PROJECT REPORT

ON
“EFFECT OF ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN AND THEIR BUYING
BEHAVIOR”
Submitted for

“BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS AND PROJECT WORK”

BCOM(HONS) SEMESTER- 6th

To
Ms. Manjot Kaur

MATA SUNDRI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

(University of Delhi)

By
NAME: TANVI THUKRAL
(BCH/15/222)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research report is made possible through the help and support from everyone including
my teacher, parents, family and friends.

First and foremost, Iwould like to thank Mata Sundri College for Women for providing me
with this great opportunity to work on this report and choosing my own topic of interest.

Secondly, I would like to thank my subject teacher Ms. Manjot Kaur ma’am for her support
and guidance throughout the making of this research report. She helped me in completing the
project report.

Finally, I sincerely thank the respondents who gave me their precious time to answer the
questionnaire. The fulfilment of this research project would not be possible without all of
them.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER1- Introduction
CHAPTER2- Literature Review
CHAPTER3- Research Methodology
CHAPTER4- Data Analysis
CHAPTER5- Limitations
CHAPTER6- Conclusion
CHAPTER7- Appendix
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this Project Report titled “Business Research Project on Effect of
advertising on children: Special reference to confectionary products” submitted to the
department of Commerce, Mata Sundri College (Delhi University) is a record of original
work done by me under the guidance of Ms. Manjot Kaur.

The information and data given in the report is authentic to the best of my knowledge.

This project report is not submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any
degree, diploma or fellowship or published any time before.

-TANVI THUKRAL
 CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION

1. WHAT IS ADVERTISING?

The activity or profession of producing information for promoting the sale of commercial
products or services can be simply known as Advertising.
It is an attempt to influence the buying behaviour of the customers by providing a
persuasive selling message about the products/services.

It’s objective goal is to attract new customers by defining a target market and reaching
out to them with an effective advertisement campaign.
Defining the target market is an important task since you need to know your targeting
audience before advertising a product. For example, if the target audience is old aged
people then Facebook as an advertising medium would be a poor option. Building a
target market involves building a demographic profile of the prospective customer by
considering facts like age, gender, marital status, shopping habits, income, lifestytle etc.
2. HISTORY OF ADVERTISING
In ancient times the most common form of advertising was by word of mouth. The
archaeologists have found Babylonian clay tablet dated 3000 BC having inscription of a
shoemaker, a scribe and an ointment dealer. Commercial messages and political campaign
displays were found, where little shops used to have inscriptions on walls near the entrance to
inform the pedestrians about the products to be purchased.

The tradition of wall paintings started way early in 4000BC in India. Phoenicians used to use
rocks for painting messages on it. The other mode of advertising was the word of mouth to
talk around and tell people in the town that was used in Greece and India, where town criers
were paid to go around town spreading news and making announcements in the streets.
As printing developed in the 15th and 16th century, advertising flourished. The first known
print advertisement in English appeared nearly 40 years after in the form of handbill of rules
for the guidance of clergy at Easter released by William Caxton of London. In 1525, one ad
highlighting the virtues of a drug printed on a circulated sheet appeared in German news
pamphlets.

Indian Advertising starts with the hawkers calling out to people right from the days when cities
and markets came into existence. It all began with classified advertising. Ads appear for the
first time in print in Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, India’s first newspaper (weekly) . To
‘advertise’ meant basically to ‘inform’ people until the end of the eighteenth century, and the
early newspapers and periodicals announced births, deaths, arrivals of ships from England, sale
of household furniture, etc. some journals like the Bengal Journal (first published in 1785) even
offered to print government advertisements free.

