Research Methodology
Statement of the Problem
Through this report we want to find out how children are influenced by the advertisements especially
of confectionary products. So the statement of this project would be ‘Effect of Advertisements on
Children with special reference to confectionary products’
The research process goes within the following confectionary products:
 Biscuits
 Chocolates
 Wafers
 Noodles
 Sauces
 Health Drinks
Objectives of the Study
The subject matter for this Project is to study the effects of advertisement on children. Following are
the main objectives of this report.
 To know the children's awareness about confectionary Products & their advertisements.
 To study the impact of advertisement of confectionary Products on children.
 To know whether is there any connection between TV watching habit of children and their
medium of study or not.
Research Design
Research design selected for this project is Descriptive.
Scope:
The research will be done at Ahmedabad city only.
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Sampling Plan:-
Target Population
: - Target population for this research would be children with age of 8-15
and their parents.
Sample Unit
: - Sample unit for this research would be children with age of 8-15 and
their parents of a selected area.
Sampling Technique
: - Stratified Random Sampling
Sample Size
: - 300 (150 children and 150 parents)
Sampling Methods:
There are mainly two of sampling methods which are being used by the marketers:
1. Probability Sampling (Random Sampling)
2. Non – probability Sampling
Probability sampling is a method for drawing a sample from a population such that all possible
samples have a known and specified probability of being drawn.
Non probability sampling is a sampling procedure in which the selection of population
elements is based in part on the judgment of the researcher or field interviewer.
The sampling method for this report would be probability sampling because here each sample
has equal chance of being selected and again it would be stratified random sampling
Data Collection Method:
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.
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Primary Data in the research process would be collected by filling up questionnaires from children
and their 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.
Instrument:The instrument selected for the primary data is structured questionnaire.
Tentative plan:The tentative plan for this research would be as following.

