Children Recall of Television Ad

Elements
An Examination of Audiovisual Effects

Journal of Advertising, vol 35, no 1

Jill K Maher, Michael Y Hu & Richard H Kolbe

Gina Karlina Peny Meliaty Kutut Wijanarko Suci Defina

 Abstract

This study examined children’s recall and recognition of ad

content contained in the audio and video from television
commercials. The study was conducted with experiment with
first and fourth graders who were exposed to a 60-second ad
with a story-line format. The ad featured typical aspects of ads
targeting a youngsteer, including animated creatures, role
transformation, and loud music, among other production
techniques. Results support the supremacy of the audiovisual
nature of television is conveying information to children. Age
difference between the two groups were evident.
 Study Approach

• Rich with production techniques (animation,

fantasy, rapid scene changes, multiple unsual
camera angles, loud music, fantasy) ; purposing to
create a holistic and engaging enviroment in which
the advertised product can be presented
Not to focus on wether children
understand or recall the selling
aspect of an ad, but rather on
quantity of information can be
recall from an ad
 Objective

• Recall / retrieval of general ad information

• Create an image or impression through emotional
appeals
• Audio visual mode is better
processed by children than
information presented in single
mode (Macklin 1994; Peracchio
1992; Walma Van Der Molen and
Van der Voort 200)
 Background Literature

Recall and Recognition

❑ Children and televison advertising addressed children’s recognition and

recall of products and brand names, and their relationship to intention
to purchase (Palmer and Young 2001 ; Singer and Singer 2002 ; Van Evra
1998)
❑ Single exposure to an advertisement could influence recall of brand
names (Gorn and Golberg’s 1980)
❑ Maturation apparently has an effect on recall of brand names ; older
children are able to recall brand names better than younger (Fischer
1991 ; Wackman, Wartella and Ward 1977 ; Zuckerman and Gianinno
1981)
❑ Preschoolers are able to remember brand names presented in
advertisement, particularly when given associative visual cues (Macklin
1994)
 Background Literature
Hypothesis Audivisual
Processing
H1 : Children who receive an audivisual presentation will have the same
level of recall of ad information as those who receive only the visul
aspects of an ad
H2a : Children who receive an audiovisual presentation will recall
significantly more ad information than those who receive only the
audio ad presentation
H2b : Children who receive only an audio presentation will have
significantly higher recall of dialogue in the ad than those who
receive the audiovisual presentation
H3 : Older children (fourth graders) will be superior processors of ad
content than younger (first graders) children as appraised by their
significantly higher levels of recall of add information
•
 Method

Experimental Design
 Design

• Format of stimulus ad’s presentation :

- audio only
- video only
- audiovisual ( A/V)

There were two audiovisual treatment groups :

1. one group of A/V participant ( A/V audio) completed the basic questions asked of all
respondents, as well as the questions specific to the audio-only group. Accordingly the A/V
audio questions group can be directly compared to audio-only participants because of the
common set of measures administered to them.
2. A second A/V group (A/V video) completed the general and visual-relevant questions. This
group can be directly compared to the video-only treatment group.
 Participant

• There were 146 of 155 ( children participated ) interviews that used for analysis
purposes. 78 were female and 68 were male.
• Seventy-seven ( 53%) children were in the first grade ( six to seven years old), while 69 (
47 %) were fourth grade ( nine to ten years old).
• All the children were recruited from the same two elementary schools in the same
school district.
• Most of children were from middle-income families.
• The experiment were recorded on video tape so the researcher could transcribe the
actual responses of each child after the experimental sessions.
 Research Stimuli

• A Sunkist commercial “ Sunkist FunFruit Rock -n- Roll Shapes “ was used as the
research stimulus. This product was a colorful fruit snack in shapes guitars,
saxophones, and key boards.
• It is important that participants were not familiar with the ad or product because
the objective of study was to ascertain children’s recall of television elements
under the condition of single exposure.
• As the product was no longer on the market and the ad aired a significant number
of years prior to administration of the study.
• The 60 second ad contained three children ( e.i : a white female, a white male, and
African-American male ) who fulfill their fantasy becoming rock stars during the
course of the ad. The story in the ad involved the three children telling of their fun
experience at a rock concert and how much they would enjoy being rock stars
themselves.
 Procedure

