Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Television commercials in violent programming: An experimental evaluation of their effects on children

  • Published:
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using an experimental method, this study found that when a commercial was viewed immediately following a high-violence dramatic programming segment, children’s ad copy recognition scores were significantly lower and attitudes toward the ad and the advertised brand were significantly less favorable than when the commercial was viewed following a low-violence (but otherwise near-identical) program segment. The influence of program violence level on some advertising response measures was more pronounced when the commercial was positioned immediately following the dramatic programming segment than when immediately preceding it. The study cautions advertisers to examine carefully whether, in reaching for high audience ratings and cost efficiency through violent television programs, they may be sacrificing communication effectiveness of their brand advertising.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler, Richard P., Bernard I. Friedlander, Gerald S. Lesser, Laurene Meringoff, Thomas S. Robertson, John R. Rossiter, and Scott Ward. 1977.Research on the Effects of Television Advertising on Children: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Advertisers Up in Arms!” 1989.Advertising Age 60 (March 27): 1, 68.

  • Axelrod, Joel. 1963. “Induced Moods and Attitudes toward Products.”Journal of Advertising Research 3(2): 19–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, Thomas F. and Colby Lewis. 1972. “Violence in Television: The Industry Looks at Itself.” InTelevision and Social Behavior: Media Content and Control. Vol. 1. Eds. George Comstock, Eli Rubenstein, and John P. Murray. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 290–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, Albert, Dorothea Ross, and Sheila Ross. 1963. “Imitation of Film-Mediated Aggressive Models.”Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 66(3): 3–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batra, Rajeev and Douglas M. Stayman. 1990. “The Role of Mood in Advertising Effectiveness.”Journal of Consumer Research 17 (September): 203–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biblow, Ephraim. 1973. “Imaginative Play and the Control of Aggressive Behavior.” InThe Child’s World of Make-Believe: Experimental Studies of Imaginative Play. Ed. Jerome E. Singer. New York: Academic Press, 104–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bower, Gordon H. 1981. “Mood and Memory.”American Psychologist 36 (February): 129–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantor, JoAnne, J. Bryant, and Dolf Zillman. 1974. “Enhancement of Humor Appreciation by Transferred Excitation.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 30(6): 812–821.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantor, JoAnne, Bella Mody, and Dolf Zillman. 1974. “Residual Emotional Arousal as a Distractor in Persuasion.”Journal of Social Psychology 92 (April): 231–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chi, Michelene T. H. 1976. “Short-Term Memory Limitations in Children: Capacity or Processing Deficits?”Memory and Cognition 4 (September): 559–572.

    Google Scholar 

  • “The Clamor against TV Violence Gets Results.” 1977.Business Week (January 10): 68–69.

  • Clark, David G. and William B. Blankenburg. 1972. “Trends in Violent Content in Selected Mass Media.” InTelevision and Social Behavior: Media Content and Control. Vol. 1. Eds. George Comstock, Eli Rubenstein, and John P. Murray. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 188–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglass, Richard M. 1981.Arousal from Violent Television Programming and the Effects on Associated Advertising Messages. Unpublished dissertation. Hofstra University.

  • Easterbrook, J. A. 1959. “The Effect of Emotion on Cue Utilization and the Organization of Behavior.”Psychological Review 66 (May): 183–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, Henry C., Roger L. Thomas, Alan D. McFarland, and J. Walter Lane. 1985. “Emotional Mood States and Retrieval in Episodic Memory.”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 11(2): 363–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, Meryl P. 1985. “Mood States and Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review.”Journal of Consumer Research 12 (December): 281–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerbner, George and Larry Gross. 1976. “Living with Television: The Violence Profile.”Journal of Communication 26 (Spring): 173–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerbner, George, Larry Gross, and Nancy Signorielli. 1980. “The ‘Mainstreaming’ of America: Violence Profile 11.”Journal of Communication 30 (Summer): 10–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • “Getting ’Em while They’re Young.” 1991.Business Week (September 9): 94.

  • Goldberg, Marvin E. and Gerald J. Gorn. 1987. “Happy and Sad TV Programs: How They Affect Reactions to Commercials.”Journal of Consumer Research 14 (December): 387–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heller, Melvin and Samuel Polsky. 1971. “Television Violence: Guidelines for Evaluation.”Archives of General Psychiatry 24 (March): 279–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, Clark L. 1952.A Behavior System: An Introduction to Behavior Theory Concerning the Individual Organism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, Alice M. 1984. “Toward Understanding the Role of Affect in Cognition.”Handbook of Social Cognition. Ed. Robert Wyer, Jr. and Thomas Srull. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 179–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, Alice M., Margaret Clark, Thomas E. Shalker, and Lynn Karp. 1978. “Affect, Accessibility of Material in Memory and Behavior: A Cognitive Loop?”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36: 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Richard A. and Dean W. Wichern. 1988.Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis. Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, Patricia A., Steven J. Grove, and W. Jeffrey Burroughs. 1993. “An Experimental Examination of Mood Effects on Retrieval and Evaluation of Advertisement and Brand Information.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 21 (Spring): 135–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang, Ann and Marian Friestad. 1993. “Emotion, Hemispheric Specialization, and Visual and Verbal Memory for Television Messages.”Communication Research 20(5): 647–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lefkowitz, Monroe M. and L. Rowell Huesmann. 1980. “Concomitants of Violence Viewing in Children.” InChildren and the Faces of Television: Teaching, Violence, Selling. Eds. Edward L. Palmer and Aimée Dorr. New York: Academic Press, 163–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Lousy Frames for Beautiful Pictures: Are They Changing?” 1977.Advertising Age 48 (May 23): 56.

