Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Review of Related Literature and Studies
Review of Related Literature and Studies
Media and TV
"Communication remains God's great gift to humanity without which we cannot be truly
human, reflecting God's image." (Cañaberal, 1993, 44) Freedom of speech is a right of
individuals as they possess their own free will. Because of their free will, individuals have
expressed their thoughts, desires, and aspirations through the mass media. Communicating
freely with other affirms the dignity and worth of each and every member of society. Freedom
brings forth various ideas and information. People today are better informed and more
enlightened thanks to thriving press freedom and expanding mass media here and in many
parts of the world. All points of view are represented in the "marketplace of ideas" and society
benefits from debate about their worth. "Monkey see, monkey do" has become a well-known
saying in today's society. In addition, this is how media influences society as it leaves a large
impact on the individuals. Media has been considered by Ciony C. Gonzales as "…the most
dominant art form…." (1984, 9) as it has an innate power to engage and affect the total person.
It leaves a compelling and lasting impact on both the conscious and subconscious (Gonzales,
1984, 9). Though media informs and educates, it also corrupts and exploits, leading it to
contribute to the moral degradation of society. Media's role in society is to inform, educate,
and entertain. It tells the truth and provides positive stimulation that can build up images and
reputations the right way (Grantoza, 1993, 31). It can also be a tribunal of justice (Reuter, 1993,
n.p.). Therefore, media has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society,
but in other ways have deteriorated and perplexed it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, that
media is the most powerful source of information, and nothing else in today's world influences
History of Advertising
Advertising is dated back to the Christian Era. One of the first known methods
building and were usually very eye catching. Archaeologists have found signs in
tavern situated in another town. In about the 1440's there was an invention of a
movable-type of advertising which was a printing press. In the 16th century some
companies had a trade mark which was a two or three dimensional picture or sign.
In both volume and technique, advertising has made its greatest advances in the
U.S. In the early stages of U.S. advertising it was hard and expensive to
advertise nationally because the U.S. was still undeveloped and there was little
using catalogs. Mail orders and pamphlets appeared around the 1870's. Late in
the 19th century many American firms began to market packaged goods under brand
names. Previously consumers had not been aware of or influenced by brand names.
The first product that had brand names were soap products. In the 1880's a few
brands came out and they were Ivory, Pears, Sapolio, Colgate, Kirks American
Family and Packer's. Not long after brands such as Royal baking powder, Quaker
oats, Bakers chocolate, Hire's root beer, Regal shoes and Waterman's pens were
nationally advertised. In the early 1900's America began to become aware of such
brand names like Bon Ami, Wrigley and Coca-Cola. After World War 1 advertising
itself through the eyes of the rest of the world. This was expanded by technical
Modern advertising has changed dramatically since the early twentieth century, but when it
comes to food, Katherine Parkin writes, the message has remained consistent. Advertisers have
historically promoted food in distinctly gendered terms, returning repeatedly to themes that
associated shopping and cooking with women. Foremost among them was that, regardless of
the actual work involved, women should serve food to demonstrate love for their families. In
identifying shopping and cooking as an expression of love, ads helped to both establish and
reinforce the belief that kitchen work was women's work, even as women's participation in the
labor force dramatically increased. Alternately flattering her skills as a homemaker and preying
on her insecurities, advertisers suggested that using their products would give a woman
irresistible sexual allure, a happy marriage, and healthy children. Beyond their own individual
success, ads also promised that by buying and making the right foods, a woman could help her
family achieve social status, maintain its racial or ethnic identity, and assimilate into the
American mainstream.
Advertisers clung tenaciously to this paradigm throughout great upheavals in the patterns of
American work, diet, and gender roles. To discover why, Food Is Love draws on thousands of
ads that appeared in the most popular magazines of the twentieth and early twenty-first
Evening Post. The book also cites the records of one of the nation's preeminent advertising
firms, as well as the motivational research advertisers utilized to reach their customers.
This is all about the multi country survey of the influence of television advertisements on children.
factor on diet.
has the power to reinvent the familiar and make the unfamiliar
they are less able than adults to fully understand its persuasive
six Asian countries - India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Korea.
day during holidays, and are exposed to over two and half
breaks.
Food advertisement
Pester power
buying a product.
Nutrition knowledge
Current legislation
and confectionery.
*South Korea and the Philippines are the only two countries
children's programmes.
children's broadcasting.
12 year old children rose from 12.2 per cent to 15.6 per cent
per cent among six year olds, rising to 13.8 per cent of 10 year
olds.3
increased from one per cent in 1990 to six per cent in 1997
among nine year old boys increased from 2.9 per cent in 1970
to 9.7 per cent in 1997, while rates for girls increased from 3.4
per cent to eight per cent over the same time period.
and 64.8
nations. Wealthy industrialised nations in North America and the European Union spend hefty
sums of money to
environment.
2004.
