Infant-directed media: an analysis of product information and claims

• Published in: Infant and child development Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 557 - 556
• Main Authors: Fenstermacher, Susan K., Barr, Rachel, Salerno, Katherine, Garcia, Amaya, Shwery, Clay E., Calvert, Sandra L., Linebarger, Deborah L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-11-2010; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Babies; Child development; Cognitive Development; Content Analysis; early learning guidelines; Educational Benefits; Emotions; General knowledge; infant; Infants; Literacy; media; Merchandise Information; Nonprint Media; Outcomes of Education; Packaging; producer claims; Studies; Video Technology; Web sites; Young Children
• ISSN: 1522-7227; 1522-7219
• DOI: 10.1002/icd.718

Infant DVDs typically have titles and even company names that imply some educational benefit. It is not known whether these educational claims are reflected in actual content. The present study examined this question. Of 686 claims (across 58 programs) listed on packaging, websites and promotional materials, implicit claims were most frequent (37%) followed by uncodable/vague claims (25%), a list of included content (24%), and explicit claims (14%). The most frequently targeted educational domain was general knowledge claim (32%), followed by language/literacy claim (29%), social–emotional claim (15%), physical claim (12%), and cognitive development claim (12%). Number of claims in a domain was positively associated with the percentage of scenes featuring that domain content (Mean r = 0.52), indicating a moderate degree of match between claims and DVD content. Overall, both claims and content were disproportionately targeted to language and general knowledge content areas, relative to social, physical and cognitive domains. Even when claims are developmentally appropriate, there is some difficulty in translating of producer claims into educational DVD content. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.