"They Are Totally Unfiltered": Constructions of the Child Audience among Swedish Advertising Producers. (November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martínez, Carolina
• Is Part Of: Television & new media. Volume 17:Number 7(2017)
• Page Start: 612
• Page End: 628
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Subjects: audience constructions -- imagined audiences -- marketers -- advertising practitioners -- online advertising -- children; Télévision -- Aspect social -- Périodiques; Télévision -- Aspect économique -- Périodiques; Médias -- Publics -- Périodiques; Civilisation -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Television broadcasting -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Digital media -- Periodicals; 302.234505
• DOI: 10.1177/1527476416637676
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1527-4764

Abstract

This article analyzes how producers of advertising construct children as an advertising audience. Previous research has argued that marketers are bound to present children as competent and savvy to legitimize their own practices. Drawing on interviews with Swedish producers of child-directed online advertising, this study shows that marketers are not destined to portray children as competent as the idea of the vulnerable and incompetent child was an important construction among the Swedish producers. The Swedish producers constructed a multifaceted and ambivalent image of children, mixing the idea of the vulnerable and dependent child with the idea of the competent child. This study contributes to the wider understanding of media producers' constructed audiences, particularly regarding how culture and media regulation shape the notion of the child audience among producers.