Day 065 - 09 Dec 94 - Page 21
1
2 Q. Can you turn to page 20 of your report? This comes under
3 the subheading, "Children's Influence on Food Purchases",
4 which we see on page 19. I am going to have to use both
5 bundles to some extent. I want to read first, if I may,
6 Ms. Dibb, what you said about the Rossiter chapter from
7 June Esserman's book in 1981. It is in the second
8 paragraph on the left-hand column on page 20: "It has been
9 argued that as children become older they become more
10 negative in their attitudes towards advertising. However,
11 Rossiter points out that as children get older they may
12 appear to develop an adult-like attitude against TV
13 advertising as a social institution, but in fact
14 commercials make them more acquisitive, rather than less".
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16 On page 46 one sees that you give the reference, "Rossiter,
17 Research on Television Advertising's General Impact on
18 Children: American and Australian findings, Television,
19 Advertising and Children, edited by J Esserman".
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21 If you turn to the second part of the first volume of
22 references and to tab 9, you will find that chapter by John
23 Rossiter -- I am sorry, I called him Philip Rossiter --
24 John Rossiter from that book. It is, in fact, chapter 10.
25 It may be easier to turn the file round so you can read it.
26
27 This, as I remind you, is a piece of work which you have
28 cited in support of what you have written in your paper.
29 Part one, and I will read the heading: "Research on
30 Television Advertising's General Impact on Children:
31 American and Australia Findings. Part one - American
32 Research. Abstract. A review of the American research on
33 TV advertising's general impact on children suggests two
34 important conclusions: (1) TV advertising has no lasting
35 cognitive effects and does not make children more
36 'persuasible'. (2) However, children of all ages are
37 'persuaded' in the sense that they see many products
38 attractively advertised on TV and will ask for those
39 products that interest them. The review raises an issue as
40 to whether persuasion via TV advertising is per se
41 undesirable when no lasting cognitive impact on children
42 can be demonstrated." Would you like to comment, Ms. Dibb,
43 on that summary before we come to look at what he concludes
44 at the end?
45 A. Yes. "Lasting cognitive impact" -- presumably, that is
46 why many advertisers, including McDonald's, advertise so
47 heavily. We are talking about advertisers, as in the case
48 of McDonald's, that do advertise products very heavily.
49 Therefore, whatever one may wish to debate about the
50 lasting cognitive impact, and we are talking about
51 cognitive here -- you must remember what "cognitive" means
52 -- that is not to say there are not other lasting
53 impacts. For that reason, I think it is one of the reasons
54 why advertising of certain products is quite heavy to
55 children. But I come back to the point that there is more
56 to impact than cognitive impacts. It does also, quite
57 clearly, point out that children of all ages are persuaded
58 in the sense that they see many products attractively
59 advertised on TV.
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