Comparative Study of Patterns of Exposure to Local and Foreign Cartoons by Primary School Pupils in Awka

The study conducted a comparative assessment of respondents’ exposure to local and foreign television cartoons. The objectives of study were to find out respondents’ level of exposure to local and foreign cartoons; to ascertain the factors that motivate respondents’ to watch foreign/local cartoons; to ascertain respondents’ cartoon preferences and to establish the kinds of gratifications they derive from exposure to cartoons. The study adopted the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) method using the interview guide as the data gathering instrument. A sample of 120 respondents was selected for the study which was anchored on the uses and gratifications theory. Two government primary schools and two private primary schools were selected for the study. The findings showed a preference of foreign cartoons over local cartoons by the respondents. The study also found that the factors that motivated exposure to cartoons were accessibility, socialization, entertainment and others such as the branding of cartoon characters on cloths, bags, and other reading materials used by respondents in school. The study recommended among others, that parents and schools should deliberately expose their children to local cartoons while the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) should, as a matter of national policy, encourage the production of local content cartoon programmes that can be aired on national and satellite TV stations. This will go a long way in further exposing the children to local culture. While protecting them from the debilitating cultural orientation of foreign content cartoons.