Is Television advertising the right channel to promote targeting children in rural China?

Contents
Contents........................................................................................................................2 Introduction...................................................................................................................3 Hypothesis....................................................................................................................3 Literature Review..........................................................................................................3 Importance of Chinese Children Market..............................................................3 Television and Chinese Children..........................................................................4 Media and childrens consumer socialization.....................................................4 Challenges to Television advertisements in rural China...................................5 Methodology.................................................................................................................5 Findings........................................................................................................................6 Discussion and Analysis...............................................................................................8 Limitations and Conclusion...........................................................................................9 References..................................................................................................................11 Appendix 1..................................................................................................................13 Appendix 2..................................................................................................................16

Introduction
China is the third-largest advertising market in the world, after only the USA and Japan. In the year 2006, there were 262 million children under age 15 in China with approximately 40 percent urban and 60 percent rural. (Chan, 2008) Hence the majority of the children in modern China live in rural areas. Therefore there is a need for studying the influence of television advertising in their lives and the following paper would look into whether television advertising is the right communication tool to reach to the masses of rural children in China. Recently, China has been shifting the focus of its proactive fiscal policy from stimulating investment to strengthening low-income earners purchasing power. It reflects the governments goal of relying more on domestic consumption in maintaining stable economic growth. (Chan, 2008) This makes my investigation into the lucrative rural children market a critical area to look at for advertisers. Knowledge about childrens perceptions of advertising and brands are important to marketers and policy markers. Most of the research literature on advertising and children is based on research conducted in Western societies, and there are very few comparable studies about China. (Chan, 2008) Hence there is a need for research in this area.

Hypothesis
There are two areas when we want to study the effectiveness of television advertising to communicate amongst the children in rural China, firstly the availability and reach of the television as a medium for communication and secondly, the perception of television advertisements amongst the children in rural China. Hence in the following sections of the paper I would be looking into aspects which justify the following hypothesis: Television advertising is the best choice for communication to reach out to rural Chinese children

Literature Review
Importance of Chinese Children Market
China, the country with the largest population of children in the world, adopted a Single-Child Policy in 1979 and it is the current rule in urban China (Zhang and Yang, 1992). These only children have a substantial amount of their own money to spend and exert a great influence on their household spending (McNeal and Yeh, 1997). The children have enormous market potential, since they have their own 3

money to spend. They also determine perhaps 67 percent of their parents spending, and they have all of their purchases ahead of them (McNeal and Yeh, 1997). Two most important reasons to study media usage of children in rural China are: First, owing to the social and economic reforms are leading to a rapid increase in household incomes and demand for products and services in China (Batra, 1997). Second, Chinas enormous population and growth in consumer demand are resulting in several new market segments with distinctive profiles including its children (Schmitt, 1999).

Television and Chinese Children

The fast development of television broadcasting has been most notable. The household penetration rate for television in 2002 was 99.5%. Television has become the major medium in China. Television audience reached 1.1 billion in 2003. (Chan & McNeal, 2004). China has more than 3,000 channels and hundreds of markets, most of them based in small cities with limited audiences. There are also 1,800 radio stations, more than 1,000 newspapers, some 7,000 magazines, and numerous internet portals (Simons, 2003). Regional variations are found in China and different dialects are spoken in different regions. All advertisements also have to deal with state censors and have to be approved by the official China Advertising Association, with regulations varying according to region. For instance, the use of the terms the best or No. 1 is allowed in advertising in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, but may not in some provinces (Simons, 2003).

Media and childrens consumer socialization

The process of learning about products, their brands, and the retail outlets where they can be bought is called consumer socialization (Ward, 1974). This is of utmost importance in studying any medium of communication, in this case the television. The extent to which the consumer socialisation is affected by television advertisement is a major factor to justify my hypothesis. Theory says that children learn consumer behaviour patterns from parents first and foremost, but also from other socialization agents; namely, peers, schools, stores, media, and the products themselves and their packages (Moschis 1987). Medias influence on children is mainly due to two dimensions advertising and editorial/programming content (OGuinn & Shrum 1997) with advertising specifically intended to inform young consumers about products and encourage their purchase. Advertising media have probably received more attention in the research literature than any other consumer socialization agent (Moschis, 1987).