Research methodology

Advertising Industry

Indian Advertising Industry

Children and Advertising

Rules and Regulations of Advertising to Children

Analysis of Primary Data

Testing of Hypothesis

Key Findings

Suggestions

Conclusion

Bibliography

Annexure
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Expected contribution of the study
The research or study will help to understand how children are influenced by the advertisements of
confectionary products.
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries of this research would be researchers, students & the company with confectionary
products.
Limitations
The major barriers in conducting the survey are:
1. Time Limitation
2. Financial Limitations
3. Geographical Limitations
1. Time Limitations
For a researcher time has always worked as a barrier to his/her research process. As we are
conducting the survey in the different schools of Ahmedabad city and observing the students aging
between 8 years to 15 years, time has always worked as a limitation to the research process
2. Financial Limitations
Another major limitation for this study is financial limitation. Finance is the major limitation for any
study. Again for this study finance does matter to the researcher to some extent.
3. Geographic Limitations
As we all know that Ahmedabad is becoming a mega city. It covers big number of people living in
the area. There are thousands of primary schools where the students are studying. Also the weather of
Ahmadabad city is very hot and hence it is impractical to work for more than 3 to 4 hours a day in
field. (Because children can be interviewed either at the school opening time or the recess time or the
school closing time only).
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ADVERTISING
INDUSTRY
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2.1 What is Advertising?
Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade its viewers, readers or listeners to take
some action. It usually includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service
could benefit the consumer, to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular
brand. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or
services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to
associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Different types of media can be
used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, outdoor or direct mail. Advertising may be placed by an advertising agency on
behalf of a company or other organization.
Organizations that spend money on advertising promoting items other than a consumer
product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental
agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service
announcement.
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2.2 History
As education became an apparent need and reading, as well as printing, developed advertising
expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century advertisements started to appear in weekly
newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and
newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and
medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false
advertising and so-called "quack"(fake) advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the
regulation of advertising content.
As the economy was expanding during the 19th century, advertising grew alongside. In the
United States, classified ads became even more popular, filling pages of newspapers with small print
messages promoting all kinds of goods. In 1843, the first advertising agency was established by
Volney Palmer in Philadelphia. At first, agencies were brokers for ad space in newspapers. N.W.
Ayer & Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content. It was
also the first agency to charge a commission on ads.
In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its
pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the
formula was soon copied by all titles.
In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers
and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. As time passed, many
non-profit organizations followed suit in setting up their own radio stations, and included: schools,
clubs and civic groups. When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularized, each individual
radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the
business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon
realized they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to
multiple businesses throughout their radio station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship
rights to single businesses per show.
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The radio station owners soon realized they could earn more money by selling sponsorship
rights to other businesses. In those days, each show was usually sponsored by a single business, in
exchange for a brief mention of the sponsor at the beginning and end of the show. This practice was
carried over to television in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
However, a fierce battle was fought between those seeking to commercialize this new
medium and the people who argued that the radio spectrum should be considered the commons, to be
used only non-commercially and for the public good. In Canada, advocates like Graham Spry were
able to convince the government to adopt a socialist funding model. England followed suit with the
development of the BBC. However in the United States, the capitalist model prevailed with the
passage of the 1934 Communications Act which created the Federal Communications Commission.
To placate the socialists, the U.S. Congress did require that commercial broadcasters operate in the
"public interest, convenience, and necessity". However public radio certainly exists in the United
States.
In the early 1950s, the Dumont television network began the modern trend of selling
advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Dumont had trouble finding sponsors for many of their
programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses. This
eventually became the norm for the commercial television industry in the United States. However, it
was still a common practice to have single sponsor shows, such as the U.S. Steel Hour. In some
instances the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show - up to and including
having one's advertising agency actually writing the show. The single sponsor model is much less
prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
The 1960s saw advertising transform into a modern approach in which creativity was allowed
to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements more tempting to consumers'
eyes. The Volkswagen ad campaign—featuring such headlines as "Think Small" and "Lemon"
ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a "position" or "unique selling proposition"
designed to associate each brand with a specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind. This period of
American advertising is called the Creative Revolution and its archetype was William Bernbach who
helped create the revolutionary Volkswagen ads among others. Some of the most creative and longstanding American advertising dates to this period.
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The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV.
Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising. As cable and
satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels
entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and ShopTV Canada.
Marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and contributed to the
"dot-com"(.com) boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue,
offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of
websites including the search engine Google, started a change in online advertising by emphasizing
contextually relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users. This has led to a
plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising.
The share of advertising spending relative to GDP has changed little across large changes in
media. For example, in the U.S. in 1925, the main advertising media were newspapers, magazines,
signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising spending as a share of GDP was about 2.9
percent. By 1998, television and radio had become major advertising media. Nonetheless, advertising
spending as a share of GDP was slightly lower—about 2.4 percent.
A recent advertising innovation is "guerrilla marketing", which involve unusual approaches
such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with
brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the
advertising message. Guerrilla advertising is becoming increasing more popular with a lot of
companies. This type of advertising is unpredictable and innovative, which causes consumers to buy
the product or idea. This reflects an increasing trend of interactive and "embedded" ads, such as via
product placement, having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing
social network services such as MySpace
.
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2.3 Changing scenario of advertising
Marketing through advertising is considered an important variable in the global business. Advertising
is second only to films as far as its influence on the society is concerned. History bears testimony to
the fact that the great Romans practiced advertising. Their surnames indicated their occupation. The
potentialities of advertising multiplied when manual press was invented in the 15th century. After
that the demand has been increasing.
Advertising is, in fact, the most influential and powerful medium in the present commercial
society. It creates an entire worldview, shaping our attitude and beliefs. Advertisements pervade
every aspect of our life and most of us are hardly aware of it. 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
meanings that are created by media are not fixed, but they vary according to cultural, historical and
social context of the people concerned. The common man judges the products on the basis of the
understanding his society and culture has inculcated into them.
Symbolism is one of the major aspects of advertisement and it is to be noted that a change has
occurred in this context. 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
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try to imitate whatever is shown on the Television. The media must play the role of a watchdog in
such a situation.
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2.4 Types of advertising
Virtually any medium can be used for advertising. Commercial advertising media can include a wall
paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and
television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web popup, skywriting,
bus stop benches, human billboards, magazines, newspapers, sides of buses, banners attached to or
sides of airplanes ("logojets"), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or overhead storage
bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and
trains, doors of bathroom stalls, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles
(grabertising), the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event
tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message
through a medium is advertising.
Television
The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is
reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events.
The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent
advertising event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game
has reached US$3 million (as of 2009).
The majorities of television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to
the product.
Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer
graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards
that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience. More controversially, virtual billboards may
be inserted into the background where none exist in real-life. Virtual product placement is also
possible.
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Infomercials
An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The word
"infomercial" is a portmanteau of the words "information" & "commercial". The main objective in an
infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then
immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website.
Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly
have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.
Radio advertising
Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio.
Radio advertisements are broadcasted as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an
antenna and a thus 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.
Press advertising
Press advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade
journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major
national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade
journals on very specialized topics. A form of press advertising is classified advertising, which allows
private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a
product or service.
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the
expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online
advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in text ads,
Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and
e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.
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Billboard advertising
Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing
pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing
motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of
viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in
stadiums.
Mobile billboard advertising
The RedEye newspaper advertised to its target market at North Avenue Beach with a sailboat
billboard on Lake Michigan.
Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be on
dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, they
can also be specially-equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners strewn from planes. The
billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard
displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodically rotating among a
set of advertisements.
Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan 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
In-store advertising
In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in
visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters, eye14
catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts
and in-store video displays.
Covert advertising
Covert advertising, also known as guerrilla advertising, is when a product or brand is embedded in
entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a
definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a
phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgaria
logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will
Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them "classics," because the film is set far
in the future. I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz
logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The
Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used.
Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars are
featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Royale. In "Fantastic Four: Rise of the
Silver Surfer", the main transport vehicle shows a large Dodge logo on the front. Blade Runner
includes some of the most obvious product placement; the whole film stops to show a Coca-Cola
billboard
Celebrities
This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain
recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise
their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific
brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or
print adverts to advertise specific or general products.
The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however. One mistake by a
celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. For example, following his
performance of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, swimmer Michael
Phelps' contract with Kellogg's was terminated, as Kellogg's did not want to associate with him after
he was photographed smoking marijuana
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2.5 Recent Trends in Advertising
 Internet Advertising
Internet Marketing is the online advertisement and selling of products, services or businesses
through the Internet. Online advertising is possible only if one has its own website. Having a website
for a particular business is worthless until and unless people know about your business and put their
trust and likings on services that you provide. So, having a website is just like having a shop, if
people find you, they obviously visit it, and visit it again if they find it really interesting.
Internet Advertising is the latest and most effective method of business promotion. It is
necessary to help people find you more easily, know your presence, know more about the services
and products that you offer and assure people what real difference you can bring about in comparison
to other similar service providers. To make your website worth interesting, different Website
advertising strategies are available today, such as, pay per click advertising, banner advertising, email
marketing, search engine marketing through search engine optimization, affiliate, article, blog and
interactive marketing services. If these strategies are dealt attentively, then you can experience the
difference that online business can bring on your business.
There are 26 million Internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20 to 40 - a target-base
for India's rapid growth advertising industry is increasingly looking at. It's reboot time for Indian
advertising with predictions that the online segment is likely to cross the 100 million dollar mark by
2010, according to a study by MSN.
India's advertising industry generates about 2.2 billion dollars annually, according to industry
sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than one per cent of the pie. The total spending
for 2004-2005 was about 18 million dollars, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this
will touch 57 million in 2006-2007.
Internet is increasingly a part of the media mix for advertisers as they realize its high potential
in reach and penetration. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at 700 to
920 million dollars annually. But digital advertising industry players point out that television too saw
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a sluggish beginning and then exploded as cable TV entered the arena. So what's holding back the
online advertising boom? It’s the unfamiliarity with the new medium, a lack of understanding of its
reach and potential, a fear of venturing into a new area. The limited reach of Internet - it has only 26
million users in a country of one billion - is another reason. The mobile industry has far overtaken
Internet with a user base of 50 million in India and is growing by the day.
Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a
campaign, and the advertiser too can filter targets in terms of groups and locales. The Internet has
great cost advantage as well. The cost per 1,000 reach is very effective when compared to other
media. Finance is the main sector going for Internet advertising in India. Most in the advertising
industry agree that today even a brilliant campaign has a vital element missing if there is no Internet
presence.
Leading portals in India like Rediff, Yahoo and MSN are also seeing a revival. Rediff saw an
increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. It largely comprised
advertising and fee-based services like online subscriptions, mobile downloads and online shopping.
And there were more than two dozen first time advertisers the same year. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per
cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading
media groups estimated total advertising on its site to be around 3.5-4.6 million U.S. dollars in 2004.
All top advertising agencies in India from JWT, Lowe Lint’s, O&M and Mudra have interactive arms
or links with the same.
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Internet Users in India:
Year
Users
Usage Source
1998
14,00,000
ITU
1999
28,00,000
ITU
2000
55,00,000
ITU
2001
70,00,000
ITU
2002
1,65,00,000
ITU
2003
2,25,00,000
ITU
2004
3,92,00,000
C.I.Almanac
2005
5,06,00,000
C.I.Almanac
2006
4,00,00,000
IAMAI
2007
4,20,00,000
Internet world star
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 Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertising in India is at a very nascent stage compared to markets like Japan, Korea and
West, but many are reported to be preparing to get into the act. “The future for mobile advertising is
already here, despite not being on many marketers’ radars yet. Hundreds of millions of ads are
already being run, click-through rates are much higher than online. The growth of 3G networks,
IPTV and high end gaming on mobile phones will open new avenues for advertising on mobile.
The size of mobile advertising in India is miniscule, it has potential to grow at 200% a year,
giving operators a new revenue source. With the average revenue per user (ARPU) constantly falling,
it could be a saving grace for operators. From Rs 356 in March last year, the ARPU in December
2006 has declined by 115 to touch Rs 316. The worldwide mobile advertising market is pegged at $1
billion currently. IDC believes with more than two billion mobile users in the world, it prevails as the
first medium through which advertisers can reach such a large audience on an individual basis.
In India, it is currently a Rs 5-6 crore market, set to grow to Rs 20-25 crore by March 2008. It
is clearly a medium that needs to be evangelised to brands as how Internet advertising was done to
brands in early 2000 - 2001. Mobile advertising can take many forms like SMS broadcast, MMS
broadcast, sponsored content, WAP ads and product placement in games. Currently, it is restricted to
SMS based activities in the country. Some FMCG, beverage and entertainment companies have
tested MMS too and few operators have also tried to get sponsorship revenue from value added
services.
Seeing the huge potential of mobile advertising in future, operators like Bharti Airtel, MTNL,
Reliance and Tata Teleservices are exploring the option, but feel it will take some time for the format
to take off in the country in a big way.
Targeted mobile advertising is 50% more acceptable to mobile internet users than untargeted
ads, according to the consumer mobile advertising report conducted with more than 1,200 mobile
internet users across the US, Europe and India. As 70% of the SMSes have less than 40 characters,
value added services provider Cellebrum has come up with a solution where micro advertisements
are inserted into the text messages of subscribers who opt-in to the programme in exchange for
incentives such as free SMS or reduced tariffs.
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In the not too distant future, we will have the freedom to choose whether we wish to pay for
our mobile calls or have it free. Soon enough we will be given a free mobile phone and be allowed to
make and receive calls for free provided we are willing to pay with our attention to short advertising
messages while using these phone. For instance, when we answer or make a call, before we get
connected, we will hear the advertising message. This message will more than likely be of some
interest to us because the advertiser would have information about who we are based on what content
we subscribe to from the ocean of published content.
 Freelance advertising
In freelance advertising, companies hold public competitions to create ads for their product, the best
one of which is chosen for widespread distribution with a prize given to the winner(s). During the
2007 Super Bowl, Pepsico held such a contest for the creation of a 30-second television ad for the
Doritos brand of chips, offering a cash prize to the winner. Chevrolet held a similar competition for
their Tahoe line of SUVs. This type of advertising, however, is still in its infancy. It may ultimately
decrease the importance of advertising agencies by creating a niche for independent freelancers
 Embedded advertising
Embedded advertising or in-film ad placements are happening on a larger scale now than ever before.
Films like Krish had over a dozen placements including Lay’s, Bournvita, Samsung, Faber Castell
and Hero Honda.
 Shift in Message from Product Features to Consumer Benefits
A common rule in the advertising industry is the “one message” strategy. In short, it is based on the
premise that one unique selling proposition (USP) is effective. This reflects concerns over how
communicating a multitude of messages in a single advertisement may easily distract consumers and
cause difficulties in understanding the underlying message, thus weakening the advertisement’s
effects. So, a common and frequently made mistake made in current commercials is that they often
end up communicating product features while obscuring their message and emphasizing
technological prowess. In particular, this trend was noticeable in industries where technological
capability was a differentiating point and complex functions were the competitive edge.
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Recent successful commercials have instead adopted a strategy of soft appeal focused on
consumer benefits, rather than one of hard appeal, communicating product characteristics. The keys
to success for these advertisements have been the use of consumer language and attractive images
when communicating features and technologies. Selecting a simple and clear message as well as
delivering messages focusing on consumers' benefits is helpful to raise message appeal, brand
awareness and brand power.
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2.6 The Role of Advertising:
Advertising is the means by which goods or services are promoted to the public. The advertiser’s goal
is to increase sales of these goods or services by drawing people’s attention to them and showing
them in a favorable light. The mission of advertiser is to reach prospective customers and influence
their awareness, attitudes and buying behavior. They spend a lot of money to keep individuals
(markets) interested in their products. To succeed, they need to understand what makes potential
customers behave the way they do.
For advertising to exist, a number of factors have to be in place
 The goods and services to be advertised
 Competition between different providers of the same kinds of goods and services, for which
there needs to be a significant potential market
 The means of advertising cheaply to large numbers of people
 A population with sufficient education to be able to understand advertising messages
Advertising is a marketing function, and Kotler claims that advertising can have a number of
different, possible objectives. One objective can be to inform customers about new product or a price
change. The main objective here is to build primary demand. Another objective can be to persuade
the customer to purchase the product. The use advertising as a way to build preference and to
encourage customers to change brand. The fundamental purpose of advertising is to influence people
to purchase various goods and products. In this sense advertising is a phenomenon that aims to
persuade or influence people.
What is the role of advertising in the demand function? One response of this question is that a
company can sell more of its product by informing consumers about the product. The information
may include its existence, price, promotion, quality, etc. Therefore advertising is seen as providing
information to consumers. The other response is that advertising searches the way of persuading
consumers to purchase the advertised products by appeals to snobbery, associations of the product
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with favored people or situations, repetition of the same message and so on. Advertising shows the
last style and the new popular products in the market. It displays ideal individuals wearing the new
clothes and looking good. Customers are jealous of this perfection. So that, they go out and purchase
in hopes of reaching perfection.
There is a time dimension at advertising. Advertisement’s influence on sales is immediate (i.e.
it is mostly felt within seven days of an advertisement’s exposure). A repetition of such effects,
measured at the end of a year, amounts to a medium-term influence. The immediate influence of
advertising on sales plays a gatekeeper role to all further effects. Without it there will not be medium
term effect (i.e. a repetition of short-term effects); and long-term effect. Advertisement’s full effect
can be only valued if its long-term influence is taken into account as well as its short and mediumterm effects on sales. These terms make it possible to evaluate the productivity of an advertising
campaign; to measure if the campaign shows a financial return on the investment and is thus
accountable
According to Doole & Lowe (2004), advertising is the most important part of the whole
marketing strategy. There are many channels of media to use for advertising, for example television,
printed media, radio, cinema, outdoor and transport poster. Marketers use television as the most
powerful medium of communication.
23
2.7 Leading Advertising agencies in the world
Here is the rundown of the top 10 advertising agencies that made significant mark in the advertising
business and has pioneered the known best practices in the advertising industry.
1.
BBDO Worldwide, United States
BBDO Worldwide is one of the major three networks under the umbrella of Omnicom. BBDO
Worldwide has long been recognized as the most prestigious advertising network globally. Its
estimated total revenues for 2008 amount to $2.0B.
2.
McCann Erickson, United States
McCann Erickson is the largest agency with global coverage. Its main business focuses on traditional
advertising operations. It also offers a range of innovative marketing services under the umbrella
company known internationally as McCann World group. Its estimated total revenues for 2008
amount to $1.7 B.
3.
DDB Worldwide, United States
DDB is one of the triumvirate networks under the portfolio of Omnicom. It maintains a lower profile
compared to the other two networks that form the triumvirate network of Omnicom. Its estimated
revenues for 2008 are at $1.5 B
4.
TBWA Worldwide, United States
TBWA Worldwide completes the triumvirate of networks under the Omnicom advertising group. It is
more on the non-traditional lines and usually dabbles on the “quirky” side of the business. Its total
revenues for 2008 are estimated to have reached $1.4 B.
5.
Euro RSCG Worldwide, France
Euro RSCG Worldwide is one of the two major advertising agencies in France. Its global reach
covers about 75 countries. After growing through some organizational challenges, Euro RSCG
Worldwide returned to the global scene under a new management group and immediately earned
24
recognition in major publication in the UK and the US. Its estimated 2008 revenues are placed at
$1.2B.
6.
JWT Worldwide, United States
JWT is sort of a legend in the advertising world. It is recognized as the first advertising agency that
was ever organized. The advertising agency implemented major and strategic changes. Its estimated
revenues for 2008 are about $1.2 B.
7.
Y & R Advertising, United States
Y & R Brands is the umbrella organization of several leading marketing service companies which
include leading agencies Y & R and direct marketing outfit Wunderman. It is a 100% subsidiary of
WPP although it maintains a fairly self contained operation. It has gone through difficult stages in its
operations primarily to the disparate performance of the member agencies. The estimated revenues
for 2008 of Y & R are placed at $ 1.1 B.
8.
Publicis Worldwide
Publicis Worldwide is the biggest ad network under the umbrella group Publicis Groupe which also
includes Saatchi & Saatchi and the Leo Burnett advertising network. It has made significant inroads
in its ranking with strategic acquisitions.
9.
DraftFCB, United States
DraftFCB officially started business operations in 2006. Its core business is the integrated marketing
business portfolio focusing on a wide range of specialties and disciplines. Its estimated volume of
business for 2008 is about $955 M.
10.
Wisdek, Canada
Wisdek is one of the emerging and leading online marketing and advertising outfits. It is renowned
for innovative and creative marketing solutions designed for companies that are highly reliant on the
Internet. It broke ground in 1998 and has since then been focusing on innovative projects on site
25
placements on various search engines. Wisdek is the pioneer in an erstwhile non-existent business
interest.
26
INDIAN ADVERTISING
INDUSTRY
27
3.1 Introduction
The Indian advertising industry is talking business today. It has evolved from being a small-scale
business to a full-fledged industry. It has emerged as one of the major industries and tertiary sectors
and has broadened its horizons be it the creative aspect, the capital employed or the number of
personnel involved. Indian advertising industry in very little time has carved a niche for itself and
placed itself on the global map.
Indian advertising industry with an estimated value of 13, 200-crore has set eyeballs gazing
with some astonishing pieces of work that it has given in the recent past. The creative minds that the
Indian advertising industry incorporates have come up with some mind-boggling concepts and work
that can be termed as masterpieces in the field of advertising.
Advertising agencies in the country too have taken a leap. They have come a long way from
being small and medium sized industries to becoming well known brands in the business. Mudra,
Ogilvy and Mather (O&M), Mccann Ericsonn, Rediffussion, Leo Burnett are some of the top
agencies of the country.
Indian economy is on a boom and the market is on a continuous trail of expansion. With the
market gaining grounds Indian advertising has every reason to celebrate. Businesses are looking up to
advertising as a tool to cash in on lucrative business opportunities. Growth in business has lead to a
consecutive boom in the advertising industry as well.
The Indian advertising today handles both national and international projects. This is
primarily because of the reason that the industry offers a host of functions to its clients that include
everything from start to finish that include client servicing, media planning, media buying, creative
conceptualization, pre and post campaign analysis, market research, marketing, branding, and public
relation services.
Keeping in mind the current pace at which the Indian advertising industry is moving the
industry is expected to witness a major boom in the times ahead. If the experts are to be believed then
the industry in the coming times will form a major contribution to the GDP. With all this there is
28
definitely no looking back for the Indian advertising industry that is all set to win accolades from the
world over.
With development in the technology, various avenues are opening up in advertising industry.
It is estimated that about 2.2 billion dollars are generated in this industry every year. Be it is print,
radio, television or Internet, every medium plays a significant role in the growth of this industry.
Today, Advertising Industry in India is surging with revenues. To meet all the demands in adverting
sector, many agencies are coming to the scene.
India is a hub of creativity and this is evident from the fact that more and more people from
Indian advertising industry are being accepted world over and imposing a lot of respect in
international advertising community.
Visibility is the mantra of success these days and advertising makes sure that your product,
service is visible; thus saleable. Today Advertising Industry in India is booming with revenue. It is a
very successful industry which generates lot of revenue. The Advertising Industry in India is getting
recognized worldwide with its superior quality work and innovation. It ensures tremendous growth
and scope for the employees.
During fiscal 2005, the gross advertising spend in India is estimated at Rs 111 billion, and is
expected to grow at 14.2% to reach Rs. 127 billion by fiscal 2006.
The key factors which have contributed to growth of the Indian advertising industry include:
- Growth in media vehicles leading to increase in media infiltration.
- Higher degree of competitive concentration among consumer companies
- Entry of global consumer companies with large advertising budgets
- Increase in consumer riches.
Rapid economic growth of the country on the back of economic liberalization and
deregulation. Indian advertising industry is fast catching up with their western counterparts. The
change has been a slow and steady one, but if you look at the advertisements on Indian television
nowadays, you’ll be vastly surprised.
29
There were times, when it was believed that sex sells anything and everything. Then came the
era of glamour and celebrities. Film stars and cricketers were roped it to sell soft-drinks to massage
oils. Ads were made for cycles and pens. The list is endless. Now, the times have changed. Humor,
industry experts say, sells the best. People remember jokes, the humor involved, and it becomes
easier to make an impact on the customer. The Indian consumer no longer falls into an uneducated,
easy to please.
30
3.2 Top ten Advertising Agencies of India

Ogilvy and Mather Limited:- Headed by Mr. Piyush Pandey:
The most local of the internationals, The most international of the locals are words written to
describe the identity of Ogilvy. Basically, what this means is that the advertising agency follows the
local market, understands the customer's needs and then networks worldwide with MNC and other
relevant clients.
In all its years of business, Ogilvy has struggled to build brands and has proved its ability to build
brands. The agency does its best to enhance the customer-brand relation. For this, it undergoes the
process of scrutiny of the tools and techniques which work well to build a long and lasting
association with a brand.

Mudra communications Pvt. Ltd:- Head: Mr. Madhukar Kamath:
The agency practises the art of communication in order to express ideas that can shape the brands. As
the name suggests, the agency is influenced by the artistic traditions of Indian dance, drama and
painting. These, in turn, inculcate feelings, ideas, thoughts and emotions for the success of a brand.
Mudra peeps into the local consumer markets, channels and media, and has its own identity in
communication of brands. It looks for the entrepreneurial zeal which causes continuous and speedy
growth for each brand. The advertising agency always believed in doing interesting work that pleases
its clients.

