10.2478/genst-2019-0008

ADVERTISEMENTS FOR CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS IN WOMEN’S MAGAZINES: TRAITS OF THE DISCOURSE

ALINA-ROXANA POPA The University of Craiova 13, Alexandru Ioan Cuza St, 200585 Craiova, Romania [email protected]

Abstract: Based upon a corpus analysis of the advertisements for children’s products in a 2017 British issue of Glamour, a women’s magazine, the article attempts to identify a pattern of basic cultural ideas and images which advertisers speculate in their attempt to persuade, as symptomatic of cultural values at a given time. Thus, the objectification of human interaction or instilling the urge to compete are but a few. Keywords: cultural context, parenting, stereotyping, target public.

1. Introduction Print advertising in today’s technologised world is undergoing a crisis, as more and more paper-based publications lose ground to online editions. Notwithstanding accessibility dynamics, magazine ads inherit certain traits which make them appealing to advertisers, such as “the ability to reach specialized audiences, audience receptivity, a long life span, format, visual quality, and the distribution of sales promotions devices.” (Wells/Moriarty/Burnett 2006: 225) In fulfilling their conative function, such ads are effective not only in marketing terms, but they also carry meanings that both generate and are generated by needs and cultural values of a particular context. Although the concept of culture has been weakened as a result of postmodern thinking, it is still notable as a research reference point. Linguistic determinism manifests in ad copy as in other types of discourse texts, and stereotypes can be outlined. The context behind ads for children’s products in Glamour, targeted at educated British women, with above-average spending power, allows a discussion about gender roles, about what constitutes good parenting, and the ideals projected upon the new generation. Finally, the corpus analysis of the 13 ads in the issue from July 2017 indicates a collection of

94 recurring images and concepts that pertain to a specific lifestyle, in which human interaction is objectified and values are measured according to one’s achievement, drive to compete and access to privileged status.

2. An analysis of print ads from a cultural perspective 2.1 Contextualising commercial ads in Glamour magazine In 2008, Fletcher noted that, “Pessimistic media soothsayers foretell the decimation, or even the imminent demise, of print media.” (251) Almost a decade later, when Jo Elvin leaves her position as editor-in-chief of British Glamour, a BBC News media editor comments that, along with her,

an era is passing in magazine culture. In the US, the editors of Vanity Fair, Time, Glamour and Elle all departed. Not so long ago Rolling Stone was sold. And in recent weeks Hugh Hefner and Si Newhouse, two giants of magazine publishing, have died. (Rajan 2017)

The managing director of the mass media company Condé Nast Britain, Albert Read, also comments on this event, saying that, while performing her 17-year role at Glamour, “Jo Elvin launched a magazine that defined an age and a generation of young women”, as “Glamour sold more copies in its sector than any other in Europe”. (BBC News 12 October 2017) Such remarks are made while the print industry is faced with crisis, since online editions are taking over and the whole range of communication methods brought along by a different medium need to be adjusted to audiences. Consequently, advertisers are also reconsidering their choice as to where to place their ads and, unavoidably, the construction of ads which are suitable to a different medium. Nevertheless, at least for the present, print advertisements are still a reality and reach a wide target public, matching that of their chosen media. Following “the pressure to increase revenues” (Machin 2008: 197), advertisers need to be persuaded that the attitudes, preferences, education level, values or spending power of a magazine target readership are those that can trigger sales of certain products. Therefore, I believe it is safe to say that ads have to be contextualised around their target public so as to carry out their function. In the same line of thought, Jan Blommaert underlines the fact that an approach to discourse cannot escape an analysis of context:

95 Critical trends in discourse analysis emphasise the connection between discourse and social structure. They locate the critical dimension of analysis in the interplay between discourse and society, and suggest ways in which features of social structure need to be treated as context in discourse analysis. (2005: 39)

The same author explains that, for a type of discourse to fulfil its function, it needs traits that allow it to be decoded in a specific manner, it has to resonate with the message receiver in terms of context:

