A Term Paper
Ms. Mylene Manalansan
Department of English and Applied Linguistics
De La Salle University – Manila
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for
Second Term, SY 2009-2010
December 16, 2009
Thesis Statement: Television advertisements communicate more effectively to children by overcoming the abstraction problem, memory problem, and consumer satisfaction problem.
A. Attention Grabber: Examples of TV Commercials for Children
B. Overview of the Evolution of TV Commercials
C. Advertising’s influence on children
D. Thesis Statement: Television advertisements communicate more effectively to children by overcoming the abstraction problem, memory problem, and consumer satisfaction problem.
A. Elimination of Abstraction Problem
1. Product-Commercial Separation
2. Characterization of products emphasizes unique attributes
3. Concept Testing as a useful way to present a product
B. Overcoming the Memory
1. Memory Development of children
2. Individualization of products to give a clear identity
3. Picture rather than words
C. Consumer Satisfaction applied to Children
1. Motion pictures to attract children’s attention
2. Realistic execution of advertisements
3. Motivating scenes to entertain consumers
A. Restatement of the Thesis: TV Advertisements encounter difficulties in communicating to children such as abstraction problem, memory problem, and consumer satisfaction problem.
B. Closing Grabber: No learning takes place in a vacuum. Although many TV commercials convey communication problems to children, they still serve as a learning channel to their growth development.
Television advertisements are crucial to children’s mental and intellectual development. Research shows that children who tune in to the popular TV show, Sesame Street, have a greater and faster learning capacity compared to children who do not (Wright, 1979). This proves that whatever is shown in the television becomes a part of the children’s knowledge and sometimes even forms the principles and values that will later develop in them. Television, being one of the biggest and most influencing type of media, provides the earliest and most crucial things put in the children’s minds since a child of young age who has not yet started schooling usually starts learning by turning to the television at home. From the book of Wright (1979), he concluded that a conducted research provides vital information to advertisers on whether children respond positively to instructional or entertainment objections shown on television (Wright, 1979). Children, being and acting their age, will give the most natural reaction to the objects in the television. It is not in the advertisers control whether or not the children react positively to their concepts. Thus, advertisers must be attentive to the need of programming modifications to consider the influence of television programs and commercials to children. Uplifted from White’s book (1986), television commercials started to spread rapidly into the media market in the late 1940’s. The development of this form of media was so fast that it dominated the corporate world of television media. In their early stages, commercials looked like a radio with pictures. They were not yet made in film, but instead, with actors and actresses relying on cue cards as an aid to remember their lines and acts. The downside is that every mistake that these artists had said or done will be seen clearly. Nothing could be taken back, and undo’s and redo’s were...