Another factor that makes media important as influencers is their ubiquity. They are everywhere in the home, in the childs room, at school, on the computer, on the way to school, in the car, on the bus. Finally, the amount of interaction with the media appears to be positively related to learning consumer behaviour. That is, the more that children interact with the mass media, the more consumer socialization takes place (Moschis & Churchill 1978).

Challenges to Television advertisements in rural China

However there are some strong challenges to advertising over the television, some of which are highlighted below: Although television is the best platform to reach a large amount of people in the fastest way, the cost of a television commercial is still expensive for many advertisers (Yanlin, 2004) especially in a big country like China. It is not easy to attract consumers in China. Shoppers in China are also spoiled for choice, especially in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, where in most consumer categories they have at least 20 brands to choose from. In the rural areas the choice is less. Advertisements from Western marketers that target children are beginning to appear, but still constitute only a small portion of the money spent by advertisers to reach children. In the past, there was always a choice between using global or local appeal in advertising for multinationals. However in recent times, foreign brands are losing their appeal as Chinese brands become more attractive

(Zhou and Belk, 2004).

Methodology
My research in this paper is based on data collected through surveys and other means by other researchers in the past for academic works related to mass media in rural and urban children of China. For the purpose of this academic work we would take into account the rural statistics and sample. Details of the data used are provided in the Appendices. As it is completely based on secondary data and therefore has a lot of limitations which are highlighted below and this paper only provides a broad overview on the way to justify the selected hypothesis.

Findings
In a survey conducted by Chan & McNeal in 2003, showed that television played a central part in the rural Chinese families. Television ownership reached nearly 100 percent while the penetration of all other broadcast media was less than 50 percent. Nearly all children reported that they watched television in the past month. (Chan & McNeal, 2006) Even families in remote parts of China experience television advertising as a new form of cultural authority in instilling the idea that consumption leads to a happy childhood (Jing, 2000). Advertisements tend to be more prevalent in broadcast media. There is usually a 15second commercial before and after each radio program and each television program that targets children. These ads are directed at parents and children, and those to children in around 88 percent of cases, present messages about foods and beverages, such as Wahaha, a Chinese soft drink, while the remainder consists of messages about school supplies, video games, and toiletries such as Little White Rabbit toothpaste (McNeal & Ji 1999). Chan and McNeal (2006) studied media ownership and usage among Chinese children and found that urban children enjoyed higher media ownership, exposure and usage than rural children. However, television was a popular form of media and of all the respondents surveyed, 97 percent had television sets at home. The percentages of children with television set at home for the urban and rural samples were almost the same: 96 percent and 98 percent respectively. The difference lied in the ownership of other forms of media. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 1 and Figure 1] Television exposure was higher among rural children than among urban children. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 2] A brief survey of existing childrens newspapers and magazines in China showed that most of the childrens print media was loaded with words and long stories, with little illustrations and pictures. So, younger children are unlikely to find them interesting. Secondly, the distribution network of print media in rural areas was poor. (Chan & McNeal, 2006) In the research conducted by K.Chan (2008), rural respondents were more likely to perceive television commercials to be truthful than urban respondents. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 1] Contrasting previous views that indicated urban children found commercial sources more useful and credible than rural children in obtaining information about new products and services (Chan and McNeal, 2007). Chan and McNeal (2006) also justified in an earlier research, that rural children paid more attention to television advertising than urban children [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 2] Since rural children were more likely to find television commercial truthful, we expect, as it was found in this study, rural children liked television commercials more than urban children. The finding was consistent with a previous study that rural children reported a higher attention to television commercials than urban children (Chan and 6

