Television and the popular: viewing from the British perspective

The academic discipline of television studies has been constituted by the claim that television is worth studying because it is popular. Yet this claim has also entailed a need to defend the subject against the triviality that is associated with the television medium because of its very popularity. This article analyses the many attempts in the later twentieth and twenty-first centuries to constitute critical discourses about television as a popular medium. It focuses on how the theoretical currents of Television Studies emerged and changed in the UK, where a disciplinary identity for the subject was founded by borrowing from related disciplines, yet argued for the specificity of the medium as an object of criticism. Eschewing technological determinism, moral pathologization and sterile debates about television's supposed effects, UK writers such as Raymond Williams addressed television as an aspect of culture. Television theory in Britain has been part of, and also separate from, the disciplinary fields of media theory, literary theory and film theory. It has focused its attention on institutions, audio-visual texts, genres, authors and viewers according to the ways that research problems and theoretical inadequacies have emerged over time. But a consistent feature has been the problem of moving from a descriptive discourse to an analytical and evaluative one, and from studies of specific texts, moments and locations of television to larger theories. By discussing some historically significant critical work about television, the article considers how academic work has constructed relationships between the different kinds of objects of study. The article argues that a fundamental tension between descriptive and politically activist discourses has confused academic writing about ›the popular‹. Television study in Britain arose not to supply graduate professionals to the television industry, nor to perfect the instrumental techniques of allied sectors such as advertising and marketing, but to analyse and critique the medium's aesthetic forms and to evaluate its role in culture. Since television cannot be made by ›the people‹, the empowerment that discourses of television theory and analysis aimed for was focused on disseminating the tools for critique. Recent developments in factual entertainment television (in Britain and elsewhere) have greatly increased the visibility of ›the people‹ in programmes, notably in docusoaps, game shows and other participative formats. This has led to renewed debates about whether such ›popular‹ programmes appropriately represent ›the people‹ and how factual entertainment that is often despised relates to genres hitherto considered to be of high quality, such as scripted drama and socially-engaged documentary television. A further aspect of this problem of evaluation is how television globalisation has been addressed, and the example that the issue has crystallised around most is the reality TV contest Big Brother. Television theory has been largely based on studying the texts, institutions and audiences of television in the Anglophone world, and thus in specific geographical contexts. The transnational contexts of popular television have been addressed as spaces of contestation, for example between Americanisation and national or regional identities. Commentators have been ambivalent about whether the discipline's role is to celebrate or critique television, and whether to do so within a national, regional or global context. In the discourses of the television industry, ›popular television‹ is a quantitative and comparative measure, and because of the overlap between the programming with the largest audiences and the scheduling of established programme types at the times of day when the largest audiences are available, it has a strong relationship with genre. The measurement of audiences and the design of schedules are carried out in predominantly national contexts, but the article refers to programmes like Big Brother that have been broadcast transnationally, and programmes that have been extensively exported, to consider in what ways they too might be called popular. Strands of work in television studies have at different times attempted to diagnose what is at stake in the most popular programme types, such as reality TV, situation comedy and drama series. This has centred on questions of how aesthetic quality might be discriminated in television programmes, and how quality relates to popularity. The interaction of the designations ›popular‹ and ›quality‹ is exemplified in the ways that critical discourse has addressed US drama series that have been widely exported around the world, and the article shows how the two critical terms are both distinct and interrelated. In this context and in the article as a whole, the aim is not to arrive at a definitive meaning for ›the popular‹ inasmuch as it designates programmes or indeed the medium of television itself. Instead the aim is to show how, in historically and geographically contingent ways, these terms and ideas have been dynamically adopted and contested in order to address a multiple and changing object of analysis.

Examining integrated advertising and sponsorship in corporate marketing through televised sport

To determine how integrated TV advertising and event sponsorship should be best managed and evaluated, a theoretical framework derived from global exploratory research of academic literature and consulting reports was validated by 16 experts. To benchmark the current practices against the best practice integration methods, 12 campaigns, which had sponsored a televised event and placed advertisements during the broadcast of the event, were analyzed via case studies. The investigated competitions included the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in London and the Olympic Games in Sydney. The examined brands comprised automotive, financial services, retail chain, office equipment, and consumer goods. A total of 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted-two for each case-one interview with an internal marketing executive from the promoted corporation, and a second with an external respondent from the advertising agency, event management organization, market research firm, or television channel. The study identified the key techniques that led to increased corporate sales-four steps and four objectives with necessary performance measures.

