This report addresses the problems created by the large volume of current television advertising being directed to children, many of whom naively accept the messages and cannot perceive the selling purpose of television advertising or otherwise comprehend or evaluate it; and recommends that law-making proceedings begin to (1) ban all television…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 37 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the role of television in the lives of older homebound individuals; (2) radio wars between Cuba and the United States; (3) the relationship between…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 36 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) content diversity in local television news; (2) advertising influences on consumers' use of evidence; (3) organized labor and the mass media; (4) feminist film…

This report, the third in a series of six reports on television advertising and children, describes a study designed to determine how the massive exposure to television affects children's language development. A total of 153 children in grades K-6 were interviewed about the entertainment, informational, and advertising content of 24 programs…

In this study, naturalistic patterns of parent-child interaction were unobtrusively observed in supermarkets to describe characteristics of breakfast cereal selection by 516 family units. The interaction sequence was summarized into five dimensions: initiating party, tone of initial message, type of response, type of consequence, and references to…

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of television advertising on different types of children--specifically, the cognitive responses and extra-product expectations fostered by television commercials in both white and black children. The subjects, 52 middle-class white children and 30 inner-city black children ranging in age from…

Residents in a southern California city were surveyed by telephone about their attitudes toward the telecast of the motion picture "Academy Awards" presentations. Of the 141 respondents, 71 had not watched the telecast, 42 had watched some of the broadcast, and 28 had watched all of it. Less than one third of the survey questions were specifically…

This study was conducted in order to assess the link between exposure to television advertising for snack foods and children's actual snack choices. One hundred and forty 5-to 8-year-old low income children attending summer camp were randomly divided into two experimental groups each of which contained equal numbers of younger and older children.…

A study which reviewed the research literature analyzed the relationship between television advertisements and the lowering of the self concept. Although television advertising has a relatively short history, today a person can hardly escape from it. Advertisements are specifically targeted to age-related and demographic groups. By focusing on…

This issue of "Media & Values" explores the influence of mass media on the perceptions about aging in our society. The essays present various interpretations of that influence and the implications for the society. Articles in the "Awareness/Analysis" section include: (1) "Granny Bashing: New Myth Recasts Elders as Villains" (Ronald F. Pollack);…