PROJECT REPORT

ON

“EFFECT OF ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN AND THEIR

BUYING BEHAVIOR”

Submitted for

“BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS AND PROJECT WORK”

BCOM(HONS) SEMESTER- 6th

To

Ms. Manjot Kaur

MATA SUNDRI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

(University of Delhi)

By

NAME: TANVI THUKRAL

(University Roll no.- 15044504167)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research report is made possible through the help and support from everyone including

my teacher, parents, family and friends.

First and foremost, Iwould like to thank Mata Sundri College for Women for providing me

with this great opportunity to work on this report and choosing my own topic of interest.

Secondly, I would like to thank my subject teacher Ms. Manjot Kaur ma’am for her support

and guidance throughout the making of this research report. She helped me in completing the

project report.

Finally, I sincerely thank the respondents who gave me their precious time to answer the

questionnaire. The fulfilment of this research project would not be possible without all of

them.

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this Project Report titled “Business Research Project on Effect of

advertising on children: Special reference to confectionary products” submitted to the

department of Commerce, Mata Sundri College (Delhi University) is a record of original

work done by me under the guidance of Ms. Manjot Kaur.

The information and data given in the report is authentic to the best of my knowledge.

This project report is not submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any

degree, diploma or fellowship or published any time before.

-TANVI THUKRAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1:- INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Advertising?

1.2 History of advertising

1.3 Changing scenario of advertising

1.4 Common advertising methods

1.5 Effects of advertisement

2.1 Advertisement and children

2.2 Effects of advertisement on children

2.3 Kids’ viewership and statistics

2.4 Language preference of kids

2.5 Kids’ viewership activity hours

2.6 Ad sector performance

CHAPTER 2:- LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 3:- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Statement of problem

3.2 Research Design

3.3 Scope

3.4 Sampling plan

3.5 Instrument

CHAPTER 4:- DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER 5:- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER 6:- CONCLUSION

6.1 Recommendation

6.2 Reference

CHAPTER 1:-INTRODUCTION

1.1 WHAT IS ADVERTISING?

The activity or profession of producing information for promoting the sale of

commercial products or services can be simply known as Advertising.

It is an attempt to influence the buying behaviour of the customers by providing a

persuasive selling message about the products/services.

It’s objective goal is to attract new customers by defining a target market and

reaching out to them with an effective advertisement campaign.

Defining the target market is an important task since you need to know your targeting

audience before advertising a product. For example, if the target audience is old aged

people then Facebook as an advertising medium would be a poor option. Building a

target market involves building a demographic profile of the prospective customer by

considering facts like age, gender, marital status, shopping habits, income, lifestytle

etc.

1.2 HISTORY OF ADVERTISING

In ancient times the most common form of advertising was by word of mouth. The

archaeologists have found Babylonian clay tablet dated 3000 BC having inscription of

a shoemaker, a scribe and an ointment dealer. Commercial messages and political

campaign displays were found, where little shops used to have inscriptions on walls

near the entrance to inform the pedestrians about the products to be purchased.

The tradition of wall paintings started way early in 4000BC in India. Phoenicians used

to use rocks for painting messages on it. The other mode of advertising was the word

of mouth to talk around and tell people in the town that was used in Greece and India,

where town criers were paid to go around town spreading news and making

announcements in the streets.

As printing developed in the 15th and 16th century, advertising flourished. The first

known print advertisement in English appeared nearly 40 years after in the form of

handbill of rules for the guidance of clergy at Easter released by William Caxton of

London. In 1525, one ad highlighting the virtues of a drug printed on a circulated

sheet appeared in German news pamphlets.

Indian Advertising starts with the hawkers calling out to people right from the days

when cities and markets came into existence. It all began with classified advertising.

Ads appear for the first time in print in Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, India’s first

newspaper (weekly) . To ‘advertise’ meant basically to ‘inform’ people until the end

of the eighteenth century, and the early newspapers and periodicals announced births,

deaths, arrivals of ships from England, sale of household furniture, etc. some journals

like the Bengal Journal (first published in 1785) even offered to print government

advertisements free.

The front page in a journal was generally dedicated to all sorts of advertisements. But

before long copies began to replace mere information. This is evident from the

appearance of punch lines such as ‘superior to anything of the kind hitherto imported’

and ‘warranted to the first quality’. Discounts and special services also began to be

offered by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Later, new products and services

were introduced and established in the market through advertising. The power of

advertising increased rapidly with the growth in trade and commerce.

‘Agents’ flourished at that time as space contractors, obtaining advertisements for

newspapers and periodicals on a commission basis. Leading newspapers like ‘The

Statement’ and ‘The Times of India’, which had their own departments started

outsourcing to these agents. This proved to be an advantage for both advertiser and

publisher, it ensured the advertiser to not worry about the layout of the advertisement

and for the publisher it saved the hassle of maintaining standards of an advertisement.

This practice led to the emergence of advertising as a profession. These ‘Agents’ were

the ones who led these ‘advertising agencies’.

1.3 CHANGING SCENARIO OF ADVERTISING

Marketing through advertising is considered an important variable in the global

business. As cinema has an influence on the society, advertising is second to it. History

says that the great Romans practiced advertising. Their surnames indicated their

occupation. When manual press was invented in the 15th century, the potential of

advertising increased as an occupation. After that the demand has been increasing.

