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Content Analysis of Children's Television Programming and Commercials

By Tierra Nichols

Abstract

The average child watches 3 hours of television this study involves research in race of children's television programs and commercials, how is race present in today's children's television shows?

Introduction

Television is one of the most powerful and influential socializing agents of Children. On an average children's weekly television viewing is 3 hours a day, receiving messages about the world and about their identities. Attitudes, ideas, beliefs, about the world as well as social skills are developed in the age range of 2-18. (Kaiser Family foundation 1999). In the case of race, children use television for information about other races and may form their bias based on how other races are portrayed on television (Larson 2002).

There is an ample amount of evidence that media plays a significant role in the process of identity and can affect children's cultural attitudes. One theory known as social learning theory states that children learn about themselves and the world around them from observation (Orbe 2001). Therefore viewing televised material can influence attitudes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the portyals of people of color in children's programming. Diversity is very favorable among stations such as Nickelodeon, Disney, and ABC on Saturday mornings. These cable companies have created programs that feature a variety of diverse characters, in the advertisements between these programs most commercials feature a mixture of ethnic groups. This is why it is necessary to understand to see in what ways has television influence both minority group and majority groups of children's attitudes toward other racial groups and their own racial group and their identities.

Literature Review

Studies have shown that mass-mediated communication affects interracial communication in a variety of contexts (Orbe 2001). The numerical representation of minorities, especially black children, has improved, although the roles are minor when they are portrayed in certain product categories, settings, and relationships (Larson 2001). During the peak of interest in child-targeted commercials in the 1970s, studies found that the number of racial minority characters in commercials during children's programming was well below real-world demographics, and when minority characters were shown, they were almost always obscured within groups of Whites (Atkin& Heald, 1977; Barcus, 1977; Doolittle & Pepper, 1975). By the late 1980s, the presence of racial minorities had increased in child-targeted commercials, but their proportion within these commercials was still relatively low furthermore, the status of

characters of color were diminished by their lack of speaking roles (Riffe, Goldson, Saxton, & Yu, 1989). More recently, a content analysis by Merskin and Demers(1999) Found that when minorities were shown in advertising on Turner Cartoon Network, they were only shown alongside whites or marginalized into a limited number of commercials that appealed to girls. Previous studies have also shown that when people of color are shown in children's television advertising, they are cast according to cultural stereotypes, such as the Chinese laundryman, the grass-skirted Pacific Islander(Iiyama & Kitano, 1982), and the aged Indian chief (Seiter, 1995).

Importantly, Seiter's textual analyses (1993, 1995) revealed that children's commercials are laden with ideological messages about social power as evidenced by the alarming disparity between the portrayals of racial minorities and Whites in the behavior designated to each group. Typically, minorities are relegated to the role of passive bystander, whereas White characters assume the more admirable roles of "go-getters" and leaders.

Cultivation theory suggests that constant exposures to a specific image of an object can lead to distorted beliefs about the object. Therefore if children are constantly exposed to certain portrayals of an ethnic group, they may develop corresponding beliefs about the group. According to a 1998 Children Now poll, children of all races agree that it is important to see people of their own race in television. Children of color who consume large amounts of television have been found to have low self-concepts, to feel alienated and to be uninterested in participating in activities outside of their immediate communities. (Palmer, Taylor, Smith, and Strawser, 1993). Another study shows that exposure to characters of their own racial group, especially in racially integrated settings led to positive racial attitudes in children of color. (Cervera 2006). While children cable networks such as Nickelodeon, Disney, and ABC integrate more positive portrayals of children of color research shows that simply seeing characters of color on television results in positive attitude changes for white children, especially shown in a multiracial setting (Larson 2001).

Methods

This research is interested in the television programming and advertisement targeted to children that appear on a typical weekday and weekend. In order to find to obtain basic information needed to answer my research questions how and where is interracial relationships shown between different racial groups in children television? What roles are assigned to different racial groups in children's television advertising? I examined and collected data from Nickelodeon, Disney, and ABC's Saturday morning lineup because they makeup half of the children's market. TV Guide's program listings determined the time-slot for this research. On two weekdays and one weekend day the examination began during the week of March 1-4th, 2006, Nickelodeon and Disney during weekday afternoons (2:00 p.m.-8:00p.m.), and ABC's Saturday morning line up (7:00a.m.-11:00a.m.) The variables analyzed from TV programs and advertisements were (a) presence or lack of racial minority characters: (b) number of minority characters: (c) type of product being advertised (d) minorities relationship with majority characters. After those characters who were animated and animals were coded by voiceovers: (a) stereotype minority voices. The other variables were coded from each character in each commercial and program to indicated the characteristics, behaviors, and roles he or she exhibited: (a) race of main character: ( (b) age group (c) athletic (d) musical( e) fighting (f) initiator: ((g) problem solver and (h) leadership. Next, the products were coded for the