CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Rationale of the Study
In front of the Mcdonalds fast food are two children of about the same age. The girl asks the boy if she can be his girlfriend. The boy says he is not yet ready for a relationship. He doesn’t want a girlfriend because girlfriends are demanding. But he immediately changes his mind when the girl tells her that all she wants is Mcdo fries. Then they walk while holding each others’ hands after they have bought the Mcdo fries.
The scenario described above is the controversial commercial from Mcdonalds which was aired on the summer of 2011. The Mcdo ‘bf-gf’ tv commercial was pulled out after few months of national airing upon the request of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) due to the possibility that the commercial will convey wrong messages to the young viewers. Moreover, CBCP reasoned out that the characters in the commercial were not at the right age to get involved in a romantic relationship; the commercial was “very shallow” and “cheapened human relationships”.
The request of the CBCP created controversy whether the commercial deserves to be pulled out. For this reason, the researchers got interested on the perception of the target audience on whether they agree to the opinion of the CBCP concerning the commercial. By determining the perception of the fourth year students, the researchers will be able to evaluate the validity of the request of the CBCP and the suitability of the commercial for national airing.
Meanwhile, the McDo ‘Bf-Gf’ tv commercial is just an example of how commercials could possibly offend the norms and traditions of our society. Furthermore, since advertising is used to convey information and to persuade the audience to take some actions, it has the power to convince and influence the people on the messages that it gives to the audience. Thus, advertising has to observe ethical standards and norms to avoid causing offense to some of the societal beliefs. This means that commercials must be careful on the limit of its creativity.
Moreover, the characters age and behavior in the commercial can possibly influence the children’s perception on romantic relationship. There is a great chance that the message of the commercial will be misinterpreted because children and adolescents are unable to distinguish whether the behavior or a scene depicted in a tv commercial represents appropriate values in a society and culture. There is a greater chance that a “field” of behavior will be presumed irrationally as “realistic” by people specially the young ones who have little knowledge about it (Sut Jhally, 2003).
To avoid misinterpretation, the children have to acquire some skills that enable them to question the things they observe in the environment (Clark, 2011). These skills are the “ability to critically analyze the media messages” and the “ability to use different kinds of communication technologies for self-expression and communication” (Clark, 2011).
To be able get the different perception of students who have different types of environment, the researchers decided to conduct the survey on three types of school which are the catholic, public and the laboratory high schools. Since these schools are presumed to have different curriculum, the teachers’ manner of disciplining the students may also vary as well as the ways of teaching moral values to the students.
The main objective of the catholic schools is to produce students that are not just competent in terms of academic excellence but as well as students who are able to apply in their lives the religious doctrines, traditions and practices taught in their formal education through their religion and values education subjects (UNO-R Institute of Research, 1976). Chen (2007) also adds that teachers from private secondary schools such as the catholic schools are more likely to influence the students’ perception, performance, and behavior since they have better control on the implementation of student discipline policies and others.
On the other hand, the public schools are more liberal in their curriculum because the main purpose of the public schools is to provide cheap yet quality education to those who cannot afford education in private schools. Since public and laboratory schools are intended for everybody these schools are usually not religiously affiliated (Chen, 2007).
Furthermore, the laboratory schools have a liberal type of curriculum because this type of school is science-based. Due to the fact that laboratory schools are more focused on the academic performance of the students, these schools do not have religion education or values education subjects in their curriculum.
The discussion above presented the background of the commercial, the controversies it made, and the researchers’ reason of choosing to conduct a comparative study on the perception of the students from the different types of school. Moreover, the influence of a commercial on children who are the most vulnerable group in the society was also discussed. The study would be useful in verifying the validity of the evaluation of the CBCP on the messages that the commercial convey. Through comparing the perception of the respondents from the three different types of school, the researchers will be able to determine whether the commercial is offensive on their view and if it promotes messages that are against the cultural norms.
Statement of the Problem and Objectives of the Study
The problem specifically aimed to answer the following sub problems and objectives of the study:
1. To determine the general message of the Mcdo bf-gf tv commercial based on
students’ interpretation from:
- a. Catholic high school (USC North Campus)
b. Public high school (Abellana National High School)
2. To know whether the characters used in the Mcdo ‘bf-gf’ tv commercial are
appropriate?
- a. Catholic high school (USC North Campus)
b. Public high school (Abellana National High School)
3. To determine the evaluation of students on the storyline of the tv commercial
- a. Catholic high school (USC North Campus)
b. Public high school (Abellana National High School)
- 4. To know the assessment of students on whether the Mcdo bf-gf tv commercial is (still) suitable for TV airing (or for general audience)
- a. Catholic high school (USC North Campus)
b. Public high school (Abellana National High School)
c. Laboratory high school (UP High School)
5. To find out if there is a difference on the perception of the respondents towards
the McDo bf-gf tv commercial.
6. To determine if there is a significant relationship of the type of school of the
respondents and their perception on the McDo 'bf-gf' tv commercial.
Significance of the Study
The study has conducted to determine the perception of the fourth year students towards the Mcdo ‘bf-gf’ tv commercial and to determine whether the commercial conveys wrong messages to the young viewers.
The study could be of great help to the schools mentioned because it evaluates the effectiveness of their curriculum and influence to the moral aspect of the students based on the interpretation of the students.
To the parents, the study will be a helpful tool in assessing their decision of sending their children to a particular school based on its established reputation. This is due to the possibility that the school would only have little effect on the attitudes of the students. Thus, the parents could not easily blame the school for some disagreeable manners of their children because most of their values are learned at home. Hence, the school becomes an avenue of the students’ expression of what they have acquired from their family. To support this is a study by Astill, Feather, and Keeves (2002) showed that the teachers’ values and school type had no significant effects on the values of the students.
To the advertisers, the study could be beneficial for them to be careful not to surpass the standards of the society and not to offend the beliefs of the viewers. They must realize that creativity is important to attract consumers yet they have to put into consideration the cultural norms of the society. The country has become more open-minded and adapted the modern ways of western people but not to the point of turning back to its own costumes and traditions.
