Influence of advertisement on
food habits of children

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The effect of advertisement in people’s mind has been significant. It is an integral activity of any sort of business as many companies spend millions and trillions over such activity. So undoubtedly there would be a greater return on the investment .No person or group is out of its reach. The aim of this research study is to come to a conclusion on its effect on eating habits of children. Children are considered to be the most vulnerable group of society. They take their buying foodstuff decision on the basis of lucrativeness of the advertisement. So there is a need of regulation in advertising industry is required. In many countries such regulation has been implemented. But in India it is yet to be implemented. This research report will give a full idea about the advertising industry in India, its evolution and current trend emerging in this industry corresponding to the effect of advertisement on children. To make it more comprehensive competitor analysis between two ad campaigns run by McDonald’s and Britannia are also shown. It also covers the social impact of advertisement on individuals and children. Eventually it will represent SWOT analysis of the advertising industry in India. The research methodology and data collection tools used during the research are also mentioned.

ADVERTISING IN INDIA

Evolution of Advertising

The beginning of India commercial promotion in is comparatively latest. ‘ B. Dattaram and Co.’  was the first advertising company promoted in the India in 1905. Market researches in India through several companies are showing spectacular developments.  Hindustan Lever deals into consumer goods which is the largest marketing company in India. In 1994-95, the overall N promotion in India considered to be of Rs. 775 crore, out of which the Doordarshan proportion was Rs. 400 crore. Advancements in terms of Technology have transformed the way of operation of the advertising companies in India.  Several advertising companies in India are adopting latest gizmos technology based product such as digital studios, media planning software, note books etc. (http://ietd.inflibnet.ac.in)

Advertising said to be one of the major attributes to the current and future consumption habits of children moreover it influences the school and family of the kid, and further to the same age group. Cruz, A.et al. (2004): Kids are mainly worthwhile target group for advertising and marketing in the sense of having greater openness and short of critical thinking and experience, and also clear chance of influencing adult customers indirectly.

Current Trends and methods in Advertising

Key Emerging Trends:  According to the research conducted by Trends in the Nutritional Content of Television Food Advertisements Seen by Children in the United States Analyses by Age, Food Categories, and Companies Cooper, B. (2011).The research result was printed in the Records of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine last week. It tested disclosure of children to drink and food advertising between 2003 and 2009.

It was found that the influence towards food and beverage items high in sugar, saturated fat or sodium down by 37.9% from 2- to 5-year-olds, and approximately 27.7% from 6 to 11-year-olds from 2003 to 2009, however portion to fast-food advertisements increased.

Moreover, in 2009, 86% of advertisements watched by children were of  high saturated fat products , sodium or sugar, decreased from 94% in 2003. The research determined that By 2009, there was not a significant progress in food and beverage ads that constantly viewed and advertised on TV by children of US.

According to the conditions of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), introduced in 2006, organizations have removed advertisements which do not fulfill parameters related to healthier product in between children’s programs. it depends on company to company to describe these parameters, but recently it has been changed by CFBAI through its uniform guidelines (Barath, and Balaji, 2011).

This research though, includes all advertising comprising ads in between children’s programs and advertising reach towards children in programs with a variety of audience.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

The effect of the media on mental growth of kids is critical. Not only health mentally, but advertisements are also affecting the health of the kids physically as well. This is the Objective of this study. It is obtained that 65% of the drinking and eating preferences of kids are the outcome of ads. This comprises all type of food products ranging from chocolates, biscuits to fruit juice, pizza, health drinks etc. Below is the comparison of advertisement style of two famous food & Beverage companies McDonald’s and Britannia to attract children:

McDonald’s

The Happy Meal introduced by McDonald’sis one of the types of advertising.  The gift is also offered with TV shows or movies which perform as a shift for kids to transfer their emotions about the TV shows or film characters to McDonald’s. The concept that eating should be fun inspires kids in terms of their food selections. Another type of advertising is online advertising.  The single place that tags the website as ads is on the homepage.  It is extremely interactive and put efforts to endorse the toys and involving children through puzzles, coloring, and games Pages and other communication.  According to survey there are 30% of children from the age group 6 – 11 are fat and 15.3% of children from the same age group are obese (http://www.wpi.edu). Points in this survey are as follows (http://www.wpi.edu):

• Food habits developed in childhood continue till adulthood.