This capacity to make oneself understood, […] is a capacity to generate an uptake of one’s words as close as possible to one’s desired contextualisation. It is, in other words, the capacity to accomplish desired functions through language. (Blommaert 2005: 68)

Ads are created in a specific context and their occurrence and subsequent decoding create context as well, in a dialogical manner. Thus, we can discern patterns and make generalisations about what constitutes social realities behind the production of such discourse, but up to a point and not in absolute terms. Blommaert also explains that,

[…] whenever we say that text is ‘situated’ in discourse-analytical terms, we seem to refer to forms of strict locality: the unique, one-time, and micro-situatedness of text. From this individual situatedness, larger structures, patterns, or ‘rules’ can then be deduced, but these generalisations do not involve higher-level situatedness: discourse seems to lose context as soon as it is raised above the single-text level. (2005: 67)

Thus, seeing how culture functions as a landmark in research, in our case discourse analysis, we go along with Juliane House, who signals both the erosion of this concept as a result of postmodern philosophy, and its functional validity:

Obviously, there is no such thing as a stable social group untouched by outside influences and group and personal idiosyncrasies, and obviously it is wrong to assume a monolithic unified culture of which all differentness is idealized and cancelled out. Nevertheless, modernist relativation has in practice never yet led to its logical conclusion: the annihilation of research concerned with culture, nor has it prevented researchers from describing cultures as interpretive devices for understanding emergent behaviour. (House 2001: 251-252)

When analysing the cultural context of discourse, we need to refer to the phenomenon of linguistic determinism, according to which “language determines the way we think”

96 (Crystal 1999: 297). This, in turn, can be related to stereotyping in the use of language and the production of a type of discourse that is characteristic of and bears relevance to certain social groups. Thus, the discourse of advertising found in a magazine like Glamour is built on a kind of language use that is preferred by a target readership with a certain level of education. More specifically, this is the case of adult women who graduated from various schools, which allows them to earn salaries above average consumers, and who can indulge in the purchase of fashion and luxury items. Consequently, we can understand that “some discourse [is] the privilege of some people because it is based on exclusive usages of rare resources” (Blommaert 2005: 62). The language of print ads featuring in Glamour reveals class on all its levels: rich vocabulary, complex syntax, accurate morphology, witty play upon words, semantic variety, pragmatic resourcefulness, sensitivity when it comes to issues such as taboos or political correctness etc. In many ways, the language of ads resembles poetry, since it is innovative, it tries to capture our attention and rise above the ordinary. But, unlike poetry or art, its primary function is not upliftingly aesthetic, but prosaically conative. As Guy Cook puts it,

In comparison with literature, ads accept and glorify the dominant ideology while literature often rejects and undermines it. The simple fact that ads answer the brief of their clients accounts for the common perception that, while art is a vehicle of honesty, advertising is more likely to be a vehicle of deceit. (2001: 236)

Moreover, the same author signals the potency of advertising discourse and the multiplicity of levels which it functions on, stressing the fact that it mirrors the underlying mechanisms of society:

[…] ads, despite the belief of manufacturers and advertisers that they exist solely to promote goods, many do many other things as well, and that these other activities are extremely revealing about the needs of contemporary society. (Cook 2001: 233)

For an analysis of advertisements for children’s products in British women’s magazines, we need to bring forward some ideas about gender roles and stereotypes regarding the position of women in the family unit. According to Wallenfeldt (2014), the liberation of women in Britain arose as part of the broader liberalization movement of the 1960s, inspired by similar advancement in the USA. Those were times when,

97 Changes in patterns of employment challenged stereotyped distinctions between the breadwinner and the housewife, as well as stereotypical notions of life as a married couple being based upon a well- understood division of labour within the household. (Wallenfeldt 2014: 357)

