Advertisement, ideologies and the youth : an empirical study of young people s perception of TV advertisements in the Philippines

Abstract

Advertising is part and parcel of our daily lives. This study explores the image of youth and youth culture in television advertisement in the Philippines, as it is perceived by young people in Manila. The study is divided into two major parts: the first part is an analysis of focus group discussions conducted among 33 youth participants ranging between 15- 24 years of age; the second part analyses television advertisements of two corporate brands (Tide Detergent Products and Globe Telecoms) which focus on Filipino youths in their advertisements.

The empirical result of the focus group highlights six main issues important to the young people; (1) Youth s dependence on their parents, (2) Peer Pressure, (3) Pressure to be IN , (4) Youth as technology freaks , (5) Issues on Economics / Financial instability and (6) Youth issues on Virginity and Pre- Marital Sex. These issues are studied further in the analysis of TV adverts, to explore how ideologies and signs of youth are used in these ads.

The study brings out that the issues, values and perception of the young people is situated within the hidden ideologies and sign of the adverts, and shows that ideologies and values important to young people in the Philippines are used and reworked further within the adverts.