FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TELEVISION COMMERCIALS IN URBAN AREA IN EGYPT

Purpose: This research examined the effects of television-advertising viewing on the perceived wealth in society and the materialistic value orientations among adolescents in urban Egypt. Methodology: A survey on two hundred (200) adolescents aged eleven (11) to seventeen (17) was conducted in 2013. The urban sub-sample consisted of one hundred (100) respondents studying in Grade 7 and Grade 8 from a secondary school in Cairo city. The rural sub-sample consisted of one hundred (100) respondents studying in Grade 7 and Grade 8 from two (2) rural secondary schools in Alexandria. Main Findings: In the survey among urban (Cairo) adolescent respondents, it was found that there were higher estimates among adolescents whose family-owned five (5) modern-day products namely desktop computers, cameras, air conditioners and motorcars. This finding is not surprising as urban dwellers have a higher income than rural folks which translated into the higher purchasing power of buying modern-day products. Urban adolescents’ families owned more than rural adolescents’ families in terms of modern-day products namely desktop computers, cameras, air-conditioners and motorcars except for handphones as there was almost no difference in terms of owning handphones for urban or rural adolescents’ families. Implications: In addition, marketers are advised to consider placing advertisements on national television in their quest to reach out and promote their products and services to adolescents living in urban areas, as frequent watching of advertisements on television by adolescents in urban areas has a positive correlation with greater materialistic value. Novelty: The importance of this study is that it has managed to present empirical evidence that television advertising has an influence on materialism and perceived level of wealth among adolescents in urban areas of Egypt.


INTRODUCTION
Apart from having the influence to attract consumer's attention in buying products or services, advertising is also known to have social consequences and has received negative reviews and comments (Pollay & Gallagher, 1990). The socioeconomic framework is interconnected whereby it is distinguishable yet indivisible (Pillai & Ahamat, 2018). Television viewers are exposed to the life of rich and famous Hollywood artists and actors. These millionaire superstars have big followers. Every day, television audiences across the globe are treated with these unrealistic images such as fancy clothing, latest gadgets, and beautiful motorcars. Hence, examining the world and people in the same context as profits in monetary terms can be daunting (Ahamat, 2017). Although the media compromises the immeasurable cost because it is not directly related to finance but involves so-called opportunity costs, however, it cannot be denied that it is significant to a certain extent. Examples of losses incurred including student and teacher dropouts, in addition to mounting social issue cases.
There is an obvious difference in consumption patterns between urban and rural consumers. In rural areas, consumers are less exposed to the television or the internet, which air the products or services advertisements. Thus, consumers, especially adolescents or younger consumers who are the main subjects in this study, have less desire compared to the urban adolescent consumers as their purchasing power is solely due to the influence of advertisement. This research investigated whether advertising through the medium of television would have a significant effect on adolescents in both urban and rural areas in Egypt.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Television is known to control our "symbolic environment". McQuail and Windahl (1993) observed that television was viewed in the production paradigm not just as a window of the world, but perhaps a world in itself. Many teenagers who reach adulthood in isolated areas might never have been to a metropolis. Younger audiences might be more reliant on television for facts because of a lower level of experience than other matured viewers (Evra, 1990). As per Chan and Cai (2009), audiences who viewed more daytime series continued to rank less in expectations of individualism and other people's trust.
People who view dramas broadcasted at night-time appear to have weaker political efficacy emotions. Adventure and action drama enthusiasts revealed further questions about their health. The trend suggests that the quality of radio advertisements should be analysed independently in general, whether it is broadcast or digital ads. A powerful connection between kids and television advertisements and a high level of curiosity and anticipation have been established (Blosser & Roberts, 1985;Halan, 2003). Marketers around the world, nevertheless, cannot deny the fact that they face struggles in finding means and methods to assess the impact their advertisements have on children. Research shows that kids fully comprehend the advertisement's specific marketing purpose when they reach eight (8) years of age (Donohue et al., 1980;Wartella, 1982;Kline, 1995;Ward et al., 1977). When children aged four (4) or five (5) years old make their first selection of product at the school canteen (Mizerski, 2005), the previous results were corroborated. It is therefore essential for advertisers to gain perspectives into the kids' process of understanding, recognizing the meaning and intent of the ads, and adapting the advertising campaigns accordingly. Therefore, the fundamental issue to be addressed at the theoretical level is the impact of marketing mindset on children's preference for a specific product or brand.
The effect of ads on children's health and actions has been the object of significant research globally for a few decades because of consumer pressure (Boddewyn, 1984). Preference for drugs has been shown to exist with as small as individual market exposure and the confirmation of regular exposures (Wilcox et al., 2004). This is part of a broader pattern in which marketing induces behavioural problems and adversely affects the children; as one researcher puts it, "the consistent pressure to buy and own things has resulted in the production of negative values in children" (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010). Social marketing research has reinforced the argument that imaging is a useful marketing device. Imaging could also be utilized to facilitate sales of merchandise and preferred attitudes in boys, thereby helping to create the advertiser's perfect social environment (Evans, 2008). Online advertising is heavily dependent on peripheral metrics for causing effects due to its limited size and versatile nature (Livingstone & Helsper, 2006;Sandberg et al., 2011).
Furthermore, the advertiser should decide when to broadcast the advertising in order to guarantee that the target audiences watch the advertisement. To start with, the groundbreaking work of Lazarsfeld (1955) regarding television exposure and product demand, preceded by Scott (2004), Dotson and Hyatt (2005), established the role of three influences, i.e. family, peers, and pressmainly television, in achieving a reply among children for advertising goods. Such findings accurately identify the role of principal reference categories composed of parents and secondary reference groups, like a friend, as influencing factors in eliciting children's reactions.
Friends often respond to children in the older age groups that appear to imitate children in the lower-age category (Gunter & Furnham, 1998), thereby stressing the concept of aspiration group. Emulation is a restricted phenomenon because children who acquire a preference for an item or condition due to difference in age or affiliation with older siblings (Laulor & Prothers, 2003) suggests a dissociation feature of the comparison group among children. Although the theory of Lazarsfeld changed over the years, Robertson and Rossiter (1974) criticized this paradigm by denying any positive association regarding children's perception of ads and their demand for branded items. Goldberg and Gorn (1978) and Fisher (1985) were in the same agreement with Lazarsfeld, who showed a positive correlation between the two.

Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Television Commercials
Many analysts believe that marketing is not the absolute and the best as far as advertising to children is concerned and claim that important influences such as peers and family members are present. Biagi (2006) concluded that the majority of children developed a preference for an object merely because they saw it with a peer; this aspect is at least as good as advertising: the children assume that something is incomplete because they do not have similar things to other children. For example, after discovering another child has an item like a bicycle, a child may want to own it too. In contrast, cultural factors either positively or negatively influence the success of advertising. For instance, children who live in Muslim communities, in this context, have a moral obligation to respect parents; they were shown to be notably obedient and appeared to accept the decisions of their parents (Arshed, 2009). Muslim children generally appreciate the purchasing decisions of their parents as an act of obedience, instead of forcing them to make those decisions. It is also noted that in certain societies if a parent does not approve the transaction, children may remove their decision. It is also essential for the children to convince their parents to make the transaction if a commercial is intriguing. Young (1990) indicated that children's perception of marketing relies on their knowledge that there is a medium that intentionally produces television advertisements and they should also be conscious that this medium tries to convince their viewers to buy. The importance in examining children's perception of marketing purpose is that if children are unable to distinguish whether an advertisement will have a commercial value, then advertising targeting these children may be immoral on the grounds that it violates their rationality and naivety (Martin, 1997;Gunter & Furnham, 1998). This, in effect, has repercussions on marketing controls for children. Many past studies on children's perception of marketing intent have concentrated primarily on the economic purpose of advertising, including its insightful and convincing dimensions (Ward et  Nevertheless, it was proposed that they were over-simplified in reality when interpretations were provided (Ritson & Elliott, 1995). Many authors appeared to partially and ambiguously describe literacy. Bartholomew and O'Donohoe (2003) noted in this respect that the word literacy was often utilized in the literature to characterize the skill of a customer in comprehending advertising. Concerning the dimensions of literacy, Young (1990) assumed the eight-yearold respondents in his research to be marketing literate as they were conscious of the promotional justification of advertisement and the symbolism marketers engaged.