Lintas India Pvt. Ltd:- Head: Mr. Pranesh Misra (President & COO - Lowe, India):
After the merge of Lintas India Ltd. with Lowe Lintas and Partners group of the UK, it is now known
as Lowe Lintas. India Pvt. Ltd. The turnover of Lintas is Rs. 750 crore. The advertising agency
inculcates advertising, media buying house, direct marketing, public relations, design consultancy,
market research, events, rural communications and interactive communications. Enterprise Nexus,
the agency partner of Lowe in India, continues to be a member and is known as the ‘Independent
Brands’ division which is the only specialist in advertising and marketing communications. Lowe
31
Lintas India is a successful agency which is inclined towards quality creative advertising and works
for the benefit of its clients.

JWT (Hindustan Thompson Associates Pvt. Ltd.):- Head:Mr.Colvyn Harris (Chief
Executive Officer):
The advertising agency has a special portfolio which includes creativity, innovation, clients, case
studies, awards, well-thought out leadership and talent. Clients perceive the agency as a resource of
ideas which tell the brand’s story to the customer, dealing with market research. In this process, the
agency includes innovative ideas.

FCB-Ulka advertising pvt. Ltd:- Head Mr. Anil Kapoor (Managing Director and CEO):
FCB, being one of the the top three advertising agencies in the USA, ranks number 10 in the world.
FCB-Ulka has made its mark in India as Ulka Advertising. It was founded in 1961. On the creative
front, Ulka is known to stand out. FCB-Ulka has made a smooth transition from a creative shop to a
large mainstream agency. Around the mid-seventies, FCB-Ulka had become the fifth largest agency
in India and has sustained this status till date. The efforts of FCB-Ulka deserve praise. It also gave
recognition to those brands that were not in the limelight earlier but are now completely above other
market players. Santoor soap did thorough research and focused on advertising which gave growing
sales figures against stiff competition from Levers and P&G brands. Not surprisingly, FCB-Ulka is
seen as a turnaround specialist - an agency that does brand building and more.

Rediffusion DY&R Pvt Ltd:- Mr. Mahesh Chauhan (President):
This advertising agency places its people first. It believes that the strength of a brand lies in the
efforts the people of the organization make. Rediffusion DY&R follows system-driven ‘thinking’ in
its culture. The agency attracts right minds because it thinks of a perfect balance between creativity
and strategy.

RK Swamy BBDO Pvt Ltd:- Mr. Srinivasan K Swamy (Head)
It is the agency of the worldwide-renowned BBDO network. The advertising agency suggests comes
up with solutions for its clients regarding their marketing communication problems and provides
them with intelligent solutions and supports them in attaining their goals. The symbol or logo of the
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advertising agency is Hansa and is known to separate milk from the water. Similarly, RK Swamy of
BBDO is capable of deriving the essential elements from the irrelevant ones in order to promote each
brand. The agency practises high level of commitment and spirited teamwork for a common cause.

McCann-Ericsson India Ltd:- Sorab Mistry (Head)
This advertising agency is a leading global agency and has the power and passion to achieve its
mission .McCann-Ericsson is known as a world class advertising agency and has found outstanding
talent in its employees.

Leo Burnett:- Mr. Arvind Sharma (Chairman and CEO):
The advertising agency is totally idea-centric. It generates big brand ideas. It regards the pencil as its
engine no matter the size - it is the means through which it can generate plenty of creative ideas. The
agency is never too satisfied with its endless efforts in building up a brand. It believes that the brands
can become and remain leaders by building better ideas. It's no wonder that the founder of the
advertising agency, Leo Burnett, regards the pencil as a metaphor for the kind of ideas he was coming
up with for his clients.

