JOURNAL OF INSIGHT : Chinese Children Commercials

• Introduction

• Conceptual framework

  • Cultural (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity,  Confucian dynamism)

  • Economic

  • Social

• Methodology

• Findings

• Insight / Discussion

• Bibliography

Introduction (top)

Title                    : How Chinese Children’s Commercials Differ From Those Of The United States: A Content Analysis

Type                   : Content Analysis

Author                : Mindy F. Ji and James U. McNeal

Date                     : 2001

Source                 : Journal of Advertising, Volume XXX, Number 3 Fall 2001

Conceptual Framework: (top)

             Advertising had played a major role in catching the attention of middle-class customers in China. Many companies had allocated expenditures for advertising purposes. As China’s economy is growing rapidly, this also applies to its advertising sector. It had recorded ninth place (Song and Wong,1998) and contributed to 70% of total Asian advertising expenditures. (ACNielsen Media International, 2000)

            This research aimed at the largest population of children less than 15 years of age. (Population Reference Bureau,1995). The children population in China also consumed a majority 68% portion of their parent’s expenses. (Yeh, 1997).

            Advertising could also portray the China culture as a whole. Consumer behavior is reflected on Chinese children’s commercials. As China adopted an open policy, Western marketers would find this research beneficial in planning their advertising plan.

            This research had two main purposes. First, it was designed at comparing the differences of content between China and US children’s commercials. Secondly, it was intended to explain the differences in the context of cultural, social and economic scenarios.

a)      Cultural (top)

This research used five dimensions of culture which include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity and Confucian dynamism as basis to explain the formulation of the research hypotheses

 Power distance is defined as the level of acceptance regarding authority. (Hofstede, 1980). The Chinese are known for their respect for elderly and opinion leaders. They had a higher power distance as to compare to the American. (Bond,1991). Hence, this lead to hypotheses of :

H1a: A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercials has adults as spokespersons / characters – authorities to children – than do those of the United States

H1b: A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial has adult voice-overs than do those of the United States

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of risk acceptance in a given society. China recorded a higher index of risk avoidance than the Americans (Hofstede,1980). Therefore, the Chinese advertising would be apt to show product currently in use to minimize ambiguity. The Chinese children also pointed the importance of television as an information source (Ji, 1999). This gave rise to hypotheses of:

H2 : A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercials shows products in use than do those in United States

H3 : A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercials contains informational content than do those of the United States.

The third cultural dimension is concerned with individualism and collectivism. Individualistic society in America stressed more on pleasure and individualistic appeal such as fun/happiness or adventure ( Barcus, 1977) as compare to the Chinese.

H4a: A lesser percentage of Chinese children’s commercial emphasizes the fun/happiness appeal of the advertised product than do those of the United States

H4b: A lesser percentage of Chinese children’s commercials emphasize the adventure appeal of the advertised product than do those of the United States.

Masculinity involves gender roles in a particular society. China is mostly a male-dominant society. The male children bear the roles of upholding the family name and taking over family properties. (Shao and Herbig,1994). Thus, the research hypothesizes were

H5a: On average, a higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial uses men as models than do those in the United States

H5b: On average, a higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial uses men as spokespersons than do those in the United States

H5c: On average, a higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial uses men as voice-overs than do those in the United States

Confucian dynamism is concerned with teaching of Confucius. It emphasizes on values such as thrift (saving), patient and face saving. (Hofstede,1994). Face saving refers to the level of concern about portraying a good image/reputation to others. The Chinese would use more popular products to gain public acceptance and to avoid losing face. Thus, the researchers recommended that Chinese commercials would project on the popularity of a product rather than its uniqueness.

H6a: A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial tends to emphasize the popularity value of an advertised product than do those of the United States

H6b: A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial tends to emphasize the uniqueness value of an advertised product than do those of the United States.

b)     Economic (top)

The researchers suggested that advertising development in a country is related much to its economic development as well. United States has achieved four stages in advertising industries namely product information, product image, personalization and lifestyle. It was revealed that Chinese advertising industry was still in the premature stage, which still emphasize on product benefits. (Leiss, Kline and Jhally,1990).  Thus, transformation of China economic in its early stage would suggest to this hypotheses.

H7 : A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercial emphasizes product benefits and use (quality, effectivenss, health, economy, or convenience) than do those of the United States.

c)      Social (top)

The Chinese parents stress much on educational activities. In contrast, the Americans would prefer their children to be excellent in athletic activities. The minority in China is a poor group. However, the U.S. marketers presently are targeting the upcoming influence of the minority group. All these differences lead to the formulation of the next hypotheses.

H8a: A higher percentage of Chinese children’s commercials portray scholastic activities than do those of the United States

H8b: A lower percentage of Chinese children’s commercials portray athletic activities than do those of the United States

H9b: A lower percentage of Chinese children’s commercials include minority models than do those of the United States

Methodology: (top)

            The researchers simultaneously analyzed the content of children’s commercial both in China and United States. The research took 18 months with random sampling of one week in each of 4 different months. (October 1997, April and October 1998, April 1999). 6- months interval was chosen because alteration of new commercials usually took place after the period.

              Five main Chinese television channels were chosen due to their total 80% contribution of children programming in Beijing. Beijing was chosen because it recorded the biggest advertising revenue. (Baskerville Communication Group,1998). ABC, FOX, Nickelodeon and WBKids were chosen as 4 U.S. channels. They contributed to 90% of children’s program in the United States.

            The operational definition for children-targeted commercial was it must targeted children as primary audience. Second, the product advertised was mostly consumed by children below 12 years old.