• McDonald’s goal of marketing is per customer 20 visits per month.

• McDonald’s has wide strategy of marketing targeted at children as well as teenagers.

• There are as many as 90% of children who visit McDonald’s at least one time in a month.

• Just one Happy Meal choice fulfills calorie intake guidelines for children.

Britannia

Coca Cola, Pepsi Co, Britannia and Parle follow Nestle as the main sponsors of food ads, biscuits, promoting soft drinks and other confectionery items. Our research also questioned children and their parents about which ad they liked the most (Cruz, A.et al. (2004). This type of ad recall showed the scope of food ad. In all six countries, fast food chocolate, and soft drink advertisements were rated high.

Britannia Khao, World Cup Jaao – was one of the campaigns which were very popular especially among the children during the cricket World Cup held in 1999. Kidstuff’s did a marvelous job in Advertisings and Events (KPE). As the result of this campaign, sales of Britannia products achieved an unprecedented growth. Britannia even introduced a fresh product called as Multi-vita biscuits only for the children from one to three years of age group(http://www.thavan.org).

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ADVERTISING IN INDIA:

 Strengths

1. Advertising is one of the most growing sectors in India through its vast reach of customers. The other sections of the Advertising industry like film and television industry have a huge customer base.

2. The developing middle class with high income has been the strong point of the Media And Entertainment industry.

3. Modification in the standard of living and buying patterns of the Indian people on entertainment. Technical innovations such as online channels of distribution, digital-stores, and multiplexes are supporting the current revolution and the progress of the sector.

4. Due to small production cost and great revenues confirm a decent return on investment for Media and Entertainment industry in India.

 Weaknesses

1. In India, The Advertising sector is highly uneven.

2. Lack of major distribution and production infrastructure, mainly in regards of music industry.

3. The lack of attempt for media penetration in lower social and economic classes in lower segment of the society, where the media effect is less.

 Opportunities

1. The growing interest of the investors globally in this sector.

2. The reach of the advertisement is not well in the lower class of the society which offers an opportunity of extension in the area.

3. The emerging period of the new channels of distribution offers an opportunity for improvement.

4. Quick de-regulation in the advertising Industry

5. Increased viewership and expenditure on advertising.

6. Scientific innovations such as multiplexes, animations, etc. and new channel of distribution such as Internet and mobiles have provided the opportunities to this sector.

 Threats

1. Violation, Piracy of rational property rights indicates a main threat to the Advertising companies.

2. Absence of quality content has occurred as a key worry due to ‘Quick- buck’ route being used in the industry.

3. With technical innovations happening so quickly, the advertising sector is facing substantial doubt about marketplace success.

ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIAL MEDIA

A well-combined and well-performed campaign can help in boosting of all media related activities including advertisement to increase the efficiency of while program. Effective interaction programs can be of two types(http://www.communicus.com):

1. Apply conventional advertising places to draw attention of a wide range of audience, informing the values of brand and drive customer towards social media spots.

2. Manage and Create networking tools related to social media which strengthen brand distinction among customer, new product trial and create buzz and change newly joined consumers into fans.

Food advertisements showing on television are observed to play an important role in this context. Children are seemed to be very excited with numerous advertisements. But the major drawback is that food choices and health are also being affected because of incapability of taking right decision by the children. Moreover, when the conduct of the kids are tested, it can be determined that children eat food which has sugar and high fat ingredients while watching TV and have issues with parents about purchasing the products shown during the advertisements. This displays that kids in their childhood are suffered more from the broadcast of advertisements on the TV and replicate the most in their behavior of consumption. Finally, it can be advised that to lessen these harmful factors they can regulate watching timing and program schedule in the initial years and can their eating habits and purchasing patterns.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology can be explained as   a method refers to a search for knowledge. It can be also defined as a scientific and systematic research to get relevant information about any specific topic. To find solutions to research questions is the main motive of research methodology .It is done by applying scientific methods. In this research report following research methodology tools is applied:

Research Design

Research design is an arrangement in a theoretical form through which a research activity is executed. Research design gives related or vital information with minimum expense, of time and work. It must show various distinct   approaches used in resolving the research problem, the problem associated with details, sources, financial budget and time given. There are two approaches of a research design (Kumar (2005)): 1.inductive and 2.deductive

As per Kumar (2005) an approach in which the conclusion of research depends on limited available information is called Inductive design. Firstly data are analyzed through themes or patterns, recurring topics, and further distinguish typical and general characteristics of data.

So from the above information it can be confirmed that in this research study inductive approach has been applied. This research starts with the general and central concept which is advertising and further it becomes specific and applies the central concept to children eating habits and its effect. This approach is used in every point it covers. It starts with defining advertising, history of advertising and current trends and methods used in advertising. Further it establishes the relationship with the given topic.

Data Collection

Yates, J. S. (2004),said Data collection is the process which enables the researcher to collect details properly through people, objects, research subjects, , or phenomena. Data collection procedure is an important part of any research problem. If the researcher collects unauthentic data so that it can inspire a particular study and also give invalid outcomes.   There are basically two types of data i.e. Primary data and Secondary data.

a type of data which have been given a statistical treatment , is known as secondary data. It can be collected through semi-official and/or official sources.

In this research report only secondary data has been used as it is less time consuming and less expensive method of data collection. During the research lots of literature, books, newspaper, magazines were taken into consideration. Moreover, research which has already taken place on this subject and expert advice a suggestion related to this were also viewed.

Validity and Reliability  

Validity which refers to measurement which gives meaning and adds value and reliability which is said to be consistency or stability to the research were also kept in mind during the research process. To ensure validity and reliability the data was chosen from most authentic sources.

RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

Every coin has two sides so as industries the bright side of advertising industry is that it aware children about current trends and makes them updated but on other hand the dark side of the industry is it can create miss perception in child’s mind in terms of behavioural change and change in food habits. So it is recommended that the advertising industry has to take some responsibility towards society and children in particular as children are most vulnerable group of society. Children cannot take right decisions on own. Talking about the nutrition factor most of the kids buy food products on the basis of attractiveness of the advertisements in result of that majority of children end up purchasing a product which contains a high calorie and less nutrient. Studies have directed that the extremely advertised foodstuffs are sweets, fast foods, soft drinks, and other high calories foods (Harrison et al., 2005). Studies have directed that the extremely advertised foodstuffs are sweets, fast foods, soft drinks, and other high calories foods (Harrison et al., 2005). Since kids are very fascinated about the food messages given in the TV advertisements, misperceptions about the credibility of the advertised foodstuffs may develop.

REFERENCES

“Fast Food Marketing to Children” [Online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-082107-231740/unrestricted/Appendix_1.pdf

“History of Advertising – An Overview” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://ietd.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/375/7/07_chapter2.pdf

“Pester Power Effect of Advertising” [Online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.thavan.org/subjects/mm/Pester%20Power%20Effect%20of%20Advertising.pdf

“Strategic-Analysis-of-Indian-Advertising-Industry” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/84624112/Strategic-Analysis-of-Indian-Advertising-Industry

“The Roles of Traditional Advertising and Branded Social Media in a Successful Marketing Communications Campaign” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.communicus.com/pdfs/Communicus-Branded_Social_Media.pdf

Barathi, C. and Balaji, C. (2011), “Trends and Potential Of the Indian  Entertainment Industry- An Indepth Analysis” ” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.researchersworld.com/vol2/issue2/Paper_24.pdf

Cooper, B. (2011) “Focus – Study gives Industry Food for Thought on Children’s Advertising“ [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.just-drinks.com/analysis/focus-study-gives-industry-food-for-thought-on-childrens-advertising_id104698.aspx

Cruz, A.et al. (2004)”The Junk Food Generation” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.consumersinternational.org/media/307373/the%20junk%20food%20generation-%20a%20multi-country%20survey%20of%20the%20influence%20of%20television%20advertisements%20on%20children.pdf

Fialová, J. (2010), ”Research Into the Effect Of advertising On the Eating Habits Of Children” [online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from http://www.ped.muni.cz/z21/knihy/2011/36/36/texty/eng/fialova.pdf

Haroon,M. ; Qureshi, T. et.al. (2011)” Does the Food Advertisement on Television Have the Impact on Children’s Food Purchasing Behavior?” [Online] accessed on 15 Sept. 2012 from www.ccsenet.org/journal/…/6585