The front page in a journal was generally dedicated to all sorts of advertisements. But before
long copies began to replace mere information. This is evident from the appearance of punch
lines such as ‘superior to anything of the kind hitherto imported’ and ‘warranted to the first
quality’. Discounts and special services also began to be offered by the beginning of the
nineteenth century. Later, new products and services were introduced and established in the
market through advertising. The power of advertising increased rapidly with the growth in trade
and commerce.
‘Agents’ flourished at that time as space contractors, obtaining advertisements for newspapers
and periodicals on a commission basis. Leading newspapers like ‘The Statement’ and ‘The
Times of India’, which had their own departments started outsourcing to these agents. This
proved to be an advantage for both advertiser and publisher, it ensured the advertiser to not
worry about the layout of the advertisement and for the publisher it saved the hassle of
maintaining standards of an advertisement. This practice led to the emergence of advertising
as a profession. These ‘Agents’ were the ones who led these ‘advertising agencies’.

3. COMMON ADVERTISING METHODS

Reaching a target market requires different types of advertising methods to be used as
follows:

 Online Marketing
1. Email
Emails can be a good way of reaching out to a mass of customers by having their
email list to provide information related to products and services.
2. Local website
Many municipalities and Chamber of Commerce chapters have websites that
provide listings of local businesses.
3. Facebook
Social media is always a good option to reach millions of people conveniently
and so a business Facebook page can be created to promote products and
services.

 Newspaper Advertising
The oldest but an evergreen method of promoting products and services through
newspaper ads is still an effective way to reach customers.

 Yellow pages
Using printing pages to advertise products.

 Cable TV and Radio

Ad commercials on tv and radio are seen and heard by millions. Cable companies
also offer local channels to small businesses for advertising.

 Cold calling
Advertising by calling in person to promote their services and build a relationship
with the customer.
4. EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING
1. Identifying brands
Every business has a different brand identity to differentiate from the other to
sell their products in the market. This brand identity is communicated to the
mass through advertising. Consumer becomes familiar with a particular brand
over the years and builds an emotional relationship with it.

2. Information
It broadcasts different information related to products and services through
different mediums of advertising so that the customers know what is available
and where to buy it. It shows size, colour and various other features, the
related store for the product.

3. Demand
Advertising generates a lot of demand for the products and services to be sold
through ad commercials by targeting the customers who are most likely to buy
them,
4. Persuasion
Products reflected in the form of images and ideas compel customers to buy
the it to achieve a certain level of emotional fulfilment. Advertising tells you
how the product, service or idea you are considering can improve your life.
The meaning of the product becomes more attractive and idealistic that it
persuades the customer to buy the product.

5. Previewing new trends

Advertising lets consumers know the in and upcoming new trends in the
market which motivates the customers to buy new products because they don’t
want to be left out. They offer coupons, rebates and trial offers on new
products to get new customers or to motivate the existing ones to try new
things.
4.1 EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING ON CHILDREN

Advertisements are made all attractive to entice the customers to buy the product
frequently or even once. More advanced and creative ways are used to make the ad
commercials stand out and promote a product successfully. However, ad makers
should remember that advertisements have a great impact on people, especially
children which sometimes could be negative or positive.

Positive Effects of advertisements on kids

i) Advertisements 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.

ii) 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 kids

i) The little ones get fascinated by some products due to the way they are shown in
the commercials and persuade their parents to buy it for them, whether useful or
not. They tend to get adamant if it’s not bought for them.

ii) To make the ads more fascinating for the audience, many a times stunts are
performed but they can only be performed by some experts. Even though the
makers broadcast statutory warnings with it , kids often try to imitate those stunts
which could be dangerous for them.

iii) Flashy ads broadcast in television generate impulse shopping in children.

iv) Children often find contentment in the materialistic joy after watching these flashy
ads.

v) Kids become brand conscious as they find the costly brand products more
attractive. They disregard any other thing below that.

vi) The preferences of kids in terms of everything from their daily needs to clothing
etc gets affected by advertising to a great extent.

vii) Junk foods , such as pizza, burgers and soft drinks are heavily promoted during
children’s TV viewing time. This develops a craving for fatty and fast foods
thereby affecting their health.
5. KIDS VIEWERSHIP AND STATISTICS

