INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Television advertisement represents one of the several stimuli to which children are exposed, like other kinds of stimuli existing within their environment. Television advertisement has a powerful tendency to influence childrenÂ’s behaviour and general way of life, thus study examines the kind of influences or effects advertising on television can have on children.

Seventy-six years ago, in 1928 to be precise, a new dimension in communication and publicity was introduced into the Nigerian commercial and social life by the United African Company [UAC]. This new dimension was advertising. Through its West African publicity, the company was able to execute and implement its advertising objectives in the whole of West Africa with Nigeria as its headquarters.

During this period however, little attention was paid to the impact which advertising had on children, instead emphasis were laid on the eradication of the monopoly posed by foreign advertisement, creation of awareness among the people of the new service and the winning and retention of clientele (Nwosu 1.1987).

Nigeria was not alone in this struggle; even the United States of America has its own share of society of research in this area of study. In this regard, Brown (1976) had noted the in-availability of studies in this field when he pointed out: “surprisingly, little published research exists in this area”. Investigators in America have examined the effects of television programmes on children, but they have not been concerned with television advertisement. However, much research in the united state of America has examined the effect of television adverts, but the focus has been on adults rather than children.

Palmer (1980) remarks that the concern over the effects of television advertisement on children can be traced back at least to 1969, when the National Association of Broadcasters in Britain adopted guidelines regulating toy advertisement on television to children. However, only within the past few years has children television emerged as a major national policy issue. Today, the principle that children are a special television audience deserving special protection in terms of advertising has been widely accepted by both industry and government policy makers.

One reason why advertising aimed at children did not emerged as an issue until relatively recently is that for many years, broadcasters did not consider their audience of children viewers as a particularly valuable market for advertisers. For instance, the first major study on American children and television makes only passing mention of advertising.

Other surveys of audience attitudes about effects reported that listeners disliked commercial which used “hard sell” techniques, commercials which interrupted programmes (lazarsfeld and Kendall, 1948). The possible adverse effect of TV advertisement on children was not mentioned as an issue at all. Infact, nowhere in the surveys were children mentioned as a subject of special concern in terms TV advert.

It was only recently that concern over the effects of TV advert on children began to draw the attention of some consumer groups in America, Britain and other advanced countries. Planner (1980) acknowledges that concern over the effects of TV advert on children started as a result of effects by consumer groups, such as Action for children TV (ACT) in 1971 and the council on children, media and merchandising with assistance from the accumulated research evidence on the effects of TV adverts on children.