            The sample size consisted of 299 and 132 commercials form U.S. and China respectively. Research by Kassarjian in 1977 was used as guidelines for content analysis. A Chinese woman and an American man were used as coders to analyse the content of the commercials. The interjudge reliability index for both coders was more than 0.80. This showed that there was much agreement between both of them.

Findings: (top)

           Food products contributed to 81.8% of total Chinese children’s commercials. In contrast, toys (55.5%) made up the majority part of US children commercials. Food became the main priority in China. As a developed country, children in the US craved for higher order of needs, which were toys and entertainment. Other products advertised included social products, motion pictures, books and music.

            The domestic brand dominated the Chinese media although there was presence of overseas brand advertising. Some brand such as McDonalds and KFC appeared in both media indicating these companies were eyeing for global competition.

            Results of hypothesis testing were shown in Table 2. Only six were not supported by the data. (H1a, H1b, H2, H6b, H8a, H8b).

Table 1 : Result and Hypothesis Testing

Insights  (top)

            This was a well-conducted research. It compared the content of children’s commercial in China and United States. It incorporated the cultural, social and economic context to explain the differences of children’s commercial between both countries. The researchers also justified the reasons behind the study of commercials in China

            The researchers had done much literature review on the factors, which influence Chinese children’s commercial. Cultural differences such as power distance, masculinity, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and Confucius dynamism had been clearly explained and applied in the formulation of the hypotheses. 

            There was much clarity in displaying the findings. Data presentation in the table form made it easier to be read and comprehend. Value presented in one decimal points showed the use of consistency by the researchers.  

            Findings from the research revealed much insight into China advertising industries. It was obvious that the factors of masculinity and Confucius dynamism (face-saving) played imperative roles in the industry. These were clearly shown from the results of hypotheses H5a-c and H6a-b.

            An unpredictable findings was discovered in regards to power distance dimension. The results showed that Chinese children’s commercial used less of adults as spokesperson / voice-over as compared to United States. The explanation given was that consumers disliked the bossy setting of the tone, which resulted from the rigidity of their government (Wiseman,1999). The second reason was that adoption of one-child policy created a focal point on children development.    

            The hypotheses related to social culture could not be proved. Insufficient data had created the ‘floor effect’ or a lack of statistical power because only a few athletic / scholastic activities were used in advertising in both countries. The political emphasis on similarities such as the propaganda ‘Everyone in China is a member of the big family’ had discouraged the use of single ethnic group in commercials.

              The researchers had successfully revealed the influence of Western culture in Chinese children’s commercials. Finding in testing H6b showed that much emphasize was put on the uniqueness of a product. The uniqueness appeal has been a distinctive Western value.

            The researchers also modestly exposed the limitations of this study. Using Beijing as a representative for the largest country in the world might paint a wrong picture. As Beijing is the capital city of China, the audience targeted would be on urban children. This surely cannot represent the huge population of Chinese children in many rural areas, which exposed to local stations broadcasting with less government regulations. 

             The second setback discovered was the guidelines or scales used for the use of content analysis. The application of Western-derived scales in this study was controversial. Interpretive approach would be a much appropriate methods compared to content analysis, as cultural differences was an unavoidable issue.

            Future direction of the study was also described. More researches should be done covering advertising in the Internet. Future research should also target the cultural, economic and social influence in advertising. The cultural dimension used here was formulated from study of workplace and not advertisement.

            In conclusion, the researchers should be credited for their efforts in comparing the children’s commercial in China and United States. Clarification and rationalization had been made in every aspect from methodology to limitations. The findings had been clearly explained in order. Effective literature review had been used to substantiate their justification. Thus, even a layman could read it without much confusion.

Bibliography (top)

ACNielsen Media International (2000), ‘China-Gross Advertising Expenditure’ 1993-1999,Asiacom, 6 (14), 10

Barcus F.E. (1977), ‘Children ‘s Television: An Analysis of Programming and Advertising,’ New York: Praegar Publishers

Baskerville Communication Group (1998), ‘China Television Advertising Market Size and Top Four Networks by Revenue in US Dollars For 1995 to 1998 and Forecast for 1998 to 2000,’ Asiacom ,4 (19),7  

Bond, M.H. (1991), ‘Beyond Chinese Face: Insights from Psychology’ Hong Kong: Oxford University Press

Hofstede G (1980), ‘Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in work-Related Values’ Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications

Hofstede, G (1994) ‘Management Scientists Are Human’ Management Science, 40 (January), 4-13

Ji M.F. (1999), ‘ Chinese Children As Consumer : An Analysis of their New Product Information’ Journal of Consumer Marketing , 16 (4), 345-362

Kassarjian, H. (1997), ‘Content Analysis in Consumer Research,’ Journal of Consumer Research, 4 (1), 8-18

Leiss, W., Kline, S. and Jhally, S (1990). ‘Social Communication in Advertising Pesons, Products,and Images of Well-Being’ 2d ed, Ontario: Nelson Canada 

Population Reference Bureau (1995), ‘1995 World Population Data Sheet, Washington DC, np.

Shao,A.T. , Herbig P.(1994) ‘Marketing Implications of China’s Little Emperors’ Review of Business,16 (1), 16-20

Song, T.B. and Wong, L (1998), ‘Getting the Word Out’ China Business Review, 25 (5), 22-25

Wiseman, P (1999) ‘Tidal Wave of TV Ads Overwhelms Some Chinese’ USA Today, (October 18), 7b

Yeh CH (1997), ‘ Development of Consumer Behavior Patterns Among Chinese Children’ Journal of Consumer Marketing, 14 (1), 45-49