Even in today’s technology enabled world, where little ones have access to digital
devices and alternate media sources, Television continues to play a great role in the lives
of Kids when it comes to media and watching entertainment at home. In this section
we’ll decode and see the status of kids’ viewership. Kids as a target group are of interest
not only to broadcasters but also advertisers, due to the potential they have in influencing
the household purchases.

viewership

Non-Kids channels
Kids channels

Kids as an audience i.e. the age-group of 02-14 years, accounts for 20% of total TV
impressions. This is the highest share across all age cuts. This 20% is further split
between channels whose primary audience are Kids and all other channels where Kids
are the incidental viewers. As depicted in the graph, non-Kids channels dominate with
87% of viewership share. This massive viewership of non-Kids channels could be due to
co-viewing. Keeping in mind the massive share of eyeballs that kids contribute to non-
Kids channels, let us further look at the genre split and preferences of Kids audience on
these channels.

GEC Movies Music

News Sports Others

GEC Channels and Movie Channels together account for over 80% of Kids viewership
on Non-Kids Channels, of which GEC channels dominate the larger share. Music
channels and News channels also seem to be more popular among Kids in comparison to
the rest.
Language preference of the kids

Kids’ preference for languages at an overall level reflect the larger universe, with Hindi
being both the dominant as well as over-indexed language in terms of viewership by kids.
Regional languages across the board typically see a marginally lower proportion of
viewing among kids, while English sees a marginally higher proportion of viewing.

The availability of content in more languages on non-Kids channels has led to a more
fragmented viewership on these channels. Whilst Hindi (which also includes Dubbed-
Hindi content), continues to be the dominant language of viewership across both, the key
take-out is the high English based consumption within Kids channels. When Kids are
consuming content exclusively on Kids channels, the propensity to consume English
language content is much higher, than on non-Kids channels, where the remote is mostly
controlled by the family, and Kids’ viewership is incidental. This goes on to show that
Kids are far more conversant with English as a language in comparison to the family unit,
which continues to prefer and watch television in Regional languages.

Kids’ television viewership activity hours

Kids viewership on television increases gradually through the day from the morning till
late afternoon (1500 hrs), after which the viewership drops. The major difference is
witnessed post 1800 hrs, when Kids lose control of the remote, and the viewership shifts
from kids channels primarily to general family entertainment channels. It is also interesting
to note that the day-part viewing pattern of Kids on Kids channels corroborates with their
weekly routine.

The viewership on Kids channels peaks later on a weekday (1200-1500 hrs) as compared
to on a weekend (when viewership peaks at 0900-1200 hours). This is likely because the
older kids go to school in the morning. In the afternoon, these school-going kids are back
home, thus adding eyeballs to television. On weekends the kids are at home in the day
(0600-1500 hrs), and hence the viewership is much higher across these time bands when
compared to the weekday. But in the evening, they may step out to play with their friends
or for a family outing, and hence the viewership dips slightly below the weekday average.
Ad Sector performance
According to many observations, Food & Beverages is the most advertised sector on
Kids channels, and garners the maximum impressions as well. However, looking at the
effectiveness, Household Products and Miscellaneous ad sectors perform better in
delivering kids impressions with respect to commercial time. The Household Product
sector is primarily being driven by the mosquito repellant category, whose ads are
typically kid oriented and feature children a lot. On the other hand, Miscellaneous ad
sector includes kid-friendly categories such as Toys Indoor Games, Writing Instruments,
Stationery and Film Trailors amongst others. Except for Retail and Service sectors, all
other sectors are regular consumption/ FMCG products, which indicates that kids are
increasingly watching such ads on television and are able to influence family purchase
decisions.

Summary

▪ Kids as an audience account for the highest share of Total TV impressions (20%)
across age cuts. Of this, majority of viewing takes place on non-Kids channels, which
can be attributed to co-viewing.

▪ Film based content is extremely popular among Kids across television. Along with
Serials and Miscellaneous programmes (primarily cartoons & animation), it comprises
the top 3 content preferences for Kids.

▪ Kids are far more conversant and comfortable in viewing English language
programmes on television as compared to the family unit, who prefer consuming
television in regional languages.

