Day 065 - 09 Dec 94 - Page 24

     
     1        there is no intention that the child should look as if he
     2        was a passive, spaced out receptacle for these broadcast
     3        messages?
     4        A.  I do not think one has to be either "passive" or
     5        "spaced out" to be receptive to advertising messages.
     6
     7   Q.   Can we go back, please, to John Rossiter's chapter in the
     8        Esserman book?  Please turn to the "Summary and
     9        Implications" on page 231, which you find at the top of the
    10        right-hand column.  "Summary and Implications" comes just
    11        above the middle of the page:  "American research on the
    12        impact of TV advertising on children began before
    13        Australian research on the topic.  Accordingly, Australian
    14        parents and policy makers may find the US research results
    15        instructive".  Then there is a reference.
    16
    17        "The purpose of this paper has been to summarize that
    18        aspect of the literature pertaining to the general effects
    19        of TV advertising on children, analyzed as cumulative
    20        exposure effects (with age) and heavy viewing effects
         (within age groups).
    22
    23        1.  Cognitive effects. Children's cognitive understanding
    24        of the nature and purpose of TV commercials increases
    25        dramatically with age and thus with cumulative exposure,
    26        heavy viewers, within age groups, show no less
    27        understanding of TV commercials than their lighter viewing
    28        peers."
    29
    30        Can we deduce from that, Ms. Dibb, an implication that
    31        children's critical appreciation of television
    32        advertisements increases with age?
    33        A.  Yes, I think that -- I mean, there are other minor
    34        influences, but I think age has been determined as the most
    35        significant factor.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is what it says on 226 in the top left.
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.  Then it says next:  "2. Attitudinal
    40        effects.  Children's attitudes towards TV commercials
         decrease dramatically with age and thus with cumulative
    42        exposure heavy viewers, within age groups, show less of a
    43        decrease, and therefore hold more favourable attitudes
    44        towards TV commercials, than their lighter viewing peers."
    45
    46        Then "3" -- and I suggest to you this is the sole part of
    47        this paper which is noted in your Nutrition Nightmare
    48        document -- "3. Behavioural effects.  Children's desires
    49        for advertised products, and their requests to parents to
    50        buy these products, hardly decline at all with age and thus 
    51        with cumulative exposure, heavy viewers, within age groups, 
    52        want more advertised products, and ask for them more often, 
    53        than their lighter viewing peers.  Several
    54        implications" -- am I right that that is the passage you
    55        relied on for your assertion that, "Rossiter points out
    56        that as children get older they may appear to develop an
    57        adult like attitude against TV advertising as a social
    58        institution, but in fact commercials make them more
    59        acquisitive rather than less".
    60