Advertisement as a promotional tool

It is known to everyone that the duty of a marketer does not come to an end with the production of goods in accordance with the customer requirements. The product or service so designed must reach to the ultimate customer at the right time. This is possible only through the promotional activity. One of the aspects of promotion is the advertisements or ads.

Background of the study

Parents believe that television advertisements are changing the pattern and behavior of children. They have negative impact on children since children demand, nag and pester their parents to purchase the advertised product. According to a recent survey in the US, children spend more time watching television and they do anything else and children between ages of 6 and 14 watch about 25 hours of television per week and are exposed to 20000 commercials in a single year. In the US children who are under the age of 12 are estimated to influence $130-670 bn in the family purchases.

A survey reported that television advertisements are effective in influencing children who lack the relevant knowledge, but still want their parents to get them endless array of products which they have seen in advertisements. Television commercials are also changing childrens eating habits. Unhealthy and junk food commercials have resulted in their increasing demand among the children. This has resulted in parents negative attitude towards television advertisements.

Around 80% of mothers agreed that they had been requested to buy the advertised products by their children and also agreed that if their children asked them to but certain food products it was because of the advertisements. But only a small segment of them showed positive attitude 9% of the parents agreed that advertisements offer their children a chance to learn and 6% agreed that it provides proper knowledge about the products. While 84% of the parents claimed that advertising manipulates children.

Ban for Advertisement..?

Due to its heavy influence , parents believe that the children need some kind of protection from advertisements; otherwise advertisers will exploit their loyalty.
Total ban on television advertising directed at children Norway.
Television advertisements are banned for children under the age

of 12 years Sweden. No advertisements on television during programs for pre- schoolers - Australia. Ban on advertisement in between 7 am and 10 pm Greece.

Indian Context
In India too, Television has come up in a huge wage and advertising is a huge multimillion dollar industry that has an enormous impact on the development of a child. By seeing the television advertisements, most of the children compel their parents to buy those products. Refusal of those needs create conflicts and deteriorates parents relationships with their children's.

Children in India represents the direct purchase powers for the kids products. According to the statistics given by indiantelevision.com, children drive 84 96% purchase decision for themselves and their family for the products like ice cream, cadies, books etc., Children have indirect purchase influence for big ticket items like car, computers, mobiles, refrigerator, washing machine and other consumer durables.

Fig. 1. Kids influence on Spending

100
95 90 85 80 75 % of Purchase Decision

Source: Indiantelevision.com

Objectives
To study the parental perception about:
Whether their children like watching television and the number of

hours their children spend before television on week days and week ends. Whether children prefer watching television over talking to their friends, playing outdoor games and studying. The role played by children in family purchase decisions. Impact of television advertisements on their children What category of product advertisement their children like watching the most and whether it transpires into demand for the same.

Methodology

Methods of sampling Location Sample size Software package use Tool for data collection

: : : : :

Non-probabilistic quota Indore, MP. 300 (150 fathers & 150 mothers) SPSS Closed ended questionnaire

Analysis of data
Parents also perceive that their children prefer watching

television over talking to their friend (with 29% strongly agreeing to it)
They also agreed (48%) that children prefer television viewing over

playing out door games with 21.7% strongly to it.

68.3% of the parents believe that their children prefer to spend time

before television than with studying.

Childrens buying behavior

Parents agree that the present day children play an important role in family buying decision. About 73.3% of the parent respondents agree that their children are consulted and heard for during family purchases which indicate children dominance in family purchase decisions There are many factors which affect childrens product choice, when the parents were asked to identify the most influential factor driving their childrens purchase decision, they indicated that TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENT is the most important factor.

Impact of Television advertisement on Buying behavior of children.

Parents strongly agree (49.3%) that television advertisements help

in economic socialization of children by adding knowledge. Parents believe that food advertisements on television are inculcating unhealthy eating habits in their children. > Around 41.7% of the parents strongly agree that TV advertisement are instrumental in increasing purchase request of their children.

Conclusion
The study provides important insights into parental perception of their childrens buying behavior. The study indicates that parents accept that their children love watching television for long hours. They on an average watch television 2.48 hours on weekdays and 3.47 hours on weekends. The children also prefer spending time before television than engaging themselves in talking to friends or in any other games.

Thank You
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Kiran Vinil Rashid Praveen

Third Semester MBA

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