This study analyzes how political economy plays a significant role in the construction of advertisements to suit the profile of the audience, particularly, children. Photos, videos, focused group discussion and surveys are used in this endeavor to analyze how particular advertisements are taken and interpreted by the children, how these advertisements are actually constructed to suit their target audience and why these ads continue to proliferate in the local mass media.
Introduction
Burnett, Moriarty and Wells state that advertising has great influence and impact. Considering that people can watch, listen and read hundreds of commercials in a day, advertisements become part of our lives as audience and as consumers. It is said that advertising is a dynamic public forum in which business interests, creativity, consumer needs and government regulations meet. Hence, advertising’s visible social role makes it a target for criticism. In this study, certain advertisements corresponding to the results of the survey shall
be examined. Moreover, the aspect pertaining to political economy and its interplay with advertising shall be explored.
be examined. Moreover, the aspect pertaining to political economy and its interplay with advertising shall be explored.
Globalization, Interactionism and Advertising
Robert McChesney purported that advertising is the second way that the global media system is linked to the global market economy. Moreover, advertising is conducted disproportionately by the largest firms in the world, and it is a major weapon in the struggle to establish new markets. For major firms like Proctor and Gamble and Nike, global advertising is a vitally important aspect of their campaign to maintain strong growth rates.
Since this has been found out, it can be said that globalization continues to thrive since it goes hand in hand with the demands for newer and ‘cooler’ products, most especially by the youth today. Based on the theory of symbolic interactionism, people make decisions and act in accordance with their subjective understandings of the situations in which they find themselves. Moreover, people’s acts are based on their interpretations in which relevant objects and actions in the situation are taken into account and defined. Thus, these children find the need to acquire these products because of how they perceive the effects of using them to be.
Several questions arise out of these findings, How do these interpretations come about? What are these subjective understandings and how are they formed? Who is responsible for these?
In a survey conducted, 12-17 year old, Chinese-Filipino students were asked about their preferences in advertisements. Out of the 30 respondents, 10 said that they prefer local over foreign commercials while 20 prefer foreign over local ads. When asked for their reasons of choosing foreign over local ads, 11 of them stated that they find the foreign ads to be more well-produced, well-executed and more sensible, while 3 find them more amusing and entertaining. Also, 3 out of the 20 said that he uses imported products anyway and 2 said that foreign ads are more convincing. On the other hand, the ones who prefer local ads reasoned that they find them enjoyable (3), easy to acquire and readily available (3); they are nationalistic (3), and they want new local products (1).
In this data, one can see that children nowadays may have the tendency to prefer foreign commercials because their expectations are greater in terms of visuals and entertainment-value while those who prefer local ads seem to take into consideration both nationalism and convenience. Considering that these students come from the upper social brackets (A-B), they are more exposed to cable programming and foreign shows; thus, they are also most likely inclined to look for foreign structure, content and quality in television advertisements. In connection to this, McChesney further discussed in his article that the media giants have moved agressively to become global players. Time Warner and Disney for example still get vast majority of their revenues in the United States but both firms project a non-US sales to be majority of their revenues within a decade and all the other media giants are moving to be in a similar position. The point is to capitalize on the potential growth. In fact, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone says, “Companies are focusing on those markets promising the best return which means overseas.” Based on these statements, it is no wonder why a number of foreign shows and advertisements for that matter continue to reproduce in the Philippines. In effect, the ones who have access are exposed and eventually swayed and convinced by these creative and innovative advertisements since the advertisers or producers already know the fact that their target audience are the ones overseas, and the ones who can afford having cable television.
It is indicated in a book chapter, Making Sense of the Media Business that creating content to attract the target audience is the main challenge and concern of the media producers. One way to determine the target audience is through psychographics or categorizing people based on the basis of their attitudes, personality types or motivations. However, lifestyle categories can also be a tool to determine potential audiences and this involves marking the audience as different from others or in the population at large. With these information, we can say that these product placements in television shows or the advertisements themselves have been carefully designed and suited for their target audience.
The results of the research show that the ad on Nike comes first in their choices (8) while ads on Axe come second (7). The third best ad for the students is the ad for Pepsi Max. (6) Analyzing their choices, one may notice that these are all foreign advertisements. Although, Pepsi Max has a local version, it still originated from the U.S. Their top three reasons for their answers included: they are funny and appealing (8); they attract attention (5); and they cater to their interests (4).
When the respondents were further asked to elaborate, they explained that many of the basketball stars they idolize wear Nike. Thus, it must be a good brand. On the other hand, Axe commercials make them laugh since they carry witty and connotative scenarios. Likewise, Pepsi Max gives them the thrill of the extreme. With these data at hand, it is confirmed that these ads correspond to the profile of the
audience and one can look into the success the advertisers of these products have by taking into account how these products are doing all over the world and how the advertisers package these products.