The results of our survey revealed that among the six countries,
30,000 minutes.
how much effect they have and are hoping to have on consumer
behaviour.
Children and parents in India and Pakistan appear to watch the least (with only three per cent
watching in
this time.
time and 10 per cent less than the European Union recommendation.
Food advertising
programmes.
and/or salt.
India 15
Indonesia 15
Malaysia 20
Pakistan 6 - 9
Philippines 20
South Korea 6
EUrecommendation 12
them.18
habits.
With all this in mind, the WHO has come to the conclusion
will try and instil brand loyalty from an early age, even
*At three years of age, before they can read, one out of
US$100,000 to a retailer
Source:www.newdream.org/campaign/kids/facts.html
25
years of age, before they can even read, one out of five
Asia however.
content from the age of three. From around the age of five
persuasive appeals.29
characters.
as susceptible to advertising.
understanding or questioning attitude towards advertising. It has thus been argued that
advertising to children
quality.
from manipulation.
1. Marketing techniques
Soft drink and fast food companies also focus their attention
offer.35
Asia rose from 1,458 to 6,748 between 1991 and 2001. This
Source: http://www.junkfoodnews.com/JUSTIN-TIMBERLAKE.
jpg
Philippines.
seen in Table 4.
The parents were also asked to list the three main reasons
per cent of the children do so. The same pattern is true for
confusion.
would put five sugars in their tea? One study showed that
Malaysia”.
Source: www.nestle.com.my
these. The bad news is that they found that such knowledge
Weekly consumption profiles however, demonstrate that parents are unable to adequately
1. Self-regulation?
effective manner;
children.
of 12
programming
television programmes.
and ending.44
bodies.
misleading promotion.
should not be allowed to display the fact that they are 100
of ads on TV
72 63 54 92 54 41
messages in food-ads
mandatory
66 66 53 98 78 28
banned.
“no good for babies less than six months old”. It is time
advertising
improve body weight; select foods that are safe to eat; and
advice.
h) Sponsorship
A growing body of research suggests that there may be a link between exposure to food
advertising and the increasing rates of obesity among youth. In the 1970s and 1980s a
number of experimental studies were conducted that demonstrated young children (under
age eight) were much more likely than older children to believe that television
advertisements were telling the truth; and that exposure to television advertisements
influenced the food choices among children (enticing them to choose more sugary foods
instead of natural options) which increased requests to parents for high sugar foods they
saw advertised. Though many of these studies did find significant correlations between
advertising and behavioral change, the reliability of these findings are equivocal because
many of the studies use small sample sizes, and some of them are more than 25 years old.
that suggested that advertising influenced dietary and other food choices in children, which
likely contributed to energy imbalance and weight gain. One study found that among
children as young as three, the amount of weekly television viewing was significantly related
to their caloric intake as well as requests and parental purchases of specific foods they saw
advertised on television. Several other studies found that the amount of time children spent
watching TV was correlated with how often they requested products at the grocery store
In 2003, Gerald Hastings of the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom (UK)
conducted a review of the available literature on advertising and obesity to test the
relationship between advertising to children and obesity. After reviewing more than 30,000
articles, only 120 were determined to be most relevant. Based on these articles, Hastings
reported qualified findings that advertising to children does in fact have an adverse effect on
food preferences, purchasing behavior and consumption. However, these findings must be
weighed against the fact that the strongest and most cited study in the review does not fully
support this notion. The study investigated the impact of commercials on 262 children in
advertising and the number of snacks eaten. However, though the commercial exposure did
reduce children’s nutrition efficiency (quality of nutrition), it only explained two percent of
the change in nutrient intake and had no direct effect on caloric intake.
Since Hastings, more research has been published that supports his conclusion. A notable
example from the UK by Halford et al. studied 42 elementary-school aged children and
found that lean, overweight and obese children who watched television programs with snack
food advertising were more likely to choose high fat savory food options than lower fat
sweet options. They also ate a greater volume of food than their similar weight peers in a
non-advertisement control group.The study also found that weight status modified the
ability to recall advertised products among a list of similar products (where more obese
children displayed greater recall). The authors suggest that these results support the notion
that exposure to food advertising on television can affect eating behavior, stimulating
energy intake from a range of advertised foods and exaggerating unhealthy choices in
foods. They also proffer that the observed association between remembering food ads and
eating more indicates that a susceptibility to food cues could potentially contribute to
Those who discount the idea that advertising is a factor in childhood obesity cite the limited
research findings, question the methodological validity of much of the available literature
and look to observational outcomes of policy changes in Canada and Sweden. In 1980,
Quebec banned all food advertising to children; however the rates of obesity for children in
Quebec are currently no different from those in other Canadian Provinces. A similar ban on
advertising has existed in Sweden for over a decade, and also has not resulted in reductions
of obesity rates. Though these observations undermine the conclusions of the Hastings
review and others, no definitive answers are apparent. In order to close the loop on the
causal pathway between food advertising and childhood obesity, many questions need to be