Those were times when premises were laid for women to be equal to their spouses concerning both rights and obligations when it comes to parenting roles. Nowadays, at least in public discourse, equality is firmly stated and guaranteed. Thus, we find that parental responsibility falls on “all mothers” and those fathers who are either “married to the child’s mother” or “listed on the birth certificate” (GOV.UK 2018). The same source establishes that the two most important legal rights and responsibilities are to: “provide a home for the child” and “protect and maintain the child”. Other responsibilities are also for:

• disciplining the child • agreeing to the child’s medical treatment • naming the child and agreeing to any change of name • looking after the child’s property (GOV.UK 2018)

However, even if an undiscriminating distribution of roles is guaranteed by such legal dispositions, the psychological dimension fostered by the parents’ particular social and financial standing in bringing up children cannot be clearly circumvented. Moreover, although mothers (or fathers) may be partly unburdened in their efforts by social care facilities, society is unable to ensure a parenting climate that is free from anxiety, prejudice or rigidity in the matter of status determination. As one author remarks, “A recent poll found two-thirds of parents unhappy about the prime role their own wealth (or lack of it) would play in determining their children’s chances of climbing the ladder.” (Whittaker 2009: 322) When speaking about class consciousness in Britain, Andrew Whittaker notes that analysts consider the majority of Britons to be middle class, an assumption established according to one’s income level:

If we do take earnings as the foundation of the current class structure, one generalisation from the many seems vaguely apt: the upper classes will never need a mortgage, the lower classes will never get one and everyone in between is essentially middle class. (Whittaker 2009: 322)

The author also comments about the broad lines according to which class affiliation can be determined, appreciating that income alone cannot account for the subtle distinctions in 21st century Britain:

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To be well educated is to belong to the middle class, even while your earnings might fit the working class model. Conversely, you can own a £300,000 house yet still be judged as inherently working class based on your taste in curtains. (Whittaker 2009: 322)

With class indicators so loosely defined, combined with the amount of emphasis placed on it by individuals, it is easy to understand the level of concern in social conscience regarding the drive to conform. Consequently, as advertisers speculate dissatisfaction and promote the culture of consumption, there is considerable scope for identifying such markers and patterns along a range of examples in a corpus analysis.

2.2 Corpus analysis In what follows, we will consider a number of 13 fractional size advertisements, grouped on one page of Glamour (British Edition) (July 2017: 179). These are all the ads for children’s products featuring in the July 2017 issue of the magazine. Excerpts from each ad will be presented, which are indicative of certain attitudes and patterns. Glamour is primarily a women’s fashion magazine, therefore the type of children’s products advertised suits that profile. Thus, the majority are from the category of kids’ fashion and accessories (eight ads, representing roughly 61% of the total), the rest being care products (covers, nappies, bedding, hospital bags and bundles).

1. NATIVE WILDS – ad for all-in-one car seat cover, nursing scarf, and cart cover: [...] flexible coverage options, so you can maintain eye contact with your babe [...] The natural fabric regulates temperature and protects from UV rays, while being able to store essentials [...] Perfect for parents on the move. Visit www.nativewilds.com

In this ad, there is mention of certain behaviours that are displayed when interacting with children, illustrative of what adequate parenting means: intimate exchange and connectivity with the child; care and protection; the successful management of space; parents value mobility, as they lead active lives. The modern lifestyle is acknowledged, while the close bond with and care for the baby speculate a feeling of guilt. As Alexander (2016) notes, although not obvious, so as not to irritate consumers, this feeling is pervasive in modern advertising. Wage-earning, liberated, 21st century mothers have less and less time for their children, a fact that the culture of objects ardently alleges to compensate for.

99 The reference to the brand website address, which occurs in all the ads in this corpus, proves that products have excellent visibility and immediate availability in today’s globalized and digitized world.

2. BRAPPIES – ad for nappies: [...] sport branded nappies for your baby girl or boy [...] Show that your baby is a real fan since birth! [...] support your favourite team with these high quality and fun nappies.

Parents transfer their hobbies to their babies; products are valued for their high quality, while “fun” is an experience associated with childhood.