Advertising Intent
In different circumstances, Buckingham (1993) indicated in research that seven to twelve-year-old youngsters were predominantly marketing literate based on their ability to distinguish the goals and target markets of the advertiser, along with their ability to critically evaluate the essence and substance of the commercials. A somewhat more detailed explanation of literacy was provided in a study involving eighteen to twenty-four-year-old respondents by O'Donohoe and Tynan (1998). The researchers defined the prevalence of marketing literacy with regard to the ability of their samples to interpret and contextualize an advertisement; to decode the policy of an advertiser concerning advertising audiences, brand placement and target markets, and eventually to understand advertising strategies and values of outputs. Bartholomew and O'Donohoe (2003) stated in a survey on ten to twelveyear-old children that their literacy was implied in three positions they exercisedadvertising masters, controllers, and critics.

Advertisement preference
It is rational to conclude that viewers who prefer definite advertisements will involve more intensively in mental processing. Nevertheless, only if the advertisements are presented under ideal circumstances can the desired result be obtained (i.e. viewers pay full attention to the advertisement while external factors remain constant). The assumption is that, if most influencing variables receive equal treatment, marketing choice has the ability to promote product sensitivity. Another argument is that by applying the integrity of the origin, it is possible to create trust. Nevertheless, the achievement of consumer confidence would also rely on other factors, such as maintaining a high quality of the product. However, if the commercial is despised, when negative connotations grow, reputation may be compromised.
MacKenzie and Lutz (1989) performed a laboratory test to determine the comparative influence of attitude towards the television marketing campaign (Aad) on the attitude towards the brand (Ab). They found that Aad seemed to have a major and specific impact on Ab and had much less influence on behavioural product connections. The researchers further argued that convincing were more likely to arise from the advertising executive instead of a specific product or brand data. The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) which conducted a copy research validity project, defined and stressed the function of "liking" an advertisement as a significant appraisal factor (Harley & Baldinger, 1991). The questions of how to determine what a consumer likes were a fundamental question posed by the study. What is most significant: Is it an entertainment value, material, or the marketing message interaction element? It was discovered that these underlying factors contribute to consciousness, appreciation, persuasion, and memory of the brand name. There is no question that the value of each differs from the marketing goals and the form and position of the product to be represented. All of them are potentially significant marketing elements, hence, they should be included in any rigorous copy-testing method. Online advertising is a promotion method in which the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) are utilized to distribute marketing messages for the purpose of attracting consumers. On a broader perspective, this includes social media adoption. Furthermore, the key determinants of social media adoption among small-medium enterprises are its perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (Ahamat et al., 2017).

Research hypotheses
H1: There is a positive correlation between viewing advertisements on television and perceived wealth among adolescents in urban areas in Egypt.
H2: There is a positive correlation between viewing advertisements on television and the level of materialism among adolescents in urban areas in Egypt.
H3: There is no correlation between materialism and perceived wealth among adolescents in urban areas in Egypt.
H4: The respondents' residency should regulate the association between television advertising viewing and perceived soc ial affluence.
H5: The respondent's house location will be able to moderate the relation between viewing advertisements on television and the materialism level.

METHODOLOGY
A survey on two hundred (200) adolescents aged eleven (11) to seventeen (17) was conducted in 2013. The urban subsample composed of one hundred (100) participants from a city in Cairo. They were Grade 7 and Grade 8 high school students. The average age was recorded at 13.3 (SD=0.8). The rural sub-sample composed of one hundred (100) Grade 7 and Grade 8 students from two different rural schools in Alexandria. The average age was 14.2 (SD = 1.0). Due to resource constraints and personal contact accessibility, a convenient list of schools and classes was used. Throughout regular class hours, questionnaires were administered and one of the researchers was involved in the process to compile the questionnaires. The respondents self-administered the questionnaires, and it only took ten minutes to complete the survey questionnaire. Cairo was selected to present a typical urban area in Egypt.

Research Framework
The conceptual framework for this research will be addressed and described in detail throughout this section. This conceptual framework can indeed be considered as the complete process in research. Figure 1 exhibits the main components of the framework of the present research. The generalized conceptual framework is a description of the exploration and progress of this study in shapes and arrows. Based on these framework figures, three main variables that are related to one another are represented by those shapes.

