ENGLISH FOR

TECHNICAL WRITING

IIT, KHARAGPUR

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
ADVERTISEMENT SENSITIVITY OF CHILDREN IN INDIA AND ITS EFFECT

N.M.LEEPSA (09BM9403), VGSOM

MUNMUN KHANRA, (09EE9403)
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
SARBARI MITRA, (09MA9401)
MATHEMATICS
UPANANDA PANI (09HS9405)
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Introduction:

Advertising is a way of communication that aims to persuade potential customers to

purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. As attractive
advertisement seems to be the best way to persuade the consumer, the marketing division of
companies innovate new ideas to attract the consumers to purchase their products and thus
maximize their sales to survive in this cut throat competitive world. Advertisements may have
both positive and negative effects on the children. There is a general concern of parents and other
social activists, that TV advertising may have an overall negative, intended or unintended,
influence on children [1–4]. Specifically, TV advertising may (….) potentially increase parent-
child conflict and may lead to a more disappointed, unhappier child [3].
India is the second largest populated country in the world where 40% of its population is
below the age of 18 years and thus comes around 400 million 1, which is the world's largest child
population. Food contributes more than 53% of the total private consumption expenditure of the
house hold in India2. On the other hand childhood health problem viz. obesity and associated
diseases, is one of the greatest challenges faced by the developed countries so far, may be a
threat to the developing countries as well. Rapid industrialization, fast moving consumer sector,
changing family structure and altered expectations have resulted in growing popularity of TV
shows thereby increasing advertisements and indirectly affecting children’s health. India is the
third largest television markets with 76.1 % and 28.5 % 3 households in the urban and rural area
having access to televisions respectively. Hence, there is intense competition amongst the firms
in the food industry for which they popularize their brand through TV advertisement. Rapid
growth in the number of TV stations has led the industry to market directly to children and youth
[5]. Nutrition of children is of paramount importance not only for survival, but for the
development of health and intellectual vitality also [6]. Healthy children are the assets for any
country so there is a need to study the major determinants of food consumption pattern in the
context of fast moving Indian society and the role of advertisement may need to be redefined for
children in India.

According to the latest figure available in www.Indiastat.Com. The website publishes data on Indian economy.
See Appendix-I
2
NSSO 60th Round, 2004, Govt. of India.
3
See Appendix-III

1
Review of Literature:
A survey of available related literature has been made to gain meaningful insight into the
problem under review and to arrive at judicious conclusion. The researches have been centered
round mainly on the following questions:
• Is advertisement has effect on children?
• Is food advertisement has effect on children?
• Whether food advertisement has positive or negative effect on children?
• Which age group of children is more influenced by advertisement?
• What are the positive effects of food advertisement on children?
• Does food advertisement have negative effect on the health of children?
Most of the literature suggests that there is effect on the health of children using food
products advertised on TV. It is expected that higher the number of evidences from studies the
greater will be the awareness which is lacking in India. This is the motivation of this study. [7]
observed that TV is the major source of media messages about food to children. The authors
view that the food industry has viewed children as a major market force. As a result, children are
targeted aggressively by food advertisers, and are exposed to a growing and unprecedented
amount of advertising through a wide range of channels. [8] has highlighted that children are
more influenced by the audio-visual and animated TV advertisements. A Europe based study
shows that the advertising is undoubtedly one of the many factors that influence children’s food
decisions [9], [10]. The increasing rate of child obesity is an effect of increasing marketing and
consumption of manufactured food items [10], [8]. An U.S.A based quantitative study [11]
explores the poor nutritious status of foods which are advertised during TV programs viewed by
children. A study based on the children in Malaysia discusses about the exaggeration in
advertisements and different restrictions imposed on advertisements targeting children [12]. The
influence of TV advertisements has been revealed in [13], [14]. These studies show direct
correlation between the purchase requests, brand preferences, consumption behavior and
nutrition intake of children and food items those are advertised on TV. Different studies [15],
[16] explore how the advertising messages are processed by children and which factors influence
the processing. [17], [18], [19] have found that the child’s age has a substantial effect on the
child’s understanding of TV advertising.

2
It is seen from literature [9], [8], [12], [20] that based on the studies on the effect of
advertisements on children, there are different restrictions and rules of advertisements (towards
children) in different countries. Similarly, in India a set of proper rules and regulations should be
introduced and the advertising companies should be compelled to follow them. There are
139.33 million4 television viewers in India are children below 15 years 5 thus huge attention is
required to be paid on the relation between children and TV advertisement through different
studies in various aspects directed to children.
Objectives of the Study:
The study will be undertaken with the following specific objectives:
• To explore the relationship between children’s exposure to TV advertisement and their

food preferences.