Advertising is, in fact, the most influential and powerful medium in the present

commercial society. It has the power of creating a worldview, shaping our attitude and

beliefs. Advertisements influence every part of our life and we hardly realise that. In

the movement for equal status and fair treatment to women, an important part is

attributed to the mass media, particularly to electronic media.

The central position of media in daily life ensures its role in advertising

business. The advertising business can never come to an end or face a drop in the market

as there is an endless scope for selling off content and influence customers’ buying

behaviour. The meanings that are created by media are not fixed, but they vary

according to cultural, historical and social backgrounds of the people concerned. The

common man judges the products on the basis of the understanding his society and

culture has built in them.

Symbolism is an important part of advertisement and a change has been

observed in it. Use of women to promote a concept or product is increasing day by day.

In the advertisement world, advertisers have picked up women for advertising of

consumer commodities. Women are used in TV commercials as weapon of persuasion.

Women in many cultures make the majority of consumption decisions; hence

they are important target of these advertisers. So the advertisers find it easier to sell the

product by using the same gender. But most of these ads hardly need women as models.

For example, there is no need to ask females to do an ad for a men’s shaving cream.

The list is uncountable. Most of the companies want to attract the consumers by using

the physical look of the models. They have created a world of fantasy. And we are

drawn towards that world without realizing much about the realities of life. We try to

imitate whatever is shown on the Television. The media must play the role of a

watchdog in such a situation.

1.4 COMMON ADVERTISING METHODS

Reaching a target market requires different types of advertising methods to be used as

follows:

• Online Marketing 1. Email

Emails can be a good way of reaching out to a mass of customers by having their

email list to provide information related to products and services.

2. Local website

Many municipalities and Chamber of Commerce chapters have websites that

provide listings of local businesses.

3. Facebook

Social media is always a good option to reach millions of people conveniently

and so a business Facebook page can be created to promote products and

services.

• Newspaper Advertising The oldest but an evergreen method of promoting products and services through

newspaper ads is still an effective way to reach customers.

• Yellow pages Using printing pages to advertise products.

• Cable TV and Radio

Ad commercials on tv and radio are seen and heard by millions. Cable

companies also offer local channels to small businesses for advertising. The majorities

of television commercials feature a song that viewers soon relate to the product being

advertised.

Virtual advertisements may be put through into regular television programming

through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into blank backdrops or used to

replace local billboards that are not so important to the remote broadcast audience.

More adverse, virtual billboards may be put into the background where nothing exist in

real-life. Virtual product placement is also possible.

Radio advertisements are broadcasted as radio waves to the air from a

transmitter to an antenna and then to a receiving device. Airtime is purchased from a

station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the obvious

limitation of being restricted to sound, this becomes its major disadvantage.

• Cold calling

Advertising by calling in person to promote their services and build a relationship

with the customer.

• Mobile billboard advertising

Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens.

These can be on separate vehicles built specially for carrying advertisements along

routes preselected by clients, they can also be specially-equipped cargo trucks or, in

some cases, large banners on planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being

backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while

others change; for example, continuously rotating among a set of advertisements.

Mobile displays are used for various situations in urban areas throughout the world,

including:

• Target advertising

• One-day, and long-term campaigns

• Conventions

• Sporting events

• Store openings and similar promotional events

• Big advertisements from smaller companies

• Others

1.5 EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING

1. Identifying brands Every business has a different brand identity to differentiate from the other to

sell their products in the market. This brand identity is communicated to the

mass through advertising. Consumer becomes familiar with a particular brand

over the years and builds an emotional relationship with it.

2. Information

It broadcasts different information related to products and services through

different mediums of advertising so that the customers know what is available

and where to buy it. It shows size, colour and various other features, the

related store for the product.

3. Demand

Advertising generates a lot of demand for the products and services to be sold

through ad commercials by targeting the customers who are most likely to buy

them,

4. Persuasion

Products reflected in the form of images and ideas compel customers to buy

the it to achieve a certain level of emotional fulfilment. Advertising tells you

how the product, service or idea you are considering can improve your life.

The meaning of the product becomes more attractive and idealistic that it

persuades the customer to buy the product.

5. Previewing new trends

Advertising lets consumers know the in and upcoming new trends in the

market which motivates the customers to buy new products because they don’t

want to be left out. They offer coupons, rebates and trial offers on new

products to get new customers or to motivate the existing ones to try new

things.

2.1 ADVERTISING AND CHILDREN

Majority of television viewers in India today are kids less than 15years old. But sadly

there’s no focus on the impact of what is broadcasted out there on the TV channels. All

of them are hustling in a competitive mode for winning the race for viewership. In this

order channels are concerned more about “what interests or attracts” rather than what

is “in the interest” of children. Neither the Government nor the parents or the teachers

seems to be concerned about this situation. For, the generation next and the civil society

of the country is shaped and molded by what they are exposed to today on the “idiot-

box” day in and day out.

