Advertising to children in China: A study of children’s TV media environment

As children have limited ability to read, marketing to children often uses television advertising. Effective marketing needs to have a thorough understanding of the media environment the children are exposed to advertising messages. A qualitative content analysis of a week’s children programs broadcast in China in 2003 was conducted. It was found that over 95 percent of the children’s programme broadcast on free-to-air national channels were locally produced. Three-quarters of the programs targeted at elementary school students, with the remaining one-quarter targeted at pre-school children, and teenagers. Chinese children’s TV programs largely reflected the masculine values, collective values, and high power distance discussed in Hofstede’s (1994) framework of cultural values. Competition for success, group activities, and yielding to authorities frequently occurred in media contents. Programs for teenagers resembled those for adults and themes like love and courtship were taboos in programs for teenagers.