DISCUSSION / ANALYSIS
In the survey among urban (Cairo) adolescent respondents, it was found that there were higher estimates among the adolescents' families who owned five (5) modern-day products, namely desktop computers, cameras, air conditioners, and motorcars. This finding was shown in Table 1, which indicated mean scores of the modern-day products owned by the urban adolescents' families. The highest mean score signifies handphones, but the lowest mean score represents private cars. This finding is not surprising as nowadays, a handphone is a must-have item and some people may possess more than one handphone. This finding is not surprising as urban dwellers have higher income which translated into the higher purchasing power of buying modern-day products. In Table 2, it is a comparison between the mean scores of modern-day products owned by the urban (Cairo) and rural (Alexandria) adolescents' families. It is not surprising as urban adolescents' families owned more than rural adolescents' families in terms of modern-day products namely desktop computers, cameras, airconditioners and motorcars except for handphones as there was no significant difference in ownership of handphones    3.0 -3.8*** Notes: *p < 0:05; **p < 0:01; ***p < 0:001 Table 3 and Table 4 show the mean scores for viewing commercials on television and materialism among urban adolescent and rural adolescent respondents.  Table 5 shows the mean scores for viewing commercials on television and materialism among urban and rural adolescents respondents. From the survey, it was found that rural adolescent respondents viewed more commercials on television compared to urban adolescent respondents (t {200} = -4:5; p < 0:001). In addition, the findings also showed that rural adolescents have a considerably higher level of materialism than urban adolescents (t {200} = -4:4; p < 0:001). In this research, there were three stages of multiple linear regression analyses using ordinary least square methods where the predicted variables were perceived wealth and materialism. There were three main predictors namely: Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 8, No 3, 2020, pp 190-199 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8320 196 |www.hssr.in © Abdallah Ali et al. iii. Television-advertising viewing.
Firstly, predictors that were used were the three demographic variables. Secondly, there were two added predictors which were television-advertising viewing and residency in urban or rural areas. Thirdly, additional predictors included also took into account the interactions of television-advertising viewing and residency. From the finding, it was shown that there was no significant interaction between viewing commercials on television and the residency of respondents in predicting perceived wealth among society. Furthermore, there was no significant interaction between viewing commercials on television and the residency of respondents in predicting materialism among society.
The standardized regression coefficients for the third step are not shown as there is no significant interaction. As a replacement, the standardized regression coefficients are shown in Table 6, which indicates the regression's second step.
In the prediction of perceived affluence, nineteen percent (19%) of the perceived wealth variance is collectively explained by the five (5) predictors. 28.3 is the value of the F-model statistic at a significance level of 0.001. It is evident that the R-square for level 2 is significant at the 0.001 level. In order to predict perceived wealth, it can be illustrated by the variables of television advertising and residency in which each meets the remaining criteria in the regression model. About ten percent (10%) of the variance of materialism in materialism predictions is successfully explained by five (5) predictors collectively. 14.0 is the F-model statistic at the 0.001 level. For the second stage, the R-square is also significant at the 0.001 level. Based on these findings, the two variables; television advertising and residency, meet the remaining criteria in the regression model when it comes to predicting materialism.

