December 1996Danish children’s & their parents’ perception of TV advertisingGfK DanmarkAd Hoc Research Danish children’s and their parents’ perception

December 1996Danish children’s & their parents’ perception of TV advertising

GfK Danmark Ad Hoc Research

Danish children’s and their parents’perception of television advertising

for children’s products

Survey of children and television advertising conducted by GfK Danmark

A/S



The purpose of the study has been to shed light on...

Parents’ general attitude towards 5-12 year-old children’s television watching

5-12 year-old children’s and their parents’ general attitude towards television advertising for children’s products

Children and parent’s reactions to selected television commercials with the purpose of contributing to a broader understanding of television advertising’s influence on ...

Children’s upbringing and everyday life Children’s consumption pattern and consumption

motives Children’s ability to form a realistic impression of the

actual products Children’s and parents’ interaction to advertising

understanding

To obtain more know-ledge about children and

television commercials?

To obtain more know-ledge about children and

television commercials?

3



Regulations

Denmark has special regulations for the protection of children and youngsters below 18 years if age - In 1996/97 where the study was carried out these regulations were prevailing. Following some key sentences from these regulations:

Commercials are not to be performed in a way that take advantage of “the natural credibility and loyalty” of the children

Commercials … may not prompt the children to … move into dangerous places, use dangerous products or bring them in dangerous situations

Commercials … may not appeal to children to convince others to by a certain product. No prize rewords to children

Commercials may not undermine social values - e.g. tell that ownership, use or consumption of a certain product gives advantages compared to other children

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Regulations

Commercials must not mislead children regarding size, value, character, validity or performance of a product. Clear indications of right size, function, content, part of a series, price and relevant age groups

Characters, dolls, persons etc. from children’s programmes must not be used in commercials

Commercials for chocolate, candy, soft drinks, snacks etc. must not indicate that the product can replace ordinary meals

Children below 14 years of age may only appear in commercials where children are a natural part or are necessary to demonstrate the use of the product, they may not give recommendations or give evidence for products in commercials



Method: Qualitative analysis

6 mother groups

Techniques: Observations Mutual joint discussions Stimuli influence: television

programmes Individual response measures Confrontations - mother/child “Product purchase” “Play”

Test categories: Toys Candy Foodstuffs Media

Analysis unit

6 children groups

Test products

?

Test products

40 DUO-interviews

2 father groups

?

Test products



Method: Children selection

All from the area of Greater Copenhagen

All can watch both TV2 and TV3 Period:

Last week in November/first week in December 1996

The children were recruited via kindergartens, schools and youth centres

A spread on the test child’s age position in relation to brothers and sisters

Recruited in friendship pairs

3 x6: 5 and 6 year olds6: 7 and 8 year olds +7: 9-10 year olds

3 x7: 6 and 7 year olds7: 8 and 9 year olds 7: 10 and 11 year olds

Girls

Boys

All their mothers

All their mothers+ 14 fathers



Method: Test materials(only commercials directed to children)

Television programme followed by a commercial block

6-8commercials

a group

Com

mer

cial

sign

Approx. 20 min. programme“Bananas in Pyjamas”

5-7 year olds“Tom & Jerry” 7-12 year olds C

omm

erci

al

sign

• Kinder Bueno (girls 9-10)

• Min. Col. Cinderella (girls 9-10)

• Sunkist” (children 9-12)

• Barbie Nibbles (girls 9-10)

• LEGO Western (boys 6-12)

• Donald Duck (children 7-12)

• Air Devil (boys 8-12)

• Street Sharks (boys 8-12)

• Kinder Pingui (all)

• Baby sister Shelly (all girls)

• Lillebror yoghurt (children 5-7)

• Food’n Fun (children 5-7)

• Magic Stars (children 5-8)

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Method: Test materials (only commercials directed to children)

Television programmes interrupted by commercial break

6commercials

a group

Com

mer

cial

sign

Approx. 17 min. programme”The wicket in the book”

girls 5-11 y.o.“Spiderman” boys 6-10

“Freakazoid” boys 11-12 Com

mer

cial

si

gn

The restof the

programme

• Barbie Nibbles (girls 5-9)

• Kinder Bueno (all)

• Min. Col.Cinderella (girls 5-9)