McNeal, 2006a, b). This is probably because other forms of advertising were not prevalent in rural China. The current study suggests that television advertising is particularly influential in the life of rural Chinese children. Another important result in the same study was that a higher proportion of rural children reported they liked or liked very much television advertising than urban children. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 1] (Chan, 2008) This could also be partially credited to rural children spending more time watching television as found out earlier in a survey by Chan and McNeal (2006). [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 4] The survey also showed, [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 3] urban respondents were more likely to use brand equity as a basis of making the judgment than rural respondents. Rural respondents were more likely to use their personal experience as a basis of making the judgment than urban respondents. Rural respondents were also more likely to see if the product is endorsed by trustworthy persons as a basis of judgment than urban respondents. (Chan, 2008) Another survey found that adult urban and rural consumers differ significantly in their attitudes toward the entire marketing mix including product price, brand recalls, shopping patterns, and attitudes toward mass media advertising (Sun and Wu, 2004). Urban consumers are more likely to shop at well-known, large-scale stores and stores with quality customer services. Rural consumers are less productinnovative, less brand-conscious, and more price-conscious. (Cui and Liu, 2000). For the tested product categories in the survey conducted by Chan in 2006 - soft drinks and computers it was established, rural children were more likely to perceive that the advertised brand is better than urban children. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 4] Older children were less likely to perceive television commercials truthful than younger children in both the urban as well as the rural samples. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 5] This supports the study by Chan and McNeal in 2006, which suggested older children had higher exposure to media and also spent more time on media than younger children. This may be related with childrens improved literacy and ability to process information with age. Television was the only medium that had no gender or age differences in media exposure. Rural boys and girls had similar access to media but they had quite different media preferences. Boys were more visual while girls were more verbal. This was demonstrated by the difference in time spent on broadcast and print media. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 2] The results was consistent with previous results among urban Chinese children that boys preferred active and exciting media content, while girls preferred softer, more talkative formats (Greenberg et al. 1991). Another important result obtained from the survey by Chan and McNeal (2006) younger rural children reported that they always watched television commercials while older children only watched them sometimes. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 5] 7

The general decrease in attention to television advertising with age was similar to that reported for urban children (Chan & McNeal 2002). However, older rural children gave more attention to radio as well as print advertisements. The reasons for such an opposite trend in attention to television and other forms of advertising with age is yet to be established.

Discussion and Analysis

Chan and McNeal also showed rural children have slightly higher household ownership of television, higher past month television exposure and spend a longer time viewing television than urban dwellers. So, television is certainly an essential socializing agent among rural as well as urban children in China. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 2] From the above findings which suggest that rural children find television advertisements to be more truthful and like television advertisements [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 1 and Table 2], I can infer it is a positive indication that television would be an excellent medium to communicate ideas and brands into the perceived less- brand conscious rural children. Access to and media exposure of nearly all media among rural children was lower than that for their urban counterparts except for television. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 2] The gap was greater for the relatively new media such as videotapes, electronic games, and computers and print media. (Chan & McNeal, 2006) Owing to this I believe that urban children were more likely to use brand equity as a basis of making the judgment where rural children were more likely to use their personal experience and look for endorsements by trustworthy person. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 3] This could be an interesting conclusion from the survey and western advertisers could use strong brand endorsers to promote their products through television advertisements. A consequence of poor education in rural China is that rural children may not be able to access and process information in an active way. Research findings indicate that they rely more heavily on personal sources in obtaining market information (Chan and McNeal, 2007). This view supports the findings above and highlights an area where television advertising could improve and make inroads. As rural children are more likely to use personal experience to decide whether a television commercial is truthful, advertisers and marketers should encourage rural children to locate the product in the nearby retail facilities or try out the product. These point-of-purchase materials should be incorporated in a prominent position in the television commercials. ( Chan, 2008) The result that rural children perceive that advertised brands are of superior quality is very supportive of our hypothesis and would allow brand advertisers to promote a 8