Parental awareness and attitudes about food advertising to children on Australian television

Objective: To assess parents' concern regarding television food advertising to children and the marketing methods used, their awareness of existing regulations and support for strengthening restrictions, and to determine whether these factors differ across sociodemographic groups.

Methods: A randomly selected sample of 400 parents of children under 14 years in all Australian States and Territories completed the cross-sectional telephone survey in March 2007. Data were weighted by metropolitan and regional population proportions.

Results: Parents were concerned about unhealthy food advertising to children (67.3%), use of popular personalities (67.7%), toys (76.4%), and advertising volume (79.7%). Older parents, of high socioeconomic status (SES), with fewer household televisions were more likely to be concerned. Only 47.4% of parents were aware of current regulations and those with a tertiary education were more likely to be aware: odds ratio (OR) 2.96 (95% CI: 1.55-5.65). Parents supported a change from self-regulation (92.8%), a ban on unhealthy food advertising to children (86.8%) and, to a lesser extent, a ban on all food advertising (37.3%).

Conclusions and implications: There was widespread parental concern about food advertising and strong support for tighter restrictions. Given that the existing regulations rely on complaints and awareness is low, particularly among parents with lower education levels, a system of external monitoring and enforcement is essential. Clearly more effective regulations are needed to protect children and parental support for this is high.

The cost-effectiveness of removing television advertising of high-fat and/or high-sugar food and beverages to Australian children

Objective: To model the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of banning television (TV) advertisements in Australia for energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and beverages during children's peak viewing times.

Methods: Benefits were modelled as changes in body mass index (BMI) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) saved. Intervention costs (AUD$) were compared with future health-care cost offsets from reduced prevalence of obesity-related health conditions. Changes in BMI were assumed to be maintained through to adulthood. The comparator was current practice, the reference year was 2001, and the discount rate for costs and benefits was 3%. The impact of the withdrawal of non-core food and beverage advertisements on children's actual food consumption was drawn from the best available evidence (a randomized controlled trial of advertisement exposure and food consumption). Supporting evidence was found in ecological relationships between TV advertising and childhood obesity, and from the effects of marketing bans on other products. A Working Group of stakeholders provided input into decisions surrounding the modelling assumptions and second-stage filters of 'strength of evidence', 'equity', 'acceptability to stakeholders', 'feasibility of implementation', 'sustainability' and 'side-effects'.

Results: The intervention had a gross incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of AUD$ 3.70 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) $2.40, $7.70) per DALY. Total DALYs saved were 37 000 (95% UI 16 000, 59 000). When the present value of potential savings in future health-care costs was considered (AUD$ 300m (95% UI $130m, $480m), the intervention was 'dominant', because it resulted in both a health gain and a cost offset compared with current practice.

Conclusions: Although recognizing the limitations of the available evidence, restricting TV food advertising to children would be one of the most cost-effective population-based interventions available to governments today. Despite its economic credentials from a public health perspective, the initiative is strongly opposed by food and advertising industries and is under review by the current Australian government.

Integrated advertising and sponsorship in corporate marketing through televised sport

To determine how integrated TV advertising and event sponsorship should be managed, a theoretical framework derived from exploratory research was validated by 16 experts and used in 12 case studies. The research identified the key techniques that led to increased corporate sales - 4 key campaign steps and four key objectives with necessary performance measures,

Association between food marketing exposure and adolescents' food choices and eating behaviors

