Gender Representation in TV Advertising for Children: Children’s perceptions and advertising literacy

Children are becoming consumers at increasingly younger age and are more influential in consumption decisions within the family. Television still is one of the main ways they are exposed to advertising. Our study focuses on gender stereotypes on TV advertisements for children and combines a content analysis of advertisements and focus groups with children between 7 and 12 years old. Our findings show that, during a period of 3 months, about 75% of TV advertisements for children contain gender stereotypes. In addition, children are able to recognize such stereotypes, and in general do not identify or agree with the way each gender is portrayed. Finally, children display good levels of advertising literacy, as they are able to recognize the intentions of the brands in the commercials.

The Representation of the “Other” in the Turkish TV Advertisements

Turkey, which has a rich cultural mosaic, consists of the combination of many ‘Others’, including cultural, religious and ethnic the ‘Others’; the ‘Other’ as a gender role; as refugees, emigrants, etc. In such a multicultural climate, our research aim is to identify the stereotypes that represent the ‘Other’ in TV advertisements on Turkey’s mainstream channels. For this purpose, we examined 101 prime-time TV commercials that were broadcast on the five most watched mainstream TV channels between September and December 2020. Having conducted the quantitative and qualitative content analysis of TV commercials, we revealed the symbolic annihilation of the ‘Others’ in the Turkish advertising environment, which is accordance with the conservative perception of the country. In line with the international research, we came to the conclusion that the white Turkish men with medium-high socioeconomic status were heavily represented in the prime-time Turkish TV advertising. Nevertheless, it was also revealed that gendered visibility of the others as well as women portrayals were considered only as the ‘Other’ in the Turkish TV ads. Besides, our research findings overwhelmingly reflect the hegemonic culture and highly traditional views on gender roles.

Cultural values in American and Spanish TV advertising at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic

This article discusses the similarities and differences found in some Spanish and American television advertisements broadcast at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To carry out this study, forty advertisements shown on television in the two countries during the months of March and April 2020 were analysed. Qualitative and quantitative analysis considered the cultural dimensions of identity, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. In addition, the Chi-square formula was also applied in order to confirm that the differences found in both groups of adverts were not significantly important. The results show that a great deal of similar messages and even expressions was conveyed to both audiences in both countries, although some differences were also found. Besides, the main goal of these ads in both groups was to comfort the audience, and not to clearly promote or advertise the product. Thus, this study demonstrates once again that despite the differences that these two cultural groups display, and which are usually portrayed in intercultural literature, the context highly influences the values typically assigned to a linguistic community. That is reflected in the discourse of speakers, and it is the reason why we can find values opposite to those expected in a cultural group.

Cameroonian Consumers' Attitude towards Tv Advertising Form and Content

Objective - The research focuses on analysing the TV advertising in an environment dominated by social networks and its ever-increasing cost in order to evaluate the influence of its content and form on consumer attitudes in Cameroon. Methodology/Technique - A survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 337 individuals in the cities of Douala, Yaoundé, and Maroua. Principal component analysis and multiple linear regression were used to assess the results. Findings - The results reveal the significant influence of the content (character and language) and even the form (traditional advertising and placement) of television advertising on consumer attitudes. Novelty - It contributes to the development of the study of television advertising in relation to the attitude of the consumers in Cameroon by integrating the content and form aspect. Type of Paper - Empirical. Keywords: Attitude, Consumer, Advertising content, Advertisement form, Cameroon JEL Classification: D1, M31, M37.

Background Noise? TV Advertising Affects Real-Time Investor Behavior

Using minute-by-minute TV advertising data covering some 300 firms, 327,000 ads, and $20 billion in ad spending, we study the real-time effects of TV advertising on investors’ searches for online financial information and subsequent trading activity. Our identification strategy exploits the fact that viewers in different U.S. time zones are exposed to the same programming and national advertising at different times, allowing us to control for contemporaneous confounding events. We find that an average TV ad leads to a 3% increase in EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system queries and an 8% increase in Google searches for financial information within 15 minutes of the airing of that ad. These searches translate into larger trading volume on the advertiser’s stock, driven primarily by retail investors. The findings on retail investor ad-induced trading are corroborated with hourly data from Robinhood, a popular retail trading platform. We also show that ads induce searches and trading of companies other than the advertiser, including of close rivals. Altogether, our findings suggest that advertising originally intended for consumers has a nonnegligible effect on financial markets. This paper was accepted by Karl Diether, finance.

The Association between E-Cigarette Price and TV Advertising and the Sales of Smokeless Tobacco Products in the USA

This study aims to examine how e-cigarette prices and advertising, key determinants of e-cigarette demand, are associated with the demand for smokeless tobacco (SLT) products in the US. Market-level sales and price data by year (2010–2017), quarter, and type of retail store were compiled from Nielsen retail store scanner database. E-cigarette TV advertising ratings data were compiled from Kantar Media. Four-way (market, year, quarter, store type) fixed-effect models were used to estimate the associations between e-cigarette price and TV advertising and sales of SLT products (chewing loose leaf, moist snuff, and snus). Our results showed that a 1% rise in own price was associated with a reduction in sales by 1.8% for chewing loose leaf, 1.6% for moist snuff, and 2.2% for snus, respectively. In addition, a 1% rise in disposable e-cigarette price was associated with 0.3% and 0.6% increased sales for moist snuff and snus, respectively. The association between e-cigarette TV advertising and SLT product sales was not significant. Our results suggest that disposable e-cigarettes and certain SLT products (moist snuff and snus) are potential substitutes. Policies aiming to regulate e-cigarette use and sales need to consider their potential link with the demand for SLT products.

Confinement narratives: TV advertising during the coronavirus outbreak in Spain

Spain had been one of the worst affected countries during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and by mid-March it had enforced one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe. As ethnographers, we have to deal with the unexpected (Canals, 2020) and cultural narratives embedded in widely broadcast audiovisual productions can be a key source for analysing social discourses and prevalent images during exceptional periods. Of these productions, TV advertising can be extremely valuable, with its intentional micro-stories of everyday life that condense self-contained, meaningful audiovisual tales into less than 60 seconds.I examine here cultural narratives on the quarantine and subsequent de-escalation process in Spain by analysing a sample of 32 spots from 17 different brands and institutions in two different rounds of advertising. Among the recurrent tropes, a consistent storyline on a new sense of communitas is forged by emphasising resilience and continuity as cornerstones for a more robust concept of togetherness based on the idea of mutuality of sharing – drawing upon Sahlins’ “mutuality of being” (2013).