Federal regulations to prevent deceptive advertising seek to balance the advertiser's freedom of speech with protection of the consumer. This paper discusses what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has done to regulate advertising and evaluates the adequacy of its controls. The commission uses cease-and-desist orders, affirmative disclosure,…

This report supports amending the proposed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Rule on Over-the Counter (OTC) Drug Advertising to insure better protection for children, illiterate populations, the deaf and the blind, from advertising on the air-waves. Several points are addressed: (1) the difficulties of combining the rule making schedules of the Food…

This project designed and implemented an instructional unit in the production of television commercials in a distributive education program. In addition to providing students with a more comprehensive unit on advertising, the producing of commercials for products sold in the school gave them an opportunity to incorporate classroom theory into…

Too often, language arts programs neglect nonverbal expression and interpretation, forgetting that they play a vital role in face-to-face communication and interaction. However, it is important that children learn to understand nonverbal messages, especially nonverbal devices manipulated by ad people and political personages. A variety of…

This study defined "preference types" (types of people who use various media) and looked at constructs people used in deciding their preferences. Preferences in one medium were compared with preferences in another medium for the same group of people. The six media studied were television, radio, movies, magazines, brand commercials, and political…

A 20 item television commercial attitude survey given to 232 6th, 8th, and 12th grade students tested the hypotheses that: 1) younger children are more influenced by commercials than are older children; 2) that children are more apt to buy products which exert peer pressure upon them; and 3) that children are more susceptible to commercials which…

Investigated whether public service announcements (PSAs) on the nature of television advertising affect (1) children's awareness of advertising intent; (2) their belief in its truthfulness; and (3) their perception of advertised products. Data indicate that PSAs can influence children's perceptions of advertising's credibility and can affect their…

Describes how the elementary school at Oakham, Massachusetts, improved nutrition habits, increased student participation, and reduced waste in its lunch program through a program called MUNCH (Multiple Unit of Nutritional Care and Health). MUNCH involves family-style meals instead of cafeteria lines, expanded nutrition education, and periodic…

During the 1930s, a worldwide depression created a fear of communism and a "law-and-order" mentality. The 1990s, by contrast, are marked by a social void in which guilt is ascribed to no one. As recent TV commercials show, dispensing reasonable consequences in response to negative actions is viewed as socially backward. Too often,…

Examines how emotional content in televised messages intensifies physiological attentional responses. Explains that heart rate data indicating both shorter-term responses and longer-term arousal were collected from 10 female and 4 male advertising students. Finds that emotional content increases physiological arousal in viewers and that heart…

Presents the results of two groups of Spanish compositions from fifth-semester students. The purpose of the study was to assess the students' ability to observe cultural differences between the target culture and the native culture as presented in a commercial and to assess how the procedures to view the commercial affected the quality of their…

The Minorities and Communication section of the proceedings contains the following 10 papers: "A Content Analysis of Advertising Techniques in Mass Market and African-American Magazine Advertisements" (Jan S. Slater and others); "Political and Racial Adversaries: Southern Black Elected Officials and the Press" (Daniel Riffe and…

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…

The news on Channel One, with its impression of vague anxiety, looks and sounds like regular television news, only more so. In either case, the news is just "filler"--its real function is not journalistic but commercial, meant to lead into advertisements (ads). Mass advertising tends to assume that its audience will not be studying it…

Since 1989, Channel One has broadcast a 10-minute newscast with two minutes of commercials. In exchange for receiving the Channel One broadcast, schools promise that 90% of the students will watch Channel One for 92% of the time; that each program must be watched in its entirety; that a show cannot be interrupted; and that teachers cannot turn the…