Kasım KARAMAN

The children mostly spend their time by watching television. Being at a passive and submissive position before the television, they are exposed to the effects of television directly or indirectly. Television leads to some unfavorable impacts such as obesity, aggression, early puberty, fear, isolatedness and lack of communication among the family members on the children. Television can also influence the consumption habits ofthe children. A large variety of products, ranging from textile and stationary to the clothing and furniture, is presented to the children through some cartoon and television series characters. Both the children and their families wish to have these consumption items. This paper discusses the effects of cartoons and television series broadcasted on television on the consumption habits of the children. The main focus of the research is to reveal how and why the children buy / have them bought the products with cartoon/television series characters and what kinds ofitems these are. The research has been carried out on the 6-11 age group children consisting of the nursery and primary school students along with their parents in the city center of Giresun. The research data has been gathered through the techniques ofparticipated observation and in-depth interviews made with the children theirselves, the parents, the teachers and stationary and toy sellers.Based on the research findings, the children and their families are under the effect of popular cultural products presented to the consumption of children through mass media in which the television takes the lead. Though the children do not usually need, they wish to have the popular cultural products due to various reasons. The desire of possession at children has been kept fresh with the new products. Thus, the children have been turned into a consumer.

Key Words: Child, cartoon, consumption, television, advertisement.