THE UNHEALTHY PERSUADER:  BITE- SIZE CONSUMERS AT 
THE  
         SUPERMARKET

Numerous experiments have demonstrated the power of 
television to elicit both aggression and pro social 
behavior in a limited of laboratory situation. It is 
difficult however, for obvious reason, to trace the effects 
of television watching in to the "real world". Here is one 
study which has done so in a different realm of influence. 

Advertisers selling such products as sugared cereals, snack 
foods, and toys have long recognized that the most 
effective targets for their make the purchases but the 
children whose tigators estimate that more than a third of 
preschool children's waking hours are spent in front of the 
television set, and about 20 percent of that time is 
devoted to commercial messages. A child of moderate 
television habits may annually be exposed to more than 
5,000 commercials for edibles alone. Most of the 
commercials, especially those shown on Saturday morning, 
are for products of questionable nutritional value and are 
specifically designed for a very young audience. 

This study observed 41 preschool children in the 
laboratory, at home, and in the supermarket.an observer 
followed the mother and child through the store aisles, 
recording all the child's attempts to influence the 
mother's purchases . on the average, 15 distinct attempts 
per child per trip, or about one every 2 minutes, were 
made. About 45 percent of the requests were successful. 
Although some requests were for nutritionally satisfactory 
products, most were for sugared cereals, cookies, candy, 
gum, toys, ice cream, and the like. 

Many young children often prefer the attention-getting 
commercials to the programs. Using a laboratory measure of 
the comparative preference for commercials, the 
investigators found that children with strong preference 
for commercials made more product requests of their 
mothers. They also found a significant relationship between 
the number of requests children made and the number of 
hours of commercial- network broadcasting they tendency for 
children who watched more public television to make fewer 
product requests. 

This study, than, describes a definite correspondence 
between exposure to television advertising and real- life 
consumer behavior in preschool children. It also suggests 
that there are some individual differences in 
susceptibility to television messages. While one hesitates 
to generalize from this type of evidence to other areas of 
possible influence, such as aggression or socially positive 
themes, the research evidence in these areas seems to point 
in same direction. 

Society should, then, be concerned about the kinds of 
programs available for young viewers. At the same time, 
studies like this one suggest that parents should exert a 
positive force by helping children select programs to watch 
and by establishing rules about television viewing which 
are consistent with their child- rearing goals.