The Problem of Bullying in Malaysia

In the past few years, Malaysia has been shocked by an array of cases involving bullies. Some of those cases resulted in physical violence, emotional threats, and deaths. Bullying is explained as aggressive behavior that is recurrent and deliberate in which a gradual dominance exists between the one being bullied and the bully themselves.

Bullying is stated as aggressive behavior among children an earlier age. The children who are victims, as well as the bully, may have a serious and lasting problem. Acts of bullying can be physical or verbal such as making threats, spreading rumors and attacking someone physically or verbally.

Several anti-bullying efforts have been developed and promoted at the school and community levels. Research indicates that many of these programs are effective and share some common elements that can help reduce the occurrence and impact of bullying.

In Malaysia, we have seen a lot of Public Service Announcements about preventing or stopping bullying being published all around the nation. They have been circulated through all sorts of media, such as posters, billboards, social media, and television commercials just to name a few. All those advertisements had the same objective which was to prevent and stop the bullying from happening.

In order to fully fulfill the research, the researcher decided to relate the topic of the thesis with the Sustainable Development Goals made by the United Nations. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017 reviews to progress made towards the 17 Goals in the second year of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report is based on the latest available data. It highlights both gains and challenges as the international community moves towards the full realization of the ambitions and principles adopted in the 2030 Agenda.

While considerable progress has been made over the past decade across all areas of development, the pace of progress observed in previous years is insufficient to fully meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets by 2030. Time is therefore of the essence. Moreover, as the following pages show, progress has not always been equitable. Advancements have been uneven across regions, between the sexes, and among people of different ages, wealth and locales, including urban and rural dwellers. Faster and more inclusive progress is needed to accomplish the bold vision articulated in the 2030 Agenda.

Factors on Why Bullying is Happening

Bullying can occur from numerous elements. It is less demanding to judge the activities, than the intentions of a man's activity. It is additionally obvious that the thinking on why somebody is bullying another is novel to that person. We can just take a gander at the cases of frequencies of bullying and gather the reasons for them. As indicated by Tenner (2013) one of the variables are dealing with pressure. Numerous students have not figured out how to deal with the weight from neglected desires (their own or those put upon them), or do not have the capacity to take care of an issue in their own life. They vent their dissatisfactions on people around them.

The second factor is media impact. Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State University has directed another examination, which may offer another approach for schools to help profiling students who will probably submit forceful acts against different students. Gentile's investigation included 430 kids between the ages of 7 to 11 years (grades 3-5) from 5 Minnesota schools. He found that presentation to media savagery is one of six hazard variables to anticipate later hostility. Knowing which students have a danger of bitterness can help school authorities to distinguish which students may have a higher inclination to battle or spook others later in the school year.

Gentile, who runs the Media Research Lab at Iowa State, clarifies: “As you gain risk factors, the risk of aggression goes up disproportionally. Having one or two risk factors is no big deal. Kids are resilient - they can handle it. You get to three and there's a big jump. When you get out past four risk factors, risk is increasing at a much higher rate than you would expect.” Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and a former Iowa State psychology professor who works at The Ohio State University faculty state that the effects of media violence exposure may actually be underestimated by previous scientific measures in combination with other risk factors. Their study is a first to combine various risk factors to predict future aggression in students.

Besides that, the students are untaught. According to Tenner (2013), sometimes a bully hasn't learned the proper way to interact with others or the right way to get what they want. Teaching a child how to speak to others and respect their boundaries is always important. Give them alternative ways to communicate. You cannot change a persons' behavior if you do not address and change the cause of that behavior. To simply chastise a student for bullying without addressing their inner motivations and reasons for bullying leaves the student with the same means of "communicating" in future conflicts. When parents and teachers work to address the root cause of the issue, they are able to train students in new and alternative ways to deal with problematic situations.

According to Charlotte Mills (2015), “communicating with the target audience is similar in principles as story-telling. There is the presence of a structure and features that not only captivate attention, but fully immerse your audience into the story leaving a long-lasting impression.” These stories can be told in a number of ways, including conventional as well as non-conventional advertising and in-person brand experiences and so forth.

Definitely, in a time where sight and sound has turned into a main advertising instrument, with credits to any semblance of Youtube, Facebook, and Vimeo, an advertising content to a worldwide market has never been all the more simple and compelling.

The idea of composing a story interpretation is challenging, yet fulfilling. It is regularly crafted by an inventive and vital group, translating model, statistic and psychographic data at that point suggesting imaginative components to make passionate engagement that is significant and affecting. A decent story through promoting has many elements. These come from everything from the dialect, to the substance and creation ought to impart the substance honestly. The story imparts mark esteems to the group of onlookers, and with more individuals settling on cognizant choices with buys, it is more vital than any other time in recent memory to be certified.