• To analyze the effects of TV advertisement for food product on the health of children.
Methodology:
The study will be carried out mainly on the basis of an in-depth study of the documentary
evidence. The study is stretched over a period from 2009 to 2010.
The following are the main sources of information and data.
Primary Source: Conducting primary survey will be a challenging task for this study. It has
been already mentioned that the study will be completed in multistage stratified sampling. The
first stage units (FSU) will be the 1991 census villages in the rural sector and Urban Frame
Survey (UFS) blocks in the urban sector. The ultimate stage units (USU) will be schools in both
the sectors. In case of large villages/blocks requiring hamlet-group (hg)/sub-block (sb)
formation, one intermediate stage will be the selection of two hgs/sbs from each FSU. The
information regarding FSU and UFS will be collected from the regional office of respective
state. First hand information will be collected through interviews of the people related to the
children directly or indirectly. A questionnaire will be prepared to obtain the view of parents on
their kids on the purchasing choices and eating habits of kids after viewing an advertisement.
The study will also include the opinions of teachers, doctors etc. who know the children well. It
will be mainly directed towards the nature of impact the advertising has on the minds of
4 See Appendix-II
5 Industry Insight Report, 2007, Confederation of Indian Industry

3
children. Another part of the survey may be conducted online by designing a close-ended
questionnaire so that it can easily be answered online too.
Secondary Source: The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone
else and passed through the statistical process. The secondary sources like National Sample
Survey Organization (NSSO) will be used for extraction of consumption expenditure on various
items in household level. Research papers in the last ten will be reviewed for a better
understanding of methodology and building wider consensus on the topic. Here existing records
of EBSCO and PROQUEST database, reports published by the UNICEF and WHO will be used.
Internet will be used for getting information on rules and regulation on advertising and to get the
ingredients of foods targeted to children. Magazines will be used to get some information on
children.
The study would be relied on both the methods: secondary source as well as primary sources.
As far as selection of universe (children) is concerned, the selection will be done at different
phases of data collection. In the first phase sample size of the universe will be worked out,
keeping in view of the constraints of time and money. Out of the universe of all the children in
India we will restrict ourselves to twenty percent of the total universe.
Sampling Frame for First Stage Units:
For the rural sector, the list of Census 1991 villages will constitute the sampling frame. For the
urban sector, the list of latest available Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks will be considered as
the sampling frame. The study will cover for one state (West Bengal), and then it will be
extended to other states.

Stratification:
Rural Sector:
First stage units will be covered for the rural sector across different regions. The
selections of samples will be from schools, where the children can be interviewed with a
structured questionnaire. In respective schools we have to indentify the strata on the basis of
educational level (primary, secondary and Higher).Each strata will represent twenty percent
homogenous sample out of total no of students in the schools. The units in each stratum will be
chosen with simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWOR).

4
Urban Sector:
First stage units will be covered on the basis of for the urban sector across different regions.
The selections of samples will be from schools, where the children can be interviewed with a
structured questionnaire. In respective schools we have to indentify the strata on the basis of
educational level. Each strata will homogenous within but heterogeneous between groups. The
stratification level will be on the basis of educational level. The units in each stratum will be
chosen with simple random sampling.
The information and data that will be collected will be suitably classified, tabulated and
presented in proper format for better comprehension and understanding. The data will be
analyzed through application of computerized statistical techniques like trend, percentages,
central-tendency, standard deviation, correlation, regression, skewness, kurtosis, compound
growth rates etc. for drawing meaningful inferences. Bar graphs, histograms, pie charts,
frequency polygons, ogives may be used for graphical representation of the collected data.

Theoretical Strands:

Child Development and Developmental Stages of Childhood:

The age at which children can distinguish advertising from other program content and
children’s understanding of the intent behind advertising is a pertinent question in the context of
the impact of advertisement on children in India. The view that children progress through stages
of maturation from infancy through to adulthood remains the dominant paradigm in the social
and medical sciences. Indeed, contemporary development theories continue through the life-span
until death [21]

According to [22] “Most of the researchers who has studied the potential impact of
television advertising on children have adopted the prevailing view of staged development,
particularly Jean Piaget’s cognitive stages [23]” .The common academic and industry approach to
studying the relationship between children and their media is to examine the kinds and quantities
of content children are exposed to against the different ways children use that content, based on
their staged level of development [24]. Piagetian stages of cognitive development follow the
same sequence regardless of culture, but vary modestly in their timing across any population,
meaning that while most children will reach a given stage at around the same age, some will