Grey worldwide (India) Pvt Ltd:- Mr. Nirvik Singh (President south east Asia & chairman
South Asia, Grey Global):
The agency handles above the line advertising for the Grey group. It has launched Dominos in India.
It has had Ambuja cement, Thums Up, Arrow, Lee and many more brands in its portfolio. The
mission of the agency is to remain the largest global integrated agency to leading brand ideas.
The list of the top ten advertising agencies is not always stable and remains interchanging.
The additions and deletion of a few of them formulates the list. But each of them are making their
way to becoming the best, and their efforts are making are each making a mark in the Indian
advertising scenario.
33
CHILDREN &
ADVERTISING
34
4.1 Introduction
Advertising to children is the act of marketing or advertising products or services to children, as
defined by national legislation and advertising standards. Advertising to children is often the subject
of debate, relating to the alleged influence on children’s consumption. Rules on advertising to
children have largely evolved in recent years. In most countries, advertising for children is now
framed by a mix of legislation and advertising self-regulation.
 Scope and Form
Advertising to children can take place on traditional media – television, radio and print – as well as
new media (internet and other electronic media). Packaging, in-store advertising, event sponsorship
and promotions can also be means to advertise to children.
There is no universal definition of a child (although UNESCO - the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, defines early childhood as ages 0– 8 years).
Children are otherwise defined according to national jurisdictions. For the purposes of advertising
law, the definition of a child varies from one jurisdiction to another. However, 12 is commonly used
as a cut-off point, on the basis of the widespread academic view that by the age of 12 children have
developed their behavior as consumers, effectively recognize advertising and are able to adopt critical
attitudes towards it.
There is no global data on ad spending directed at children, only data for specific sectors.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, food and beverage companies (44 companies reporting
to the FTC) in the US spent approximately $1.6 billion in 2006 to promote their products/services to
children.
35
4.2 Advertising standards
In many countries worldwide, advertising is also governed by self-regulatory codes of conduct.
Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising standards – a set of
ethical and behavioral rules they commit to respecting – which is enforced by a Self Regulatory
Organisation, often an independent industry-funded body, responsible for drafting, amending and
enforcing the code. Self-Regulatory Organizations for advertising are increasingly following the best
practice model agreed with regulators and consumer and public health groups in Europe. At a
minimum, the general aim of self-regulatory codes is to ensure that any advertising is 'legal, decent,
honest and truthful', but in most countries detailed rules are in place for different advertising
techniques and sectors.
Advertising self-regulation is built on different levels. On a global level, the International
Chamber of Commerce has drafted a global code on marketing communications. All forms of
marketing communications worldwide must conform to the ICC Consolidated Code on Advertising
and Marketing. The code includes a specific section, detailing the special care needed when
communicating with children.
Since 2006, a global code of practice on food marketing communications is also in place. The
Framework for Responsible Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Marketing Communications of the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) sets down global requirements for food and beverage
marketing communications on all media, including the internet Key provisions include: the need for
substantiation for claims or health benefits; no encouragement of excess consumption; no
representation of snacks as meals; no undermining of healthy lifestyle messages; no undermining of
the role of parents.
These codes provide a minimum requirement for marketing communications worldwide.
National self-regulatory codes, based on the ICC codes, are established, policed and enforced by local
Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) and industry in over 100 countries and apply to a range of
media, increasingly also including digital marketing communications. The ICC and national codes
are reviewed regularly to ensure that they remain relevant to local, cultural and consumer concerns
36
and that they promote best practice. The ICC Framework is applicable globally but is a minimum
standard designed to be adapted and transposed into SR codes at national level. Many countries have
implemented SR provisions that use the ICC Framework as a basis, but go further in several respects,
depending on local considerations. Examples include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France,
Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the UK and the USA.
In addition to industry-wide self-regulation, individual companies and industry sectors have
introduced a wide range of additional provisions relating to marketing communications directed at
children. For example, most multinational food and beverage companies have developed their own
policies on food and beverage marketing communications to children and, most recently, have
announced the joint implementation of these individual commitments.
In July 2007, 10 of these companies (now 13) announced a common pledge in the US – the
Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, mirroring a similar initiative by 15 companies
in Canada – the Canadian Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative; and followed by 11
companies in Europe with the EU Pledge. Under these initiatives, participating companies will cease
advertising to children under 12, other than products that meet specific nutritional guidelines, based
on international scientific recommendations. A similar Pledge programme was launched by leading
food companied in Thailand in May 2008 and in Australia in mid-2009
37
4.3 Media Literacy
Media literacy is a relatively new discipline, aimed at teaching individuals and children in particular
to understand and use the media to their advantage. Media literacy is increasingly recognized by
governments and international organizations such as the European Union and the World Health
Organisation as a key tool to help children understand and deal with today’s complex media
environment.
Media Smart is an established media literacy education programme focused on advertising.
Launched in November 2002, Media Smart is a non-profit media literacy programme for school
children aged 6 to 11 years old. Media Smart develops and provides, free of charge and on request,
educational materials to primary schools that teach children to think critically about advertising in the
context of their daily lives. Media Smart materials use real examples of advertising to teach core
media literacy skills. Media Smart is funded by the advertising business in the UK and is supported
by the UK government and EU institutions. Since 2002, Media smart has been launched in Belgium,
Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Portugal and Hungary.
Is it fair to advertise to children unless they fully understand the intent of the advertisers? If
young children do not understand that intent, then when do they develop that ability? Is television an
effective way to market products to children? Are the products (such as food and toys) typically
aimed at children, the type of products that children should be encouraged to buy? Are children
encouraged to buy or try unsuitable products (such as alcohol or tobacco) from viewing
advertisements even when those advertisements are not aimed at them?
Does advertising encourage a more materialistic attitude in children? Or is it appropriate that
children learn to be effective consumers from an early age? Does encouraging children to buy
products lead them to pester their parents and cause family disputes? Does television advertising
present an accurate or misleading image of the world to children?
Should advertising aimed at children be regulated? If so, how strict should that regulation be
and, in a global market place, should regulators draw up common guidelines across different
38
countries and cultures? Should we educate children about advertising, and if so, who should take on
the role of educator?
These are the questions that require to have a proper look at. Children aging around 15 in
India are having spending power. It is from their own allowances and earnings. Almost 30 percentage
of Indian population belongs to this age group, and called to be the future of India. But the fact is that
out of every rupee the government spent, only five paisa went to child related programmes. In Bihar,
spending on per meal per child is about 15 paisa. Now can anyone explain that what kind of
nutritious food can be supplied at that rate?
When we talk of the Indian economy it is vastly segmented in different age groups with
different spending powers. Most of the Indian people live under the poverty line. But the others are
having a huge spending power with large amount of selection in the product basket. The children
from these segments are being targeted by the companies to generate the sales.
The market for selling products to children is potentially immense, and it is not surprising that
in those countries that have established traditions of advertising, much of that advertising is aimed at
children, often via television and other media.
39
4.4 Children and TV Advertising
In the 1940s and 1950s children were not considered consumers in their own right but only
extensions to their parents purchasing power. With the advent of television and other mass media,
children have come into their own right as consumers and, consequently, they have become an
important target market for the business. Advertisers are the first to recognize 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. Advertising at that time appealed generally to the
personal gain of the consumer in the case they decided to purchase the sponsored product. Over the
next 15 to 20 years, children's television became an industry by itself.
Throughout this history of children's television advertising, researchers have criticized in
different ways the use of television commercials directed to children (Tseng, 2004). 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 (Adler in Singer, 2001). 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 (Alexander et al. 1998).
Four types of products advertised to children during the 1970s were limited: toys, cereals,
candies and snacks, and fast foods. Male voiceovers accounted for the great majority of ads coded,
and animated characters seldom appeared (Barcus in Tseng, Eliana Shiao; 2004). While marketers
and advertisers heightened their 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
studies (Tseng, 2004).
Children’s television advertising is rapidly becoming a major concern to government
agencies, citizens. groups and researchers in many areas of the social sciences ( Resnik, Stern and
Alberty; 1979).Children who watch a lot of television, want more toys seen in advertisements and eat
40
more advertised food than children who do not watch as much television (Strasburger, 2002).
Children also urge their parents and friends to be sure to watch certain commercials (Fox in Jarlbo,
2000).
According to (Resnik, Stern and Alberty, 1979), television advertising and its effect on
consumption patterns, values, and social interaction have been hotly debated for many years. But
only recently has the controversy focused on its differential impact on special
interest groups- the elderly, minorities and children.
As many authors states, there are many television advertisements based on children and it is
faced that children urge their parents to purchase what they want without needing. For a whole
generation of new age children, television is as influential as a parent or a teacher (Panwar, 2006).
According to Wiman (1986), children who talk with their parents more frequently about TV
advertising and commercials make more purchase requests. Children considered television to be one
of life’s necessities. Studies commissioned by cable television networks in USA, found that an
average of 43 per cent of total purchases made by parents were influenced by children (Cooper in
Caruana, and Vassallo; 2003). Exposure to it was usually extensive – before school, after school,
during homework, at weekends, with or without friends (Hanley, 2000). Marketers understand this
fact very well. With the growing influence of media on children, an increasingly large number of
advertisements are today directed to them (Panwar, Agnihotri, 2006).
Children, for example, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, or those who have less
access to their parents may not only spend more time with the media. But, may continue to rely more
heavily on TV advertising for the information that they seek in various areas (Brown, Childers,
Bauman and Koch in Evra; 1995). Parents create direct opportunities by interacting with their
children about purchase requests, giving them pocket money and taking them to shopping excursions
(Ward, Wackman, and Wartella; 1977). Children spend a large amount of time watching television.
They pay more attention to commercials broadcast during children’s programming. 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 (Stern & Harmon, 1986).
41
According to The Guardian newspaper, McDonalds, and Coca Cola spent respectively 34,6
million USD and 16,2 million USD for television advertisement presented for children. In this
situation, firms do not hesitate to spend their money for the related advertisements. Therefore
nowadays the expenditure of these advertisements has been increased dramatically such as
McDonalds and Coca Cola as well as Disney. They are the best known brand in the world. It can be
drawn conclusion from here that the role of children as consumer on the world’s economy has rapidly
increased. The common features of the above mentioned brands are easily to find and focus on
children and family in their advertisements.
According to McNeal (1992) American children spent over USD 132 billion on 62 product
categories of products were influenced by children. The number of commercials per hour on
American television increased significantly towards the end of the decade. They provide a strong
indication that American children are today exposed to more than 25 000 commercials per year via
television (Kunkel & Roberts 1991). In 1997, $1,3 billion was spent on television advertisements
directed at children. Counting all media, advertising and marketing budgets aimed at children
approached $12 billion (McNeal, 1999). It is estimated that children may view as many as 40,000
commercials each year (Strasburger, 2001). In one of the research project about the influence of
television advertising on children and teenagers, Hanley (2000) found that the younger children (aged
9–11) were very vague in their recall of current television advertising. The examples they came up
with were often unbranded, with the recall attached to the „story. or characters instead, e.g. Honey
Monster (Sugar Puffs), cartoon elephant (Charmin toilet roll). Older children (aged 12–16) recalled
advertising they enjoyed or disliked. The appeal often related to the „storyline., characters featured or
the product. For instance, they mentioned Rolo (elephant never forgets), as well as KitKat, Argos
(toys), and McDonald.s. They identified three main ways in which television advertising seemed to
influence children: pester power; Many parents felt that advertising had the power to make a
significant impression on their children. Those featuring children, cartoon characters, animals,
„catchy. tunes and phrases, colour, dynamic special effects, aspirational celebrity heroes, humor and
children’s products (e.g. confectionery, cereals and toys) were most likely to be referred to:
www.itc.org.uk Generally advertisers use interesting characters in their advertisement to catch
children’s attention. Sometimes these characters are not real. For example Corn Flakes, Nesquick
advertisements and etc (Hanley, 2000).
42
It was 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 end up becoming famous after making deals with the
television station (Alexander et al; 1998).
Children’s ages are also significant to understand the advertisements. Children’s
comprehension of television advertising and its persuasive intent increases with age, because of
greater cognitive maturity and increased experience with the medium. Even a majority of 5-8 years
old have only a low awareness of what a commercial really is; and although three quarters of 9-12
year old children may demonstrate a medium level of awareness (eg. commercials tell you what to
buy) (Ward & Wackman in Evra; 1995). 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.
De Bens and Vandenbruaene (1992 pg 27) conveys 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.s attention depends on whether they are playing, eating or occupied with
something else while watching TV. Generally it is assumed that these factors contribute to reducing
children’s attention to TV advertising (De Bens and Vandenbruaene, 1992).
In less developed countries the trend appears to follow the same pattern as in the developed
world, although the market size may be comparatively small. Increasingly, children have become not
passive observers, but active participants in the family purchase decisions. Not only do children have
their “own money” to spend on a variety of products and services of their choice, they also have
extensive influence on how their parents buy products and services (Wimalasiri, 2004).
If children saw something new in a television advertisement or in a magazine that they liked
they were likely to buy it. This is in line with Buijzen and Valkenburg.s (2003) findings that
advertising is positively and directly related to children’s purchase requests. McGee in Beder (1998,
pg 100) says “children under aged 12 spend more than $11 billion of their own money and influence
family spending decisions worth another $165 billion on food, household items like furniture,
43
electrical appliances and computers, vacations, the family car and other spending”. For example, one
study estimated that children influenced $9 billion worth of car sales in 1994. One car dealer
explains: "Sometimes, the child literally is our customer. I have watched the child pick out the
car."(Stanley in Beder, 1998, pg 102)
Advertising offers consumer ideas and information, which we process and evaluate in order to
make rational choices. Brown (2004) defends advertising to children on just such cognitive grounds:
“Children are young consumers, interested in making choices and needing information about them”.
44
4.5 TV Advertising & Children in India
More than half of television viewers in India today are children of below 15 years. And yet
there is hardly any sensitivity about the relevance and impact of what is dished out by various
television channels. All of them are operating in a competitive mode for one upmanship in 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 over the year’s world over; have brought out various types of negative
impact of intense viewing of television by children. The direct influence of TV viewing on the extent
of violence and deviant behavior pattern of children has been reiterated – even in India. In fact, there
are a couple of confessions by adolescents, even a biography, 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-edged effect and that it is the negative character which impacts more than positive potential
often is known.
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.
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Even the code for advertising, although outdated and inadequate, is conscious of
“implications” to children of certain broadcasts and realizes the scope for misuse. For example,
under the code no advertisements should be accepted which lures 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 liable to
ridicule for not owning or using a particular brand. 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.
Against this background and in this context there are certain recent trends on the Indian TV
scene, which need to be taken note. More and more channels are going for “children’s programmes”.
In fact, more channels are coming in describing themselves as “children’s channel” or positioning
themselves as such. Most of these are beamed into the country as if no one in the country, the
Government the least, is concerned about such a trend. What is not taken note is that:
(a) Most of these children’s channels and programmes are of foreign origin or remake of them and
are reruns over the years,
(b) They do not have anything to do with enrichment or supplementary scope for school education or
imparting moral standards (there are of course some good pre-school programmes);
(c) Some of these foreign channels are now entering their second phase in the country taking to
marketing of toys and tools for children promoted in these serials.
And, worse, as a result of all this, there has been a decline recently in the extent of locally
originated programmes for children even in Indian channels. To complicate the matter further these
foreign programmes for children are now being dubbed into Indian languages.
There are international lobbies operating aggressively to thrust upon animation serials for
children on countries like India. That is how today cartoons have become synonymous for Children’s
TV. Most of these serials are produced after so much research. But not for ensuring educational or
general knowledge aspects but for capturing and retaining eyeballs of children again and again and to
see their serials have certain “dope-effect” on children.
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This recent launch of DTH services in a competitive mode brings out the urgency for
Government take a view of this proliferation of uninhibited foreign fare for children and doing
something about it so that television is also used with more concern and for positive ends.
The least the Government should do is to prescribe that every channel being down linked
must have certain percent of locally produced and originating programmes for children. In fact, in
the case of children channels, this percentage of locally originated programmes has to be higher.
Canada and European Union countries have one or other provisions in this regard. If France has
prescribed 30 percent of contents of channels should be locally originated, India should go for a
higher percentage, not less.
India has a rich tradition of enriching children with folk tales and grandma tales and imparting
values and imparting discipline and moral values in an entertaining format. When some of us
advocated and argued a couple of decades ago for expansion of TV network in the country and for
going for color television, one hope was that children’s fare will get some priority and all that
treasure of India gets a chance to figure. But what is happening now is contrary. The exceptions are
only a few. For, there is a decline in the extent of children’s participation even in national channels.
The best specific examples of course are Malguidi Days, Panchatantra, Tenaliraman and the like.
Realizing these strengths of Indian tradition, some foreign producers are scouting in India to capture
talent for television, particularly in animation format. But what about our own initiatives?
We do not seem to learn from our experiences. All India Radio in the earlier years has set
good examples for children’s programmes, which were enriching as well as entertaining and
supplementary to school education. In fact, the format of those AIR programmes was such that they
were participatory and empowering confidence and courage building in children and respect for
elders and environment. Today most imported children’s programmes are all out to promote
materialism, selfishness, consumerism and “at any cost” approach to life.
Realizing the significance of media in the context of children, a few years ago UN has
prescribed annual day for mass media when children are supposed to be the producers of media
contents. It is a good symbolic initiative. But it should be followed up by some support to promote
“creative TV software” for children of 6 – 12 age groups, in particular. For, there is UN Convention
on Rights of Child with a set of standards to promote well being of children. Unfortunately, there is
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no public trust or foundation of civil society in India for this purpose.
Even Public Service
Broadcasting Trust, which is a good initiative otherwise, is yet to be concerned about children’s
interests.
It is most unfortunate that neither of the plethoras of Government agencies claiming concern
for children has taken note of this vacuum. Not even the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
All this despite ample creative talents across the country to produce more positive, pro-active and
relevant software for children than what is available now. It is unfortunate that the Government has
neither taken pro-active or re-active initiatives in this regard. While we have a Children’s Film
Society to promote films for children and a Children’s Book Trust, we have none for television
despite the number of children who see television is several times more and, even more critically, the
frequency of their viewing television is more than a couple of hours a day.
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4.6 How Children Process Advertisements
To be effective, marketing campaigns must get children to attend to the message, desire a specific
product, recognize and remember that product, and purchase it. How well children understand the
persuasive intent of advertisements also affects the success of commercials.
Attention.
Commercials that are designed to attract and hold children’s attention are characterized by lively
action, sound effects, and loud music. The animated character Tony the Tiger, for example, bursts
onto the screen, proclaiming that Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes are “GRRRRRREAT!!” One study found
that preschoolers paid more attention to commercials full of action, sound effects, and loud music
than to more low-key commercials. Audio features are particularly important in gaining children’s
attention. Another study found that children aged three to eight were more attentive to commercials
that were higher in audio than in video complexity. Audio features have more recruiting power than
visual features because interesting sounds can get children who are not looking at the television
screen to direct their visual attention to it. These findings are consistent with Piaget’s insight that
young children are especially focused on the attention-getting perceptual qualities of presentations.
Children’s patterns of attention help reveal how well they can make distinctions between the
commercial and the television program.
In one study, researchers trained mothers to examine their children’s visual attention to
Saturday morning cartoons and advertisements. The mothers reported that the younger children (five
to eight) continued to pay attention when a commercial came on but that children older than eight
looked away. The older children’s awareness of the break in the content suggests that they are less
susceptible than the younger children to the effects of advertising.
Recognition and retention.
Advertisers use visual and auditory production techniques and repetition to enhance children’s
memory of the content. One study found that preschool, kindergarten, and second-grade children
remembered food products that had been advertised audio visually or visually better than they
remembered products presented in an audio version only. Advertisers use catchy auditory features,
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such as jingles, repetitively in commercials to reach child audiences. Song lyrics and rhymes can
replay in children’s heads, leading to automatic rehearsal and memory of content. When children are
shown the same commercial repeatedly, they are more likely to remember the product advertised.
Repetition also undermines children’s, even older children’s, defenses against product messages.
Comprehension of commercial intent.
As noted, children younger than age eight do not understand that the intent of commercials is to
persuade them to buy one product over another; instead they see commercials as a means of
informing them about the vast number of attractive products that they can buy. In a key study
demonstrating the developmental advance during middle childhood, Thomas Robertson and John
Rossiter questioned first-, third-, and fifth-grade boys about their understanding of commercials. Only
half of the first-grade boys understood the persuasive intent of commercials, as against 87 percent of
third graders and 99 percent of fifth graders.
Product requests and purchases.
What aspects of exposure to commercial messages lead to product requests? Researchers have found
that repetition, in particular, increases children’s requests for, and purchases of, specific food,
beverage, and toy products. One study, for example, measured three- to eleven-year-old children’s
overall exposure to advertisements at home and to specific advertisements in their laboratory. They
then had children visit a mock grocery store with a parent. Children who were exposed to more
overall advertisements at home and who were most attentive to advertisements in the laboratory
setting made the most requests for the advertised products. Premiums—bonus toys and treats that
accompany the product—also increase children’s product requests. For instance, Charles Aitkin
found that 81 percent of mothers thought that premiums influenced their children’s cereal selections.
The more children watched Saturday morning television programs, which are saturated with cereal
commercials, the more children wanted the cereals that contained premiums. Free downloads such as
screen savers serve similar functions in newer technologies, but researchers have not yet fully
examined the effects of such practices.
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4.7 Marketing Promos Targeting Children
Children play an important role in the household decision making process by attempting to influence
their parents acquisition, usage and disposition behavior. The most common is that children nag until
their parents finally give in. Research finds that success of such attempts on the type of offering,
characteristics of the parents, age of the child and stage of the process.
Children are more likely to influence the parents for the purchase of child related products as
cereals, cookies, snacks, car vacation and new computer technologies. For clothing and toys, children
often use that argument that “Everyone else has one” and because parents want to avoid being
identified as ‘scrim piers’ they will often given in.
Interestingly, children consistently overestimate how much influence they have in most of the
decisions.
Working and single parents on the other hand are more likely to give in because thay face
more time pressures. Another important finding is that the older the child the more influence he/she
will exert on the parents.
Targeting Children
Marketers are increasingly targeting the young children because of the influence that these kids have
on their parents; buying decision. Advertisers are influencing the kids through various educational
programs, games and certain other promotional events. The promos aim at increasing the brand
visibility and developing an emotional connect with the kids.
In India, kids have a considerable amount of demographic representation which marketers
want to capitalize on. Marketers are targeting the kids because kids influence buying decisions, they
exert pressure on the parents for a certain product purchase and they are the future adult consumers.
In the earlier days, marketers aimed at influencing the parents for purchase related to kid’s
products. Of late, marketers are trying to influence the kids directly through various promos and
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contests that provide them with lots of fun and adventure. By doing so, marketers are aiming to
occupy the young minds successfully.
Generally, the contests are specially designed to target a particular age group of kids. The
response from the kids is usually high because of the emotional tie-ups which is generated by the
promos. This is the major success factor for the marketers. The common thing in all these promos is
that they provide fun and adventure to the kids.
A Bag of Contests from Marketers
Rasna – Slogan Contest
Rasna conducted a slogan contest for the kids between the age group of 4-10 years. The contest was
very simple. The kids has to complete a slogan “I love rasna juc up because …….” and send the same
along with 10 single served sachets of Rasna.
A panel of judges was identified to decide the winners of the contest. Ten lucky winners could
enjoy a ride on a flight with Karisma Kapoor who was the brand ambassador of Rasna. The
participants who could not make it to the finals were also entitled to win 1000 early bird prizes.
Britania – “Jetix Power Your Rangers Contest”
This was one of the biggest kids contest conducted in India. The kids were given a call by the rangers
to save them from trouble by powering them through dinogems which was hid by the villains. The
dinogems were hidden in the fort of evil and the map was destroyed. The kids through this contest
had to put together and indentify the dinogems which ultimately powered the rangers.
The contest was aired on the television channels everyday. With every pack of Britania treat,
one part of the map was given (fortress of Evil). The kids had to collect the dinogems. By the end of
contest, the dinogems which was the power source of rangers.
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The entries could be through SMS, phone calls or by e-mails. Five lucky winners made a trip to New
Zealand with their families. Fifty five other winners were given playStation and power ranger game.
Besides, 10,000 quick gun prizes and “Power your ranger bravery medals” were also given.
Maggi Quiz contest
This contest was held for students of IV, V and VI classes and included questions on general
knowledge and individual subjects. The first round was an intra school written quiz competition. The
second round was an oral quiz round and for the winners of the first round. The final contest was
conducted between six teams comprising of two students each. During these quiz round, audience
questions were also asked. The winning team was given Maggie gift packets and the members of the
audiences who participated in the quiz were given sample packs of Maggi.
Kellogg Mobile Contest
Kellogs India in association with mobile2win presented a contest for kids in the age group 4-11. The
theme of this contest was about rescuing chocos from crafty croc.
Crafty croc. Was the villain who was threatening the brand mascot Choco bear about stealing
chocos from him. All kids who wanted to participate in the contest had to buy a pack of chocos and
solve the cues provided on the pack in the form of crossword puzzles. Once the puzzle was solved, a
name would be revealed which had to be sent to the company. The company then decides the winner
on the basis of lots.
Boomer Bubble Blowing Championship
This championship was conducted in different cities. Wrigly, the bubblegum making company,
conducted this contest in which the winners of the contest were given a chance to be with the boomer
man in the boomer television commercial.
The entire process was very simple. The kid who could blow the biggest bubble was the
winner. The contest was open to kids within the age group of 8-12 years. The contest was held in two
cites and two winners were selected from each city and the final winner was selected form that. The
contest was held in schools, malls, residential complexes and market locations. Massive media
support was given to this contest.
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Apsara Excellence Awards Arts Contest
An arts contest was conducted by Hindustan Pencils Limited. The contest targeted four divisions of
students depending on the class in which they were studying. These divisions included students of
kindergarten and nursery, those studying in I to IV, V to VII and from VIII to X classes.
All the required material like pencils, sharpeners, erasers, pastle colors, water colors was
provided by Hinduatan Pencils to the contestants. The results were declared on the spot by evaluating
the entries. The evolution was done by a panel of judges comprising of eminent artists. All students
got a certificate of participation and the winners were given special prizes. The best entry was
awarded with the Apsara Excellence Award Rotating Trophy.
Many more such contests have been conducted by marketers like Funskool which conducted
the “Little Pet Shop Coloring Contest”, Cadbury with the Bournvita quiz contest, ITC’s “Classmate
notebooks young authors contest” and so on.
Marketers Expectation
The marketers conducting such contests usually aim for brand recall which would get converted into
sales after the contests.
“Kids are generally open to experimentation and if you can weave them into your game plan,
they can be excellent ‘Carriers’ of new innovations and quality products in to homes’, says Vijay
Subramaniam, General Manager (Laundry and Homecare), Henkel India.
The marketers provide excitement to the kids through fun and adventure programs and
ultimately aim to increase the sales considerably.
By organizing such contests, the marketers prompt the kids to buy and use their products
once. Also these contests generate a demand for the products. By aiming at brand recall the marketers
aim at increasing their market share considerably.
Another important aspect that the marketers consider is the ‘pester power’ of the children
which pressurizes the parents to make many buying decisions. Contests also introduces a ‘me too’
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attitude in kids. When a kid participates in a contest it influences the other children to participate. The
marketers thereby try to make the maximum from these contests.
Conclusion
Marketing through contests and influencing kids is not a favorable option many of the times. Even
though they generate a lot of fun and excitement, launching very aggressive marketing campaigns
could create some ill effects on the children and thereby gain the wrath of the parents. Hence, the
parents and elders in the families must ensure that the kids do not fall prey to these kinds of promos.
Apart from this, the government should take some initiatives and put some restrictions on such ads.
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4.8 Effects of Advertisements on Children
Advertisements are meant to influence the minds of the target group that should ultimately result in a
sale for the client. However, sometimes, it can raise many questions when targeted for children. Read
on to know about the various effects of advertising on children.
Does advertising have a strong hold over the way we think or act? Does the mass media
dictate our needs and wants? Well, there are plenty of theories about the effects of advertising.
Various creative heads that belong to different advertising agencies are often churning out new ideas
to deliver their message to the public. Children form the major chunks of the target group for
advertisers. Many advertisements aimed towards children are a sole proof of this fact. The prime
motive of any advertisement is to convince the viewer about the quality of the product and instill that
urge in him/her to purchase the same. Today, advertising plays an important role in the society, as it
tends to influence young minds in particular.
The first prime motive of advertising is to attract attention. With children, the messages need
to be conveyed in a different manner. Goods are particularly packaged in order to appeal to the
younger generation. Children today, are more specific about their needs and wants. Children are
therefore reckoned to be a major ‘buying force’ by advertisers.
However, advertising can also have a negative influence over young minds if parents are not
really careful and do not teach their children about the importance of money. In many cases, children
tend to misinterpret the messages conveyed through the advertisement. They end up having wrong
notions about many issues. Advertising influences the minds of children, which creates a need to own
that particular product being advertised. Glossy images on the magazines or billboards or flashy
advertisements on television only create the urge for impulsive buying. Parents who cannot deal with
the rising demands or temper tantrums only tend to give in to the demands of their children. Children
then get used to a certain kind of lifestyle, which is shown on the television or through various media.
This only creates a very wrong impression on their young minds making them lose the ability to live
a life without relying on materialistic joys. The power of advertising thus, cannot be ignored.
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For example, a child may prefer only a specific pair of branded jeans as compared to other clothing
available in stores. He/she may want to live the life that is projected in the advertisements. The child
may dictate to his/her parents about personal preferences in clothing, food, toys etc.
Well, with these kinds of effects of advertising, one wonders who is to be blamed in this whole issue.
Parents play a major role in this case. They need to monitor what influences the minds of children.
Parents also need to be firm with children whenever their demands increase. Children need to be told
gently that a ‘no’ cannot be converted into a ‘yes’ with tears or brawls! Parents also need to instill
good habits and help children to differentiate between right and wrong. And the sooner it’s told, the
better it would be for the child and subsequently parents as well. Advertisers on the other hand, can
also try to put their message across creatively and target the entire family rather than just children.
This will ensure even parents stay within the loop and can monitor the demands of the children. With
a balanced approach, the negative effects of advertising can surely be curbed to a great extent.
The ad filmmakers are formulating fresh ways of enticing the consumers to buy their
products. If an advertisement for a product attracts the consumers, they tend to purchase it frequently,
or at least buy it once. If a company has to survive in this competitive world, he/she has to project the
image of its products in such a way that they pick up the maximum sales, when they hit the stores.
The best way to persuade the consumer to stick to the product of the particular brand, when numerous
choices are provided to him/her in the market, is attractive advertisement. However, the ad
filmmakers should remember that the commercials can also have negative IMPACT on people,
especially the young children. In this article, we have presented some of the most visible effects of
advertising on children, positive as well as negative.
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There is great concern about children as viewers of advertisements primarily because young children
are exposed to thousands of commercials each year in India. Marketers use television as a medium of
communication since it affords access to children at much earlier ages than print media can
accomplish, largely because textual literacy does not develop until many years after children have
become regular television viewers.
Approximately, 80% of all advertising targeted to children falls within four product
categories: toys, cereals, candies, and fast-food restaurants. Young children are able to differentiate
between a TV program and a commercial but are unable to understand the intent of an advertisement
until they are 8-10 years of age. According to Seiter, advertising to children avoids any appeal to the
rational, emphasizing instead that ads are for entertainment and "enjoyable for their own sake" as
opposed to providing any real consumer information.
The most common persuasive strategy employed in advertising to children is to associate the
product with fun and happiness, rather than to provide any factual product-related information.
Hence, children in the age category 8-10 years have a positive attitude towards advertisements.
Knowledge of advertising tactics and appeals emerges only in early adolescence and develops
thereafter. The ability to recognize bias and deception in ads, coupled with an understanding of
advertising's persuasive intent, results in less trust and less liking of commercials. With increasing
age, children's attitude towards ads changes from being positive to negative and further as children
step into adolescence, they become skeptical of advertising. Children in young adolescence even
exhibited mistrustful predispositions towards advertising. In adolescents, knowledge about advertiser
tactics increased with age. Higher levels of knowledge of advertiser tactics and certain personality
variables were positively related to adolescents' skepticism towards advertising.
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Positive Effects of Advertisements on Children