▪ Viewership on Kids channels increases gradually through the day, till 1200-1500 hrs,
after which a decline can be observed. This is because kids lose control of the remote,
and viewership shifts from Kids channels to family entertainment channels.

▪ Kids are highly receptive to daily consumption/ FMCG sector advertisements such as
Food & Beverages, Hair & Care, Household Products etc. Also because of co-viewing, it
becomes easier for kids to influence their parents.
LITERATURE REVIEW

In the 1940s and 1950s children were not considered consumers but only an extension to
the purchasing power of their parents. With the advent of television and other mass
media, children have emerged as consumers and have become an important target
audience for the business. Advertisers are the first to find out 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. It was generally a personal gain of the
consumer in case of advertising as they decided to purchase the sponsored product. Over
the next 15 to 20 years, children's television became an industry by itself.

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. 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. The advertised products
to children were limited to toys, cereals, candies and snacks, and fast foods. There were
male voiceovers for the great majority of ads and animated characters seldom appeared.
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. Children who watch a lot of television,
want more toys seen in advertisements and eat more advertised food than children who
do not watch as much television. Children also influence their friends and parents to
watch those certain commercials and compel to buy a certain product.

Children consider Television as one of the life necessities. It is seen over the years that
advertisers have majorly targeted children as their target audience to sell off a product as
its easy to influence them. Children often compel their parents to buy these products
without needing after watching the ad commercial. It’s observed that children who
discuss often about such advertisements with their parents are more likely to make
buying requests for the products. Children spend a large amount of their time watching
television and they do not miss the ad commercials too in between the programme breaks
just to pay attention to something being advertised. 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.
 It is 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 become famous by
getting linked with top television channels. Children’s ages are also significant to
understand the advertisements. Children’s understanding of television advertising and
content’s influence increases with age, because of maturity and increased experience
with the medium. A majority of 5-8 years old have low awareness of what a commercial
is and what is it highlighting; and although three quarters of 9-12 year old children may
demonstrate a medium level of awareness (eg. commercials tell you what to buy).

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. It is observed 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 attention depends on
whether they are playing, eating or occupied with something else while watching TV. In
such cases it is generally assumed that there’s less of watching an advertisements.
Increasingly, children have become active participants in buying decisions in a famiy
rather than being a passive one. Not only do children get their own pocket money to
spend on a variety of products and services of their choice, they also have major
influence on how their parents buy products and services. If children saw something new
in a television advertisement or in a magazine that they liked they were likely to buy it.
Children are young customers always interested in gaining information about a new
attractive product in a market and buying it likely.

Marketers also work hard to increase “nag factor” of their product, a term which means
how often do children pressurise their parents to buy an item. Findings show that an
above average number of children watch television rather than other communication and
entertainment tools. Children have become a separate market for investing in by the
advertisers and so advertisers spend a lot of money to influence children as the targeted
market.

Advertising makes kids demand the advertised items and it creates the desire that they
compel their parents and it puts a pressure on them. Advertisers have been using new
tactics to taget the emotions of children by making the advertisements more attractive
and influencing them to build a buying desire for the product. Children exposed to
advertising choose advertised foods products at significantly higher races than those who
are not exposed. The ad commercials can also be misleading and misinterpretated.
Advertising can also be considered a health problem since an audience who cannot
understand the meaning of a commercial can consume products that may make them fall
prey to various health problems. Food products advertised on television create more
obesity levels in children than the ones which are not advertised.
Parents tend to involve children in deciding which products to buy, where to eat or drink
etc so the buying decisions are higly influenced by them. Some children are more
exposed to these advertisements on a daily basis since they have a separate television at
their home. Children become adamant on their choices of products and the parents have
to eventually give in to fulfil their demands. Though a direct cause and effect link is
difficult to be established there is a growing message that some children may be
vulnerable to violent images, messages of advertising campaign.