Research studies have shown and proved the various types of negative influence

of intense viewing of television by children. The direct influence of TV viewing on the

extent of violence and aggressive behavior pattern of children has been observed – even

in India. In fact, there are a couple of confessions by adolescents as to how they picked

up ideas about a rape or robbery or revenge or killing or suicide or kidnap, etc from one

or other TV programme. Even some court judgments have commented on such effect

of TV programmes. That TV has a double-sided effect and that it is the negative

influence which is more than the positive influence.

But what is not realized is that there are no serious efforts to explore positive

virtues of TV and that parents who should be more concerned about such a phenomena

hardly do anything about it. In fact, studies have brought out, for example, that in

Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, parents enjoy the same fare of TV along with their children

and as keenly; where as in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, parents try to restrain their

children in favor of some discriminative viewing. Teachers and social activists in a

couple of places have been occasionally demonstrating about the influence of television

contents. Political parties too do not seem to be concerned to do something about. BJP,

however, had referred to this adverse trend in its election manifesto a few years

ago. But did nothing on coming to power.

Even the code for advertising, although inadequate, is aware of “implications”

to children of certain broadcasts and realizes the scope for misuse. For example, under

the code no advertisements should be accepted which lureing children to believe that if

they do not own or use the product advertised they will be inferior to other children or

that they are considered less than other kids if they do not use branded

products. However, in reality there is neither strict monitoring of the advertisements

nor a rigid follow-up despite that many ads on television fall under this category. And

most of these children’s channels have become marketing outlets for brands altogether

to India.

Marketers also work hard to increase “nag factor” of their product, a term which

means how often do children pressurise their parents to buy an item. Findings show

that an above average number of children watch television rather than other

communication and entertainment tools. Children have become a separate market for

investing in by the advertisers and so advertisers spend a lot of money to influence

children as the targeted market.

Advertising makes kids demand the advertised items and it creates the desire that they

compel their parents and it puts a pressure on them. Advertisers have been using new

tactics to taget the emotions of children by making the advertisements more attractive

and influencing them to build a buying desire for the product. Children exposed to

advertising choose advertised foods products at significantly higher races than those

who are not exposed. The ad commercials can also be misleading and

misinterpretated. Advertising can also be considered a health problem since an

audience who cannot understand the meaning of a commercial can consume products

that may make them fall prey to various health problems. Food products advertised on

television create more obesity levels in children than the ones which are not

advertised.

2.2 EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN

Advertisements are made all attractive to entice the customers to buy the product

frequently or even once. More advanced and creative ways are used to make the ad

commercials stand out and promote a product successfully. However, ad makers

should remember that advertisements have a great impact on people, especially

children which sometimes could be negative or positive.

Positive Effects of advertisements on kids

i) Advertisements makes the kids aware of the new products available in the market.

It increases their knowledge about the latest innovations , in the field of

technology as well as otherwise.

ii) Convincing ads, which center around healthy food products, can help improve the

diet of a child, if they are attractive enough.

Negative Effects of advertisements on kids

i) The little ones get fascinated by some products due to the way they are shown in

the commercials and persuade their parents to buy it for them, whether useful or

not. They tend to get adamant if it’s not bought for them.

ii) To make the ads more fascinating for the audience, many a times stunts are

performed but they can only be performed by some experts. Even though the

makers broadcast statutory warnings with it , kids often try to imitate those stunts

which could be dangerous for them.

iii) Flashy ads broadcast in television generate impulse shopping in children.

iv) Children often find contentment in the materialistic joy after watching these flashy

ads.

v) Kids become brand conscious as they find the costly brand products more

attractive. They disregard any other thing below that.

vi) The preferences of kids in terms of everything from their daily needs to clothing

etc gets affected by advertising to a great extent.

vii) Junk foods , such as pizza, burgers and soft drinks are heavily promoted during

children’s TV viewing time. This develops a craving for fatty and fast foods

thereby affecting their health.

2.3 KIDS VIEWERSHIP AND STATISTICS

Even in today’s technology enabled world, where little ones have access to digital

devices and alternate media sources, Television continues to play a great role in the

lives of Kids when it comes to media and watching entertainment at home. In this

section we’ll decode and see the status of kids’ viewership. Kids as a target group are

of interest not only to broadcasters but also advertisers, due to the potential they have

in influencing the household purchases.

Kids as an audience i.e. the age-group of 02-14 years, accounts for 20% of total TV

impressions. This is the highest share across all age cuts. This 20% is further split

between channels whose primary audience are Kids and all other channels where Kids

are the incidental viewers. As depicted in the graph, non-Kids channels dominate with

87% of viewership share. This massive viewership of non-Kids channels could be due

viewership

Non-Kids channels

Kids channels

to co-viewing. Keeping in mind the massive share of eyeballs that kids contribute to

non-Kids channels, let us further look at the genre split and preferences of Kids

audience on these channels.

GEC Channels and Movie Channels together account for over 80% of Kids

viewership on Non-Kids Channels, of which GEC channels dominate the larger share.

Music channels and News channels also seem to be more popular among Kids in

comparison to the rest.

2.4 LANGUAGE PREFERENCE OF THE KIDS

Kids’ preference for languages at an overall level reflect the larger universe, with Hindi

being both the dominant as well as over-indexed language in terms of viewership by

kids. Regional languages across the board typically see a marginally lower proportion

of viewing among kids, while English sees a marginally higher proportion of viewing.

