Review of Related Literature and Studies

Media and TV "Communication remains God's great gift to humanity without which we cannot be trulyhuman, reflecting God's image." (Caaberal, 1993, 44) Freedom of speech is a right of individuals as they possess their own free will. Because of their free will, individuals haveexpressed their thoughts, desires, and aspirations through the mass media. Communicatingfreely with other affirms the dignity and worth of each and every member of society. Freedomof expression is essential in the attainment and advancement of knowledge. Communication brings forth various ideas and information. People today are better informed and moreenlightened thanks to thriving press freedom and expanding mass media here and in manyparts of the world. All points of view are represented in the "marketplace of ideas" and societybenefits from debate about their worth. "Monkey see, monkey do" has become a wellknownsaying in today's society. In addition, this is how media influences society as it leaves a largeimpact on the individuals. Media has been considered by Ciony C. Gonzales as " the mostdominant art form." (1984, 9) as it has an innate power to engage and affect the total person.It leaves a compelling and lasting impact on both the conscious and subconscious (Gonzales,1984, 9). Though media informs and educates, it also corrupts and exploits, leading it tocontribute to the moral degradation of society. Media's role in society is to inform, educate,and entertain. It tells the truth and provides positive stimulation that can build up images andreputations the right way (Grantoza, 1993, 31). It can also be a tribunal of justice (Reuter, 1993,n.p.). Therefore, media has contributed greatly in ways that both enlighten and enrich society, but in other ways have deteriorated and perplexed it. It is not a surprise to learn, then, thatmedia is the most powerful source of information, and nothing else in today's world influencespublic perception as heavily. History of Advertisements Advertising is dated back to the Christian Era. One of the first known methodsof advertising was outdoor signs, they would be painted on the wall of abuilding and were usually very eye catching. Archaeologists have found signs inthe ruins of ancient Rome and Pompeii which advertised travelers to go to atavern situated in another town. In about the 1440's there was an invention of amovable-type of advertising which was a printing press. In the 16th century somecompanies had a trade mark which was a two or three dimensional picture or sign.In both volume and technique, advertising has made its greatest advances in theU.S. In the early stages of U.S. advertising it was hard and expensive toadvertise nationally because the U.S. was still undeveloped and there was littleof no means of transport, distribution or communication. Eventually certain typeof manufactures thought of the idea of bypassing wholesalers, retailers andusing catalogs. Mail orders and pamphlets appeared around the 1870's. Late inthe 19th century many American firms began to market packaged goods under brandnames. Previously consumers had not been aware of or influenced by brand names.The first product that had brand names were soap products. In the 1880's a fewbrands came out and they were Ivory, Pears, Sapolio, Colgate, Kirks AmericanFamily and Packer's. Not long after brands such as Royal

baking powder, Quakeroats, Bakers chocolate, Hire's root beer, Regal shoes and Waterman's pens werenationally advertised. In the early 1900's America began to become aware of suchbrand names like Bon Ami, Wrigley and Coca-Cola. After World War 1 advertisingdeveloped into a business so big that it was almost a trademark of Americaitself through the eyes of the rest of the world. This was expanded by technicalimprovements which made transportation, communication and graphics work easier,cheaper and better.Modern advertising has changed dramatically since the early twentieth century, but when it comes to food, Katherine Parkin writes, the message has remained consistent. Advertisers havehistorically promoted food in distinctly gendered terms, returning repeatedly to themes thatassociated shopping and cooking with women. Foremost among them was that, regardless of the actual work involved, women should serve food to demonstrate love for their families. Inidentifying shopping and cooking as an expression of love, ads helped to both establish andreinforce the belief that kitchen work was women's work, even as women's participation in thelabor force dramatically increased. Alternately flattering her skills as a homemaker and preyingon her insecurities, advertisers suggested that using their products would give a womanirresistible sexual allure, a happy marriage, and healthy children. Beyond their own individualsuccess, ads also promised that by buying and making the right foods, a woman could help herfamily achieve social status, maintain its racial or ethnic identity, and assimilate into theAmerican mainstream. Advertisers clung tenaciously to this paradigm throughout great upheavals in the patterns of American work, diet, and gender roles. To discover why, Food Is Love draws on thousands of ads that appeared in the most popular magazines of the twentieth and early twenty-firstcenturies, including the Ladies' Home Journal , Good Housekeeping , Ebony , and the Saturday Evening Post . The book also cites the records of one of the nation's preeminent advertisingfirms, as well as the motivational research advertisers utilized to reach their customers. RL TDO E NT DS EAE F RI SU I G E Tiabue uonsreoefecolvndemnnhrn here has been in both developed and developing countriesa substantial hl ot ml utu yfil nefeioavr etocieT sa h t r v t n t s te s l . c i y hu e i d s increase in advertising of foods high infat, sugar and salt. Much of this targets young children.Correspondingly, there is a disturbingly rapid increase inthe incidence of childhood obesity.As worries about this new pandemic sharpen, so does thesearch for ways of changing consumer behaviour.Television, or more precisely television food advertising,has been singled out as the most easily modifiable influentialfactor on diet.Consumer organizations recognize that advertising can bea useful source of information to consumers. However,advertising is not an impartial source of information since

its essential aim is to persuade rather than inform.Advertising is an immensely potent tool, which can swaythe judgement of even the most clued-up consumers. Ithas the power to reinvent the familiar and make the unfamiliartrustworthy. It preys on the human need to belongand lures people into buying into a lifestyle, an identity.Children are especially vulnerable to advertising becausethey are less able than adults to fully understand its persuasivetechniques and to therefore judge it critically.Advertising regulations and guidelines at national andinternational levels seek to prohibit the exploitation of children's credulity, lack of experience or sense of loyaltyand to protect them from high pressure selling. Manycountries have introduced restrictions on the marketingof tobacco and alcohol with respect to children. Yet foodadvertising, despite its relationship to child health andnutrition, has received little attention at a regulatory level.But before formulating intervention strategies, it is importantto understand the forces driving consumer behaviorand the link between advertising, knowledge and behavior.This report outlines the major findings from studies conductedon the influence of televised food ads on children, drawing primarily upon the results from a survey conductedby Consumers International Asia Pacific Office insix Asian countries - India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Korea. The power of television *Through television, advertisers can reach a whole spectrumof consumers. Children are exposed to an overwhelmingamount of advertising as there is little regulation controllingthe programme to advertisement ratio. 30 per cent of Malaysian children watch over eight hours of television aday during holidays, and are exposed to over two and half hours of advertisements a day.* The majority of children believe television advertisementsto be informative and most children respond to themfavourably. 73 per cent of Pakistani children claim to loveadvertisements, as do 68 per cent of Filipino children.Malaysian children are not so fond of advertisements, probablybecause they watch the most television and get frustratedby the constant interruption caused by commercialbreaks.