• Kinder Chocolate (children 5-10)

• Lillebror cheese (children 5-8)

• Action Man (boys 6-12)

• LEGO train (boys 6-12)

• LEGO Technic (boys 8-12)

• Monopoly (children 9-12)

• Frosties Snowboard (children 9-12)

• LEGO Belville-pre (girls 9-11)

• Polly Pocket Rodeo (girls 9-11)

• LEGO Belville-rid.comp. (girls 9-11)



Method: Test materials

In all 23 television commercials with matching products selected by senior lecturer, dr. in pedagogy Birgitte Tufte and GfK among more than 75 commercials

4 test commercials were new films for new products not yet introduced on the market at the time of the test

17 test commercials were new (almost new) films for existing products

2 test commercials to complete cluttersCinematic techniques for selection:

simple/complex closed action/episode/demonstration pure realism/fiction humans/dolls/animated characters

Real noveltiesReal

novelties

New filmexisting products

New filmexisting products

Old ones as supplement

Old ones as supplement



Method cont.

Planning, accomplishment and reporting:

GfKin cooperation with senior lecturer, dr. in pedagogy Birgitte Tufte The Royal Danish

School of Educational Studies

European Advisers

Group of partners



Results

- and the material can still be used for various studies!- and the material can still be used for various studies!

41 hours of video recording

Over 1000 pages transcript

“Hundreds” of pages basic report

One big report for today!

With many important conclusions



Parents’ general attitude towards children and television:

In average the children watch television and video 2-4 hours a day, varies according to gender, age, time of year and weekday

Relaxed attitude; but can say “no” if necessary

Many different types of programmes from early morning to bedtime. Children’s television mostly for children below the age of 8-9 years

At the age of 9-10 the children obtain more and more the right of self-determination Tele-vision in their room, freedom to stay home alone after school

OK

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TV habits - more in-depth

2-4 hours seems long in comparison with 1½ hours of the TV-metre, but it is realistic

Qualitative survey - mutual control Satellite children Individual video watching

The children watch TV in the morning before kindergarten/school, when they come home in the afternoon, and in the evening before going to bed

In the morning - while it is something new and to have a less stressed morning - some children are not allowed

In the afternoon as amusement In the evening either when having supper or after having done their

homework

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The children watch more television during the weekends - morning TV - so that the parents can sleep late - often the father joins the children and “get cosy with them lying on the couch with their duvet”

Less TV watching in the summertime than during the winter TV habits depend on gender and age

The youngest girls watch more TV than the youngest boys (3-4 hours)

The 7-8 year-old girls watch less TV than the 5-6 year-old girls bigger social network

The oldest boys (10-11 years) watch TV far more often than the younger boys computers and text-TV are competitors though

The oldest girls watch less TV than the oldest boys

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The children watch various programmes - not just children’s programmes - they stop watching those at the age of 8-9 years

Other interesting programmes: Cartoons (the same for the younger children - the girls do not watch

it much when they get older) The Monday Quiz Wheel of Fortune Fort Boyard The Town Quest Old Danish films (comprehensible and quiet pace) Baywatch Beverly Hills Station 2 Rescue 911 X-files

Family entertainment

Girls from 5-6 years of age

Boys from 8-9 years of age

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The positive aspects concerning TV…

The children are learning something! E.g. foreign language - the ability to read. About animals and nature

The children find it relaxing to watch TV - they need that Saturday/Sunday mornings - TV means that the parents can

sleep late When the children watch TV, the adults have time for other

things (“child-minding” only relevant for children below the age of 9-10 years)

The video is indispensable when the children are ill

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The negative aspects concerning TV … The children become inactive, lazy and tired It can limit their fantasy The children might become isolated - less socialising if it comes to

this the parents say “No” The boys in particular sometimes react perceptibly on violent films

By becoming violent themselves By becoming afraid and having troubles sleeping If it comes to this the parents say “No”

The children often watch TV without the presence of adults - alone or with brothers/sisters/friends - especially in the morning and the afternoon



Parents’ general attitude towards television commercials directed to children:

Television commercials are accepted as a part of the media picture

But the children must not beg too much for the advertised products - it is more difficult for the fathers to stop the begging than for the mothers

- the younger children beg more than the older children

+ the children learnto become criticaltoward commercials

Commercials create needs, but...

