BBaker2008_KeitaiKids

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impact on children’s views of the mobile phone and its role in every day life. More so than simply wanting a mobile phone because their heroes have one, or just wanting to play with the toy replica versions, the constant displays of extreme importance to both self and others, powerful capabilities, and uniqueness that cannot be found anywhere else, could be teaching young Japanese children that the mobile phone is an integral and essential part of life. Being taught these lessons from such an early age and before they are mobile phone owners themselves, viewers of the programs have the potential to take on a belief system about mobile phones that older generations cannot. Supported by the fact that almost all adults in their lives rely on mobile phones day-in and day-out, these children could grow up integrating mobile phones into their lives more than anyone else has.

Discovering the effects of mobile phone use in super hero programs could have major impacts on Bandai and other content companies. In correlation to the data on youth and mobiles above, if Bandai is creating a new kind of awareness and belief in the strength and usefulness of mobile phones and their content, children could grow up wanting to and actually implementing phones into their lives more than previous generations. Believing that a mobile phone is essential to life, children could use mobile content and services much more and longer throughout one’s life. They could also grow more demanding of a mobile phone’s capabilities, quicker and more intensely than today’s users. Thus, creating opportunities for companies to expand and develop their content in many new forms. Also, as younger children begin to play a bigger part in the mobile world, these companies stand to gain more opportunity and power in capturing a

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brand loyal and life long customer.

Discovering the effects of mobile phone use in super hero programs could also have an impact on the understanding of children’s consumer behavior. Much could be learned, including the effect of vague product placement, such as that of implementing non-branded mobile phones into the core of a program’s story. It is not known whether children even perceive these props as actual mobile phones, or just simply as fun toys. How children compare the fantasy versions with actual phones, as well as how children correlate the usefulness and importance of them within a fantastical story to real life could make for a very important discovery. No matter the results, companies and researchers alike could gain an insightful view into the minds of young children; understanding more about their perception of the link between reality and fantasy, as well as motivations behind their consumption desires.

(3.4) The Effects of Advertising in Media on Children and its Relation to Japanese

Super Hero Television Programs

Research on children and their interaction with media and advertising is robust. A large amount concludes that advertising within different medias, especially television (commercials or product placement), has a large impact on children’s item requests, purchases, and brand recall. These conclusions help support the idea that mobile phone use in Japanese super hero television programs may have an effect on children’s perceptions of mobile phones. There are four main variables within television advertising that modify the intensity of the effect that advertising has on children. Understanding these variables leads to the conclusion that essentially each episode of a

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super hero show can be seen as a 30 minute advertisement/product placement for related toys, clothes, and even mobile phones.

The first variable is the age of the child viewer and their corresponding level of mental development. Children under the age of 8 are known as “Limited Processors”; they have not yet acquired efficient information processing strategies and therefore believe advertisement claims and respond to them positively (Roedder 1981). “Cued Processors,” age 8 to 12, are able to understand the aim of advertisements and process information much better. However, they only do so when the proper cues stimulate them to do so. Unless their knowledge of advertising is activated, they view an advertisement much the same as a “Limited Processor” does (Moore and Lutz 2000; Roedder 1981). After the age of 12, individuals have the ability to perceive an advertisement for what it really is.

As stated previously, the target audience for Japanese super hero programs is elementary age children and below. With about 35% of children age 3 and younger, almost 50% of children age 3 to 6, and almost 25% of elementary school children watching, a vast majority of the audience fits under the “Limited Processor” group. The rest lay in the “Cued Processor” group or on the border to the next stage. This means that almost all of the young people who watch the programs are not able to properly understand the aim of a commercial or product placement. Therefore, according to the research they will view mobile phones in the super hero shows and only see a powerful, useful, and fun device. They will not be conscious of the fact that the phone may be included as an advertising effort, thus they have no defense against the product

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placement.

The second variable is the number of times one views an advertisement or is reminded of it. Zajonc and Markus (1982), claim that when objects are repeatedly presented to an individual their attitude toward the object grows more positive. The results of Auty and Lewis’ study, “Exploring Children’s Choice: The Reminder Effect of Product Placement” (2004), supports Zajonc and Markus’ proposition, as long as a reminder is provided. They claim that, “…it is the combination of prior exposure and reminder that is most effective in influencing choice by reactivating a trace in children’s implicit memory” (Auty and Lewis 2004). Promoting a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, Nordhielm (2002) found that about 25 or more repetitions of a perceptually processed ad led to a greater likelihood of desire for a product compared to a lower number of views. It was also found that semantically processed ads do not have as strong of an effect. In regard to children, this shows that frequent viewing of a television program or commercial may lead to a better perception of the advertised product (Auty and Lewis 2004).

A Japanese super hero show is aired weekly, about 50 times a year, along with a major motion picture shown in theatres every summer. Even if a mobile phone is used only once per episode, a child who watches a series featuring a mobile phone will easily view its use more than the 25 times needed to have the largest effect on desire for a product. In reality, the phones are actually used many times, usually by several different people, per episode. There will be no question of lack of prior exposure and reminder, as a child will go through the same process of exposure and reminder every week. Also,

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because the action of watching television is perceptual and not semantic, there is an even greater likelihood a child viewer will be influenced by the mobile phone use.

The third variable is the amount of weekly screen media exposure; something very closely linked to the second variable. In a recent study, Chamberlain, Wang, and Robinson (2006) found that the amount of screen media a child consumes weekly directly affects their requests for advertised products. Simply put, the longer the period of media exposure a child maintains, the more advertisements they will be exposed to, thus desire for advertised products will increase. Interestingly, the study also found that whether it is video games, movies, videotapes, DVDs, or broadcast television programs, all types of screen media have the same effect (Chamberlain, Wang, and Robinson 2006). Thus, a child could possibly be exposed to multiple advertisements for a product in several different screen media types in one day, strengthening the lure of the product.