The present study examined associations between food marketing exposure and adolescents’ food choices and reported consumption of energy-dense and nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods. A cross-sectional survey of 12,188 Australian secondary students aged 12–17 years was conducted, using a web-based self-report questionnaire. Measures included students’ level of exposure to commercial television and non-broadcast types of food marketing, whether they had tried a new product or requested a product they had seen advertised, and their reported consumption of fast food, sugary drinks and sweet and salty snacks. Results indicated greater exposure to commercial television, print/transport/school food marketing and digital food marketing were all independently associated with students’ food choices. High commercial television viewers (>2 h/day) were more likely to report higher consumption of EDNP foods (ORs ranged from 1.31 for fast food to 1.91 for sweet snacks). Some associations between digital food marketing exposure and students’ eating behaviors were found; however, print/transport/school food marketing was only related to sweet snack consumption. These study results suggest that cumulative exposure to television food advertising and other food marketing sources are positively linked to adolescents’ food choices and eating behaviors. Policy changes to restrict food marketing to young people should include both television and non-broadcast media.

Industry self regulation of television food advertising : responsible or responsive?

Introduction. This study evaluated the impact of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) self-regulatory initiative on unhealthy food marketing to children, introduced in January 2009. The study compared patterns of food advertising by AFGC and non-AFGC signatory companies in 2009, 2007 and 2006 on three Sydney commercial free-to-air television channels.

Methods. Data were collected across seven days in May 2006 and 2007, and four days in May 2009. Advertised foods were coded as core, non-core and miscellaneous. Regression for counts analyses was used to examine change in rates of advertisements across the sampled periods and differential change between AFGC-signatory or non-signatory companies between 2007 and 2009.

Results. Of 36 food companies that advertised during the 2009 sample period, 14 were AFGC signatories. The average number of food advertisements decreased significantly from 7.0 per hour in 2007 to 5.9 in 2009. There was a significant reduction in non-core food advertising from 2007 to 2009 by AFGC signatories compared with non-signatory companies overall and during peak times, when the largest numbers of children were viewing. There was no reduction in the rate of non-core food advertisements by all companies, and these advertisements continue to comprise the majority during peak viewing times.

Discussion. While some companies have responded to pressures to reduce unhealthy food advertising on television, the impact of the self-regulatory code is limited by the extent of uptake by food companies. The continued advertising of unhealthy foods indicates that this self-regulatory code does not adequately protect children.

Life during wartime : sexuality, recruitment and reality television

In 2010, Defence Force Recruiting (DFR) Navy Marketing entered into a media sponsorship package with the Australian version of the reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD): Footage of the day aired on national television on SYTYCD and weekly ‘dancer bootcamp’ sessions training the dancers in Navy values featured on a dedicated and branded Navy section of the official SYTYCD website. This article analyses the Navy’s SYTYCD ‘integration opportunities’ to consider the role of reality television in the redefinition of the defence forces as a training and vocational pathway for young people. Underpinning such considerations is the conceptualization of the work of reality television through the prism of public and popular pedagogies. Taking sexuality as a focal point, the article will reflect on efforts to lift recruitment through an emphasis on the incorporation of diversity. Reading the work of Jasbir Puar against the Australian ‘archive’ of integration opportunities, this article contributes to queer critiques of homonormative and homonationalist tendencies in contemporary politics.

Eat, drink and gamble: marketing messages about 'risky' products in an Australian major sporting series

BACKGROUND: To investigate the alcohol, gambling, and unhealthy food marketing strategies during a nationally televised, free to air, sporting series in Australia. METHODS/APPROACH: Using the Australian National Rugby League 2012 State of Origin three-game series, we conducted a mixed methods content analysis of the frequency, duration, placement and content of advertising strategies, comparing these strategies both within and across the three games. RESULTS: There were a total of 4445 episodes (mean = 1481.67, SD = 336.58), and 233.23 minutes (mean = 77.74, SD = 7.31) of marketing for alcoholic beverages, gambling products and unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages during the 360 minutes of televised coverage of the three State of Origin 2012 games. This included an average per game of 1354 episodes (SD = 368.79) and 66.29 minutes (SD = 7.62) of alcohol marketing; 110.67 episodes (SD = 43.89), and 8.72 minutes (SD = 1.29) of gambling marketing; and 17 episodes (SD = 7.55), and 2.74 minutes (SD = 0.78) of unhealthy food and beverage marketing. Content analysis revealed that there was a considerable embedding of product marketing within the match play, including within match commentary, sporting equipment, and special replays. CONCLUSIONS: Sport is increasingly used as a vehicle for the promotion of range of 'risky consumption' products. This study raises important ethical and health policy questions about the extent and impact of saturation and incidental marketing strategies on health and wellbeing, the transparency of embedded marketing strategies, and how these strategies may influence product consumption.

