Cultivation effects of television advertising:

An urban-rural comparison

Cai, X., Fang, W., and Chan, K.

Hong Kong Baptist University

AEJMC Conference Aug.9-12

Introduction

• Commercial persuasion appears to influence not only our shopping and product use behavior, but also the largest domain of our social roles.

• Television advertising is an essential socializing agent in China.

Introduction

• China has a population of 350 million children under age 15.

40% urban VS. 60% rural

• In 2005, the per capita annual net household income 10,0493 yuan urban VS. 3,255 yuan rural

• The foci of present study

Literature Review

Cultivation Theory

• Heavy television viewers tend to adopt the television’s reality as their own real-world reality.

• By virtue of inexperience, young viewers may depend more on television for information than other viewers do.

Literature Review

Cultivation Theory

• There are two types of cultivation---mainstreaming and resonance.

• Cultivation effects can be measured at two different levels----first and second-order effects of cultivation.

Literature Review

Materialism

• This study adopts the Richins’ definition, view materialism as the priority a consumer places on the acquisition and possession of material objects.

• Two directions in empirical research on materialism

Hypotheses• H1: Television advertising viewing will have a

positive correlation with the belief about the prevalence of affluence in society among adolescents in both urban and rural China.

• H2: Television advertising viewing will have a positive correlation with the level of materialism among adolescents in both urban and rural China.

Hypotheses

• H3: The belief about the prevalence of affluence in society will have a positive correlation with the level of materialism among adolescents in both urban and rural China.

Method

• A survey of 792 adolescents aged 11 to 17 was conducted from October to December 2006.

• The structured questionnaire was self-administered.

Method

The urban sub-sample:• 391 respondents in Guangzhou city• Studying grade 7 and 8• The mean age was 13.3

The rural sub-sample:• 401 respondents in Henan Province• Studying grade 7 to 9• The mean age was 14.6

Results

• There were significant differences in all three key variables: television advertising viewing, the belief about the prevalence of affluence in society, and materialism among urban and rural respondents.

Mean S.D. t-value

Materialistic value orientation

5.2***

Urban 2.8 0.6

Rural 3.0 0.6

Motivation of viewing television advertising

5.4***

Urban 2.1 0.8

Rural 2.4 0.6

Notes: ***p＜ 0.001

The prevalence of affluence Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z

Please estimate how many families in 100 families that own private cars. 3.8***

…air conditioners. 5.9***

…motorcycles. 5.8***

…cameras. 3.6***

…personal computers. 7.1***

…cell phones. 0.3

Notes: ***p＜ 0.001

Results

• H1 was partially supported for urban respondents and not supported for rural respondents.

Urban: (Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics varied from 3.6 for cameras to 7.1 for personal computers, all significant at 0.001 level)

Rural: (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z=5.8, p<0.001)

Results

• H2 was supported for both urban and rural respondents.

Urban: (r=0.28, p<0.01) Rural sub-samples: (r=0.29, p<0.01)

• H3 was rejected.

Discussion

• Television advertising viewing was higher among rural adolescents than urban adolescents.

• Urban adolescents had higher estimates of affluence in society than their rural counterparts.

• Rural adolescents endorsed higher level of materialism than their urban counterparts.

Discussion

• Television advertising's cultivation effects on the belief about the prevalence of affluence in society was not found among rural adolescents.

• There was no correlation between first and second-order effects.

Possible limitations

• A non-probability sample

• Only focus on television advertising

• Not include contextual and personal factors