While Chamberlain, Wang, and Robinson’s study took place in the United States, in 2004 the average daily television consumption in the United States was 2.8 hours (Orlowski 2007) and in Japan it was 3.1 hours (Impact of DVRs… 2005). Therefore, both American and Japanese young children should be consuming roughly the same amount of advertising per week. Coupled with the regular use of mobile phones in Japanese super hero shows, children are bombarded with advertisements for not only the hero shows and memorabilia, but also mobile phone handsets, services, and companies. In particular, commercials for super hero memorabilia are played at the start and finish of each commercial segment during the weekly airing of the programs. Not only are children being influenced by the show itself, through the commercials they are then

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exposed to sights of other children of the same age enjoying the mobile phones and other products their favorite heroes use. Also, owning a videotape, DVD, or videogame featuring super heroes and their mobile phones will increase the number of exposures to the advertising.

The fourth and final variable is how much the child viewer is involved with or enjoys a commercial or screen media containing an advertisement. In the study, “Children, Advertising, and Product Experiences: A Multimethod Inquiry,” Moore and Lutz (2000) discovered two very interesting items. The first being that the execution of an advertisement is not the focal point for a child viewer; they only care if it is enjoyable or not. This leads to the second discovery; if a child looks forward to seeing an advertisement, they become more active and involved recipients of the content; “Liking of an ad influenced younger children’s attitudes about the brand itself” (Moore and Lutz 2000). In terms of product placement in television programs, Russell (2002) found that plot integration is a successful factor in winning a viewer over on a product. She also found that well-integrated visual product placements appear to be efficient at changing attitudes about a product, over any other kind (Russell 2002). D’Astous and Chartier (2002) support Russell’s claims with the conclusion of their study; “Because product placement, when it is done well, looks as if it is part of the lives of the characters, it may lead to less counter-arguing and ‘internal zapping’ - tuning out mentally - even by adult consumers. Closely related, lab experiments run by Bandura (1986) have proven that children are liable to imitate television, particularly if performed by an attractive role model.

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Taking this final data into account, a Japanese super hero show appears to be very fertile ground for placing product ads aimed at children. Children that watch the shows enjoy them and look forward to seeing the next episode each week. By immersing themselves in fantasy play with super hero toys34 they are displaying their active involvement with the show, leaving them open for greater influence. An extremely important aspect is the seamless integration of the mobile phones into the plot. As Russell (2002), as well as D’Astous and Charier (2002) point out, the product placement is just a natural part of the character’s lives, leaving no room for secondguessing by the viewer. Even more so, in this kind of television program the seamlessly placed item is cool, powerful, and helpful, not to mention an increasingly prevalent item in society. Strengthening the potential product placement/advertising power that Japanese super hero shows have, the heroes of the series are always played by an up and coming actor, pop star, or model; the kind of role model that young kids are already or will soon be looking up to. As Bandura (1986) has shown, this type of individual is the perfect representative for products that companies desire children to buy.

34 Some are mobile phone replicas.

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(4)

Hypotheses on the Effects of Super Hero Television

Program Product Placement in Relation to Mobile Phones:

Development and Testing

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(4.1) Introduction

With the previous chapter explaining the use of product placement in Japanese super hero television programs, and confirming it’s potential to have a powerful effect on young children’s perception of mobile phones, this chapter will discuss the testing of the effects. This study used a combination of three phenomena along with the literature review to form hypotheses of the effects on children by watching the shows. The three phenomena are: audience connectedness (how strong a viewer feels about a show), involvement (how strong a user feels about a product), and self-efficacy (how strong one feels they can use an object or gain power from an object). Six hypotheses were developed and surveys were created to test the hypotheses.

The survey creation process involved three scales based off of the three phenomena presented above. The scales were modified for use with children and then prepared in Japanese to be tested with elementary school students in Japan. The aim of the surveys was to confirm whether or not there is any relation between a child’s connectedness to the shows and their involvement with and self-efficacy gained from mobile phones. The results would deem the new form of product placement effective or not, and thus suggestions for the future study of product placement, and also child mobile phone perceptions and usage could be made.

(4.2) The Phenomenon Used to Measure the Power of the Product Placement

Because the type of product placement used in the Japanese super hero shows employs the implementation of un-branded mobile phones directly into the plot, it was decided that the effects should be tested based on the viewers’ interest in the show.

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Therefore, the phenomenon of audience connectedness was studied. Based on this connectedness, how strong the viewer cares for mobile phones and what they feel they gain from mobile phone use was to be determined. With this, the concepts of involvement and self-efficacy were researched.

Russell and Puto (1999) explain that, “Transcending involvement, audience connectedness defines intense relationships between the audience and a television program that extend beyond the television watching experience into the individual’s personal and social lives”. Connectedness differs from involvement in that it details a television program’s extended contribution to a viewer’s self-definition beyond the viewing experience. In their research Russell and Puto (1999) fond that different levels of audience connectedness exist, and that, “Highly connected audiences were found to be more susceptible to the consumption of images presented in television programs, hence illustrating the moderating effect of connectedness on television influence”.

In order for connectedness to develop, an individual must first find the show personally relevant and involving. Then, as the television program grows more connected with one’s personal and social experiences, its influence strengthens and reaches beyond the watching experience. The connection between oneself and the show is expressed most commonly through “…adoration of, imitation of, and modeling of characters from the show…” (Russell and Puto 1999). The programs relevance to the social self emerges through socialization and ritualization around the show itself.

For highly connected viewers, symbolic elements of a show, such as fashion styles or character used items (i.e. – mobile phones), are regularly adopted. By doing so,