Advertising 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.

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 Children

Advertisements encourage the children to persuade their parents to purchase the products
shown in the commercials, whether useful or not. The little ones tend to get adamant, if they
are not bought the product.

Children often tend to misinterpret the messages conveyed in commercials. They overlook the
positive side and concentrate more on the negatives.

Many advertisements in the present times include dangerous stunts, which can be performed
only by experts. Even though the commercials broadcast the statutory warnings with the ad,
the kids often try to imitate the stunts at home, with fatal results.

The flashy advertisements broadcast in television generate impulse shopping in children.

Children, after watching the glitter of commercials, often lose the ability to live a life without
materialistic joy.

The kids usually get more attracted towards the costly branded products, such as jeans and
accessories. They disregard the inexpensive, but useful, ones that are not shown in the
commercials.

Advertisements have an indirect effect on the behavior of children. They might develop
temper tantrums, when deprived of the latest toys and clothes that are shown in the
commercials.

The personal preferences in clothing, toys, food and luxurious of children are altered by the
advertisements, to a great extent.

Junk foods, such as pizzas, burgers and soft drinks, are heavily promoted during children's TV
viewing time. This develops a craving for fatty, sugary and fast foods in kids, thereby
affecting their health adversely.
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Rules &
Regulations of
advertising to
children
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5.1 Rules and Regulations of Advertising to
Children in India
Like Canada, The UK, and other countries featured in this series, in India there are specific rules and
legislation concerning advertising and children. However, children in India seem to be particularly
vulnerable to the infringement of these regulations, which is unfortunately a common occurrence.
Television
The Cable Act provides guidelines for programmes and advertisements on television. All
programmes must adhere to the codes before being transmitted. The codes of the Cable Act include
the following provisions relating to children:

Programmes on cable television should not denigrate children.

Programmes meant for children should not contain any bad language or explicit scenes of
violence.

Programmes for adults should normally be aired after 11 pm and before 6 am

Programmes unsuitable for children must not be shown at times when the largest numbers of
children are viewing.