As indicated by Unicef Malaysia (2017) on #WorldChildrensDay uncovers that right around 7 out of 10 youngsters in Malaysia stress a great deal over bullying, contrasted with just 3 out of 10 in Japan or near 4 out of 10 in the UK." This by all methods ensures that the main worry of kids in Malaysia is bullying.

Statistics of children who are concerned and afraid of bullying is high in Malaysia. As said by Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (2017), “84 per cent of children in Malaysia suffer from some form of bullying, with 33 per cent having been bullied online.” As stated by William Doraisamy (2017) “numerous young people today are desensitized to brutality in media.” This means rough films and news about fear assaults and wrongdoing have lessened the estimation of life and the sentiments of worry for others. These hostile to social attributes are typically shown by the culprits, who frequently originate from broken homes or from homes where guardians have lost control of their youngsters or are totally uninformed of what their kids do outside the home.

Storytelling type of advertisements should be introduced and used more often in Malaysia to heighten the sense of empathy among tweens and parents in Malaysia. Storytelling advertising can educate through a different means of bullying for the audience as before this, advocacies about bullying has always been through a platform of direct and awareness campaign, but none about educating and preventing. With storytelling advertising being used, thus the public are more susceptible to change.

Statement of Significance

It is very important to educate and overcome bullying at an earlier stage in life with a subtle and calm way. According to Early Childhood Consultation Partnership, “When conflict arises, approach the situation quickly and calmly, stopping any hurtful behavior or language. It is important to remain calm so that the situation does not escalate. Use a calm, soft voice and position yourself at eye level with children.” Not all parents are aware of how important it is to shape a child at an early age.

In addition, from this campaign, with storytelling advertisement approach will help tweens realize the consequences of bullying and the impacts it has on other children. Other than that, it will help to reduce the statistical data relating to bullying cases in schools and will be easier for teachers and school officials to handle the bullying cases.

There are many people who can benefit from this research study. This research study can help and educate the public more about what is bullying, what should be done when someone is being bullied, etc. The children can be more prepared if faced with a bully and can also educate parents to handle their children and make sure to know and understand their children well. On top of that, this research study can be reached out to the higher authorities to implement a new law for bullying. In Malaysia law, there is no law against bullying that is affected.

Based on data statistics issued by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia shows the difference and the number of reported bullying cases reported more than 14000 cases and has been reported between 2012 and 2015 based on physical bullying. Statistical data released by the Ministry of Education in 2013 in bullying cases in Malaysia was 4,120 cases reported. In 2014, the number of reported bullying cases was 2,825 cases and in 2015 the 2,968 bullying cases reported in Malaysia were bullying cases involving physical bullying. In addition, cyber bullying also shows a great increase in every year among them is that in 2012 the cyber bullying case was 250 cases increased to 291 in 2014 and the number of cyber bullying cases increased by 338 in 2016, indicating that the cyber bullying case is the biggest cause of bullying cases in Malaysia for each year.

Scope, Limitations and Assumptions of the Study

Although the research seems accomplishable, there are some unavoidable limitations. Firstly, this research is conducted in a short-limited time because of the time limit given. The time given is not enough to observe and analyse widely. Furthermore, the questionnaires that was given out to people who fit the criteria which is around are limited for the first 50 people who fits the criteria which is around 10-15 years of age, and lives in Klang Valley.

Secondly, the contents through the limit research might affect the result such as it hard for researcher to arrange tables and graphs.

This paper analyses the human behavior among tweens in bullying behavior and the effect of storytelling advertising in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The Klang Valley was chosen as the study area due to its phenomenal growth in the last two decades that affected the school system as well as the delimitation.

This research will be focus on the impacts of bullying and how to overcome it through educating via storytelling advertising. The aspects that are considered in this research are the location of the research. This research will be done in Malaysia which is more specifically in Klang Valley in the area of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. This is because, the target audience are easily found around the area and it is one of the main locations in Malaysia. Obviously, Klang Valley is a place where it is good for research and collecting data and information from the public.

Other than that, the age range group of people will be tweens. According to Maïthé Levasseur (2007), ““Tween” is a marketing term used to describe preteens ages 9 to 14. Straddling childhood and adolescence, they have a foot in both worlds. When it comes to technology, they rule: they are online longer, adopt and master new technologies faster than adults and participate in a wider variety of online activities. In Canada, 85% of tweens have access to a computer, 82% to a video game system, 25% to an iPod or MP3 player and 16% have a cell phone (this number rises to 26% among 12 to 14-year-olds)” The target audience are tweens. This is because, they are the group of youth mostly involved in bullying in schools. The standards set up to the respondent who lives in the area Klang Valley as the sampling method will be suitable random sampling. The questionnaire will be spread and handed out to the first 50 people who suit the standards.