Hypothesis Testing Results
The result from this research has found that the respondents who frequently watched commercials on television had a higher level of perceived wealth compared to the respondents who watched fewer advertisements on television in which 0.16 is the value of standardized regression coefficient for television-advertising viewing at 0.001 significance level (see Table 6). Thus, the result shows that there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and perceived wealth among society. Therefore, consistent with the result, the hypothesis H1 is supported. Furthermore, the result from this research has also found that the respondents who frequently watched commercials on television will endorse a higher level of materialism compared to the respondents who watched fewer advertisements on television in which 0.29 is the value of standardized regression coefficient for television-advertising viewing at 0.001 significance level (see Table 7). The result also shows that there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and materialism. Hence, as the result has shown, the hypothesis H2 is also supported.
The research reports the perceived wealth and materialism coefficient values of 0.08, 0.14, and 0.03 representing urban sub-samples, rural sub-samples, and sample counts, respectively. At 0.05 point, there are no relevant correlation coefficients. In other words, adolescents in urban and rural areas have no relationship between perceived wealth and materialism. Accordingly, this study acknowledges H3. Notably, the obtained values prove the existence of a correlation between the first-order and second-order effects. Besides, the standardized regression coefficient of residency was recorded at 20.46 at 0.05 significance level in the estimation of perceived wealth. Urban respondents were proved to have a higher perceived wealth in comparison to rural respondents as far as the TV advertisement factor was concerned and tested as shown by the standardized regression coefficients for the residency variable which was negative. Hence, as shown by the result, the hypothesis H4 is also supported where a respondent's dwelling will play a part in moderating the relation between viewing advertising through television and the perceived wealth. In this scenario, there is a positive moderating effect for dwellers in the urban area.
A television-advertising viewing standardized regression coefficient is 0.16, while residency is at -0.46. From the result, it can be summarized that the relative size indicates that residency is significant in determining perceived wealth compared to television-advertising viewing. Furthermore, from this study, it is found that the respondent's dwelling will have the tendency to moderate the relationship between television-advertising viewing and materialism whereby there is a positive moderating effect for rural dwellers. The standardized regression coefficient for residency is 0.18 and is significant at 0.01 level in predicting materialism which signifies that rural respondents are more likely to endorse materialism than urban respondents. Hence, from the result above, it can be summarized that H5 is supported. A television-advertising viewing standardized regression coefficient is 0.29, while residency is at 0.18. From the result, it can be summarized that the relative size indicates that television-advertising viewing is more important than residency in determining materialism. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 8, No 3, 2020, pp 190-199 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8320 Single child (0 = no, 1 = yes) -0.01 Step 2 (adding two more predictors) TV advertising viewing 0.16*** Residency (0 = urban, 1 = rural) -0.46*** R-square for step 1(%) 0.09*** R-square for step 2(%) 0.20*** Incremental R-square for step 2 (%) 0.12*** Notes: Entries are standardized coefficients from ordinary least squares regression analyses for step 2; *p < 0:05; **p < 0:01; ***p < 0:001 Table 7: Summary of the Regression Analysis for Predicting Materialism Step/predicting variables Materialism Step 1 (with three demographic variables as predictors) Sex (0 = F, 1 = M) 0.01 Age 0.05 Single child (0 = no, 1 = yes) 0.11* Step 2 (adding two more predictors) TV advertising viewing 0.29*** Residency (0 = urban, 1 = rural) 0.18** R-square for step 1(%) 0.01 R-square for step 2(%) 0.11*** Incremental R-square for step 2 (%) 0.10*** Notes: Entries are standardized coefficients from ordinary least squares regression analyses for step 2; *p < 0:05; **p < 0:01; ***p < 0:001 It can be summarized from the findings of this study that hypothesis H1 is supported as there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and perceived wealth among society. Furthermore, the hypothesis H2 is also supported as the result shows that there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and materialism. In addition, hypothesis H3 is supported as there is no correlation between perceived wealth and materialism among urban and rural adolescents. Moreover, hypothesis H4 is also supported as the relative size indicates that residency is significant in determining perceived wealth compared to television-advertising viewing. Finally, hypothesis H5 is supported as the relative size indicates that television-advertising viewing is more important than residency in determining materialism. It was observed in this study that, by frequently watching commercials on television, it will lead to a higher level of perceived wealth and a more materialistic society which was also found in a previous study done by Chan et al. (2006). They found that there was a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and materialism among urban adolescents in China. The current study shows that cultivation effects occurred among rural adolescents in Egypt as well.
As theorized in this research, there is no correlation between perceived wealth among the respondents and the level of materialism. According to Shrum et al. (2005), this scenario happens due to the incidence of perceptions and consumer values are both profoundly different types of judgments which are built through different processes. The reason behind the desire to possess material belongings may be due to the confidence in the product that they possess will bring benefits and at the same time trying to portray themselves into the commercials. Furthermore, as theorized in this study, a respondent's life experience has a controlling influence on viewing commercials on the television. Thus, viewing commercials on the television and residency have no significant interaction. In addition, respondents from the urban area who are more familiar with various products in the market tend to have better judgment regarding an incident of wealth in the society which is shown from the relative magnitudes of the regression coefficients compared to the respondents from a rural area who have restricted opportunity to purchase the same products near their resident.

CONCLUSION
In summary, this research has managed to present empirical evidence that television advertising has an influence on materialism and the perceived level of wealth among adolescents in urban areas of Egypt. The findings have shown that there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and perceived wealth among the society.
Furthermore, the result also shows that there is a positive correlation between television-advertising viewing and materialism. Meanwhile, there is no correlation between perceived wealth and materialism among urban adolescents. Moreover, the relative size indicates that residency is significant in determining perceived wealth compared to television-advertising viewing. Finally, the relative size also indicates that television-advertising viewing is more important than residency in determining materialism.