Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

M. Mark Miller

Committee Members

Tom Ladd, Barbara A. Moore, Herbert H. Howard

Abstract

The issue of program-length commercials on children's television has generated much controversy since the early 1980s. The National Coalition on TV Violence has charged that program-length commercials on children's television promote violence and the sale of war toys. Action for Children's Television (ACT) has criticized this type of program for comprising material designed specifically to promote products. Both ACT and the National Association of Better Broadcasting have stated program-length commercials are unfair to children.

The counterarguments from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are that no evidence of harmful effects from such types of programming has been discovered and that the FCC is not in a position to regulate "programming." The fundamental element of the debate then becomes the nature of such types of programs or commercials. Such a determination will put the issues in better perspective, facilitate understanding of the effects and . serve to support further effects studies.

This study investigated differences between children's program-length commercials and standard children's programming from content and production viewpoints. Eight children's cartoons were selected for content analysis, four program-length commercials and four standard programs. Eight hypotheses were tested to examine the differences between these two types of programs in terms of their production techniques and content design, especially with regard to character creation and their violent attributes.

The conclusions drawn from data collected for this study are that program-length commercials are indeed commercial-oriented in their production design and that some aspects of their content are designed around product promotion while others are not. However, no evidence was found to support the charge that program-length commercials' content promotes violence more than does regular children's programming.

Because of the nature of the study, the results must be interpreted with caution. Findings should not be generalized to all children's programming in general. Thus, while this study suggests some initial steps toward identifying the nuances of this issue, more work is needed to define more fully the nature of program-length commercials on children's television.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS