”Vissa barn älskar faktiskt sånna dära TV-reklamer” : - En övergripande studie om hur barn upplever och tolkar TV-reklam -

ABSTRACT Titel: “Some kids really love those commercials” -A study of how children experience and construe commercials. (Vissa barn älskar faktiskt sånna dära TV-reklamer” – En övergripande studie om hur barn upplever och tolkar tv-reklam.) Number of pages: 40 Author: Lotta Norberg Tutor: Amelie Hössjer Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Autumn term 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to make a study of how children experience and construe commercials. Key questions to be answered are; can children distinguish commercials from TV programmes? What do the children think of commercials? How do they watch commercials? What do they think about a ban against commercials directed to children? Do they understand the purpose of commercials? Do their buying habits change? Material/Method: A qualitative method with 18 interviews and 3 observations with 7, 9 and 11 year old children. Main results: The children in my study can distinguish commercials from TV programs. What they think about commercials and how they watch commercials depend on their stage of development and from previous experience. The younger children do not understand the purpose of commercials, they think it is funny to watch them and important so they know what to buy. Most of the 9- and 11 year olds understand that the companies want to sell their products. Keywords: Children, commercials, attitudes, experience, holistic view, socialization, consumer, development