1. AAA_children1 Chinese children ’ s understanding of television advertising Kara Chan and James U. McNeal Presented to AAA Denver Conference, 27-30 March 2003

2. AAA_children2 Research objectives To study Chinese children ’ s understanding of television advertising To study how understanding of TVAs relates with gender, age, extent of television viewing, and level of advertising

3. AAA_children3 Why study Chinese children? 290 million Chinese children under 14 One child policy since 1979 Children have great influence on family purchase decisions Rapid economic growth and commercialization of childhood Children consider TV a major source of information about new products

4. AAA_children4 Advertising in China Relatively new, since 1979 Uneven in the nation: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong account for 50% of total ad expenditure A lot of adults ’ commercials in children ’ s TV programs, e.g. May 2002 afternoon programming (70% adult commercials, 30% children commercials)

5. AAA_children5 Advertising in China Much television program sponsorship Many illegal ads (e.g. 66824 in 2000, among which 39% were illegal outdoor ads and 30% were illegal print ads)

6. AAA_children6 Theoretical model John ’ s (1999) model of consumer socialization Increasing understanding of advertising with age: perceptual (3-7), analytical (8-11), reflective (12-15)

7. AAA_children7 Hypotheses H1: understanding increases with age H2: when the age factor is controlled, children who watch TV more often will have a better understanding of TVA H3: when the age factor is controlled, children living in a city with a high level of advertising development will have a better understanding of TVA

8. AAA_children8 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 1-3, read Q&A to them by researchers

9. AAA_children9 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?

10. AAA_children10 What are TV commercials? (%) 6-78-910-1112-14total Funny messages1511 8 Take a break3731262028 Introduce products 2925212825 Promote products* 1629414334 Don ’ t know24122

11. AAA_children11 What do TVC want you to do? (%) 6-78-910-1112-14total Evaluate them89999 Check products2025181921 Tell parents*3427211624 buy products*33 495342 Don ’ t know65334

12. AAA_children12 Why do stations broadcasts TVC? (%) 6-78-910-1112-14total Not to waste time 16 141114 Help audience912101211 Care for public1816171617 Subsidize prog1316172217 Make money4035393537 Don ’ t know35444

13. AAA_children13 Understanding by age (%)

14. AAA_children14 Result of hypothesis testing, H1: partially supported Understanding of ‘ what are TVC ’ increased with age Understanding of ‘ what do TVC want you to do ’ increased with age Understanding of ‘ why do TV stations broadcast commercials ’ did not increase with age (understanding was high among very young children)

15. AAA_children15 Result of hypothesis testing, H2: not supported Using general linear model Test TV viewing as main effect or as an interaction effect with age TV viewing had no main/interaction effect When age was controlled, children who watched more TV did not have a better understanding of TVC

16. AAA_children16 Result of hypothesis testing, H3: not supported Using general linear model Test ad level as main effect or as an interaction effect with age Ad level had significant main effect, but no interaction effect When age was controlled, children residing in high level of advertising did not have a better understanding of TVC

17. AAA_children17 Result of hypothesis testing, H3: not supported Ad level had significant main effect, but not in the predicted direction Children residing in Beijing (high ad level) had lower understanding of TV advertising They mistook TVA as messages to help the audience/care the public

18. AAA_children18 Discussion and conclusion Mainland Chinese children have a high understanding of television advertising, despite the lack of any media literacy program High understanding of why TV stations carry commercials for money General increase in understanding with age

19. AAA_children19 Future studies Extend to rural Chinese children Focus group interview about sources of knowledge about TV commercials