In advertisements during children programmes, half of the commercials are based on

food advertisement that is unhealthy food (Furnham A, Abramsky S & Gunter B 1997).
A study in U.S stated that 27.2% to 36.6% children like the advertisement related to food
(Powell LM, Szczypka G & Chaloupka FJ 2007). In this study it shows that children
view 27.6% of cereals, 17.7% sweets, 12.2% snacks,12 % fast food and 8.8% beverages
advertisement. It is also reported that the children see the advertisement views 20000 to
80000(Dev behav pediatr 2001). Food products are the most important tool for
advertising and influencing the children and 50% or above children target. According to
an estimate the children see the food advertisements after every 5 minutes when they see
the TV and also see more then 180 minutes in a week. ( kotz k, story m1994). Children
like advertisements and are more easily attracted toward those which consists of child
models, celebrities, animals and cartoon characters.(Ross et al. 1984; Blosser and
Roberts, 1985; Rolandelli, 1989; Collins, 1990; Maher et al. 2006). Schlooer et al. (1996)
surveyed 571 adolescents of California aged almost 13 years old, they identified that
there exists a strong relationship between viewing advertising of tobacco and then using
it. Durant et al. (1997b) checked that advertisements that have use of alcohols and
tobacco, they effect more children. Children are attracted towards these things easily.
Those children who watch advertisements of drinking and smoking they start using them.
 CHAPTER 3- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Statement of the problem

Through this research report we want to find out how children are influenced by the
advertisements. So the statement of this product is “Effect of advertisements on
children.”
We basically examine to what extent advertisements effect the choice of products the
children wish to buy.

Objectives of the study

The subject matter for this project is to study the effects of advertisement on children.
Following are the main objectives to be considered for this report:-
 To know the children’s awareness about various products and their advertisements.
 To study the impact of advertisement of the products on children.
 To know the TV viewership hours of the children and whether they effect the buying
and eating habits of children.

Research Design
Research design selected for this project is descriptive.

Scope
The research was done in Delhi only.

Sampling Plan

i. Target population:-
Target population for this research would be parents with children having an age upto
12years.

ii. Sample Unit:-

Sample unit for this research would be parents with children having an age upto
12years of a selected area.

iii. Sampling Technique:-

Stratified random sampling

iv. Sampling Size:-

35

v. Sampling methods:-
Convenience sampling method
vi. Data collection methods
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.
Primary Data in the research process would be collected by filling up
questionnaires from the 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.

vii. Instrument:-

The instrument selected for the primary data is structured questionnaire. I had
personally sent the questionnaire to the sample audience, asked the parents to fill up the
form and contribute to my research. They all had different responses and feedbacks.
 CHAPTER 4:- DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis is the process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modelling data
with the ultimate goal of discovering and studying useful information , suggesting apt
conclusions and supporting the process of decision making.
Following is the analysis of the research through the questionnaire that was answered.

1. Age of child (upto 12years)

Age
11% 10.00%

10%
17%

23%
15.00%

13%

6yrs 7yrs 8yrs 9yrs 10yrs 11yrs 12yrs

The above pie chart shows that there are more 10yr and 12yr olds in the age of various
children (6-12yr olds).

2. Gender of the child

Gender

28.60%

71.40%

Female Male

The above pie chart shows that there are more number of females than the
number of male children.
3. Relationship with the children

Relationship
44%
56%

Mother Father

The above pie chart shows that majority were the fathers to respond for the given
questionnaire.

4. Occupational Status

Occupation

Only father working 46%

Only mother working 33%

Both working 21%

None working 0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Occupation

The above chart shows that in the majority of families the father runs the house
i.e 46% followed by the only mothers working being 33% and in case of both
working it’s 21 %.

5. Family income

Family income
More than 1500000 8%
1000000-1500000 24.40%
500000-1000000 46%
Less than 500000 21.60%
0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00%

Family income
 The above chart shows that majority of families i.e around 46% have a family
income ranging between 500000-1000000. And there are very less families
around 8% that have an income below 500000.