The availability of content in more languages on non-Kids channels has led to a more

fragmented viewership on these channels. Whilst Hindi (which also includes Dubbed-

Hindi content), continues to be the dominant language of viewership across both, the

key take-out is the high English based consumption within Kids channels. When Kids

are consuming content exclusively on Kids channels, the propensity to consume

English language content is much higher, than on non-Kids channels, where the remote

is mostly controlled by the family, and Kids’ viewership is incidental. This goes on to

show that Kids are far more conversant with English as a language in comparison to

the family unit, which continues to prefer and watch television in Regional languages.

GEC Movies Music

News Sports Others

2.5 KIDS’ VIEWERSHIP ACTIVITY HOURS

Kids viewership on television increases gradually through the day from the morning till

late afternoon (1500 hrs), after which the viewership drops. The major difference is

witnessed post 1800 hrs, when Kids lose control of the remote, and the viewership shifts

from kids channels primarily to general family entertainment channels. It is also

interesting to note that the day-part viewing pattern of Kids on Kids channels

corroborates with their weekly routine.

The viewership on Kids channels peaks later on a weekday (1200-1500 hrs) as

compared to on a weekend (when viewership peaks at 0900-1200 hours). This is likely

because the older kids go to school in the morning. In the afternoon, these school-going

kids are back home, thus adding eyeballs to television. On weekends the kids are at

home in the day (0600-1500 hrs), and hence the viewership is much higher across these

time bands when compared to the weekday. But in the evening, they may step out to

play with their friends or for a family outing, and hence the viewership dips slightly

below the weekday average.

2.6 AD SECTOR PERFORMANCE

According to many observations, Food & Beverages is the most advertised sector on

Kids channels, and garners the maximum impressions as well. However, looking at

the effectiveness, Household Products and Miscellaneous ad sectors perform better in

delivering kids impressions with respect to commercial time. The Household Product

sector is primarily being driven by the mosquito repellant category, whose ads are

typically kid oriented and feature children a lot. On the other hand, Miscellaneous ad

sector includes kid-friendly categories such as Toys Indoor Games, Writing

Instruments, Stationery and Film Trailors amongst others. Except for Retail and

Service sectors, all other sectors are regular consumption/ FMCG products, which

indicates that kids are increasingly watching such ads on television and are able to

influence family purchase decisions.

Summary

▪ Kids as an audience account for the highest share of Total TV impressions (20%)

across age cuts. Of this, majority of viewing takes place on non-Kids channels, which

can be attributed to co-viewing.

▪ Film based content is extremely popular among Kids across television. Along with

Serials and Miscellaneous programmes (primarily cartoons & animation), it comprises

the top 3 content preferences for Kids.

▪ Kids are far more conversant and comfortable in viewing English language

programmes on television as compared to the family unit, who prefer consuming

television in regional languages.

▪ Viewership on Kids channels increases gradually through the day, till 1200-1500

hrs, after which a decline can be observed. This is because kids lose control of the

remote, and viewership shifts from Kids channels to family entertainment channels.

▪ Kids are highly receptive to daily consumption/ FMCG sector advertisements such

as Food & Beverages, Hair & Care, Household Products etc. Also because of co-

viewing, it becomes easier for kids to influence their parents.

CHAPTER 2 :- LITERATURE REVIEW

(Jignesh J Patel-2014) In the 1940s and 1950s children were not considered

consumers but only an extension to the purchasing power of their parents. With the

advent of television and other mass media, children have emerged as consumers and

have become an important target audience for the business. Advertisers are the first to

find out children’s value as consumers who are capable of making decisions about

spending. The 1950s dates the modern era of children's television programming, when

a deal between struggling television network ABC and Disney brought The Mickey

Mouse Club and Disneyland into children's afternoon television programming. It was

generally a personal gain of the consumer in case of advertising as they decided to

purchase the sponsored product. Over the next 15 to 20 years, children's television

became an industry by itself.

In the late 1970s, a research team funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)

estimated that children viewed an average of about 20,000.- commercials per year.

There was so little study on this topic during the 1950s, the majority of the studies on

children's television advertising environment goes from the 1970s onward. The

advertised products to children were limited to toys, cereals, candies and snacks, and

fast foods. There were male voiceovers for the great majority of ads and animated

characters hardly appeared. While marketers and advertisers invested more interest in

the child market during the 1980s, research on children's television advertising of that

period consisted mainly on replications and extensions of previous research. Children

who watch a lot of television, want more toys seen in advertisements and eat more

advertised food than children who do not watch as much television. Children also

influence their friends and parents to watch those certain commercials and compel to

buy a certain product.

It is very common for the advertiser to show ads in which the child would acquire

superhuman strength by eating a specific breakfast cereal, or would leave a group of

friends in choking clouds of dust by running with the sponsored sneakers. Toys ads of

that time were sponsored by unknown brands which would generally become famous

by getting linked with top television channels. Children’s ages are also significant to

understand the advertisements. Children’s understanding of television advertising and

content’s influence increases with age, because of maturity and increased experience

with the medium. A majority of 5-8 years old have low awareness of what a

commercial is and what is it highlighting; and although three quarters of 9-12 year old

children may demonstrate a medium level of awareness (eg. commercials tell you

what to buy).