Unhealthy practices’ showing children begging or acting in an undignified or indecent way
are prohibited.
A first offence for contravening the Cable Act is punishable with up to two years imprisonment or
with a fine of up to 1000 rupees (£12) or both. For subsequent offences, the punishment is prison for
up to five years and a fine of up to 5000 rupees (about £60).
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Books and magazines
Publications that are deemed ‘harmful’ to children in India are regulated by the Young Act. ‘Harmful
publications’ are defined as ‘books, magazines, pamphlets, leaflets … wherein stories are told
portraying criminal offences, acts of violence or cruelty, incidents of repulsive or horrible nature, in
such a way that the publication as a whole tends to corrupt a child into whose hands it might fall,
whether by inciting or encouraging the child to commit offences or acts of violence or cruelty or in
any other manner.’ The Young Act details penalties for the sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition,
circulation, printing, production or possession of harmful publications. Advertising a ‘harmful
publication’ is punishable by up to six months imprisonment, with or without a fine. The court can
also order destruction of the offending publication.
Shaktiman
The children’s television series Shaktiman has been a cause of controversy in India for several years.
Children across the country have attempted to emulate their hero, Shaktiman, with tragic
consequences. Since 1998 there have been several accidents and fatalities as children have risked
their lives believing that Shaktiman will be there. There have been several court cases to stop save
them, or that they can assume his powers broadcast of the programme, but as litigation in India often
takes place over several years, most of the cases are still pending. However, the legal process has
resulted in a caution notice being displayed at the beginning of the programme, aimed at children and
parents, highlighting that Shaktiman is a fictional character and his actions should not be imitated.
Unfortunately the law does not seem to have solved the problem. On 23 June 2004 a nine-year-old
school girl in Kolkata accidentally hung herself by attempting to twirl in the air like the superhero.
Advertisements
There are no specific guidelines about acceptable advertisements aimed at children in India.
However, if there is a complaint about an ad it may be withdrawn after consideration by the
Advertising Standards Council. For example, an advertisement for a child’s drink was withdrawn as
it featured six children at the top of their class at school, implying the drink had given them exam
success. There is also no law in India which lays down guidelines for the use of child models in
advertisements. Whether children should work in this way is a matter of current debate, but there has
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been no legislation passed as yet. However, there are some strict laws relating to advertising and
children. Selling, hiring, distributing, exhibiting or circulating an obscene object to a person under the
age of 20 years is punishable with imprisonment for a term of up to three years or fine of up to 2000
rupees (£26) or both. Subsequent offences are punishable with an imprisonment of up to four years
and a fine of up to 5000 rupees (£60).
Internet
Regulation on the internet in India is strict. The IT Act penalizes publication and transmission of
material which is obscene, lascivious or appeals to prurient interest. The Act can be invoked for such
material on the ground that it has the propensity to corrupt the minds of children.
Film
The Board of Film Certification grants appropriate viewing ratings for films. If a film is suitable for
all and subject to no restrictions it will be given a U certificate. A UA certificate is granted for films
where children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult in the cinema. A film that is not suitable
for under-18s is given an A certificate. The granting or refusal of film certificates is published in the
Gazette of India (an official government publication that discloses changes in the law or the
introduction of new regulations). The certification once granted is valid for a period of 10 years.
Infant milk substitutes
The Indian government is committed to promoting and protecting breastfeeding. The parliament
passed the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production,
Supply and Distribution) Act in 1992. This act prohibits the promotion of infant foods, infant milk
substitutes and feeding bottles. This is to ensure ‘that no impression is given that feeding of these
products is equivalent to, or better than, breastfeeding’. Violations of the act result in imprisonment
for up to three years and/ or a fine of up to 5000 rupees.
Cigarettes and alcohol
In India there are central government guidelines on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol, but each state
has a different age limit for the consumption of alcohol and tobacco – for example, you must be over
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25 years of age to buy alcohol in New Delhi. Most shops that sells cigarettes and alcohol display a
sign showing the age restrictions in that state.
Advertising in schools
There are no bars on advertising in schools in India. In fact, Coca-Cola and Pepsi offer several
sponsorships to schools, particularly for sporting activities.
 Legal Implications:
In India, there are no specific advertising laws that relate to children and food-related advertisements
in particular. A host of laws and Acts like the 'Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995' and the
'Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Food Act' deal with children-related advertising
in a vague way. Not only are there advertisements that are targeted at children but a host of them that
feature young children, even babies.
In most parts of the world, there are few or no specific rules concerning food advertising to
children beyond the rules which must apply to all advertising. In India, even general rules pertaining
to advertising are very lax. Also, there are no regulatory bodies that monitor TV advertisements.
Apart from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that decides to intervene when it wants to,
there are only voluntary groups like the 'Advertising Agencies Association of India', and the
'Advertising Standards Council of India', both of which are business organizations and can only put
moral pressure on advertisers and companies to withdraw objectionable advertisements. There is
urgent need for voluntary and government pressure groups to seriously take note of the situation. The
government needs to draft and implement laws that do not deal with advertising in general but are
specific and relate to every aspect of advertising, especially those that target young children and
pertain to food. In other parts of the world, there exist voluntary groups like the 'Adbusters' and
'Mothers groups' that watch and pressure governments to clamp down on aggressive and intrusive
advertising. At present there are various laws implemented by government under various ministries.
The various laws are as follows:
A. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (Ministry of Health)
The act lays down specifications for various food products. It is mandatory.
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B. Agriculture Produce (Grading & Marking) Act (Ministry of Rural Development)
This Act is commonly known as AGMARK. The Act lays down the specifications for various
agricultural commodities including some processed foods.
C. Laws being operated by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
BIS is the standard body for formulating standards for various food items. These standards are
also voluntary.
D. Essential Commodities Act
1. Harmonization of Food Laws:
It is very essential to have one unified and logical law for food regulation than having numerous
laws for the same. Following action is being taken by various ministries at present:

The paper brought out by The Ministry of Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, it is
recommended for BIS to formulate standards for all food items in India, which is a good step
towards harmonization. Part IV – Advertising & Society International Marketing Conference
on Marketing & Society, 8-10 April, 2007, IIMK 310

As per the task force set up by Prime minister under the chairmanship of Shri Nulsi Wadia, a
suggestion has been made to set up a Food Regulation Authority (FRA) to formulate and
update food standards for domestic and export market. Also, Harmonization of Indian
standard with quality norms of Codex and WTO. Hence it is important that unified law is
developed as early as possible.

Education and parental involvement
Parental involvement in determining desirable programming is the best choice. Parents have to
monitor and control their children’s viewing habits. Studies show that parents play an important role
in their children’s social learning, but if a parent’s views are not discussed explicitly with children,
the medium may teach and influence by default. Other media, such as magazines, radio,
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video games and the Internet, also have the potential to influence children’s eating habits, exercise
habits, buying habits and mental health. If children are allowed to be exposed to these media without
adult supervision, they may have the same deleterious effects as television. People should be more
aware to what kind of advertisement are shown to the children & when some company say that the
product have nutritional value and stuff, it should be verified from the trusted source. Be an alert
citizen is the message. Parents should be educated with respect to what should be healthy food as per
proper nutritional intake for their children.
 Role of schools
Schools can also play a very active role in making sure that students get healthy diet at its canteen. It
is very important that schools do not stock junk food in their canteen, by getting lured by approach of
fast food and soft drink companies to stock their stuff. Since children spend most of their time in
school, schools can imbibe on children’s mind what a healthy diet should consists
of.
 Statutory Warning
Since the intake of junk food & carbonated drinks causes numerous diseases such as obesity,
hypertension, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), gall bladder ailments, cancer, psycho-social problems,
breathlessness, sleep disorders, asthma, arthritis, weak bones and reproductive hormone
abnormalities. So it should come with statutory warnings as in the case of junk food carbonated
drinks & milk powder such as “Intake of this food more than twice a week is not good for health.”
 Advertisement Code
Advertisement Code to be monitored by an organization which will take care of the
following:

Before any AD is aired on television, the most sought medium by children some code of
conduct should be followed. Any food AD should be scrutinized with regards to the claims
they are making & the food ingredients should meet some standards laid down by recognized
organization like WHO.
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
The stipulated time limit for advertisement is followed by the companies or not. TV Channels
generally do not follow any rules regarding advertising air time. Doordarshan poses a limit on
advertising time which is a maximum of 7.5 minutes of advertisements in a 30 minute
programme. Private TV channels are free to air as many advertisements they like. This is
primarily the reason why on some private channels, a 30-minute TV programme gets
stretched to 45 minutes or even more.

Broadcasting codes for AIR/ Doordarshan
Advertising Code:
AIR and Doordarshan has responsibility to ensure that the advertisements shown either in terms of
contents, tone or treatment, do not mislead the listeners and viewers as well as the consumers are not
repugnant to good taste. The earnings of commercial revenue are not the sole criteria of Part IV –
Advertising & Society
International Marketing Conference on Marketing & Society, 8-10 April, 2007, IIMK 311
Prasar Bharti. Thus the code has stricter provisions and the main features of the code are as follows:

Tobacco products including 'Pan Masala' and liquors are not permitted.

The goods and services advertised should be in consonance with the laws of the country
enacted to protect the rights of the consumers.

The commercial should never project a derogatory image of women and should not endanger
the safety of children.

