THE EFFECT OF INDOMIE TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENT ON CHILDREN (A CASE STUDY OF DOMA NASARAWA STATE)

ABSTRACT

Television and advertising together present a lethal combination and has become an integral part of modern society .It is the most convenient route to reach not only consumers but also the children. Children are manipulated by advertisement promise that the product will do something special for them which will transform their life. The present study was conducted on 100 children, studying in class 9th-12th, to know the effect of Indomie T.V. advertisement on their buying pattern. The results revealed that advertisements played a vital role in introducing a new product in the family list & making better choice during shopping. Majority of the respondents after watching an advertisement wanted to buy the new brand introduced in the market, they were disappointed when they were not allowed to buy products of their choice and were of the opinion that TV commercials helped them to make better choice during shopping. Children utilized their pocket money received every month for shopping. The main items purchased from the pocket money were- food, cosmetics, gifts and cards. They mostly went to shopping with parents .Children planned their shopping after discussion with family members. In purchase of food items, stationary, cosmetics and toiletries, children were influenced by TV commercials. In case of clothing they were guided by fashion, friends and boutiques. The respondents preferred to buy branded and standardized products which are more advertised on Television.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background of the Study

Advertising, which is the economic function of the mass media in the society, is increasingly becoming important. Okunna (2002) sees advertising “as a non-personal communication or information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about (goods and services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media (p.190). Researchers argue that advertising boost sales and helps the economy of any nation to grow. At various stages of economic development, advertising becomes an important economic tool, performing different roles according to the needs of the economy due to the fact that advertising is dynamic in nature. Through advertising, the mass media bring already existing goods and services the attention of buyers from all walks of life with the aim of selling the product, idea or a service. Advertisers do not only make consumers aware of existing idea, product or service, they also help them fulfil their needs by spelling out the benefits of using such idea, product of service in a competitive situation. This encourages greater production and leads to improvement in the standard of living. Individuals, being consumers, purchase a product, service or idea continuously most times as a result of the claims made by advertisers while at other times, consumers are not even aware of things being said about such product, service or ideas in spite of the existing message bombardment. Over the past fifteen years in the Nigerian market, Dufil group, producers of Indomie Instant Noodles has had a remarkable impact on the Nigerian culinary landscape. The product which appeals to several demographic groups has grown to become a house hold name across the country. The Dufil Prima in December 2001 is a private limited liability company. The company commenced operations in January.  Today advertisement plays an important role in persuading customers to purchase products and services. On the other hand the expenses of advertisement in comparisons of other activities in most companies are very remarkable. In the present days every company wants to achieve the highest market share. For this purpose every company use different ways to attract customers of different segments of the market and the best way to become market leader. In this challenging environment a company should promote its products in such a way that more and more customers get interest in its products. In this research we will discuss the impact of the television indomie advertisement on the children. To attract children toward the product it is necessary that the advertisement should contain such appeals that are according to their age, mind set and interest for specific product. When children see the advertisement according to their interest, they persuade their parents to purchase that product.

There is very close relationship between advertisement and buying behavior of children’s and we have tried to check the impact of advertisements on children through our research article. The impact of television is vital because of its enormous potential as an audio-visual communicator. Television (T.V.) enables the creative man to communicate by combining motion, sounds, words, color, personality and stage setting to express and demonstrate ideas to large and widely distributed audience.

T.V. commercials usually play a role in either introducing a product reinforcing the familiarity to the product and also convincing to purchase the product. Indomie advertisements are among the most visible of the marketing strategy and have been the subject of a great deal of attention in the last ten to fifteen years. Advertisement cannot only change emotions but give subliminal message. Advertising today seems to be everywhere and ever present exerting a far reaching influence on the daily lives of people. Advertisements develop self-concepts in order to induce purchase decisions. Television advertising employs attention grabbing trick such as catchy and pleasing music, lyrics, Jingles, humor and repeated messages. The impact of the advertisements is more on television than the print media or radio.

Rana (1995) undertook a study on T.V. commercials and expressed that among the media, the impact of television advertisement on social behavior, including purchasing behavior was the greatest. The reason being that television has charm, instantaneous transmission capability and universality of appeal. Dhillon et al. (1997) investigated the factors affecting consumer behavior of durable goods and food items. Sample comprised of 150 children (75 each from rural and urban areas). The sources of information, the rural respondents gave primary importance were, advertisements through radio, followed by posters to some extent but were least affected by magazines. Urban respondents were affected the maximum by television and magazines.

 1.2   Statement of the Problem

The problems that lead to the study of the impact of television indomie advertisement on children are numerous; children nowadays tends to respond adversely to the advert they watch on the TV and whenever they wish to buy a product or service they usually refer to the view on the advert watched on TV.

1.3   Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are as follows

1. To examine the effects of TV adverts on children choice of indomie as a product.
2. To identify the problems faced by children when exposed more to TV commercials.
3. To suggest possible prospects to the problems of TV adverts to children.
4. To enable the children to understand how best to utilize media information from the television advert.
5. To highlight the effectiveness of use of television broadcast as means of advertisement.

1.4   Research Questions

This project aims to find answers to the following question;

1)     Does children of Erin-Osun expose themselves to television     Indomie advertisement?

2)     To what extent do children depend on advertisement from      television when making choice of product and services?

3)     What effects have unethical practice of advertising caused?

4)     Has APCON stipulated any measures to curb illegal advertising?

5)     Does advertising lack professional application?

1.5   Purpose statement

The purpose of this research is to quantify the effect of television indomie advertisement on children buying behavior.

1.6   Significance of the study

It is the belief of the researcher that this study would serve as immense useful purpose to its potential and prospective users. Children, scholars, consumers of goods and services policy makers, advertisers, advertising agencies and advertising researchers would stand to gain a lot from the facts contained in this work. This study upholds the high standard of an ideal advertising practice and therefore benefits the advertisers and faming consumers of advertised goods and services. It serves as an eye opener to a good sense of advertising because the interest of the consumers is paramount.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This scope of this study is limited to Children in Doma community in Nasarawa state; however the principle quoted in it can well be applicable to other communities in Nigeria.

1.8   Limitation of the Study

The limitation involved in this work includes the wide nature and time constraint of the study, which resulted in narrowing down the case study to Doma community in Nasarawa state.

The following are the limitation that hinders the study of this research work;

1)     Financial Constraint: There are not enough funds to fuel the       study of this research work. The researcher has access to a      very little source of fund.

2)     Time Constraints: Due to the limited time available to carry out this research work, it is not possible to carry out the research extensively as anticipated by the researcher.

1.9   Definition of terms

Advertisement: This is the paid form of non personal presentation of goods and services by an identified sponsor.

Television: This refers to an electronic visual and audio media frequencies used for mass communication.

Children: These refers to pupils or teenage who are exposed to advertising messages on the television media.

Effect: This is the impact of television indomie advert on children choice of consumption.

Indomie: These are noodles for instant breakfast on meal.

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