Barrie Gunter

Advertising to children on TV : content, impact, and regulation

Contents: Preface. The Issues About Television Advertising to Children. The Nature of Advertising to Children. Childrens Early Understanding of Television Advertisements. Advanced Understanding of Advertising. Theoretical Approaches to Studying Childrens Understanding of Advertisements. Advertising Impact: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Values. Advertising Influence: Choice and Consumption. The Incidental Influence of Advertising. Advertising Regulation and Research. Concluding Comments.

The British and their use of the Web for health information and advice: a survey

In the UK, both anecdotal and research evidence points to ever greater and more sophisticated use of the Web to provide health information and advice. The study reported here adds to this research with an online survey of Internet users’ reported use of the Web to access information about health and their opinions about the advice that can be obtained there. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to an online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project; 81 per cent or 997 of the respondents were British. The prime purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information on the characteristics of the users of health information Web sites, to obtain feedback regarding for what they used online health sites and what were the perceived outcomes associated with using online health information.

A cross-cultural content analysis of children's television advertisements

Two sets of television advertisements were video-recorded from weekend childrens television in London and New York and were coded by two white women in terms of their gender-role portrayals. The advertised products covered by this analysis included snack and fast food, toys and breakfast cereal. Each advertisement was coded according to nine criteria including the ethnicity and gender of the people appearing, gender of central figure and of any “voice over” in the commercial, presence or absence of music, and other sales-related content. In general, males were more numerous than females in both American and British advertisements. There were more similarities than differences between the two national markets in terms of the nature of gender-role portrayals, with males generally occupying more central and authoritative positions. Only two analyses yielded significant differences. Girls outnumbered boys in American commercials, but the opposite was true of British commercials. Hispanic males were present in American commercials but not in British commercials.

Online versus offline research: implications for evaluating digital media

The growth of the Internet and other digital media has opened up exciting opportunities for the provision of public services, for business and for personal transactions. Comparisons between the earliest forms of “online” research, in the form of telephone interviewing, and offline data collection via face‐to‐face interviews or self‐completion questionnaires, revealed that the modality within which research was conducted could affect research findings. In examining the evidence, this paper indicates that the use of online methodologies has important implications for sampling, response rates, quality of data produced, and operational practices in research projects. Online research is restricted to individuals with access to relevant technologies (e.g. the Internet) and where online technology penetration is limited, survey samples are unlikely to represent the general population. Online surveys, however, can produce quicker response rates than offline surveys and also richer open‐ended responses. The important point is to recognise the strengths and weaknesses are associated with different methodologies and what differences can exist between online and offline data collection procedures.

Sex, Presentation Mode and Memory for Violent and Non‐violent News

Abstract A sample of 68 university undergraduates were presented with a sequence of violent and nonviolent news stories either audiovisually (via television), in audio only or in print. Subjects were tested for cued recall of story content immediately after presentation. There was a significant main effect of presentation mode: recall of news was best from print and worst in the audiovisual condition. Significant interaction occurred between sex, mode and news type: males recalled violent news better than non‐violent news, while for females the reverse was true. Males also recalled violent news much better than females in the audiovisual mode, but no such difference occurred in any other mode. Results indicate that reading the news can produce better retention than listening to or watching it. Furthermore, the presentation of violent news stories audiovisually (on videotape) can produce especially impaired memory performance among female viewers.

Effects of a TV Drama Series upon Public Impressions about Psychiatrists

A survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of over 2,800 UK television viewers to examine audience reactions towards a drama series about psychiatry. Whilst the majority of respondents agreed that the drama Shrinks was good entertainment and gave a realistic view of the field of psychiatry, those who reportedly had a close association with a mentally ill person were less likely to find the characterisations of the patients and psychiatrists credible. Despite the misgivings of practising psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, however, no evidence was found to support the idea that watching the drama resulted in misconceptions about the real world of psychiatric medicine.

Electronic books: A survey of users in the UK

Purpose – This study provides insights into the early market for e‐books in the UK through survey research with members of a large online panel.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from an online panel established by a leading commercial internet research company. Members of the panel are signalled each week to take part in web surveys. Respondents completed an online questionnaire posted on the companys web site. Questions explored awareness, trialling, purchase and borrowing of e‐books, examining the frequency of such behaviour and types of publications accessed and/or obtained.Findings – A significant proportion of respondents (85 per cent) were aware of e‐books. Among these respondents, around half (49 per cent) had made trial use of them, nearly four in ten (38 per cent) had bought at least one e‐book, and one in seven (13 per cent) had borrowed an e‐book from a library. Technical books and non‐fiction publications related to hobbies and interests were among those most popularly used an...

Children's understanding of television advertising: a qualitative approach

In this paper childrens understanding of television advertising was explored using focus groups in a qualitative approach. None of the 6 year olds, a minority of the 8 year olds and by no means all of the 10 year olds were able to articulate an understanding of the persuasive nature of advertising. It was concluded that childrens understanding of the persuasive intent of television advertising is less well developed than previously thought, challenging current marketing perspectives. These findings raise questions for European legislation, UK broadcasting practices and for advertisers and manufacturers who target children.

Remembering Television News: Effects of Picture Content

Summary Thirty male undergraduate student volunteers from the Department of Psychology, North East London Polytechnic were presented with a sequence of 15 brief television news items recorded on videotape from actual network newscasts under two conditions: (a) video modality (sound plus visuals) or (b) audio modality (soundtrack only). The items were visually differentiated into three categories: “film-clip” items, “still-inserts” items and “no-inserts” items. In a test of free recall for these news items immediately following presentation, “film-clip” items and “still-inserts” items were recalled significantly more often in the video modality than “no-inserts” items, but not in the audio modality. The findings suggested that news-item recall can be affected by picture content and it is argued that picture items may inhibit learning of nonpictorial items.

Blogs, news and credibility

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of blogging in the news sphere. If blogs represent a genuinely new breed of news provision, then they should adhere to some of the founding principles of mainstream news and journalism. A key principle in this respect is news credibitility.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a review of recent literature about news blogging and assesses whether news blogs manifest many of the core attributes of mainstream news and journalism. The review considers the attributes that have previously been identified as defining good quality news and competent journalism and then applies some of these principles to “news” blogging.Findings – There is no doubt that blogs have emerged as news sources of increasing significance and there have been occasions when they can be influential in setting news agendas. The essential qualities of credibitiltiy and capturing public trust in the news sphere, however, often depends upon the established reputation ...