6. According to you, how often does a kid watch TV?

Watch TV
90.00% 82.90%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00% 14.30%
10.00% 0% 2.80%
0.00%

Watch TV

The above pie chart clearly shows that almost all the kids ie. 82.9% watch TV
always/everyday. That clearly indicates that Television is a life necessity for the
children. Either they watch TV everyday or atleast 3days.

7. On an average, how many hours, a day the kid watches TV?

Hours
11.40%

34.30%

54.30%

0-2 hours 2-4 hours 4-6 hours

The above pie chart shows that majority of kids i.e 54.3% watch TV for 2-4 hours
a day followed by 34.3% of those who watch for max 6hours too. It shows that
kids between the age of 6-12yrs spend maximum time watching TV other than
any other activity during a day.
8. Generally with whom do they watch TV?

Column1

31.40%
37.10%

6%
11.40% 14.30%
Elder brother/ sister Parents
Grandparents Others
Alone

The pie chart shows that 37.1% of children watch TV with their elder brother/
sister or alone i.e 31.4%. This also conveys that siblings can influence each
other’s desire for a certain product and eating habits etc.

9. Do the kids watch advertisements?

Advertisements
25.70
%

57.10
%
17.10
%

Yes No Maybe

The above pie chart shows that maximum number of parents i.e 57.1% think that
their kids do watch advertisements.

10. If not, what do they do during a commercial break?

 Ad break

Leave the room and do something else 22.90%

Switch channels during TV ads 60%

Keep the channel on mute till the ad break
5.70%
ends
Any other 25.70%

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%

Ad break

The above pie chart shows that according to parents 60% of the kids switch
channels in between the ad breaks which indicates that they might not want to
watch an advertisement but some other show on another channel.

11. Do you think the kids get influenced by the Ad commercials promoting
certain products?

Ad effect
2.90% 0%
8.60% 22.90%

65.70%
Strongly agree Agree
Neutral Disagree
Strongly disagree

The above pie chart shows that 65.7% of the parents think that their kids get
influenced by ad commercials promoting certain products while 3% disagree to
the statement.

12. If Yes (for the above question), does the kid compel his/ her parents to buy a
certain product?
 Buying behaviour
17.10
%
5.80%

77.10
%
Yes No Maybe

The above pie chart shows that 77.1% parents think that advertisements do
influence the kid and make them compel their parents to buy a ceratin product
which is true since advertisements are meant to attract the target audience
towards the advertised product.

13. Do the kids like food advertisement?

Food ads
Strongly agree 17%
Agree 57.10%
Neutral 22.90%
Disagree 2.90%
Strongly disagree 0.00%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00%

Food ads

The pie chart conveys that 57.9% of the parents agree that kids like food
advertisements while the percentage of those who strongly agree is less i.e 17.1%,
means that there are advertisements of other products too such as toys, candies,
fancy items etc that the kids like. It also indicates that why the eating habits are so
easily influenced by these ad commercials and there is a rapid increase in the
obesity levels of the kids.

14. Do their eating habits change after watching a certain food advertisement?
 Eating habits

45.70 45.70
% %

8.60%
Yes No Maybe

The pie chart shows that there are equal percentage of parents i.e 45.7% who
think that the food advertisements do or maybe do not affect the eating habits of a
kid. Generally, it does since children get used to eating the junk food and most of
them have a habit of eating while watching tv. But in some cases, advertisements
also create awareness about some health problems related to a food product and
promote a better and healthier product.

15. Do the kids spend most of their money on the advertised food?

Pocket Money
3%
22.90% 28.60%

5.50%

40%
Sometimes Often Always
Rarely Not at all

The above pie chart shows that 40% of the parents say that their kids often spend
the pocket money on the advertised products which is a reason why they develop
wrong eating habits over a period of time. Children form their own category of
market for the advertisers as they think children are young customers and play an
active role in buying decisions without realising the worth or need of a product
though.
The percentage of parents who disagree i.e 3% are way less than who do agree.

