models. Children do imitate the people around them. The process by which children select television models, however, is less certain. Most research should be un dertaken to determine the extent to which television advertising can influence the coiaumption specific and general behavior of children in the televiewing audien ce. The impact of television advertising Qn achie^- vement is unclear. The success of Sesame Street is in part a function of television advertising, because the developers of Sesame Street knew sometining about children's responses to commercials. Television advertising aimed at small children iş most persuasive when it is authoritarian and com mands the children to act. Advertising to older child ren is more successful wh@n it plays on the themes of şelf*-gratifieation and social acceptance. On the other hand, advertising which appeared unrealistic to children would not be effective in pers uading them : to consume product. But children are most likely to be persuaded to buy if television commercials depict moving pictures and motivating scenes. Children are most influenced by commercials which sell products that the children already prefer copy strategies which utilized animals., fun setting and humor were the most effective with the. children studied. Television commercial motivating children to try to obtain advertised products* Children who app roach television viewing with high, expectancies toward products will have more favorable attitudes toward them and engage in greater efforts to try to obtain them....A `persuasive intent` commercials is one which basically attempts to persuade the child to make or request a purchase. The intend of commercial results was broken into three hypothesized areas. - xiii -1. Developmental factors (e.g., age, education) 2. Cognitive factors (e.g., awareness and percep- 3» GonoetuenGes of in^eîid (e.g.» liking» motiva tion). There are the effects of volume and repetition of television oommercials* 1. That Certain `long-term effeots` may result from children* s exposure to commercials. These effects increase with. emulative exposure to television commerci als as children grow older. 2. That certain effects may result from frequ** ent exposure to commercials throu^x `heavy viewing` within age groups. Susceptihlty to persuaââon is the most common of these alleged effects» 3. That volume effects are also relevant in the short-term via the*Tolustering` of commercials in blocks between programs versus distributing them bet- ween and during programs. Proponents of clustering allege that it helps children to discriminate between program content and advertising content op. onehts allege that custerihg lead to «clutter` and poorer individual commercial performance, which unfairly pe nal isses the advertisers. 4. That repetition of the same commercial re sults in stronger effects than a single exposure. Most often» the allegation is that increased susceptibility to persuasion results from such repetition but also included are other potential effects» such as `irrita tion0* A research has been carried out with 3^1 children f ör i^tepurpose of defining the influences of television commercials on children, According to the research, children have spent their le-isure time by reading and watching television. But:-younger child ren have been watching television much more than older children, lit the upper and lower social classes child ren have prefered watching television and playing! but in middle income class, children have prefered studi- ying their subjects. In this study firstly children's television viewing patterns were explained. Because children's television viewing patterns is relevant in several ways to a consideration of the effects of television adver tising on children. - xiv -In school days, children have `been watching television ön the average of 2-3 hours. This has no relation betweeh income and their ages. 98,3 % of them have been watching television. As â result children could watch the commercial that are in the program and between the programs. 93.7 % of the children have alre ady po iated out that they watch the television eommer-.. ciais. Parent may prevent their children for watchisig television. Because parents believed that television prevents them from doing their activities;, television affects their eyes bad, it also mixes up their sleeping hours and they claim that some of the programs are not suitable for children. This prevent ion has been applied to all the children whether they are younger ör not, whether they are in lower class or not. That means, irrespective of their age and parental income, children have been put pressure for not watching television by their parent. Children have decided on choosing the program mostly by reading ne?/spaper. This selection pattern has increased in proportion to their ages. But younger child ren are taking into consideration their parents' sugg&- According to some researçhş, television has been getting the children9 s time that could be spent oh studying subjects» being with their parent* and playing. But in this study the most of children prefered studying. Also parents havef©laimed that television has good points such as developing the children's speech and imagination, teaching new information, improving their creativeness and increasing their interest to music. But children themselves have pointed out the reason of watching television as firstly due to entertainment and second helping their lessons and third getting knowledge on other countries and people's life. Children who are members of lower class Parents have defined television that it is an entertain ment tool. Children who are the member of middle and upper class parents have pointed out that television is both a teacher and entertainer. - xv -It iş very important to define the tool which are used to affect children ' hf television advertising. If the commercials broadcast befor or after programs which are watched by children, this is not admitted» Because it has been doh£ on purpose* The most prefer ed programs by children have been carton movies and carton charactered programs. Then sport programs and television series have been coming. Ih addition to this» girls pprefer 'carton mo vies television series an cinema, ön the other hojrs prefer canton movies and sport programs. As their ages become old, they prefer the prog-^ rams suitable to adults. Those are in that ordefj te^ levisioh series, music programs, news, So, using the cartoon animation in commercials have created a confidence to commercials among children. It has been a strong tool in order to influence children for the advertisers. On the other hand, children like to imitate what they watch on television. It is investigated that children* s most willing to be similar with the characters- Those are clever, strong, funny and beaut if ul/han&some characters. - younger children have pre fere d the funny ones, but the olders have pref ered the clever ones. Girls have been pointed out that they want to be similar to clever ones, on the contrary boys want to be similar to strong; ones. Children in upper class have prefered to becor- me beautiful and handsome. As a result» using such kind of characters in commercials have been affecting children very much* Music, cartoon characters, animated