OK! If Peter doesn’t beg too much

+ commercials caninspire and give ideasfor list of wishes

Commercials do notalways keep their promises,but...

One become tired of watching the same com-mercials again and again



Parents’ general attitude towards children and television, cont.:

The many commercials means that the children cannot possibly beg for everything and also give the parents a better opportunity for explaining “that you cannot buy everything you see in commercials”

The parents often underestimate their children’s ability to comprehend the commercials - in particular the older children (above 8 y.o.) notice more details and understand actions better than what the adults expect

Does Peter understand

that?



Children’s attitude towards television commercials directed to children:

Even the youngest children understand the purpose of commercials. “Commercials show different things you can buy” (quotation: 5-6 year-old)

Except from the youngest ones (below the age of 7-8 years) the children are perfectly capable of distinguishing between television programmes and commercials

The older the children get the more critical they become towards commercials - the repetitions are annoying, some commercials “cheat” and some become “hate commercials”

Commercials are perceived as “a pause” in which you can do something else or change channel

Commercial breaks seem more annoying than commercial blocks

Friends

Toy advertising

Video/computergames

Parents

School

Tv pro-

grammeCatalogues

Shopvisit

Brothers/

sisters

Adults’ reaction



Parameters that are important for perception of television commercials:

Children have a more detailed perception than adults - the perceived details give more realistic product expectations

The age group of 5-12 years has a very differentiated view on things - what is “hot” among 7-8 year-olds can be totally “out” among 9-10 year-olds

The story is very important for children up to 9-10 years, even complex stories are being understood and remembered

9-10 year-old children and older are more focused on “special effects”

Children have a “memory of an elephant” - novelties must be “real” in order to catch the children’s attention



Parameters that are important for perception of television commercials, cont.

The unexpected catch - The barrier transcend-ing story elements create attention; but are not always accepted

Ambiguities, subtlety and irony are not understood by children under the age of 8-9 years - they perceive things literally

Children have to be able to identify themselves with “actors” and/or the story - the way of identifying oneself varies among younger and older, boys and girls

Prior knowledge works as a filter for adults’ as well as children’s perception and acceptance of commercial messages

?




Accordance between picture, sound and text track promote comprehension. The visual aspect is the most dominant factor in relation to children’s expectations - “speak” and text play a minor role

Both adults and children “deduct” from what is shown and said in the commercials. Even the youngest children are aware that “the smoke and the stardust” are not a part of the product, but they believe in almost anything else

The more critical 9-10 year olds also adjust their level of expectation in accordance with what they find to be “over-claims”

But even though the children rationally are capable of “deducting” - the emotional “hope” always remains as something to be tried out or pursued

It may not be true! - but yet on the other

hand




Product specific details are very important for children of all age groups. The details must be correct in order not to disappoint the children. ¸ “over-sale”

On the other hand many children directed commercials “under-sale” - due to forgotten details which the children find important. The details have great influence not only the first time they see the commercial, but also when it comes to the children’s joy at seeing it again - they might find even more details



Are the expectations fulfilled?

Most of the tested commercials created realistic expectations

The immediate usage value is essential for children as well as adults. If the product does not live up to the communicated message the children add the experience to their “memo of commercials that cheat”

Often both children and adults find it difficult to create the precise expectations to size if they have no prior knowledge about product. Misunderstandings concerning size appears to be less important as to the positive product experience

Yes, usually!



Are the expectations fulfilled?

It is of high importance that the product tastes as promised in the commercial or that the toy works as demonstrated in the commercial

Contents and quantity are often misunderstood without leading to disappointment - it depends on the immediate usage value. The children do not expect to have all the things shown in the commercial, but they must be able to use what they get without having to have/buy other things

The level of completion for toys often leads to disappointments - especially among the younger children - they “forget” that the toys have to be assembled before they can play with them - a number of commercials make no effort out of communicating the usage value of the assembling phase itself

Expec-tations Product

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Children and television advertising

Parents can say no The children become more and more skilled in advertising The children’s perception diverge from the adults’ in many ways

Documents

December 1996Danish children’s & their parents’ perception of TV advertisingGfK DanmarkAd Hoc Research Danish children’s and their parents’ perception