coveted superior brand image and help in product differentiation in terms of quality by advertising on television.[Refer to Appendix 2, Table 4] Moreover, as proved in a research earlier, childrens perceptions of advertising and brands as attitudes toward brands and purchase intentions are positively correlated (Chan, 1996). Testing new advertising or marketing communication components in the rural setting also has the advantage of a smaller budget, owning to the more affordable advertising media costs. Health and social service marketers should definitely consider using television advertising to provide prompt information about health and social development issues to rural children in China. (Chan, 2008) As John (1999) proposed a model characterizing the growth of consumer knowledge, skills, and values as children mature throughout childhood and adolescence. Much evidence shows that as children grow cognitively and socially, there is growth in their parental influence strategies, consumption motives and values, and their knowledge of products, brands, and advertising. This is partially supported by the results above suggesting that older children were less likely to perceive television commercials truthful than younger children. [Refer to Appendix 2, Table 5] The commercial content among print media that target children can generally be described as sparse (McNeal & Ji 1999). Owing to Chinas lack of a good national distribution system, most of the print media are of a local or regional nature. (Chan and McNeal, 2006). Therefore television advertisements can bridge this gap in communication by reaching through national television channels available throughout the region. Television advertisements also need to capitalise on the fact that rural children has less exposure to other forms of media as shown in Appendix 1, Table 2. Scholars advised that multi-national companies should take a regional market segmentation approach when expanding into inland regions in China (Cui and Liu, 2000) Moreover, younger rural children reported that they always watched television commercials while older children only watched them sometimes. [Refer to Appendix 1, Table 5] Therefore television seems to be a perfect choice of media to approach this large section of the rural children market.

Limitations and Conclusion

Although the surveys used in the above sections have been conducted a few years ago but they are still valid but would need a bit of updating and this is a limitation of this academic work.

Difficulty of gathering data primarily owing to the size of the country and language barrier and lack of researches limited me from compiling a more comprehensive report. But from the findings above, one could conclude that indeed, television is the best form of communication to reach rural Chinese children. Hence our hypothesis is valid and true in this case. As rural children put more trust in brands than urban children, marketers should consider exploring the underdeveloped rural childrens market. It is not known if trust in brands is positively related with brand loyalty for rural Chinese children. If further study provides evidence for a positive link between trust in brands and brand loyalty, the rural childrens market is promising not only for its size, but also for its stability and long-term business returns. (Chan, 2008)

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References
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Appendix 1
The following survey data in the form of tables and graphs were taken from a research done by K. Chan and J.U. McNeal in 2006 published as How rural children in China consume media and advertising, in Young Consumers, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 39-50. This survey of 1,977 urban and rural children ages 6 to 13 was conducted in the four Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai, and in the rural areas of the four provinces of Heilongjian, Hubei, Hunan, and Yunnan, was conducted in March 2003 to May 2004. Questionnaires were distributed through 16 elementary schools and local researchers were selected and trained to administer the data collection.

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Appendix 2
The following survey data in the form of tables and graphs were taken from a research done by K. Chan in 2008, published as Chinese childrens perceptions of advertising and brands: an urban rural comparison, in the Journal of Consumer Marketing 25/2,by Emerald Publications, pp. 7484. Descriptive statistics were compiled to give the perceptions of television advertising and brands of the overall sample, as well as the urban and rural sub-samples. Chisquare tests and independent sample t-tests were conducted to examine the urbanrural difference in perceptions of television advertising and brands. The sample was divided into two groups that were of similar size (age six to nine and age ten-15). Chi-square tests were conducted to examine the age difference in advertising perceptions. Altogether 1,559 questionnaires were distributed in the rural sample and 1,481 questionnaires were returned. Of the respondents, 49 percent were boys and 51 percent were girls. Respondents were six to 15 years old. The mean age of the respondents was 10.3 years (SD 2.0 years). The response rate was 95.0 percent. Altogether 1,765 questionnaires were distributed in the urban sample and 1,758 questionnaires were returned. Of the respondents 51 percent were boys and 49 percent were girls. Respondents were 6 to 14 years old. The mean age of the respondents was 9.6 years (SD 1.8 years). The response rate was 99.6 percent.

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