exeter1 A cross cultural perspective on children’s understanding of commercial communications Kara Chan, Hong Kong Baptist U James U. McNeal, Peking U Economic socialization conference July 11-12, 2003 Exeter, UK

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3 Why study Chinese children? 290 million Chinese children under 14 (population of UK: 59 million) One child policy since 1979 Children have great influence on family purchase decisions China has rapid economic growth: 8% per year Children in China is a huge market for global advertisers

exeter4 Advertising in China Modern advertising returned in 1979 Advertising development highly uneven: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong accounted for 50% of advertising expenditure in 2001 Children’s programme: About 8 hours per day, mainly in CCTV1 and CCTV7, few in regional channels television programme sponsorship was very common, even in weather forecast

exeter5 …Advertising in China Many illegal ads (e.g in 2000, among which 39% were illegal outdoor ads and 30% were illegal print ads) Lack of specific regulation of advertising that targeted to children Article 8 of advertising law, “Ad may not be harmful to the physical and mental health of minors and disabled persons”

exeter6 A typical week of children’s program in May 2002 CCTV-1571 TVC, 70% are adults’ ads 7 PSAs Beijing TV-1 45 TVC, all are adults’ ads 27 PSAs Nanjing TV-1 32 TVC, all are children’s ads No PSAs Chengdu TV-1 28 TVC, 25% are children’s ads No PSAs

exeter7 Theoretical model consumer socialization as the process by which consumers acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to operate as consumers (Ward, 1974) Socializing agents, a person or an organization that provides influence through frequent interaction with an individual, primacy over the individual or control over rewards and punishments given to the individual (Brim, 1966) parents, friends, TV as socializing agents

exeter8 Understanding of Commercial communications Cognitive developmental model Social learning model From parents Social learning model From TV

exeter9 Research objectives To examine the relative contribution of the cognitive developmental model and the social learning model with a focus on TV and parents as socializing agents in the predicting of children’s understanding of commercial communications

exeter10 Cognitive developmental model Age has positive impact on understanding

exeter11 Social learning model from parents Socio-oriented communication (-) Concept-oriented communication (+) Discussing TV commercials (+) Co-viewing of TV (+) Parents’ negative attitude (+) Parents’ perceived influence (+)

exeter12 Social learning model from TV Level of TV viewing (+) Attention to TV commercials (+)

exeter13 additional variables Gender (?) Social Economic status (+) Level of advertising development (+) Presence of PSAs (-)

exeter14 Method Survey of 1,758 children in 3 urban cities Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu representing high, medium and low levels of advertising development, respectively Two schools for each city, randomly select one class in each grade (grade 1 to 6) Close-ended questionnaire Grade 1-2, read Q&A to them by researchers Sample: 1751 (response rate: 99.6%)

exeter15 Map of China

exeter16 Method Survey of their parents by asking children to bring home a questionnaire for mothers/fathers Sample: 1665 (response rate: 94.7%) Matched pair with children

exeter17 Procedure When we watch TV, some messages occur before and after the television program that are not related to the program. They are called commercials What are TV commercials? What do TV commercials want you to do? Why do TV stations broadcast commercials?

exeter18 What are TV commercials? (%) total Funny messages Take a break Introduce products Promote products* Don’t know24122

exeter19 What do TVC want you to do? (%) total Evaluate them89999 Check products Tell parents* buy products* Don’t know65334

exeter20 Why do stations broadcasts TVC? (%) total Not to waste time Help audience Care for public Subsidize prog* Make money* Don’t know35444

exeter21 Understanding by age (%)

exeter22 Summary of logistic regression analyses ModelWhat are TVC? What do TVC want you to do? Why TV station b TVC? Cognitive development al model R sq=0.037 (p<0.001) R sq=0.004 (p<0.05) R sq=0.001 (n.s.) Social learning model from parents Change in R sq=0.002 (n.s.) Change in R sq=0.004 (n.s.) Social learning model from TV Change in R sq=0.008 (P<0.01) Change in R sq=0.002 (n.s.) Change in R sq=0.019 (p<0.001)

exeter23 General findings Cognitive developmental model contributes more than social learning model Parents plays insignificant role in children’s understanding of commercial communication Attention to TVC has negative impact on understanding

exeter24 Additional variables in the logistic models Model What are TVC?What do TVC want you to do? Why TV station b TVC? genderGirls 40% more likely to understand Social economic status Higher HH income, more likely to und. Higher HH income and skilled occu, more likely to und. Media environment Presence of PSAs, less likely to und. Change in R- square 0.02 (p<0.001)0.007 (n.s.)0.038 (p<0.001)

exeter25 Why parents do not play an important role in consumer socialization? Parents grew up in period of material shortage and did not have abundant consumer experience, they are incompetent consumers Parents not motivated to talk about consumption Parents and children too busy Discussion about TV commercials: emphasize on moral education

exeter26 Future studies Focus group interview about sources of knowledge about TV commercials Experimental design to test the impact of PSAs on understanding of commercial and non-commercial communications Why children’s understanding deviates from the cognitive developmental model?

exeter27 Show some TV segments Nanjing Beijing