5
arrive earlier and some later. The four main stages, each of which incorporates sub stages, follow
this basic sequence:

 Birth to two years – Sensorimotor Stage: In this stage the starts learning about the objects
and starts perceiving the things by developing and using reflexes, habits, reactions,
coordination, and early logic. [u3] reported “ Children at this stage usually view television,
including advertising, with their parents; see the way their parents watch television
advertising; and attend to interesting sounds, patterns and colors in advertisements .”
 Two to six years – Pre-Operational Stage: In this stage the kids start pestering their parents
for the consumption of specific item shown on the T.V.
 Six to 11 years – Concrete Operational Stage: In this stage, the child is more matured to
perceive the advertisements and also it can differentiate the persuasive agenda of the
advertisements
 11 years to adult – Formal Operational Stage: The formal operational stage formulates
into adulthood by allowing young people to function cognitively much like adults, for
example, to think abstractly and make inferences; to think in terms of probabilities and
grades rather than absolutes; and to begin processing information on everything from
morality to sexuality and social conditions.

Progressively over these stages, children develop a range of faculties relevant to television
advertising, including:
 Distinguishing advertising from program content;
 Recalling and awareness of advertising;
 Recognizing and understanding persuasive intent of advertising;
 Liking and skepticism of advertising; and
 Cognitive defense to advertising

On the basis of above theoretical lines, we can also finalize the age for our study. The age groups
should be confined to 5-12 years of age group for the present study.

6
 Resource Analysis:

SL/No. PARTICULARS
1. Material Resources
 Financial Resources
 Personnel Resources

2. Non-Material Resources
 Time for preparing questionnaires and the time to analyze and write up the
reports.
 Skills to critically examine and analyze available data
o Knowledge to use statistical tools and techniques
o Knowledge of various software like SPSS, MATLAB
o Knowledge about child behavior and child psychology

Action Plan –Time line (Gant chart):

M M M M M M M M M M M M
Activities
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Review of Literature & other
background work √ √
Preliminary Analysis of macro
data – All India (states) based √ √ √
on NSS data sets
Research Design √ √ √
Preparation of Interview
Schedule and Pretesting √
Conduction of interview √ √
Data Tabulation and Analysis √ √
Drafting Reports for discussion √ √
Preparation of Report for
submission √
Workshop for disseminating
findings √
Note: M refers to Month in the above table
Proposed Budget:

7
Budget and Justification:
Particulars Budget (In Rs.)
1. Salaries 240,000
2. Travel 176,000
3. Field Work Costs 176,000
4.Materials & Communication 200,000
5. Overheads 1,18,800
Grand Total 9,10,800

Personnel Justification (Roles of all staff should be detailed):

No. of
Sl. No. Designation Job Description Days of
Work
1. Project Overall supervision Literature Review, 9 months
coordinator Analysis and Drafting Report
2. Project Associate-II Organization and Supervision of field 9 months
work, collection of documents, data
entry
3. Research Investigators To collect secondary data from budgets, 200 man days
and facility level data
4. Secretarial Assistance Photocopy, Correspondence, 200 man days
Documenting

Material Justifications:
Data will be procured from NSS for the 52nd and 60th rounds. Purchase of software (such as
SPSS) for data analysis.

Communications Justifications:
There may be interactions with the Govt. officials of two states and a dissemination workshop.

Research Activities and Dissemination of Results:

 A network will be established with the respective government officials, bureaucrats,
researchers and social organizations. This network will be used to get feedback on the
study in the formative stage as well as during the course of the entire study. At the draft
stage of the report, a formal work shop will be organized to share and disseminate the
findings.

8
  The outputs of the case study will be shared with the policy maker and other stake
holders, officials and the same will be presented in different national and international
forums and conferences.
 The outputs will be converted into research papers and draft reports and disseminated
among national and state level policy makers, and programme implementers.
 The research group will respond whenever feasible to relevant requests from research
users for information and knowledge in order to strengthen the reputation of the research
group and prepare the way for research findings to be perceived as credible.
Limitation of Study:
No study of this kind is perfect in all aspects. It is affected by inherent limitations of all
research endeavors. The objective of the study is limited only to the analysis of the effect of food
product’s advertisements on 5-12 year old children in India. The period of study may be limited
by availability of credible data. The study may further be limited by the authenticity and
accuracy of the published information on which the entire study revolves round. Survey results
may not represent reality. A study of this type does not easily lend itself to a statistically valid
quantification, partly because the analysis may depend upon the availability of statistically
quantified data over the years and may not measure the level of physiological impact on children
which is a qualitative aspect.

