Parents believe that television advertisements are changing the pattern and behavior of children. They have negative impact on children since children demand, nag and pester their parents to purchase the advertised product. Television advertisements are an important factor which drives their product choice and inculcate unhealthy eating habits in them. The present study indicates that Indian children love watching television and prefer it over social interaction, physical and developmental activities. It also indicates that TV advertisements provide children knowledge about products and brands. It demonstrates that children demand more of the product whose advertisements they like. The study was carried out in Indore, a city of Central India, using a sample size of 300 parents and the data were collected through a structured questionnaire.

According to a recent survey in the US, children spend more time watching television than they do anything else and children between ages of 6 and 14 watch about 25 hours of television per week and are exposed to 20,000 commercials in a single year. Television advertisements stimulate wants in children and they pester parents for advertised products (Leonhardt and Kerwin, 1997). Children in the modern society have assumed larger roles in their homes and are involved in the shopping and buying decisions. In the US, children under the age of 12 are estimated to influence $130-670 bn in the family purchases (Schor, 2006) As children are exposed to several advertisements, they acquire product-related information which translates into increased purchase requests by them.

In India, too, Television has come up in a huge way and advertising is a huge multimillion dollar industry that has an enormous impact on the development of a child (Clay, 2000). Parents believe that there is change in the pattern and behavior of children when they watch television advertisements. Television advertisements have a negative impact on children since whenever they come across an advertisement, they demand, nag and pester their parents to purchase the advertised product. Refusal of such requests often results in conflict and deteriorates parents' relationship with their children. They think that children need some kind of protection from advertisements; otherwise advertisers will exploit their credulity and loyalty (Sullivan, 2005). This is the reason many countries have tried to control advertising through certain regulations. Norway has introduced a total ban on television advertising directed at children. In Sweden, television advertisements are banned for children under the age of 12 years. Australia does not allow advertisements on television during programs for pre-schoolers. Countries like Greece have proclaimed a partial ban on advertising, prohibiting toy advertising between 7 am and 10 pm. On the other hand, in countries like India marketers are increasingly targeting children because they find children are the only market segment that do not change their preferences rapidly and are easy to influence through advertisements.

Television advertising offers product and brand-related ideas and information to children that results in purchase request to parents (Sullivan, 2005). This issueto what extent television advertisements are effective in defining and changing the buying behavior of childrenis worth investigating, and has motivated us to undertake this study. The section after 'Introduction' presents a brief review of relevant literature. The section thereafter describes the methodology of the study. Analysis and results are presented next, followed by conclusion in the end.

Marketing Management Journal, Parental Perceptions, Television Advertisements, Food Advertising, Indian Culture, Product Advertisements, Economic Socialization, Consumer Educational Campaigns, Product Labeling, Policy Implications, Product Categories.