Small-screen agora : a study on the promotion of the ideal and the social construction of consumption behind Maltese teleshopping

Abstract

Being compared to an agora, teleshopping programmes are a new means of promoting and selling products through the television. This study establishes that the Maltese teleshopping audience incorporates more than half of the whole population. Less than half of these buy frequently through this means. This study seeks to understand how the teleshopping programmes portray the products they promote. Unlike advertisements, the majority of the teleshopping programmes focus more on the functional values of the product promoted, rather than emphasising the added values. Through stressing the functional values of each product, this dissertation shows that teleshopping programmes are creating new needs, which can be satisfied in real time. Thus, teleshopping programmes are also constructing consumption. This research concludes that the audience behind Maltese teleshopping programmes is active. It is also noticed that consumption through these programmes takes place on rational grounds, since the majority buy only what they consider as a need.