• The experiment and the participants sat opposite each other across a table during the
viewing and measurement process.
• The experiment then explained what was going to occur during next several minutes and
asked the child for verbal permission to proceed and video tape the session ( combination
VCR/ monitor with a 10 inch screen ).
• For the audio-only condition, the television was turned so that child would see only the back
of television.
• In video-only condition, the sound on the television was muted , so the experimenter wanted
them to see the commercial without the sound.
• Distraction task after commercial ended : the experimenter asked each child about his
favorite school subject.
• After that, the experimenter began asking the reminder of the items in study.
• Duration of interview is 12 minutes.
 Measure

• The number of answers given and the accuracy of the responses were tabulated by an
independent coder.
• Recall of ad dialogue scale ( sentence of completion of ad dialogue ) :
❑ “ Someday I’m gonna be ( a rock star)
❑ “Oh man, they were (great )
❑ “ don’t wait for some day ( rock right now )
❑ “ If They don’t rock you ( nothing will)
• The experimenter read the first part of the phrase to the participant and the child attempted
to complete the statement as presented in the ad.
• Responses were scored as correct ( 1) and ( 0) is as incorrect response.
• The scale had range from 0 to 4.
• Although other measures were obtained in the experiment, only the recall and dialogue item
are reported here.
RESULTS
The analysis of recall within age group also provided For fourth graders, there was a minimal
support for H1, as there were no significant differences directional A/V effect, as evidnced by the slightly
among the video treatment groups when assessed by higher recall levels among those in the A/V
grade. condition.

The direction of among first graders indicates that there In total, there were no significant differences
was not an incremental directional effect due to the A/V found in any of the analyses, providing support
presentation as found in the aggregate data. for H1.

A/V Video
Versus
Video-Only
Comparisons
 H1 (Hypothesis 1) :
“Children who receive an audiovisual presentation will have the same level of
recall of ad information as those who receive only the visual aspects of an ad”
 When examined by grade level, significant differences were obtained
on the numbers of items recalled (A/V mean = 4.00 versus 2,77 for
Audio-only) and the number of items correctly recalled (A/V mean =
3,67, versus 2,50 for Audio only) for first graders in the audio treatment
A/V Audio Versus Audio conditions, supporting H2a.
Comparisons
For fourth grade participants ➔ supporting H2a.
 H2a (Hypothesis 2a) :
“Children who receive an audiovisual presentation will recall significantly more ad
information than those who receive only the audio ad presentation”
 When examined by grade, there was support for H2b among first-grade
participants (M = 1,09, versus .59 ; p < .05) but there was not a
Dialogue Recall significant difference among fourth graders (M = 1.31, versus .79 ).
Analysis Support H2b was not complete.
 H2b (Hypothesis 2b) :
“Children who receive only an audio prsentation will have significantly higher recall of
dialogue in the ad than those who receive the audiovisual presentation”
 Table 4

Support H3, which predicts that older children will recall more information
than younger children.

Accuracy of responses was quite high in both groups (M = .95, versus .86).
These results support H3, which predicted the superior abilities of older
children, relative to younger children, to process ad content. Thus, the results
Age Difference among both audio and video treatment groups support the prediction (H3)
on Recall that older children are superior processors of ad information.
 H3 (Hypothesis 3) :
“Older children (fourth graders) will be superior processors of ad content than
younger (first grader) children as appraised by their significantly higher levels of recall
of ad information”.
 Research Finding

Children can recall a reasonable amount of

information from a single exposure and sharing
information

children can and do process information from

television ads regardless of the mode of delivery

Defference recall in the audio-only and audiovisual

condition

Accuracy with children recalled information about

the ads
 Future Research

Implication of the distracting effect of visual presentation

▪Effect of visual content on recall of messages contained aspect of the ad

▪The breadth and depth of children’s recall and subsequent of understanding of TV Ad

▪Study used of ad than shorter duration

▪Insightfull and interpretable measurement

Limitation
Participants aware of their participation may magnify/reduce the effect of treatments
and make response bias

Dialogue recall this study not free recall, limit result and interpretation
Conclusion

• Audio, video & audiovisual format have

relevance to the real world which children watch
TV
• Children do not watch TV as their sole activity
• The study create a condition that mirror situation
where children are processing ad in diff mode
• How much information children obtain from TV
ad under their circumstance