A influência do marketing ambiental na decisão de compra dos consumidores de produtos orgânicos

The search of the man for more comfort and one better quality of life led to an increment of the production of goods and services, that results, almost always, in aggressions to the nature and to a reduction of this same quality of life. The concern with the ambient problems appears as an important element regarding the material and economic growth and of the quality of life. With this scene a new question, the Ambient Marketing appears. Although the marketing concept to be well ample, the companies use the term ambient marketing to make reference what in fact, many times, are a more specific activity of ambient communication. The ambient communication is a new form to communicate used for the companies with the objective to get advantages of its competitors ahead, since the competitiveness by means of the o price, the stated period and the quality if becomes extremely incited. In view of the current competitive market, where the organizations need distinguishing to get greater have detached front to the competition, and the fact of the society to be each time more worried about the environment and the impacts that the companies cause it, the ambient communication has been used as form to convince its customers. Of this form, she evaluated herself, through a exploratory research and qualitative, the influence of the use of the ambient communication in the decision of purchase and of that she forms the companies when using of this communication can add value to its product. The results had indicated that 77% of the interviewed ones had heard to say on marketing or ambient communication and that the television is main the media for this knowledge, a time that 90.9% of the respondents had affirmed to have seen propagandas of directed products of consumption to the ambient question in this way. In fact, the concern with the environment demonstrated for the companies has its impact, therefore 84% of the respondents had told if to sensetize with this fact. However, only a lesser number of people, 70.5% answered that this concern really influences in its decision of purchase

A campanha presidencial e o Vota Brasil em 2006: marketing e contexto político

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

La rivoluzione del marketing televisivo tra internet, applicazioni e web broadcasting

In questa tesi ci focalizzeremo sul connubio TV ed internet che rivoluzionerà l’erogazione dei servizi verso i telespettatori e di conseguenza il marketing pubblicitario in questo contesto. Partiremo dalla storia della televisione in Italia e dei dispositivi TV per poi analizzare i primi fenomeni di utilizzo televisivo del canale web e la conseguente nascita dei primi social media e servizi di video on demand. La seconda parte di questa tesi farà una larga panoramica sul marketing televisivo ed il web marketing, fino ad arrivare al punto di massima prossimità tra i due canali, ovvero l’advertising correlato ai contenuti video presenti sul web. Nella terza ed ultima parte analizzeremo le prime piattaforme di WebTV e servizi di internet television, per poi focalizzarci sui probabili risvolti e prospettive future sia a livello di fruizione dei contenuti che pubblicitario. Questo fenomeno avrà una netta influenza nel Marketing considerando che dal 1984 la TV è il mezzo che raccoglie la maggior parte degli investimenti pubblicitari ed il web è il media in maggiore ascesa a livello di penetrazione e popolarità negli ultimi anni.

Food advertisements during children's television programming in 2007: Comparison with ads in 1994 and the 2005 dietary recommendations