The following literature review were aimed to gain insights on the storytelling advertising influence human behavior among tweens in bullying. Several studies have been conducted by various researchers worldwide this matter. The following literature review are relevant.

Life in Malaysia can be a beautiful and stressful experience at the same time. Six years of elementary school are necessary for youngsters in Malaysia. Before that, most youngsters go to preschool for a period of time. After elementary school, students may go to secondary school for five more years. Essential training happens in national grade schools and in vernacular schools, the distinction being the dialect of guideline. Although school is thought to be a safe place for youngsters to be educated, there are some negative traits about school that can be very concerning, with some students abusing the use of school.

Bullying Cases in Malaysia

In Malaysia, a few illustrations show that harassing in schools ought to be given genuine consideration. For example, a student from Kuala Lipis, Pahang, faces the risk of paralysis following a kicking in the back with police cadet's shoes into a storage room by a gathering of form five and form three students. The casualty was harassed by form five students and form three students who thumped him down in a storage room. (New Sunday Times, 7 April 2004). This situation is increasingly rising because children and teenagers are now more rapidly growing rough and harsh.

According De Voe, Kaffenberger, and Chandler (2005), bullying can be ordered as rupture of regulation in school. It is a disciplinary issue that has pulled in consideration from the general public and broad communications. This is on account of casualties of harassing have a higher hazard for encountering different mental issues, for example, social and emotional disturbances. Casualties of harassing dread being in school or classrooms since they regularly turn into the objectives of tormenting. This prompts changes in conduct; truancy, wretchedness and an assortment of practices that prompt disappointment in school. This is a significant issue that should be tended to by the school (Edwards, 2004). It is also a challenge and quite difficult to change the perspective of adolescents on bullying especially through an advocacy campaign that is mainly giving information to stop a certain action instead of educating them. Through this research, students react more through an educational impact.

There are a few studies on the conduct of harassing in Malaysia. Abdul-Latif (2005) completed an investigation on 480 students in Johor. The examination found that a select 22.7% expressed that they had been harassed once. 2.5% of students said they were harassed once to two times per week, while 5.6% said they were tormented a few times for each month and 11.9% said they were once in a while harassed (more than once per year). This measure demonstrates the low level of tormenting conduct particularly in the Batu Pahat area. In the interim, Noran-Fauziah (2004) has exhibited that 95.8% of center school students and 82.7% grade school students were mentally tormented while 65.3% of center school students and 56% of primary school students were physically harassed. An analysis by Mahadi (2007) among students of religious school in Sarawak, found that verbal tormenting is the most prevailing type of harassing among students. The examination demonstrated that emotional harassing is more minor than physical tormenting.

The study likewise found that the students regularly progressed toward becoming domineering jerks since they needed to demonstrate that they were solid, and that more established students did it to brag. Thus, this shows that students are more prone to emotional ambiances, and tend to react through expressive tones when dealt with a calamity.

The researcher has decided to choose three aspects of storytelling advertising which are colour, behavior, and emotion. A study regarding colors and their effects on marketing and branding was conducted by David Gadsden in 2014 entitled The Impact of Color in Advertising, Marketing, and Design has shown that color is powerful because it can change our mood – the mood of potential customers. In this sense, it is uncovered to be critical in which we are not guided completely by rationale when making buys. We have a tendency to be driven by less identifiable factors, for example, feelings. Fruitful brands like Harley Davidson don't offer cruisers, they offer a way of life.

In a study titled “Impact of color on marketing,” examiners found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about items can be founded on color alone, contingent upon the item. With respect to part that color plays in marking, comes about because of another investigation demonstrate that the connection amongst brands and color depends on the apparent propriety of the color being utilized for the specific brand (does the color "fit" what is being sold?).

Gaining from this, the investigation has progressed toward becoming something intriguing to complete in watching whether it's actual or not that color can mentally impact humans in the way they think and act.

An investigation paper on making powerful posters has likewise been disregarded for this analysis. In the analysis " Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Posters" by Jane E. Miller (2007) expressed that there ought not be unnecessary data in making publication and just need to center on a few key focuses.

The researcher has observed the past research as a rule in making the set of advocacy posters that the researcher is anticipating making as specified in the study objective, with the goal that the final matters will do as less oversight as could be allowed.