Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 66

     
     1        of this book.  I would like you to look at the second
     2        complete paragraph on page 7, right-hand column beginning:
     3        "But if television", do you see that?
     4        A.  Yes.
     5
     6   Q.   "But if television has some responsibility for the social
     7        changes we see about us, for the way children develop, then
     8        surely, the nature of this influence must be explored in a
     9        highly rational way.  Research must be framed and carried
    10        out in a most objective manner if we are to use this medium
    11        wisely.
    12
    13        But the context in which research concerning the effects of
    14        television advertising on children has been conducted has
    15        been anything but cool, rational and objective.  Rather it
    16        was in an atmosphere of accusations and warnings that this
    17        research, until very recently, was conducted and from which
    18        it badly suffered.
    19
    20        Anxiety often framed the questions asked by the research,
         and narrowed the perspective with which results were
    22        examined.  Many researchers and policy makers intent upon
    23        finding evidence of harmful effects, jumped to conclusions
    24        on the basis of equivocal findings.  The net result was
    25        that fear fostered a considerable misunderstanding of
    26        television advertising's actual and potential influence on
    27        children".
    28
    29        Pausing there, Ms. Dibb, would you not, I suppose, agree
    30        that any of the strictures there expressed apply to your
    31        approach to this question?
    32        A.  June Esserman is talking about quite different research
    33        in this context.  My research has, essentially, brought
    34        together some of the material from other published sources
    35        of literature.  I believe June Esserman is talking here
    36        about primary research.  She is also talking about a
    37        situation in the United States.  I have read about some of
    38        the history of this debate in the United States.  It is
    39        obviously not quite the same as the United Kingdom.
    40
    Q.   May we go on to the next paragraph:  "In quite another way,
    42        research itself contributed to this misunderstanding by the
    43        use of techniques appropriate for researching adults but
    44        not well suited to studying the reactions of young
    45        children.  Thus, asking four and five-year old children
    46        questions which required considerable verbal ability to
    47        answer, made children seem more immature in their capacity
    48        to comprehend, more suggestable, and more defenseless than
    49        they actually are.  It is this error of treating children
    50        like miniature adults, asking the same kinds of questions 
    51        we put to adults, modified only in that we speak more 
    52        slowly and loudly (as we do sometimes with non-English 
    53        speaking people) that has resulted in so many
    54        difficulties".
    55
    56        I am sorry that this is a slightly complex exercise, but I
    57        would ask you to look over the page at page 21 of your
    58        Advertisers' Dream paper.  I promise you I am coming back
    59        to this paper later on.  The second complete paragraph in
    60        the first column under the heading "Children's