displays, sudden changes in sounds, toys, slogans that are used in advertisments have taken children's attention. These properties are the result of using audio- visual system in television commercials* With the help of this system, children's attention is gained and the first step of advert isment *> reach th© selling aim are created. Children who watch too much television adver- tisingy have defined toe. intent of broadcasting tele vision advertising in that order, ^it gives information - xvi _about product`, `they are broadcasted, between the televi sion programs!1, *it is prepared for completing the time`. ît is proved that younger children do not know the intent of television advertising, Just 9* 3 % of the chiidresn have b een saying that advert laments aim is to sell products. As the income group and children's ages iacrea-* sej the number of children who are awere of advertising as the tool that aimss to increase the products sales^ have been increasing. Generally speaking, ehildr#n couldn't unders-^ tant that advertising has a selling idea and role. So it indicates that children can not be aware of the aim of advertising and maight admit totaly true of what is said in an advertising» îhe differences between a television program and an advertising has been defined by the children such as i `commercials are shorter than programs`, `öommeroials have a high frequence`, `commercials are kept in mind much more`. Younger children said thatt they don>t;;knöw the difference between advertising and television prog-5 rams. So, children admit the things that is said in adve2?tiging true and this has became an important advan-». tage to advertisers. $he other important point is :rthat, television advertising affects parent-child relations....' 1. Consumption requests by children, partieular^ ly those attributed to advertising, may strain parent- child relations. 2. This strain may be greatest among ecohomieal- iy disadvantaged families, who presumably must deny most requests, 3. Denial may be frustrating to both parent and child leading to guilt and resentment.. 4. Childress requests may complicate family^ consumption priorities, especially among the poor. Some members of the marketing community hold a contrary view, claiming that advertising can result in a positive interaction between parents and child, teaching the child intelligent habits of purchase and consumption. - xvii -Parents are least likely to buy the product W&en the child appeals by giving the reason öf other people using it. The greatest likelihood of parental buying occurs when a child wants the prize ör premium associated with the product ör when the child says he/ she saw it on television. Parents often responded that the `saw it on te~ lüviMön»» appeal was usually çûübineâ with more infoaoa^ t ion such M& economy and eaae of use* Oh the other hand, children aöt as consumers in s everâl ways. 1. By making personal purchases -spending small amounts of money on their own. 2, By making direct requests at home. 3, By making direct requests in the store. 4. By `passive dictation` (parents buying what they know their children willing consume and avoiding what they resist consuming). In general, the incidence -.of children's in- f amir ly purchase requests varies with the age of the child and the product category. There is also some tendency for social class to relate to the incidence of purchase requests. But in this research it was found that the relationship between age and. requests is not partieu*- larly strong. Children's purchase requests decreased with their ages. Younger ehil dren want to: buy all things in television advertising, but older children want to buy them less than younger children. Because older children can understand the intent of television adver tising and their experiences about advertised products more than others. The incidence of purchase requests were found to be the same for all social classes. Parental atti tudes toward ehilden' s television advertising are gene rally negative, but are probably not very strongly held or important in their lives, Yielding to children's purchase requests vari es by product category, and seems to increase with the age of the child. Disappointment, conflict and even anger are found when parents deny requests. - xviii -Another thing is that the majority of 7--1Û year olds were able to specify clear principles of wliat advertising should and should not do. Many of the 9-10 year ©Ids were able to articulate fair prin ciples of advertising in the abstract, but admitted that they could not really evaluate advertising. Their respoaases `to advertising claims dep ended largely on their having had personal experiences with misleading advertising* In the study it was found that a mistrust of Commercial increased with age. It is clear that children are affected by television. This is most likely to be a function of a number of factors * including the child* s age, the frequency of exposure to. the commercials the creative nature of the commercial and parental attitudes. As a result, children's advertising is impor tant and serious. Millions of dollars are spent each year developing products* J?or children and communica ting to children and their parents the benefits and attribut es of those products. There are two important aspects of children* s television advertising* One is the economic and fi*- nahoial aspect j the other la*1: the information aspect.» Marketers and advertisers do not want to give up broadcast cotffiaunicâtion to children, because there is evidence that these messages are persuasive. Per suasion means money to those marketers and advertisers. But g^ond aspect may be more important. Advertising give children the information about products and ser vices on television. Television is the aa^or medium utilized by children and it is one that has a tremen dous potential to inform. Television indeed has ha<L a great impaot on the minds of children. üome people claim that televisioti advertising to children is deceptive, material ist iöally oriented, conflicting, frustrating and, in the main, a negative influence» The marketer and the advertiser, believe that most advertising is not deceptive and that infor mation about products and services is vital if children are to develop into mature and efficient adult consumer. Educators are in the middle. xixConsumer advocate groups should &©t sponsor research which will mşrely support the banning of te levision advertising te ekiMren, nor should marketers and advertisers support only that research which -judges them innocet of wrongdoing» There is a need for coo peration among policy makers, parents, ©daeat orş, child development specialists, marketing researchers and others to arrive at some definitive cone Lus ion' s re- gardiûg advertising* s impact on children. With or without teievisiön advertising, the consumer educ&tion öf our children firstly is a func** t ion of their parents, the schools and other family institutiems secondly and the government the last, $he policy maker's role should be to ensure that children are not treated unfairly `by advertisers and marketers. Playing the consumer role is a legitimate activity for children but that advertisers must take children» s limited information processing ability in to account. - XX -