Investigating the effects of television advertising on children aged 8-11 in transitional Bulgaria

Extensive research has been carried out to examine the effects of television advertising on children in the ‘Western’, more developed world, where exposure to television advertising has been linked with increased materialism and involvement in consumer culture, and decreased life satisfaction. Empirical evidence whether these assumptions would also be valid for an ‘Eastern’, economically developing setting, is however missing. To challenge this, the present study employs a survey research among 273 Bulgarian children (aged 8-11 years). An investigation whether the amount of television advertising they get exposed to makes them more materialistic and consumer oriented, and less happy, is conducted. Furthermore, a closer look in the advertising literacy capabilities of children is taken as a response to an expected difference in the levels of advertising literacy among the survey participants. More specifically, since part of the sample consists of children who attend a private acting school and are actively involved in the advertising industry, they are expected to be more advertising literate than the other study participants, who are enrolled in general state schools. Moreover, this difference in school background and the associated variance in advertising literacy abilities are thought to determine the magnitude of the television advertising effects on children, in a way that those with state school background would be affected stronger. A combination of regression and independent t-test analyses confirm the expected associations between exposure to television advertising and materialism and consumer involvement, as well as confirm the assumption that the children-actors would appear better advertising literate. Yet, they do not provide statistically significant evidences to link exposure to television advertising with decreased life satisfaction, and to confirm the expectation that the regular state school pupils would suffer more by the effects of television advertising.