Commercials+and+Advertisments+-+Key+Research+Findings

Key Research Findings:


The results of my episode analysis showed that on average, children are exposed to 20 – 23 commercials over the course of a single iCarly Episode. Each episode has a running length of 24 minutes, so that’s about one commercial per minute of actual programming. The commercials ranged in content from toys (marketed towards both boys and girls) to food products (McDonalds, Cereal, Soft-Drinks) to other forms of media (Disney Movies, Promos for iCarly). The majority of advertisements in the commercial pods were directed at children viewers, with about 10 percent targeted towards parents of young children. iCarly viewers are often encouraged to venture online to the iCarly website; also riddled with advertisements.

I then paired these findings with the results of my interview. I found that the two 7 year olds did not have a clear perception of what a commercial was, nor its intended purpose. This falls in line with Banet-Weiser's views about childrens perception of commercial material. The 12 year old had a better understanding that a commercial was in some regard different from a regular television show. I had hoped to draw a stong connnection between recently viewed commercials and products they wanted to purchase, however, that was not the case. Perhaps the timing was too short between viewing the commercials and interviewing the kids becuase their answers did not change. This is not to say that over a longer period of study their perceptions on what toys were desirable would not change.

The advertisements are often colorful, energetic, and paint a utopian view of children's society. Very few of the commercials that are direct at children show parents or adult figures in a positive light. The commercials are stacked full of quick video cuts and perky jingles and tunes, only furthering the advertisers vision of a "kid perfect" world.

So what separates children's advertisements from adults? I found that not much differs in their overall goal. They are designed to entice the target audience in any way shape or form to purchase their product, view their show, or utilize their service. The only difference lies in how the audiences perceive these commercials. Banet-Wiser points out that although young children are often incapable of distinguishing between advertisement and programming, they will eventually grow out of this phase in early adulthood. The problem lies in the fact that although children will eventually grow out of their inability to distinguish that they are being sold a product, they are extremely vulnerable during those years.

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