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STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF TV ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN

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STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF TV ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN
Market Forces January 2008

Vol. 3 No. 4

SHOULD WE ALLOW OUR CHILDREN TO WATCH TV INDEPENDENTLY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF TV ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN
TARIQ JALEES & AMBREEN NAZ

College of Management Sciences PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology tariqj@pafkiet.edu.pk Abstract The purpose of this study is to (1) deliberate upon the impacts of television advertising on children, (2) identify the critical “impacts”, (3) empirically test the significant factors. Based on literature survey several impacts of adverting were identified including: (1) unnecessary purchasing (2) low nutritional food (3) violence (4) materialism. The variables derived though the literature survey were used to develop a close-ended questionnaire that was administered to a sample size of 108, drawn through nonproportionate stratified technique. The rating on the impacts of advertising were as high as 3.9 on “low nutritional value” and as low as 3.5 for “materialism”, on a scale of (5 to 1). Pearson correlation was used to measure the relationships of the variables on one-toone basis indicating that “unnecessary purchasing” had a strong relationship with “materialism” (r = .054) and “exposure” (r= 0.54). The weakest relationship was found between “materialism” and “low nutritional value” with correlation of (0 .22). 1.0. INTRODUCTION Television is one of the strongest media and due to its reach it is influencing the cultures of the country. Children of course are the worst victims of TV influences. Its impact on the children are universal. The gravity of TV influence varies from child to child. It depends on factors such as age and personality of the child, their viewing habits that is inclusive of duration of TV watching, types of programs, and guidance provided by the parents.

TV viewing has its pros and cons. On the negative side, excessive TV viewing leads to laziness and inactivity and thus contributes towards childhood obesity. Children who watch lot of



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