(Divyang Tiwari-2015) A number of reviews have examined the research on

advertising effects on children and have concluded that advertising of food results in

greater preferences and purchases of such products. (Hastings et al.2003;IOM,2006)

also, viewing media sources to a larger extent leads to more unhealthy diets and

higher body weight among children. Many studies have also focused on the change in

eating habits of children due to exposure to food advertising. In one of the studies,

children were introduced to an overnight camp to a usual cartoon with fruit or candy

advertising. Over a period of 2 weeks, children who saw the candy ads selected fruit

and orange juice as a snack less often than other children. There is a need to research

and find out more relativity between food advertising and unhealthy diets. There was

a demonstration too by Halford and colleagues that children eat more immediately

after watching a food advertisement than some other ad.

Children consider Television as one of the life necessities. It is seen over the years

that advertisers have majorly targeted children as their target audience to sell off a

product as its easy to influence them. Children often compel their parents to buy these

products without needing after watching the ad commercial. It’s observed that

children who discuss often about such advertisements with their parents are more

likely to make buying requests for the products. Children spend a large amount of

their time watching television and they do not miss the ad commercials too in between

the programme breaks just to pay attention to something being advertised.

Commercials broadcast during children’s programming are designed to capture the

younger child’s attention by the use of cartoon characters, music, subjective camera

angles and editing.

(Chithira John and C. Sengottuvelu-2017) Gbadeyan, R. A. (2009) conducted a

study on children's perception of television commercial. The research concluded that

young children do not understand the selling motive behind advertising and where

they do understand; they remain very vulnerable to peer pressure and this is where

advertising benefits from. Amin Asadollahi, and Neda Tanha (2011) studied the role

of television advertising and its effects on children. It is found that children are more

vulnerable to advertising and the study suggested some measures to limit excessive

advertising to children. Mansoor Nisar, Muhammad Zia-urRehman, Muhammad

Haroon and Tahir Masood Qureshi (2011) studied the impact of food advertisements

on children's food purchasing behaviour. Research shows that television food

advertisements are playing a greater role in children's purchasing behaviour. In

addition to this, when the behaviour of the children is examined, it is observed that

children consume food which are rich in fat and sugar while watching television and

persuade their parents to buy the products seen in the advertisements. Zain-Ul-

Abideen, Salman and Saleem (2011) studied the impact of advertisements on

consumer's buying behaviour. The results of the research clearly indicate that there

exists a weak association between environmental responses and the consumer's

buying behaviour including its attitudinal as well as behavioural aspects.

(Zain Ul Abideen and Rashid M. Salaria-2009) The advertising sectors

intentionally exaggerate the influence and possible adverse influence of the product

they are advertising. They tend to display an innocent aspect of daily life in their

advertisement and hope that this innocent potray of life would not only attract the

attention of potential customers but would also influence them (Adler et al., 2004).

Marketers have been giving a lot of attention to children as customers. Young

children are more influenced from the TV advertisements as compared to other age

groups. And they generally believe in what advertisements have to say about the

products. If the advertisements are not very complex, and it says something new, then

a child would simply fall for it. (Rice et al., 1988). Children up to five years old are

generally fond of hearing the same story again and again. This repeated showcase of

an ad usually enhances their attention towards the ads, and in a few cases, it was

found that the children tend to lose interest due to this repetition too. A direct

relationship was found in the repetition of commercial and ability to attract children’s

attention (Wellman, 1990). The advertisers prefer to target children for their

advertising because of the easy influence and deep impact. In view of the children’s

importance of influencing purchase decisions the advertisers not only target them at

home through television but also target them through advertisements in class rooms

and schools (Barcus et al., 2004). Children’s understanding of advertising messages is

dependent on factors like, their ability and skill to categorise commercial from non

commercial content and also they must be disbelieving towards the persuasive content

of advertising within the limitation of their knowledge. This process of assessing TV

commercials is known as cognitive growth and intellectual development (John, 1999).

The growth stage of a child plays a role in the effect of commercials. Children do not

understand what and why sales pitch is used. So, one of the major reasons for

television advertising is to change the attitude and behavior of the audience.

A single advertisement may marginally affect the Brand preferences of a child.

However, repeated exposure of the advertisement may build a strong desire for the

advertised products, as compared to competitive products (Robertson & Rossiter,

1979). Children may not be able to remember TV commercial over time; however,

positive attitudes toward an advertised product may last for another week despite the

fact that the ad has been forgotten (Silverman et al., 1988). The ad commercials based

on products such as toys, cereals, and ice creams have a longer impact even if the

frequency of these ads is limited to one per program (Zuckerman et al., 1978).

The researchers have shown that children’s product knowledge is primarily based on

TV commercials (Caron & Ward, 1975). Goldberg’s (1990) study in Quebec used a

naturalistic setting and provides reliable evidence that a child who watches more ads

for cereals marketed for children, the more likely it is that that product will be found

in the household. It has been claimed that a child’s developing sense of preferences on

what to eat is influenced by the foods that he or she sees in television commercials.

The awareness of brands adds security to the lives of these children.

