EXPLAINING THE INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS ON CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

Abstract

Purpose - the purpose of this research was that to get to know about the influence of mass media advertisement on children and the teenagers and as well as the major motive behind this research was that to gather the data about the positive and negative influence of mass media on children and the teenagers. Research Design/Sampling - The nature of this research is the explanatory research and the sample size was comprised of total 250 sample size of which, 200 responded, who participated by answering the questionnaires. The Independent variable was "Mass media advertisements” and dependent variables were "Buying behavior regarding the products mass advertised”, "Consumption of unhealthy food and beverages”, and "Indulgence of bad habits”. The questionnaire includes 8 close ended questions and the sampling technique used was the non-probability sampling technique. Afterwards, the quantitative data was analyzed through Anova, Beta Coefficient and Con-elation Analysis with the help of SPSS software. Research Findings - The findings expressed that mass media advertisements have great influence on both children and the teenagers. The verdict further explained that the media advertisements do indeed influence the buying behavior of children and teenagers. The other outcomes reiterated that the media advertisements have both positive and negative effects on the children and teenagers. Another result explained that the media advertisements heavily influence the teenagers' age group and they learn the bad habits from the advertisements such as smoking etc. Research Limitations - The major limitation was the lack of resources such as time and cost and due to this, the researcher didn’t cover all the areas ofthe Karachi, only Gulistan-eJauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Malir. Alongside, city’s bad circumstances were also a limitation which created hindrances regarding collection ofthe data. Research Practical Implications - This entire research work is useful for the children and the teenagers and along with them, this research is also important for the parents and the siblings ofthe children and the teenagers. Because with the help ofthis research, the parents and the siblings get a clear idea about the media advertisements and its positive and negative influence on the children and the teenagers.