Such code of conduct should be made compulsory to private channels also. Government has
enacted ‘The Commercial Advertisements on Electronic Media (Regulation) Bill, 2005’
which lays down standards for advertisements on electronic media..
 The government should indulge more into Social Advertising as its positive impact on kids &
society is enormous. Laws related to Advertising should be made more stringent as in the case of
foreign countries such as Europe & America.
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Summary
There are a few laws which deal with child related advertising issues in India, although these are by
no means comprehensive. In practice television channels often flout even the existing vague laws
with great impunity. Also there is no particular legal framework for sponsorship of children’s
programmes on television so advertising to children in this way is unregulated. The debate over
advertising junk food to children is also raging in India. However, despite these negatives, advertising
law has come a long way in India and increased awareness of the issues concerning advertising to
children is improving the situation.
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5.2 Worldwide Regulation and criticism
of Advertising to Children
In the United Kingdom, Greece, Denmark, and Belgium advertising to children is restricted and in
Quebec, Sweden and Norway advertising to children under the age of 12 is illegal.
The European Union also has framework legislation in place, which sets down minimum
provisions on advertising to children for its 27 member States. The EU Audiovisual Media Services
Directive, due to replace the Television Without Frontiers Directive in all member states by the end
of 2009, sets out several EU-wide rules on advertising and children:
Advertising shall not cause moral or physical detriment to minors, and shall therefore comply
with the following criteria for their protection:
 It shall not directly exhort minors to buy a product or a service by exploiting their
inexperience or credulity;
 It shall not directly encourage minors to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods
or services being advertised;
 It shall not exploit the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or other persons;
 Children’s programmes may only be interrupted if the scheduled duration is longer than 30
minutes
 Product placement is not allowed in children’s programmes.
 The Member States and the Commission should encourage audiovisual media service
providers to develop codes of conduct regarding the advertising of certain foods in children’s
programmes.
In the United States the Federal Trade Commission studied the issue of advertising to children
in the 1970s and they restricted advertising to children.
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One of the main areas of regulation facing fast food companies is the advertising of "junk food" to
children. In the United Kingdom, the Children's Food Bill is intended to highly regulate the
advertising of such food aimed at children, and many other countries are looking to introduce strict
limitations on fast food advertising. Talks between the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the fast
food companies were initiated to work together in an effort to improve children's diets, though Burger
King withdrew from the discussions.
Some organisations have called for the watershed to apply to various unhealthy foodstuffs,
including fast food. In June 2006, the FSA called for laws to prevent such food from being advertised
on television before 9pm. They also called for the disassociation of television and film characters
from fast food and stopping celebrities from appearing in such advertisements. The impact of such
campaigns is often denied by the fast food companies and the television networks that carry their
advertisements. Some networks have also said that tighter regulations would reduce advertising
income and that would have a negative impact on the quality of children's programming. In Sweden
all advertising aimed at the under-12s is banned, including fast food adverts.
Faced with stricter television, radio and print regulation, many fast food companies have
started making use of Internet advertising to reach their customers.
The accuracy of the images of food used by the fast food companies is regularly called into
question. The actual product is often described as being of poorer quality to that represented in the
image.
On 3 June 2004 KFC withdrew American television commercials claiming that "fried chicken
can, in fact, be part of a healthy diet" after reaching a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
Fast food advertising is often complained about to advertising authorities, with members of
the public most usually claiming that the wording is misleading. Not all the complaints are upheld.
For example, between 11 September 2002 and 24 March 2004 the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) in the UK investigated complaints about six McDonald's advertisements, with two of them
being upheld. The ASA used one of the upheld complaints as a case study.
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In 2006 the European Union passed a new law regarding the labeling of foods - any food with
a nutritional claim (such as "low fat") must also highlight that it is high in something else (such as
"high salt") if that is the case. While fast food is often not given a traditional label, this may have an
impact on advertising.
In November 2006, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) announced that it would ban
television adverts for junk food before, during and after television programming aimed at under-16s
in the United Kingdom. These regulations were originally outlined in a proposal earlier in the year.
This move has been criticized on both ends of the scale; while the Food and Drink Federation labeled
the ban "over the top", others have said the restrictions do not go far enough (particularly due to the
fact that soap operas would be exempt from the ban). On 1 April 2007, junk food advertisements
were banned from programmes aimed at four to nine-year-olds. Such adverts broadcast during
programmes "aimed at, or which would appeal to," ten to fifteen-year-olds will continue to be phased
out over the coming months, with a full ban coming into effect on 1 January 2009.
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5.3 Regulation of Marketing Practice
Because of age-based limits in children’s ability to understand advertiser intent, the Federal
Communications Commission has placed safeguards into the television advertising marketplace to
protect young child audiences. Among the guidelines is the separation principle, which consists of
three components. First, the transitions between an advertisement and the program content must be
distinct; the program must use a constant production convention, such as “After these messages, we’ll
be right back,” to separate program and commercial content. Second, “host selling” is not allowed.
That is, the main characters on a television program cannot sell products during that program or
during blocks of commercial time adjacent to it. And, third, products being sold cannot be integrated
into program content (a practice that resembles the common practice of product placements). In
addition, the FCC has limited the time allocated to commercial content during a given hour of
children’s programs. It also requires “tombstone shots” that show the unadorned product in a still
frame shot without all the extra toys that can be purchased with it. While the FCC is charged with
regulating media, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with regulating advertising. The
Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), a voluntary regulatory organization created by the
advertising industry, enforces broadcast standards for the industry, in part to prevent governmental
interference. Although CARU has made some attempt to regulate the newer interactive technology
marketing practices, many of its rules have not carried over to the Internet, video games, or cell
phones. For example, websites attempt to create “sticky sites” where users spend long periods of time
with branded characters. Such sites feature Tony the Tiger from Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes or Chester
the Cheetah for Frito-Lay and create content focused solely on commercially branded products. Early
studies of online marketing practices documented the use of deceptive practices that invaded the
privacy of children. For instance, popular media characters, such as Batman, would ask children for
personally identifying information for a census that was being taken in Gotham City. Did children
even understand that Batman was not real? No research has been conducted to answer that question,
yet the developmental literature from the television area suggests that young children may not
understand that such characters are not really interacting with them.
Such practices led Congress to pass the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of
1998, which placed rules on online marketing techniques to protect the privacy of children under age
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thirteen. The new law, which went into effect in 2000, authorized the Federal Trade Commission to
create and enforce rules for data collection practices at children’s websites and to disclose privacy
policies about data collection techniques as well as about how that information was to be used.
After COPPA was implemented, several agencies, including the FTC, the Center for Media
Education, and the Annenberg Public Policy Center, conducted an evaluation of website practices.
All these studies found that the majority of websites linked their home page to their privacy policy.
But the studies found fewer efforts to obtain parental consent or to inform parents about how the data
collected on the site would be used. Although researchers now have a reasonably good idea of what
takes place on online websites, they still know little about how children perceive, understand, or
participate when asked for personally identifying information. No database as yet documents such
information on the part of child consumers of different ages. Spyware in which an outside agent
installs a program on a user’s hard drive, collects information about that user’s behaviors without his
knowledge, and then sends that information back to a marketer also poses risks that may one day
cause spyware to be subjected to regulation by the FTC. Spyware invades privacy, poses security
risks, including identity theft, and can cause computers to crash, be subject to barrages of pop-up ads,
and run slowly. Regulators should also address the issue of whether and how to make the regulation
of newer online marketing activities consistent with traditional television and film guidelines. Such
existing television standards as clear separation of commercial from program content, rules about
host selling, consideration of age based skills in understanding marketer intent, tombstone shots of
the unadorned product when the camera shot is still, and limits on the amount of time children can
spend seeing marketed content should be considered in the context of newer media. Product
placement, the emerging and perhaps preferred replacement of the fifteen- or thirty-second
commercial, is also in need of additional study and regulation. With convergence increasingly
bringing the varying forms of technologies together under one umbrella, it is sensible to have uniform
standards for marketing to children across varying media platforms. Ultimately, though, all of these
practices have some protection because of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.
Although advertisers do not enjoy the same freedom as everyday citizens in their right to speak as
they wish, they have considerable leeway to present the content that they wish, and it is up to
advocacy groups to demonstrate that any regulation is necessary. Indeed, the Central Hudson Test,
the primary legal argument for limiting commercial speech, has been interpreted in recent years as
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calling for the least amount of interference in the advertisers’ right to speak as they wish. Moreover,
in many cases the online environment is not even constrained by U.S. law. Setting up an online shop
in a different country, for example, can insulate users from prosecution for violating a number of
laws that they would have to follow within the United States.
Conclusion
Marketing to children and adolescents is a way of life in the United States. Children have both their
own disposable income and influence over what their parents buy, and marketers attempt to
determine how those dollars are spent. Television now reaps most of the advertising dollars, but
newer technologies are providing new ways for marketers to reach children. Marketing practices such
as repetition, branded environments, and free prizes are effective in attracting children’s attention,
making products stay in their memory, and influencing their purchasing choices. Immature cognitive
development, however, limits the ability of children younger than eight to understand the persuasive
intent of commercials. Thus, public policy regulates how advertisers can interact with children via
television. Online environments are now and probably always will be less heavily regulated than
more traditional media. Although marketing and advertising fuel the U.S. economy, the cost of that
economic success requires considerable scrutiny.
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5.4 Political and Legal Issues in Advertising:
The political and legal environment in a country is one of the most important factors that influence
the advertising and promotional programmes. Regulations differ owing to economic and national
sovereignty considerations, nationalistic and cultural factors, and the goal of protecting consumers
not only from false or misleading advertising but, in some cases, from advertising in general. It is
difficult to generalize about advertising regulations and restrictions can affect various aspects of a
company’s advertising program, including:
 The type of products that may be advertised.
 The content or creative approach that may be used.
 The media that all advertisers are permitted to employ.
 The amount of advertising a single advertiser may use in total or in a specific medium.
 The use of foreign languages in ads.
 The use of advertising material prepared outside the country.
 The use of local versus international advertising agencies.
 The specific taxes that may be levied against advertising.
A number of countries ban or restrict the advertising of various products. Cigarette advertising is
banned in some or all media in numerous countries. The Australian government restricts tobacco
advertising to point of purchase. The ban also excludes tobacco companies from sponsoring sporting
events. In Malaysia, a government ban on cigarette related advertising and sponsorship was initiated
in 2003 in an effort to curb the rising member of smokers in the country.
Recently the tobacco industry has been reducing its advertising efforts in markets around the
world, including Asia and Europe, where they have enjoyed much more regulatory freedom.
In Europe there has been a longstanding ban on advertising for prescription drug products,
which is designed to keep government subsidized health care cost under control. Many governments
75
have rules and regulations that affect the advertising message. Comparative Advertising is legal and
widely used in USA and Canada but is illegal in some countries such as Belgium and Korea. In
Europe, the European commission has developed a directive to standardize the basic form and
content of comparative advertising.
Government restrictions can influence the use of foreign languages in advertising as well as
the production of the ad. Most countries permit the use of foreign languages in print ads and direct
mail. However, some do not allow foreign language commercials on TV or radio or in cinema ads,
and some restrict foreign language ads to media targeted to foreigners in the country.
Marketers, ad agencies, media and trade associations in several European countries including
UK and France have begun pushing for self regulation that would include efforts to help children
understand and interpret advertising effectively rather than banning efforts to reach them.
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5.5 Sociocultural and Economic Issues in Advertising:
There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and
the influence of advertising. Some examples are: the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in
many countries, and the total ban of advertising to children under twelve imposed by the Swedish
government in 1991. Though that regulation continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the
country, it has been weakened by the European Court of Justice, which had found that Sweden was
obliged to accept foreign programming, including those from neighboring countries or via satellite.
In Europe and elsewhere, there is a vigorous debate on whether (or how much) advertising to
children should be regulated. This debate was exacerbated by a report released by the Kaiser Family
Foundation in February 2004 which suggested that food advertising targeting children was an
important factor in the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States of America.
In many countries - namely New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and many European
countries - the advertising industry operates a system of self-regulation. Advertisers, advertising
agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising standards that they attempt to uphold. The
general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is 'legal, decent, honest and truthful'. Some
self-regulatory organizations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of
upholding the standards or codes (like the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK).
Naturally, many advertisers view governmental regulation or even self-regulation as intrusion
of their freedom of speech or a necessary evil. Therefore, they employ a wide-variety of linguistic
devices to bypass regulatory laws (e.g. printing French words in bold and English translations in fine
print to deal with the Article 12 of the 1994 Toubon Law limiting the use of English in French
advertising); see Bhatia and Ritchie 2006:542. The advertisement of controversial products such as
cigarettes and condoms is subject to government regulation in many countries. For instance, the
tobacco industry is required by law in most countries to display warnings cautioning consumers about
the health hazards of their products. Linguistic variation is often used by advertisers as a creative
device to reduce the impact of such requirements.
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Take a look at government advertising, and government has for many years been one of the
very biggest advertisers in the United Kingdom. Ah, yes, say the critics – and have you noticed how
fond critics are of saying Ah, yes...? Ah, yes, but that isn’t advertising... What nonsense. Of course,
social advertising, public service advertising – whether it’s for drinking and driving, social benefits,
AIDS or public information of any kind – is advertising and often state of the art advertising at that. It
takes the proven techniques, techniques of simplification, dramatization and, most important,
personalization and applies them to the way we live now. The communication skills honed on the
humble packet of frozen peas or brand of petrol have made invaluable contributions not merely to the
small reassurances of daily domestic life but to helping modify social attitudes and behavior.
Advertising today is many things. It’s come a long way from the gaudy poster proclaiming the
presence of Sunlight Soap. It’s part of the social fabric of all our lives which, cosmetically, would be
a good bit duller without it. More to the point, it’s a thread on which are strung several of the key
economic elements that affect the workings of the business community and the comfort of the
individual.
The social relevance of advertising is much debated, which given its relatively high profile is
not surprising. Possibly the most massive contribution which advertising makes to society is to make
more products affordable to more people, by making volume sales possible for manufacturers and
information available to consumers. Beside that contribution, the occasional complaint that
advertising creates discontent by showing products which some cannot afford pales into
insignificance. We will cover in this section, the role of advertising in social change, its use of
language, advertising and the vulnerable, and origins of needs and wants. We will look at persuasion
in advertising, the sector’s commitment to truth and decency, issues surrounding reinforcing
stereotypes and advertising to children. We will consider corporate social performance and finally
stakeholder engagement.
Let us go through some facts that provide the clear picture of the impact of advertising:
 Cigarettes cause about 6.35 lakh deaths in India every year.
 About 33 per cent of cancer cases are attributed to tobacco consumption.
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 Cigarettes alone account for roughly 10% of excise collections.
 Tobacco trade is a major contributor to the national exchequer.
There is clear conflict between health and economic interests of the country. Advertising has a
similar place in the economy as other service sectors such as management consultants, banks,
insurance companies and financial brokers. Advertising is an important aspect for corporations in
their development and prosperity. Increasingly advertising is also used by public authorities and
nongovernmental organisations. Advertising and other forms of commercial communication are
fundamental to the success and effectiveness of numerous companies and organisations. Consumers
and commercial buyers are demanding more and more information about products and services in
order to make their purchasing choice. ‘Competition thrives on advertising, and advertising thrives on
competition’.
Indicative of the growing importance of the advertising sector world wide is the 1998 UNDP
Human Development Report, which claims that advertising has global expenditures (including in
developing countries) increasing faster than the world economy, suggesting that the sector is
becoming one of the major players in the development process. The reality, as we will see, is that in
the last ten years, advertising has grown by only 24% in real terms.
There is great concern about children as viewers of advertisements primarily because young
children are exposed to thousands of commercials each year in India. Marketers use television as a
medium of communication since it affords access to children at much earlier ages than print media
can accomplish, largely because textual literacy does not develop until many years after children have
become regular television viewers.
Approximately, 80% of all advertising targeted to children falls within four product
categories: toys, cereals, candies, and fast-food restaurants. Young children are able to differentiate
between a TV program and a commercial but are unable to understand the intent of an advertisement
until they are 8-10 years of age. According to Seiter, advertising to children avoids any appeal to the
rational, emphasizing instead that ads are for entertainment and "enjoyable for their own sake" as
opposed to providing any real consumer information.
The most common persuasive strategy employed in advertising to children is to associate the product
with fun and happiness, rather than to provide any factual product-related information.
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Hence, children in the age category 8-10 years have a positive attitude towards
advertisements. Knowledge of advertising tactics and appeals emerges only in early adolescence and
develops thereafter. The ability to recognize bias and deception in ads, coupled with an understanding
of advertising's persuasive intent, results in less trust and less liking of commercials. With increasing
age, children's attitude towards ads changes from being positive to negative and further as children
step into adolescence, they become skeptical of advertising. Children in young adolescence even
exhibited mistrustful predispositions towards advertising. In adolescents, knowledge about advertiser
tactics increased with age. Higher levels of knowledge of advertiser tactics and certain personality
variables were positively related to adolescents' skepticism towards advertising.
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ANALYSIS
OF
PRIMARY DATA
81
Demographic Analysis
AGE:-
Age
Students
8 yrs.
7
9 yrs.
15
10yrs.
20
11 yrs.
20
12 yrs.
23
13 yrs.
43
14 yrs.
18
15 yrs.
4
18
4 7
8 yrs.
9 yrs.
15
10yrs.
20
11 yrs.
12 yrs.
43
20
23
13 yrs.
14 yrs.
15 yrs.
Analysis:
The above chart shows that there are more number of 13 years student and as far as 15 years students
are concerned they are very less.
82
Medium of Study and Student
Medium of study
Gujarati
English
Students
66
84
Students
44%
56%
Gujarati
English
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that there are more number of children who are studying in English
medium than in Gujarati Medium
83
Q1 How many hours a day do you watch TV?
less then 1 hour
29
1-2 hours
46
2-3 hours
47
more then 3 hours
28
19%
19%
less then 1 hour
1-2 hours
31%
31%
2-3 hours
more then 3 hours
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that as far as TV watching habit of children is concerned, there are 31% of
children who watch television for 1-2 hours a day.
There are also 31% children who watch television for 2-3 hrs. and 19% children who watch
television for more than 3 hours a day
This shows that most of the children like to watch television for 1-3 hours a day and this is
because they might be busy with their home work and project work of their school.
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Q2. What do you like to watch on TV?
Cartoons
97
Reality Shows
28
Movies
78
Serials
23
Song based programmes
31
Others
13
97
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
78
28
23
31
13
Analysis:
The above bar chat shows that there are more number of children who like to watch cartoons and
movies on Television than reality shows, serials, song based programmes and other programmes like
programmes which come on Discovery channel, National Geography channel and so on.
In our survey we have found that there are 97 children who like to watch cartoons on
television because they are more fascinated towards that.
Apart from that, there are 78 children who like to watch movies on television which might be
because of his/her favorite actor or actress.
85
Q3. From the following confectionary products which is your favorite product/s.
Biscuits
86
Wafers
57
Chocolates
78
Sauces
29
Noodles
38
Health Drinks
42
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
86
78
57
38
42
29
Analysis:
The above bar chart shows that as far as confectionary products are concerned, children like to have
more Biscuits, Wafers and Chocolates than Sauces, Noodles and Health Drinks.
In our survey we have found that Biscuits, Wafers and Chocolates are preferred by 86, 57 and
78 children respectively.
This shows that children are attracted more towards Biscuits, Wafers and Chocolates than
other confectionery products.
86
Q4. You are familiar with the advertisements of which of the confectionary products?
Biscuits
79
Wafers
59
Chocolates
61
Sauces
29
Noodles
36
Health Drinks
53
79
80
70
59
61
53
60
50
36
40
29
30
20
10
0
Biscuits
Wafers
Chocolates
Sauces
Noodles
Health
Drinks
Analysis:
The above bar chart shows that children are more familiar with the advertisements of Biscuits,
Wafers, Chocolates and Health Drinks than the advertisements of Sauces and Noodles.
In our survey we have found that 79 children who are familiar with the advertisements of
Biscuits. Children who are familiar with advertisements of the Wafers and Chocolates are 59 and 61
respectively.
This is because, in majority of the advertisements of Biscuits, Chocolates and Wafers
celebrity is shown wherein advertisements of other confectionary products generally me too model is
shown, and children get easily attracted by that celebrity to purchase those products.
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Q5. After watching ad. of any confectionary product, have you ever tried to purchase that product?
Yes
92
No
58
39%
61%
Yes
No
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that after watching advertisement of confectionary products majority of
the children have tried to purchase that product which they have shown in the advertisement.
In our survey we have found that 61% children have tried to purchase confectionary products
after watching advertisements of those products
This shows that how children are influenced by the advertisements of confectionary products
and this may affect to those families in which source of income is not that much strong.
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Q6. If yes, then which confectionary product you have tried to purchase?
Biscuit
78
Wafer
21
Chocolate
52
Sauce
18
Noodle
37
Health Drink
46
78
80
70
52
60
46
50
37
40
21
30
18
20
10
0
Biscuit
Wafer
Chocolate
Sauce
Noodle
Health
Drink
Analysis:
The above bar chart shows that after watching advertisements of confectionary products, children
have tried to purchase more Biscuit, Chocolate and Health Drink than Wafer, Sauce and Noodle.
In our survey we have found that there are 78 children who have tried to purchase Biscuit, 52
children who have tried to purchase Chocolate and 46 children who have tried to purchase Health
Drink after watching advertisement of the same.
This shows that children are influenced more by the advertisements of Biscuits, Chocolates
and Health Drinks and there are some specific advertisements of Biscuits, Chocolates and Health
Drinks in which children have mainly targeted.
89
Q7. Do you like to watch advertisements of Confectionary product on which media?
TV
118
Magazine
33
Newspaper
27
Hoardings
4
2%
15%
65%
TV
Magazine
18%
Newspaper
Hoardings
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that children like to watch advertisements of confectionary products on
TV rather than any other medium of advertising.
In our survey we have found that 65% children like to watch advertisements of confectionary
products on TV than in Magazine, Newspaper and on Hoardings.
This is because TV advertisement can be shown more effectively with both audio and video
effect than by the other medium and only these factors play a vital role to influence the children.
90
Q.8 You buy that confectionary products because…………….
Free Promotional items
71
Friend's Influence
24
Association of favorite character
40
Want to be like that character
15
Free Promotional items
10%
47%
27%
16%
Friend's Influence
Association of favorite
character
Want to be like that
character
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that children like to buy confectionary products because free items like
tattoo and other things are attached with them.
In our survey we have found that 47% children like to buy confectionary products just
because they get free tattoo and all that children accessories on the purchase of the confectionary
products. There are 27% children also who like to buy confectionary product just because his/her
favorite celebrity is associated with that product and there are 16% children who buy confectionary
products just because of their friend’s influence. They just believe that my friend has that product so I
should also have that product.
So children like to buy confectionary product not only because it gives free promotional
products but also because his/her friend’s influence and his/her favorite celebrity is associated with it.
91
PART B:-
Q1. How often advertisements of confectionary products influence purchase decision of your
children?
Often
42
Sometimes
66
Rarely
30
Not at all
12
8%
28%
Often
20%
Sometimes
Rarely
44%
Not at all
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that advertisements of confectionary products some times affect purchase
decision of children.
In our survey we have found that there are 28% parents who replied that advertisements of
confectionary products affect more often purchase decision of their children. While 44% & 20%
parents replied that advertisements affect purchase decision of their children sometimes and rarely
respectively.
This shows that purchase decision of children is sometimes influenced after watching
advertisements of confectionary products.
92
Q2. How often does your child insist you to purchase any confectionary products after watching
advertisements of the same?
Often
40
Sometimes
56
Rarely
44
Not at all
10
7%
27%
29%
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
37%
Not at all
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that there are more number of children who insist their parents sometimes
to purchase any confectionary product after watching its advertisements.
In our survey we have found that there are 27% parents who replied that more often their
child insists them to purchase any confectionary product after watching its advertisements. And there
are 37% parents who replied that sometimes their child insists them to purchase any confectionary
product after watching its advertisements. Children who not at all insist their parents to purchase any
confectionary product after watching its advertisements are very less.
This shows that how advertisements of confectionary products affect children.
93
Q3. How do you react to your child when he/she insist you to buy any confectionary product after
watching its advertisements?
Mostly Agree
39
Agree
56
Disagree
32
Mostly Disagree
23
26%
15%
Mostly Agree
Agree
21%
38%
Disagree
Mostly Disagree
Analysis:
The above pie chart shows that parents become agree when their child insists them to purchase any
confectionary product after watching its advertisements.
In our survey we have found that there are 38% parents who replied that generally they do
agree when their child insists them to purchase any confectionary product after watching its
advertisements. There are 26% parents who replied that they mostly agree when their child insists
them to purchase any confectionary product after watching its advertisements.
This shows that majority of parents are not conscious about effects of advertisements on their
children especially in case of confectionary products.
94
TESTING OF
HYPOTHESIS
95
Hypothesis 1: After watching the advertisements of confectionary product children insist their
parents to buy that product is dependent on their age or not
Ho: After watching the advertisements of confectionary products children insist their parents to buy
that product is dependent on their age
H1: After watching the advertisements of confectionary products children insist their parents to buy
that product is not dependent on their age
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Not at all
Total
Fo
7
12
3
5
12
3
4
0
15
20
3
0
5
22
14
5
6
6
8
8
2
4
1
0
7
Fe
6.53
10.07
5.4
5.33
7.45
5.87
6.66
7.45
5.87
7.46
8.59
6.75
12.98
16.05
12.61
7.67
6.72
5.28
5.2
9
3
9
2
1
15
(Fo-Fe)
0.47
1.93
-2.4
-0.33
4.55
-2.87
-2.66
-7.45
9.13
12.54
-5.59
-6.75
-7.98
5.95
1.39
-2.67
-0.72
0.72
2.8
10
5
12
3
0
20
(Fo-Fe)2
0.22
3.72
5.76
0.11
20.7
8.24
7.08
55.5
83.36
157.25
31.25
45.56
63.68
35.4
3.49
7.13
0.52
0.52
7.84
11
4
0
15
1
20
Age
12
19
3
0
1
23
13
4
22
14
3
43
14
2
6
6
4
18
15
1
0
3
0
4
Total
40
56
44
10
150
(Fo-Fe)2/Fe
0.03
0.37
1.07
0.02
2.78
1.40
1.06
7.45
14.20
21.08
3.64
6.75
4.91
2.21
0.28
0.93
0.08
0.10
1.51
∑ (Fo-Fe)2/Fe = 69.87
96
So,
Calculated= (Fo-Fe)2/Fe
= 69.87
Calculation of
Tabulated:
DF= (r-1) (c-1)
= (4-1) (8-1)
= (3)*(7)
= 21
Significance Level is 5% = 0.05
Tabulated = 32.67
Here,
Tab <
Cal
So, Ho is rejected.
Therefore after watching advertisements of confectionary product children insist their parent to buy
that product is not dependent on their age.
97
Hypothesis 2: TV watching habit of children is dependent on their medium of study or not
Ho: TV watching habit of children is dependent on their medium of study
H1: TV watching habit of children is not dependent on their medium of study
< 1 hour
1-2 hours
2-3 Hours
> 3 Hours
Total
Fo
1
22
36
7
28
24
11
21
Medium of Study
Gujarati English
1
28
22
24
36
11
7
21
66
84
Fe
12.76
20.24
20.68
12.32
16.24
25.76
26.32
15.68
Total
29
46
47
28
150
(Fo-Fe)
-11.76
1.76
15.32
-5.32
11.76
-1.76
-15.32
5.32
(Fo-Fe)2
138.3
3.1
234.7
28.3
138.3
3.1
234.7
28.3
(Fo-Fe)2/Fe
10.84
0.15
11.35
2.3
8.52
0.12
8.92
1.8
∑ (Fo-Fe)2/Fe
=44
98
Calculated = ∑ (Fo-Fe)2/Fe
= 44
So,
Calculation Of
Tabulated:
DF= (r-1) (c-1)
= (4-1) (2-1)
= (3)*(1)
=3
Significance Level is 5% = 0.05
Tabulated = 7.815
Here,
Tab <
Cal
So, Ho is rejected.
Therefore TV watching habit of children is not dependent on their Medium of Study.
99
KEY
FINDINGS
100

