Parental concern about television viewing and children's advertising in China

A benchmark study was conducted to examine Mainland Chinese parents' attitudes toward advertising and parental mediation of television viewing. A survey of 1,665 parents of elementary school children aged six to fourteen in Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu was conducted December 2001 to March 2002. Results indicated Chinese parents hold negative attitudes toward television advertising in general and children's advertising specifically. The negative attitudes result mainly from the perception that advertising is deceptive and annoying. Parents feel strongly that advertising should be banned on children's programming. Ninety-eight percent of parents exercise some control over the contents and time of television viewing. Despite a low level of co-viewing and discussion of television commercials with children, Chinese parents perceived that they have great influence on their children's attitudes toward advertising.