Black and White Children: Perceptions of TV Commercials

The Role of Research in the Regulation of U.S. Children's Television Advertising

“…Ward and Wackman concluded that &dquo;the low cognitive level children cannot abandon their own perspective and take the perspective of the advertiser when viewing commercials&dquo; (p. 127). Numerous other studies (e.g., Donahue, Meyer, & Henke, 1978;Ward, Wackman, & Wartella, 1977) produced comparable findings that age is positively related with an understanding of commercials' persuasive intent, with such ability typically developing at about 7 to 8 years of age.…”

Comparing Children's and Adults' Cognitive Advertising Competences in the Netherlands

“…Most earlier studies measuring advertising intent have assessed children's understanding of advertising intent simply by asking them why commercials are shown on television (e.g. Butter et al, 1981;Donohue et al, 1978;Robertson & Rossiter, 1974). However, some scholars have raised the concern that such open-ended questions may underestimate children's understanding, given their limited language and memory retrieval abilities (Gunter, 1981;Macklin, 1983).…”

“…In contrast, the few studies that have measured children's more sophisticated understanding of advertising's persuasive intent reported considerably lower percentages (Blosser & Roberts, 1985;Donohue, Meyer, & Henke, 1978;Oates, Blades, & Gunter, 2002). For example, Oates et al (2002) found that only 36 per cent of 10-year-olds and 25 per cent of 8-year-olds could articulate the persuasive intent of advertising after exposure to a commercial message.…”

Development and Validation of a Survey Instrument to Measure Children's Advertising Literacy

“…Early studies investigating 8-to 12-year-old children's advertising literacy have done so simply by asking them why commercials are shown on television (e.g., Butter, Popovich, Stackhouse, & Garner, 1981;Donohue, Meyer, & Henke, 1978;Robertson & Rossiter, 1974). However, some scholars have raised the concern that such open-ended questions may underestimate children's understanding, given their limited language and memory retrieval abilities (Gunter, 1981;Macklin, 1983).…”