  • Macklin, M. Carole. 1983. “Do Children Understand TV Ads?”Journal of Advertising Research 23 (February–March): 63–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathur, Mahima and Amitava Chattopadhyay. 1991. “The Impact of Moods Generated by Television Programs on Responses to Advertising.”Psychology and Marketing 8(1): 59–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattes, John and JoAnne Cantor. 1982. “Enhancing Responses to Television Advertisements via the Transfer of Residual Arousal from Prior Programming.”Journal of Broadcasting 26 (Spring): 553–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeal, James U. 1987.Children as Consumers: Insights and Implications. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murry, John P., Jr., John L. Lastovicka, and Surendra N. Singh. 1992. “Feeling and Liking Responses to Television Programs: An Examination of Two Explanations for Media Context Effects.”Journal of Consumer Research 18 (March): 441–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Mental Health. 1982.Television and Behavior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications for the Eighties. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen Report on Television. 1990. Northbrook, IL: A. C. Nielsen Company, 8.

  • Osborn, D. Keith and Richard C. Endsley. 1971. “Emotional Reactions of Young Children to TV Violence.”Child Development 42: 321–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, Robert A., Wayne D. Hoyer, and William R. Wilson, eds. 1986.The Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, Jean. 1952.The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: International University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riecken, Glen and A. Coskun Samli. 1981. “Measuring Children’s Attitudes toward Television Commercials: Extension and Replication.”Journal of Consumer Research 8 (June): 57–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossiter, John R. 1977. “Reliability of a Short Test Measuring Children’s Attitudes toward TV Commercials.”Journal of Consumer Research 3 (March): 179–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1980. “The Effects of Volume and Repetition of Television Commercials.” InThe Effects of Television Advertising on Children. Ed. Richard Adler. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 153–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rule, Brendal Gail and Tamara J. Ferguson. 1986. “The Effects of Media Violence on Attitudes, Emotions, and Cognitions.”Journal of Social Issues 42(3): 29–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • “Sanitizing the Small Screen.” 1981.Time (June 29): 83.

  • Schachter, Stanley. 1964. “The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State.” InAdvances in Experimental Social Psychology. Vol. 1. Ed. Leonard Berkowitz. New York: Academic Press, 49–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, Norbert and Gerald Clore. 1983. “Mood, Misattribution, and Judgments of Well-Being: Informative and Directive Functions of Affective States.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45 (September): 513–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Surendra N. and Jacqueline C. Hitchon. 1989. “The Intensifying Effects of Exciting Television Programs on the Reception of Subsequent Commercials.”Psychology and Marketing 6 (Spring): 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srull, Thomas K. 1983a. “Affect and Memory: The Impact of Affective Reactions in Advertising on the Representation of Product Information in Memory.” InAdvances in Consumer Research. Vol. 10. Eds. Richard Bagozzi and Alice Tybout. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 520–525.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————— 1983b. “The Role of Prior Knowledge in the Acquisition, Retention, and Use of New Information.” InAdvances in Consumer Research. Vol. 10. Eds. Richard Bagozzi and Alice Tybout. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, 572–576.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tannenbaum, Percy H. and Dolf Zillman. 1975. “Emotional Arousal in the Facilitation of Aggression through Communication.” InAdvances in Experimental Psychology. Ed. Leonard Berkowitz. New York: Academic Press, 149–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Violence Bill Debated in Washington.” 1990.Broadcasting 118 (February 5): 77–78.

  • Ward, Scott, Daniel B. Wackman, and Ellen Wartella. 1977.How Children Learn to Buy: The Development of Consumer Information Processing Skills. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Joanne V., Judith A. Saltzberg, and Lloyd A. Goldsamt. 1990. “Does Affect Induce Self-Focused Attention?”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58 (May): 899–908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zillman, Dolf. 1971. “Excitation Transfer in Communication-Mediated Aggressive Behavior.”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 7: 419–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zillman, Dolf, James L. Hoyt, and Kenneth D. Day. 1974. “Strength and Duration of the Effect of Aggressive, Violent and Erotic Communications on Subsequent Aggressive Behavior.”Communications Research 1 (July): 286–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the School of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

    V. Kanti Prasad

  2. the College of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA

    Lois J. Smith

Authors
  1. V. Kanti Prasad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lois J. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

He has published numerous articles on advertising effectiveness, children and advertising, buyer behavior, and marketing strategy in theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Communication, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of International Marketing, and others.

Her primary research interests are in children and advertising issues, buyer behavior, and marketing ethics. Her research has appeared in theJournal of Services Marketing, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, and proceedings of numerous national and regional marketing conferences.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kanti Prasad, V., Smith, L.J. Television commercials in violent programming: An experimental evaluation of their effects on children. JAMS 22, 340–351 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070394224003

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070394224003

Keywords

Search

Navigation