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Influence of Television Commercials on Young Children (open access)

Influence of Television Commercials on Young Children

To determine the influence of television commercials about toys and cereals on young children, forty-four children, ranging in age from four to seven years, were interviewed. The mothers of these children completed a questionnaire about their children's television viewing habits. The hypotheses examined the following areas: children's demands for advertised products, children's preferences and dislikes for commercials, the extent of parental yielding to children's requests, and parental discussion of television commercials. The data were analyzed by computing percentages, and it revealed several trends. The more television children watched, the more they demanded advertised products. Parents' discussion of television advertisements affected the extent of parental yielding and the extent of children's demand for advertised products. This study supports findings reported in the related literature that television commercials affect young children's behavior.
Date: May 1978
Creator: Lam, Pamela Y. Y.
System: The UNT Digital Library