Anticipated Conclusion:
Advertisement is integral part of the industry which wants its product to be reached to the
customer who then turns into consumer. By this process a majority of children consume junk
food after being influenced by advertisements which is responsible for inculcating unhealthy
food habits of children.
An important question is to what extent research can provide the solution of the harmful
effect on children will be unfolded in this study. As the existing literature has failed to give a
unanimous answer to the cause and effect relationship between advertisement and preference of
food consumption in India, this study will help us in understanding the dynamics of the effect
between the two, given the methodological limitation in the present study.

9
Reference:

[1] Burr, Pat L. and Richard N.Burr (1977): Parental Responses to Child Marketing, Journal of
Advertising Research, 1’7 (6), pp. 17-24
[2] Goldberg, Marvin E. (1990); A Quasi Experiment Assessing the Effectiveness of TV Advertising
Directed to Children, Journal of Advertising Research, 27 Nov, pp. 445-454
[3] Goldberg, Marvin E. and Gerald J.Gom (1978): Some Unintended Consequences of TV Advertising to
Children, Journal of Consumer Research, 5th June, pp. 22-29
[4] Grossbart, Sanford L and Lawrence A. Crosby (1984): Understanding the Basis of Parental Concern
and Reaction to Children’s Food Advertisement, Journal of Marketing, 48 (Summer), pp. 79-92
[5] Sandra L. Calvert (2008): Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing, The Future of
Children, Children and Electronic Media (Spring), Vol. 18, No. 1; p. 205-234
[6] Thakar, V. and Patil, J.A. (1990): A study on the Nutritional Status of Children in the Anganwadis of
Nagpur City, Ind. J. Nutr. Dietet., Vol. 27; p. 82-90.
[7] Story Mary and French Simone (2004): Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and
Adolescents in the US, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,
1:3doi:10.1186/1479-5868-1-3, http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/1/1/3
[8] Ron Warren, Jan Le Blanc Wicks, Robert H. Wicks, Ignatius Fosu, Doughung Chung (2007): Food
and Beverage Advertising to Children on U.S. Television: Did National Food Advertisers Respond?
Journalism and Mass communications Quarterly, Columbia: Winter, Vol. 84. 1854; p. 795
[9] Oliver Gray (2005): Responsible advertising in Europe, Young Consumers. Bradford, Vol. 6, No. 4;
p. 19
[10] Ashton David (2004): Food advertising and childhood obesity, Vol. 97(2), available at
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1079287
[11] Kristen Harrison, Amy L Marske (2005): Nutritional Content of Foods Advertised During the
Television Programs Children Watch, Most American Journal of Public Health. Washington: Sept.
Vol. 95, No. 9; p. 1568
[12] Patrick Mirandah (2005): Advertising to children in Malaysia, Young Consumers. Bradford: 2005.
Vol. 7, No. 1; p. 74
[13] Rachel Crosby (2005): Kids today and tomorrow, Young Consumers. Bradford, Vol. 7, No. 1; p. 60
[14] Karen A. Machleit, R. Dale Wilson (1988): Emotional Feelings and Attitude toward the
Advertisement: The Roles of Brand Familarity and Repetition, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 17,
No. 3; p. 27-35
[15] Panwar .J.S, Agnihotri. Milan (2006): Advertising Message Processing amongst Urban Children; An

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 Indian Experience -- With Special Reference to TV Advertising, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing
and Logistics, Patrington, Vol. 18, No. 4; p. 303
[16] Chris Preston (2005): Advertising To Children and Social Responsibility Young Consumers.
Bradford, Vol. 6, No. 4; p. 61
[17] Bijmolt Tammo H.A and Claassen Wilma: Children’s Understanding of TV Advertising: Effects of
Age, Gender and Parental Influence, WEMAR Market Research Reports, available at
http://www.aeforum.org/aeforum.nsf/0/9d3f0fe16201d1998025679f00344594/$FILE/awmr0026.pdf
[18] Livingstone, Sonia, Helsper, Ellen J: Journal of Communication, Vol: 56, Edition: 3, No: 56; p:
560-584. ISBN/ISSN0021-9916, available at http://cmch.tv/research/fullRecord.asp?id=4445
[19] Alan J. Resnik, Bruce L. Stern, Barbara Alberty (1979): Integrating Results from Children's
Television Advertising Research, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Summer) ; pp. 3-12
[20] Paul Kurnit (2005): Responsible Marketing to children in US. Young Consumers, Bradford:, Vol. 6,
No. 4; p. 8
[21] Neville, L., Thomas, M., & Bauman, A. (2005): Food Advertising on Australian Television: The
Extent of Children's Exposure, Health Promotion International, 20, pp. 105–112.
[22] Brand, Jeffrey E. (2007): A Review of Contemporary Research on the influence of Television
Advertising Directed to Children, Australian communications and Media Authority.
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[25] www.earttrend.org.