From our survey we have found that more number of children watch television for 1-3 hours a
day.

As far as watching any particular program on television is concerned, children like to watch
cartoon movies or cartoon serials on television. Children also like to watch movies on television.

Among selected confectionary products from Biscuits, Wafers, Chocolates, Sauces, Noodles and
Health Drinks, children like to have Biscuits, Wafers and Chocolates more than other
confectionary products.

Majority of children are familiar with the advertisements of Biscuits, Wafers, Chocolates and
Health Drinks more than the Sauces, Noodles and.

After watching advertisements of any confectionary products majority of children have tried to
purchase that product.

Those children who have tried to purchase confectionary product after watching its
advertisements, in that they like to buy more Biscuits, Chocolates and Health Drinks.

Majority of children like to watch advertisements of confectionary products on television rather
any other media.

Majority of children like to buy confectionary products because it gives free tattoo and other
promotional things. There are some children also who like to buy confectionary products just
because his/her favorite celebrity is associated with the advertisement of that product.

After watching advertisement of confectionary products purchase decision of children
sometimes gets affected.

After watching advertisement of confectionary products children sometimes insist their parents
to purchase that product for them.
101

When children insist their parents to purchase confectionary product after watching its
advertisement, parents generally do agree with them.
102
SUGGESTIONS
103
 To some extent children have limited understanding so advertisers should not directly
persuade children to buy the product which is shown in the advertisement.
 As far as advertisements of confectionary products are concerned, advertisements should be
seen with their pros and cons. E.g. Chocolate
 Advertisers must not misuse children’s relative inexperience.
 Children can be easily attracted by the celebrity so, as far as confectionary products are
concerned celebrity should not directly or indirectly persuade children to buy that product
which he/she has shown using that product.
 It is the duty of parents to see what their children are watching on television and if they are
highly influenced by the advertisements especially of confectionary products then parents
should try to explain them what are the pros and cons of that product by using it.
104
CONCLUSION
105
 Today, particularly young children play an important role as consumers. Especially
confectionary products (Biscuits, Chocolates, Wafers, Sauces, Noodles and Health Drinks)
are concerned they do not care price of which they want to buy. Also they do not care whether
these products are healthy for them or not.
 While they are shopping, the first thing comes in their mind is to purchase the advertised
products. In this situation, the advertising has a stronger effect on younger children than the
older children.
 Nowadays it seems that children’s impact on family decision in shopping has been steadily
increased.
 After the research, it was found as far as confectionary products are concerned children
sometimes insist their parents to purchase those products for them.
 As far as confectionary products are concerned, children are influenced more by television
advertisements than by the other medium of advertising. Even though there are lots of tools to
show the goods or services, television was chosen as the best way that can enhance the
company's profits greatly by most of researchers.
 Also this research validated that among many communication tools, television advertisements
have more impact and effect on children than the other medium of advertising.
 Children’s ages are important to understand the television advertisements. Children's
comprehension of television commercials increases with age.
106
BIBLIOGRAPHY
107
Books:
 George Belch and George Michel, ‘Advertising and Sales Promotion Management’, 6th
Edition
 Ogilvy David ‘Ogilvy on Advertising’ by, Prion Books, London, 1997
Magazines:
 Advertising Express, Article: Marketing Promos Targeting Children
 Advertising Age, Article: Effects of Advertisements on Children
Web Links:
 http://www.wikipedia.com
 http://www.agencyfaqs.com
 http://www.wowessays.com
 http://www.media-awareness.ca/.../advertising.../kids_advertising_rules
 http://www.c-i-a.com/( Computer Industry Almance)\
 http://www.Itu.com (Intrenation Telecommunication Union)
 http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm
108
ANNEXURE
109
Annexure
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are MBA student of N. R. Institute of Business Management Ahmedabad. We are doing
one Grand Project on ‘Effect of Advertisements on Children with special reference to
Confectionary products’. For that we want your support by filling up this questionnaire for us.
There are two parts in our questionnaire, one is to be filled up by children and other is to be filled up
by his/her parents.
We assure you that information will not be misused and we’ll use information just for our
project purpose. Thanking You.
PART A (To be filled by Children)
Q1 How many hours a day do you watch TV?
 Less than 1 hour
 2 – 3 hours
 1 – 2 hours
 More than 3 hours
Q2 What do you like to watch on TV?
 Cartoons
 Reality shows
 Movies
 TV serials
 Song based programmes
 Others_________________
Q3 From the following confectionary products which is your favorite product/s?
 Biscuits
 Wafers
 Chocolates
 Sauces
 Noodles
 Health Drinks (i.e. Bournvita, Complain, Boost, etc.)
110
Q4 You are familiar with advertisements of which of the following confectionary products?
 Biscuits
 Wafers
 Chocolates
 Sauces
 Noodles
 Health Drinks (i.e. Bournvita, Complain, Boost, etc)
Q5 After watching ad of any confectionary products, have you ever tried to purchase that product?
 Yes
 No
Q6 If yes then which confectionary product you have tried to purchase?
 Biscuit
 Wafer
 Chocolate
etc)
 Sauce
 Noodle
 Health Drink (i.e. Bournvita, Complain, Boost,
Q7 Do you like to watch ad of confectionary products on which media?
 TV
 Magazine
 Newspaper
 Hoardings
Q8 You buy that confectionary product because.........
 It gives free tattoo or any other thing
 Your friend has that product
 Your favorite cartoon character/favorite celebrity is associated with it
 You want to be like the character of that ad.
PART B (To be filled by Parents)
Q1 How often advertisements of confectionary products influence purchase decision of your
children?
 Often
 Sometimes
 Rarely
 Not at all
111
Q2 How often does your child insist you to purchase any confectionary product after watching ad of
the same?
 Often
 Sometimes
 Rarely
 Not at all
Q3 How do you react to your child when he/she insist you to buy any confectionary product after
watching its ad?
 Mostly agree
 Agree
 Disagree
 Mostly disagree
PERSONAL DETAILS
Name
: - _________________________________________________________
Mother/Father Name : - _________________________________________________________
Age
: - ________
Std.
:-
School
: -__________________________________________________________
Medium of Study
:-
 4th
 5th
 6th
 Gujarati
 7th
 8th
 English
112