(Amir Waqas Mudassar Naz Aslam-2014) Today, companies spend massive

amount of their earnings in advertising in different media such as television, radio,

magazine and etc. And television is one of the common media for this reason.

Advertising is the nonpersonal message containing the information frequently paid for

and credible in nature about products, services or ideas by recognized sponsors

through the various media (Datta, 2008). The promoter intends to extend his ideas

about the products and offerings among the forecast. Popularization of the products is

thus, the basic aim of advertising (Ramaswami & Namakumari, 2004). The greater

part of the marketers uses mass media for their marketing message. The choice of

media is dependent upon the nature of the message and the intended target viewers

(Etzel et al, 2008). Television advertising is the most viewed and economical media

ever invented. It has a possible advertising impact matchless by any other media

(Saxena, 2005). The advantage of television over the other mediums is that it is taken

as a mixture of audio and video features; it provides products with instant validity and

fame and offers the greatest chance for creative advertising (Kavitha, 2006).

Over a longer period of time, the TV set has become a permanent fixture in all upper

and middle class households, and it is not infrequent even in the poorer society of

urban areas and rural households (Shah & D’Souza, 2008). Reactions to TV

advertisements seem to be stronger than the reaction to print advertisements. The

advertisers find it more effective to use television rather than print media to reach

consumers, partly due to low literacy rate (Ciochetto, 2004). TV advertising not only

change emotions but give considerable message exerting a far attainment influence on

the daily lives of people (Kotwal et al, 2008).

However it is possible to say that even though they are very young to understand, the

most important thing is the advertisements impact on children. It is observed that

children’s attention is affected depending on whether they are watching TV alone,

with their parents or with other children of the same age. Children attention depends

on whether they are playing, eating or occupied with something else while watching

TV. In such cases it is generally assumed that there’s less of watching an

advertisements. Increasingly, children have become active participants in buying

decisions in a famiy rather than being a passive one. Not only do children get their

own pocket money to spend on a variety of products and services of their choice, they

also have major influence on how their parents buy products and services. If children

saw something new in a television advertisement or in a magazine that they liked they

were likely to buy it. Children are young customers always interested in gaining

information about a new attractive product in a market and buying it likely.

Parents tend to involve children in deciding which products to buy, where to eat or

drink etc so the buying decisions are higly influenced by them. Some children are

more exposed to these advertisements on a daily basis since they have a separate

television at their home. Children become adamant on their choices of products and

the parents have to eventually give in to fulfil their demands. Though a direct cause

and effect link is difficult to be established there is a growing message that some

children may be vulnerable to violent images, messages of advertising campaign.

(Pankaj Priya-2014) In advertisements during children programmes, half of the

commercials are based on food advertisement that is unhealthy food (Furnham A,

Abramsky S & Gunter B 1997). A study in U.S stated that 27.2% to 36.6% children

like the advertisement related to food (Powell LM, Szczypka G & Chaloupka FJ

2007). In this study it shows that children view 27.6% of cereals, 17.7% sweets,

12.2% snacks,12 % fast food and 8.8% beverages advertisement. It is also reported

that the children see the advertisement views 20000 to 80000(Dev behav pediatr

2001). Food products are the most important tool for advertising and influencing the

children and 50% or above children target.

According to an estimate the children see the food advertisements after every 5

minutes when they see the TV and also see more then 180 minutes in a week. ( kotz k,

story m1994). Children like advertisements and are more easily attracted toward those

which consists of child models, celebrities, animals and cartoon characters.(Ross et al.

1984; Blosser and Roberts, 1985; Rolandelli, 1989; Collins, 1990; Maher et al. 2006).

Schlooer et al. (1996) surveyed 571 adolescents of California aged almost 13 years

old, they identified that there exists a strong relationship between viewing advertising

of tobacco and then using it. Durant et al. (1997b) checked that advertisements that

have use of alcohols and tobacco, they effect more children. Children are attracted

towards these things easily. Those children who watch advertisements of drinking and

smoking they start using them.

CHAPTER 3:- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Through this research report we want to find out how children are influenced by the

advertisements. So the statement of this product is “Effect of advertisements on

children.”

We basically examine to what extent advertisements effect the choice of products the

children wish to buy.

The subject matter for this project is to study the effects of advertisement on children.

Following are the main objectives to be considered for this report:-

• To know the children’s awareness about various products and their

advertisements.

• To study the impact of advertisement of the products on children.

• To know the TV viewership hours of the children and whether they effect the

buying and eating habits of children.

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design selected for this project is descriptive.

3.3 SCOPE

The research was done in Delhi only. It was conducted in the west delhi and nearby

areas only.

3.4 SAMPLING PLAN

Target population:-

Target population for this research would be parents with children having an age upto

12years

Sample Unit:-

Sample unit for this research would be parents with children having an age upto

12years of a selected area.

Sampling Technique:-

Stratified random sampling

Sampling Size:-

35

Sampling methods:-

Convenience sampling method

Data collection methods

There are mainly two types of data collection methods which are as follows:-

• Primary Data

Primary Data is the one that is being collected by the researcher itself and is

being collected for the first time. Researcher has collected this data with a

specific purpose of studying the problem.

Primary Data in the research process would be collected by filling up

questionnaires from the parents.

