AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF TOM AND JERRY AND SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS AS ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMMES ON TELEVISION

ABSTRACT

This study is an investigation into awareness, knowledge and perception of Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants as entertainment programmes on television. The study was guided by the Agenda Setting and Uses and Gratification Theories. The study employed the survey research design and the survey instrument questionnaire was used. A sample size of 100 respondents was purposively chosen. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentages. Findings revealed that 80.6%  respondents are aware of Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants as entertainment programmes to a large extent, 51% watch Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants daily, 54% prefer watching Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants  to other cartoons shown on television, 66.3% agree that Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants  teach children about the importance of friendship, while 86.7% agree that Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants have negative influence on children’s behaviour and language. In general, Tom and Jerry and SpongeBob SquarePants are cartoons that are very entertaining and have been shown love worldwide due to its various characters and funny content. These cartoons have brought joy to children and made the childhood of some adolescents and adult enjoyable. In spite of all the goodness it has brought, it still has its persisting negative sides and these negative sides are also predominant in a lot of cartoons. Some of the negative sides are said to be for humour, to tell the audience how the real world works or any other reason. Sometimes there is not even a reason, the producers just want to include these negative sides. Film and animation producers need to put into high consideration the effects of these negative aspects and work towards reducing it because the main consumers are children who are leaders of tomorrow.