Television Commercial Violence

Past research has demonstrated that a significant amount of television ads targeted at children have violent content (Shanahan, Hermans, and Hyman 2003). However, little is known about the potentially harmful effects of television commercial violence. To shed light on this important issue, the present research discusses results of multiple focus groups (with children ages 8 to 12 years old and with the parents of these children) and an experimental study. Although parents and children who participated in the focus groups appeared to have few concerns with the potential negative effects of violence in television advertising, the experimental findings indicate that children may be adversely affected by it. Specifically, when exposed to ads with violent content in the focal experiment, subjects (ages 8 to 12) were more apt to generate aggressive cognitions (than when exposed to ads without violent content).