• Secondary Data

Secondary Data is the data that already exists and in ready to use format and

gathered by somebody else. This data can be in the form of articles in

magazines, journals, government reports or any other historical data. It might

even be the different articles in newspaper and on the internet blogs.

Secondary Data that would be used by researcher in the research process as

supportive documents are from the various newspaper articles, magazines

related to specific industry, books in the specific field of advertising and various

different internet sites.

3.5 INSTRUMENT

The instrument selected for the primary data is structured questionnaire. I had

personally sent the questionnaire to the sample audience, asked the parents to fill up the

form and contribute to my research. They all had different responses and feedbacks.

CHAPTER 4:- DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis is the process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modelling data

with the ultimate goal of discovering and studying useful information , suggesting apt

conclusions and supporting the process of decision making.

Following is the analysis of the research through the questionnaire that was answered.

1. Age of child (upto 12years)

The above pie chart shows that there are more 10yr and 12yr olds in the age of various

children (6-12yr olds).

2. Gender of the child

The above pie chart shows that there are more number of females than the

number of male children.

71.40%

28.60%

Gender

Female Male

10.00%

17%

15.00%

13%

23%

10%

11%

Age

6yrs 7yrs 8yrs 9yrs 10yrs 11yrs 12yrs

3. Relationship with the children

The above pie chart shows that majority were the fathers to respond for the given

questionnaire.

4. Occupational Status

The above chart shows that in the majority of families the father runs the house

i.e 46% followed by the only mothers working being 33% and in case of both

working it’s 21 %.

44%56%

Relationship

Mother Father

0%

21%

33%

46%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

None working

Both working

Only mother working

Only father working

Occupation

Occupation

5. Family income

The above chart shows that majority of families i.e around 46% have a family

income ranging between 500000-1000000. And there are very less families

around 8% that have an income below 500000.

6. According to you, how often does a kid watch TV?

The above pie chart clearly shows that almost all the kids ie. 82.9% watch TV

always/everyday. That clearly indicates that Television is a life necessity for the

children. Either they watch TV everyday or atleast 3days.

21.60%

46%

24.40%

8%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00%

Less than 500000

500000-1000000

1000000-1500000

More than 1500000

Family income

Family income

82.90%

0%

14.30%

2.80%

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

Watch TV

Watch TV

7. On an average, how many hours, a day the kid watches TV?

The above pie chart shows that majority of kids i.e 54.3% watch TV for 2-4 hours

a day followed by 34.3% of those who watch for max 6hours too. It shows that

kids between the age of 6-12yrs spend maximum time watching TV other than

any other activity during a day.

8. Generally with whom do they watch TV?

The pie chart shows that 37.1% of children watch TV with their elder brother/

sister or alone i.e 31.4%. This also conveys that siblings can influence each

other’s desire for a certain product and eating habits etc.

34.30%

54.30%

11.40%

Hours

0-2 hours 2-4 hours 4-6 hours

37.10%

14.30%11.40%

6%

31.40%

Column1

Elder brother/ sister Parents

Grandparents Others

Alone

9. Do the kids watch advertisements?

The above pie chart shows that maximum number of parents i.e 57.1% think that

their kids do watch advertisements.

10. If not, what do they do during a commercial break?

The above pie chart shows that according to parents 60% of the kids switch

channels in between the ad breaks which indicates that they might not want to

watch an advertisement but some other show on another channel.

57.10%

17.10%

25.70%

Advertisements

Yes No Maybe

25.70%

5.70%

60%

22.90%

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%

Any other

Keep the channel on mute till the ad breakends

Switch channels during TV ads

Leave the room and do something else

Ad break

Ad break

11. Do you think the kids get influenced by the Ad commercials promoting

certain products?

The above pie chart shows that 65.7% of the parents think that their kids get

influenced by ad commercials promoting certain products while 3% disagree to

the statement.

12. If Yes (for the above question), does the kid compel his/ her parents to buy a

certain product?

The above pie chart shows that 77.1% parents think that advertisements do

influence the kid and make them compel their parents to buy a ceratin product

which is true since advertisements are meant to attract the target audience

towards the advertised product.

22.90%

65.70%

8.60%

2.90%

0%

Ad effect

Strongly agree Agree

Neutral Disagree

Strongly disagree

77.10%

5.80%

17.10%

Buying behaviour

Yes No Maybe

13. Do the kids like food advertisement?

The pie chart conveys that 57.9% of the parents agree that kids like food

advertisements while the percentage of those who strongly agree is less i.e 17.1%,

means that there are advertisements of other products too such as toys, candies,

fancy items etc that the kids like. It also indicates that why the eating habits are so

easily influenced by these ad commercials and there is a rapid increase in the

obesity levels of the kids.

14. Do their eating habits change after watching a certain food advertisement?

The pie chart shows that there are equal percentage of parents i.e 45.7% who

think that the food advertisements do or maybe do not affect the eating habits of a

kid. Generally, it does since children get used to eating the junk food and most of

them have a habit of eating while watching tv. But in some cases, advertisements

also create awareness about some health problems related to a food product and

promote a better and healthier product.