11
 Appendix-I
Age Group/Sex-Wise Population in India
(2001 Census)
Age- Total Rural Urban
group Person Male Female Person Male Female Person Male Female
All ages 102861032 532156772 496453556 742490639 381602674 360887965 286119689 150554098 135565591
8
0-4 110447164 57119612 53327552 85108410 43857198 41251212 25338754 13262414 12076340
5-9 128316790 66734833 61581957 98456245 51094698 47361547 29860545 15640135 14220410
10-14 124846858 65632877 59213981 92382322 48602745 43779577 32464536 17030132 15434404
15-19 100215890 53939991 46275899 70061823 37748418 32313405 30154067 16191573 13962494
20-24 89764132 46321150 43442982 61398904 31127482 30271422 28365228 15193668 13171560
25-29 83422393 41557546 41864847 57685140 28377173 29307967 25737253 13180373 12556880
30-34 74274044 37361916 36912128 51828879 25688779 26140100 22445165 11673137 10772028
35-39 70574085 36038727 34535358 48958544 24881624 24076920 21615541 11157103 10458438
40-44 55738297 29878715 25859582 38565171 20420439 18144732 17173126 9458276 7714850
45-49 47408976 24867886 22541090 32955002 17023673 15931329 14453974 7844213 6609761
50-54 36587559 19851608 16735951 25777598 13812691 11964907 10809961 6038917 4771044
55-59 27653347 13583022 14070325 19971069 9572754 10398315 7682278 4010268 3672010
60-64 27516779 13586347 13930432 20651969 10146726 10505243 6864810 3439621 3425189
65-69 19806955 9472103 10334852 14816756 7070706 7746050 4990199 2401397 2588802
70-74 14708644 7527688 7180956 11129476 5746992 5382484 3579168 1780696 1798472
75-79 6551225 3263209 3288016 4830140 2412121 2418019 1721085 851088 869997
80+ 8038718 3918980 4119738 6016373 2983060 3033313 2022345 935920 1086425
Age not 2738472 1500562 1237910 1896818 1035395 861423 841654 465167 376487
stated
Source: Census of India, 2001 (published on the website www.Indiastat.com)
 Appendix-II

TV Adult (0-15Yrs.) Viewers in India in ( 000' s)

Particular Urban Rural Total
In Cable and Satellite TV Homes 93725 45609 139334
In Terrestrial TV Homes 56794 103475 160269
In Total TV Homes 150519 149084 299603
Adults Entirely dependent on Doordarshan 37.70% 69.40% 53.50%
Source: Doordarshan India 2003, Prasar Bharati, Broadcasting Corporation of India
 Appendix-III
State-Wise TV Household in India (2001)
(Figures in ' 000)
States Urban % Rural % Total %
Delhi 2270 89.3 303 88.3 2573 89.2
Pun/.Har/.Ch/.HP. 2444 88.6 4023 63.6 6467 71.2
Rajasthan 1718 76.7 1765 25.7 3483 38.2
Uttar Pradesh 3703 68.4 4572 22.2 8275 31.8
Bihar 1305 58.8 1481 10.1 2786 16.5
N.E and Assam 1042 80.0 1028 25.3 2070 38.5
West Bengal 3173 69.5 2552 22.3 5725 35.7
Orissa 734 69.1 1016 16.6 1750 24.4
Madhya Pradesh 2850 78.3 2775 25.1 5625 38.3
Gujarat 2841 74.6 1450 25.5 4291 45.2
Maharashtra and Goa 7460 82.3 4183 37.0 11643 57.2
Karnataka 2757 78.8 2243 32.8 5000 48.4
Kerala 1219 67.5 2062 41.0 3281 48
Andhra Pradesh 3894 74.1 4451 35.5 8345 46.9
T.N and Pondicherry 4050 76.4 4008 39.3 8058 51.9
Total 41462 76.1 37912 28.5 79374 42.3
Source: Doordarshan India 2002