16. In what ways do you think food advertising affects a kid’s thinking?
 Ad effect
It effects positively since it creates
awareness about various health 2.90%
problems or hazards

It effects negatively since junk or

17.10%
unhealthy food is also advertised

It has both positive and negative

85.70%
effects

0.00% 20.00%40.00%60.00%80.00%100.00%

Ad effect

The above chart shows that 85.7% of the parents think that advertisements have
their own set of positive and negative effects which is true. Since we see ad
commercials promoting healthy products also and highlighting the hazards of
junk food, we cannot deny that it has its own positive effects as well.

17. Do you think ad makers target kids for their personal motive of product
promotion?

Promotion
80.00% 62.90%
60.00%
40.00%
17.10% 14.30%
20.00% 5.70% 0%
0.00%
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree

Promotion

The following chart shows that maximum parents i.e 62.9% think that advertisers
target kids for the promotional purpose of their advertisements since it’s easy to
influence children. It’s easy for the ad makers to make the ads more attractive by
adding various elements, cartoons, characters, colours etc to build a desire for a
product among the kids.
 18. Do you think ad makers focus mainly on the emotions of the kids and by
making the ad all fancy to influence them?

Promotion
50.00% 45.70%
40.00%
30.00% 22.90% 25.70%
20.00%
10.00% 5.70%
0%
0.00%
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree

Promotion

The above chart shows that that 45.70% parents agree that ad makers focus on
the emotions of the kids and the attractiveness of the advertisements. Followed by
25.7% parents being neutral about it as it depends from ad to ad that what kind of
message is being conveyed through it.

CHAPTER 5:- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The major barriers in conducting the survey are:

1. Time Limitation

2. Geographical Limitations

1. Time Limitations
For a researcher time has always worked as a barrier to his/her research process. As we
conducted the survey in the various parts of Delhi city and asked for their responses and also
observed kids aging between 6 years to 12 years, time has always worked as a limitation to the
research process.
2. Geographic Limitations
As we all know that Delhi is a mega city. It covers big number of people living in the area.
There are thousands of families living in the area. I covered West Delhi and some nearby areas
to do my research. Also the weather of Delhi city is very hot right now and hence it is
impractical to work for more than 3 to 4 hours a day in field.
Also, some parents were reluctant to answer and sonetimes kids do not let you do the interview
for them properly.

CHAPTER 6:- CONCLUSION

The key findings from this project report the important effects of advertising on the children.
The research shows that it’s true, that the advertising has a great impact on the children, their
eating habits, buying decisions etc.
It highlights the fact that kids spend a lot of their time on television and thus it’s a main
source for them to garner all sorts of information about various products and build a desire to
own them even if it’s not needed. It also conveys that kids mainly get influenced by the ads
that focus on toys, candies, food junk , fancy items etc. Kids are not so mature to detect the
importance or worth of a product, they just see and choose what appeals to them. They
become adamant on buying a certain product and compel parents to buy it for them. On the
other side, advertisements do highlight the various health benefits also of certain products and
create awareness amongst the kids.
So in the end of the conclusion it is clear that advertisement has it’s own set of advantages
and disadvantages for the kids. It depends on what an ad commercial is highlighting and what
is the purpose or message behind it.

RECOMMENDATION
From the above conclusion it should be recommended that the researcher (student) can aplly
more tests on the study. They can use more sample size. If they can’t obtain main difference
then they can apply their study on other things which are related to advertising and children.

REFERENCES
Impact of advertising on children buying behaviour by MA Hameed
(http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_2_Special_Issue_January_2014/25.pdf)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280098783_IMPACT_OF_TV_ADVERTISIN
G_ON_CHILDREN'S_BEHAVIOR
Effect of TV advertising on children by C Joseph
(https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-17320-7_14)
(http://www.ijrrr.com/papers2/paper8.pdf) by A Upadhayay
http://www.managementparadise.com/shahjagruti16/documents/21182/effect-of-
advertisements-on-children-with-special-reference-to-confectionary-products/
www.wikipedia.com
Research paper of related topics