0.00%

2.90%

22.90%

57.10%

17%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly agree

Food ads

Food ads

45.70%

8.60%

45.70%

Eating habits

Yes No Maybe

15. Do the kids spend most of their money on the advertised food?

The above pie chart shows that 40% of the parents say that their kids often spend

the pocket money on the advertised products which is a reason why they develop

wrong eating habits over a period of time. Children form their own category of

market for the advertisers as they think children are young customers and play an

active role in buying decisions without realising the worth or need of a product

though.

The percentage of parents who disagree i.e 3% are way less than who do agree.

16. In what ways do you think food advertising affects a kid’s thinking?

The above chart shows that 85.7% of the parents think that advertisements have

their own set of positive and negative effects which is true. Since we see ad

commercials promoting healthy products also and highlighting the hazards of

junk food, we cannot deny that it has its own positive effects as well.

28.60%

40%

5.50%

22.90%

3%

Pocket Money

Sometimes Often Always

Rarely Not at all

85.70%

17.10%

2.90%

0.00% 20.00%40.00%60.00%80.00%100.00%

It has both positive and negativeeffects

It effects negatively since junk orunhealthy food is also advertised

It effects positively since it createsawareness about various health

problems or hazards

Ad effect

Ad effect

17. Do you think ad makers target kids for their personal motive of product

promotion?

The following chart shows that maximum parents i.e 62.9% think that advertisers

target kids for the promotional purpose of their advertisements since it’s easy to

influence children. It’s easy for the ad makers to make the ads more attractive by

adding various elements, cartoons, characters, colours etc to build a desire for a

product among the kids.

18. Do you think ad makers focus mainly on the emotions of the kids and by

making the ad all fancy to influence them?

The above chart shows that that 45.70% parents agree that ad makers focus on

the emotions of the kids and the attractiveness of the advertisements. Followed by

25.7% parents being neutral about it as it depends from ad to ad that what kind of

message is being conveyed through it.

17.10%

62.90%

14.30%5.70% 0%

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

Stronglyagree

Agree Neutral Disagree Stronglydisagree

Promotion

Promotion

22.90%

45.70%

25.70%

5.70%0%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

Stronglyagree

Agree Neutral Disagree Stronglydisagree

Promotion

Promotion

CHAPTER 5:- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The major barriers in conducting the survey are:

1. Time Limitation

2. Geographical Limitations

1. Time Limitations

For a researcher time has always worked as a barrier to his/her research process.

As we conducted the survey in the various parts of Delhi city and asked for their

responses and also observed kids aging between 6 years to 12 years, time has

always worked as a limitation to the research process.

2. Geographic Limitations

As we all know that Delhi is a mega city. It covers big number of people living

in the area. There are thousands of families living in the area. I covered West

Delhi and some nearby areas to do my research. Also the weather of Delhi city

is very hot right now and hence it is impractical to work for more than 3 to 4

hours a day in field.

Also, some parents were reluctant to answer and sonetimes kids do not let you

do the interview for them properly.

CHAPTER 6:- CONCLUSION

The key findings from this project report the important effects of advertising on the

children. The research shows that it’s true, that the advertising has a great impact on

the children, their eating habits, buying decisions etc.

It highlights the fact that kids spend a lot of their time on television and thus it’s a

main source for them to garner all sorts of information about various products and

build a desire to own them even if it’s not needed. It also conveys that kids mainly get

influenced by the ads that focus on toys, candies, food junk , fancy items etc. Kids are

not so mature to detect the importance or worth of a product, they just see and choose

what appeals to them. They become adamant on buying a certain product and compel

parents to buy it for them. On the other side, advertisements do highlight the various

health benefits also of certain products and create awareness amongst the kids.

So in the end of the conclusion it is clear that advertisement has it’s own set of

advantages and disadvantages for the kids. It depends on what an ad commercial is

highlighting and what is the purpose or message behind it.

6.1 RECOMMENDATION

From the above conclusion it should be recommended that the researcher (student)

can aplly more tests on the study. They can use more sample size. If they can’t obtain

main difference then they can apply their study on other things which are related to

advertising and children.

6.2 REFERENCES

Impact of advertising on children buying behaviour by MA Hameed

(http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_2_Special_Issue_January_2014/25.

pdf)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280098783_IMPACT_OF_TV_ADVE

RTISING_ON_CHILDREN'S_BEHAVIOR

Effect of TV advertising on children by C Joseph

(https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-17320-7_14)

(http://www.ijrrr.com/papers2/paper8.pdf) by A Upadhayay

http://www.managementparadise.com/shahjagruti16/documents/21182/effect-of-

advertisements-on-children-with-special-reference-to-confectionary-products/

www.wikipedia.com

Aderson, R., (1995), "Consumer Culture and TV programming", USA: West view Press.

[2] Anderson, R., Engledow, J., Becker, H. (1978), "Advertising attitudes in West Germany and the US.. an analysis over age and time", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 9 No.3, pp.27-38. [3] Bever, T. G., Smith, M. L., Bengen, B., & Johnson, T. G. (1975), "Young viewers' troubling responses to TV ads." Harvard Business Review, Vol. 53, pp 119-121.

[4] Chauhan, R.M. (1995) "Advertising.. The Ad challenge", Anmol Publication, New Delhi

Research paper of related topics