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PS 006
The Influence of Children’s Exposure to Advertising for Unhealthy Food on Eating-Related Behaviors
C.H. Chen
1
, M.H. Wei
2
1
Dahan Institute of Technologyv, Department of Business Administration, Hualien County, Taiwan
2
Tzu Chi University, Hualien City, Taiwan
Background: Considerable empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that food advertising can alter children’s food preferences, purchase requests, and
eating habits. However, most previous research was conducted using experimental methods, which tend to limit generalizability. Very few studies have
investigated the relationship between the exposure to food advertising and consumption of food products in a real-world setting. The aim of this study
was to examine the associations between exposure to television advertising for unhealthy snacks and subsequent eating-related behaviors among children
in Taiwan. Methods: The actual exposure to advertising for unhealthy snacks was determined by combining the self-reported television viewing behavior
with broadcast data related to advertising. Students (3
rd
-6
th
grade) were recruited from twelve elementary schools in Taiwan for cross-sectional surveys
based on questionnaires. The final sample comprised 512 boys and 531 girls between the ages of 9 and 12. Participants reported the television programs
they watched most frequently and the time they spent viewing these programs over the previous month. Data related to television show ratings (provided
by Nielsen Media Research) for audiences aged 10–14 years in Taiwan were used to draw up a representative sample of programming, comprising the 50
top-rated television programs (58.75 hours) in the month leading up to the survey. Advertisements for food items were analyzed using the food category
coding scheme, in which unhealthy snack categories included fried potato snack, cookies, cakes, confections, sugar-sweetened drinks, and fast-food meals.
This was then used as criteria by which to determine the number of commercials for unhealthy snacks that were broadcast during each television program.
We then compiled an unhealthy snack advertising exposure score for each of the children, reflecting the number of food commercials to which the children
were exposed while viewing television. Hierarchical multiple regression was used for data analysis. Results: The children viewed an average of 50.17 (SD =
30.33) advertisements for unhealthy snacks per week. After controlling for child variables (age, gender, BMI, sedentary time, television viewing time) and
family variables (parents’ education level, availability of unhealthy snack in the home), the unhealthy snack advertising exposure score was shown to ac‑
counted for significant additional variance in food requests (R2 change = .003, β = .09, p < .05), purchase desire (R2 change = .007, β = .14, p < .01), and
consumption frequency of unhealthy snacks (R2 change = .006, β = .13, p < .01), but did not in preferences for those food items. Positive linear relation‑
ships were observed between the number of advertisements for unhealthy snack to which children were exposed and their requests for, desire to purchase,
and consumption of unhealthy snacks. Conclusions: This study extended previous research by refining the methods used to measure exposure to television
advertising for unhealthy foods. Our results demonstrate that advertising for unhealthy food have significant effects on children’s requests for, desire to
purchase, and consumption frequency of unhealthy food, thereby providing support for calls to regulate television advertising for food aimed at children.
PS 007
Media Effects on Bystander Intervention: The Role of Exemplification, Framing, Risk Perception, and Motivations
J. Keppeler
1
, B. Krämer
1
, J. Schindler
2
1
LMU Munich, Department of Communication Studies and Media Research, Munich, Germany
2
LMU Munich, Faculty of Law, Munich, Germany
Assisting persons who are harassed or physically abused is commonly considered a highly moral or even heroic act. However, persons observing a situation
where help is needed often do not intervene – a tendency known as the bystander effect. Various studies have identified factors influencing the motivation
for, and implementation of helping behavior as well as the factors relevant to the bystander effect. The role of the media for the readiness to help, however,
has largely been neglected. But media coverage might be another factor influencing the decision to assist persons who are harassed or physically abused,
because, for example, mostly dangerous and tragic cases of bystander intervention attract media attention. Depending on what the media are covering as
well as how they are framing this coverage, there might be effects on helping motivations.The present study therefore examines two main types of possible
media effects on (de-)motivations to help and, ultimately, on helping intention: First, influences of exemplification on the perceived risk of being attacked
while intervening are tested. Additionally, framing effects on risk perception, the reflection of psychological barriers, motivations by social approval, and
moral motivations are investigated. For these purposes, a 2x4 factorial online experiment (n=398) was conducted in Germany. A newspaper report on case
of bystander intervention was manipulated in terms of a 1) good vs. bad outcome for the helper and 2) four types of framing, where experts commented on
2a) the general risk of intervening and biased risk perception, 2b) psychological barriers to help, 2c) social approval for helping, and 2d) moral motivations
for helping. The dependent variables were the intention to intervene in similar situations and projected actual behavior, which might be influenced by
additional factors like perceived competence and physical self-efficacy. Results show that risk perception, rejection of responsibility, motivation by social
approval, and moral motivation are highly associated with the intention to intervene and projected actual behavior. Our models were able to excellently
explain helping intention and projection and we identified factors that have largely been neglected in the literature, such as moral reasons and perceived
competence. However, hardly any direct or indirect (mediated or moderated) media effects on these factors, on intentions themselves or on projected
behavior could be identified (the effect of the outcome of the exemplar on intentions narrowly missed significance). Nevertheless, additional analyses point
to another type of media effect. Although we cannot establish a causal link, the intention to help is lower among persons who predominantly remember
actual cases of bystander intervention with negative outcomes from the media. This hints at an effect of the cumulated longer-term exposure to reports
on single incidents, which is situated somewhere between an exemplification effect and cultivation. Despite the limitations of a short-term experimental
design, our study is an important step toward our understanding of the media's role in bystander interventions: it is the first to analyze this relationship in
the context of regular journalistic coverage and it hints at effects that should be investigated in further studies.