Childhood overweight and obesity are two major public health problems that are of economic and medical concern in the world today (Lobstein, Baur, & Uauy, 2004). Overweight conditions in childhood are important because they are widely prevalent, serious, and carry lifetime consequences for health and well being (Lobstein et al., 2004). Several studies have shown an association between television viewing and obesity in all age groups (Caroli, Argentieri, Cardone, & Masi, 2004; Harper, 2006; Vandewater & Huang, 2006; Wiecha et al., 2006). One mechanism that potentially links television viewing to childhood obesity is food advertising (Story, 2003). ^ The purpose of this study was to examine the types of foods advertised on children's television programming and to determine if there have been any changes in the number and types of commercials over the last 13 years. In addition, the food content of the advertisements was compared to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines to determine if the foods targeted were consistent with the current recommendations. Finally, each television network was analyzed individually to determine any differences between advertising on cable and regular programming. ^ A descriptive analysis was conducted on the most commonly advertised commercials during children's television programming on Saturday morning from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. A total of 10 major television networks were viewed on three different Saturday mornings during June and July 2007. Commercial advertising accounted for approximately 19% of children's total viewing time. Of the 3,185 commercials, 28.5% were for foods, 67.7% were for non-food items, and 3.8% were PSAs. On average, there were 30 commercial advertisements and PSAs per hour, of which approximately nine were for food. ^ Of the 907 food advertisements, 72.0% were for foods classified in the fats, oils, and sugar group. The next largest group (17.3%) was for restaurant food of which 15.3% were for unhealthy/fast food restaurant fare. The most frequently advertised food product on Saturday morning television was regular cereal, accounting for 43.9% of all food advertisements. ^ Cable and regular programming stations varied slightly in the amount, length, and category of commercials. Cable television had about 50% less commercials and PSAs (1098) than regular programming (2087), but only had approximately 150 minutes less total commercial and PSA time; therefore, cable, in general, had longer commercials than regular programming. Overall, cable programming had more advertisements encouraging increased physical activity and positive nutrition behavior with less commercials focusing on the fats, oils, and sugar groups, compared to regular programming. ^ During the last 13 years, food advertisements have not improved, despite the recent IOM report on marketing foods to children (Institute of Medicine-Committee on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth, 2005), although the frequency of food advertisements has improved slightly. Children are now viewing an average of one food advertisement every 7 minutes, compared to one food advertisement every 5 minutes in 1994 (Kotz & Story, 1994). Therefore, manufacturers are putting a greater emphasis on advertising other products to children. Despite the recent attention to the issue of marketing unhealthy foods to children through television advertisements, not much progress has been noted since 1994. Further advocacy and regulatory issues concerning the content of advertisements during Saturday morning TV need to be explored. ^

CRIANÇA ESPERANÇA: comunicação e marketing da Rede Globo

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar o Projeto Criança Esperança, da Rede Globo de Televisão, buscando identificar se ele é uma atividade de filantropia pela qual a empresa busca ajudar a sociedade brasileira, prestando-lhe contas sobre os resultados e direcionamento das doações por meio de seu veículo de comunicação ou se é uma Estratégia de Comunicação do Marketing de Causas Sociais da organização, que além de ajudar a comunidade com as ações propostas, utiliza os instrumentos de Relações Públicas para auxiliar na consolidação da imagem institucional da empresa, por meio da articulação dos seus vários públicos. A pesquisa embasou suas conclusões na análise dos valores das doações dos telespectadores no show/programa, dos índices de audiência e de participação de parceiros e de patrocinadores. Esses itens mostraram ser indicadores confiáveis de uma estratégia de comunicação de sucesso ou, até então, de insucesso do projeto. A metodologia empregada foi o Estudo de Caso do Programa/Show Criança Esperança, pesquisa bibliográfica embasada em documentos e entrevistas.

CRIANÇA ESPERANÇA: comunicação e marketing da Rede Globo

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar o Projeto Criança Esperança, da Rede Globo de Televisão, buscando identificar se ele é uma atividade de filantropia pela qual a empresa busca ajudar a sociedade brasileira, prestando-lhe contas sobre os resultados e direcionamento das doações por meio de seu veículo de comunicação ou se é uma Estratégia de Comunicação do Marketing de Causas Sociais da organização, que além de ajudar a comunidade com as ações propostas, utiliza os instrumentos de Relações Públicas para auxiliar na consolidação da imagem institucional da empresa, por meio da articulação dos seus vários públicos. A pesquisa embasou suas conclusões na análise dos valores das doações dos telespectadores no show/programa, dos índices de audiência e de participação de parceiros e de patrocinadores. Esses itens mostraram ser indicadores confiáveis de uma estratégia de comunicação de sucesso ou, até então, de insucesso do projeto. A metodologia empregada foi o Estudo de Caso do Programa/Show Criança Esperança, pesquisa bibliográfica embasada em documentos e entrevistas.