Pedagogy of advertising and production of contemporary children’s culture

Abstract

The article, which is a result of empiric research, discusses the relationship between advertising and the construction of contemporary children’s culture. Taking as its primary theoretical reference Bauman’s view on consumerism as a mark of contemporaneity, the text analyzes three television advertisements, which is a result of empirical research, in which children are the main protagonists. It also uses data resulting from two meetings held with children of a public pre-school of Novo Hamburgo, state of Rio Grande do Sul. The analyses show that the child image is used to motivate adults and children to consume through two distinct poles of childhood representation: the nostalgic child (related to the notion of a debt related to childhood) and the “adult” (precocious, prematurely eroticized) child. The former pole, the nostalgic child, is mainly used in advertising targeted toward adult viewers, while the latter one, the “adult” child, appears in advertisements that try to address children. As for the meetings with children, the study results point out the close relationship between their statements and the advertising lessons, which involves a gender-related playing and a symbolic game based on the television production to which they have access.

Key words: childhood, pedagogy of advertising, children’s culture; consumption.