3. marc + rafa – ad for children’s watches: […] minimalist children’s watches for kids who dare to dream BIG!

To “dream big” stresses ambition, and achievement nowadays is also measured according to early time limits, in order to get ahead in the rat race. Similarly, measuring time is an activity that hurries childhood into the adult world, a case that is serenely advocated.

4. MALABAR BABY – ad for baby bedding: the latest boho-luxe baby bedding brand created by Anjali, a mom who grew up with one foot in Miami and the other in Malabar Hill. Quality and design […] handmade […], organic […], silky […] that make the perfect gift for any little one around the world!

This ad points at the exclusivity of the product. Exclusivity is validated by high “quality” and good “design”, while the reference to the manufacturing process favours attributes such as “handmade” over serial, machine-made, natural (“organic”, silky”) materials over synthetic fabrics. Within the wider context pertaining to the culture of objects, since such a product will “make the perfect gift”, there is objectification of human interaction. Wolff (1964) defines the phenomenon as follows:

Exchange is the objectification of human interaction. If an individual gives a thing, and another returns one of the same value, the purely spontaneous character […] of their relation has become projected into objects. This objectification, this growth of the relationship into self-contained movable things, becomes so complete that, in the fully developed economy, personal interaction recedes altogether into the background, while goods gain a life of their own. (388)

100 The brand creator is a woman who experienced motherhood, which suggests relevant expertise, therefore reliable products. Moreover, the association of the creator’s background with privileged locations such as Miami in the US, or Malabar, the most exclusive residential area in Mumbai, strengthens the validity of the product as an upper-class marker. A further point can also be made about the pivotal role that the motion of objects has in our consumption culture. As an author states, “The volatility and ephemerality of fashions, products, ideas, values and established practices has encouraged the dynamics of a ‘throwaway’ society” (Bălănescu 2010: 189).

5. TWIDDLE & WINKS – ad for cot sheets and comforters: combines innovation, safety, and style […] These clever products were designed with bubs, toddlers and sleep-deprived parents in mind to help with self-settling, separation anxiety, and poor sleep.

This ad speculates parents’ concern with psychological issues in their children’s development, such as babies acquiring the controversial skill of “self-settling”. We also note the reference to the children’s caretakers as “parents”, a noun that is unmarked for gender. As a matter of fact, reference to parenting roles in discriminatory tones is absent throughout the present corpus of ads.

6. BELLCO KIDS – ad for kidswear: An independent kidswear brand offering a playful alternative to high street fashion. Inspired by the ethos of letting kids be kids, their new summer collection features a bold colour palette which is sure to enhance children’s imaginations.

This ad seeks to differentiate the product from mass-market retail style, which is believed to enhance personality traits, such as imagination.

7. TREASURED PEACH – ad for accessories and decor: […] accessories and decor for a magical childhood. […] felt flower mobile and felt flower garland from the Enchanted Garden Collection […]

In this case, we note the objectification of a stage in human development as, apparently, in order to be “magical”, childhood needs certain “accessories and decor”.

8. MISS GUILTY – ad for garments:

101 A new urban brand that offers matching on trend garments for you and your mini-me because nothing says adorable like matching mother-and-daughter outfits.

We recognise the proliferation of the self and the handing down of values to the next generation through the following of fashion trends.

9. YOUR KID’S COMPANY – ad for hospital bags and bundles: […] helping parents and those expecting explore and embrace every stage of parenthood. […] the very best products on the market

Such products appear to provide firm support when experiencing parenthood.

10. RADICOOL KIDS – ad for kids fashion: […] awesome styles, the cutest prints, and unrivalled comfort and quality […] a leader in cool kids fashion.

Competition starts early in life, since children need superlative products in order to be “cool”.

11. CANDY LANE KIDZ – ad for clothing and accessories: […] a children’s lifestyle boutique […] offering the coolest trends for your one-of-a-kind child.

It seems that childhood is no longer that stage in human development when boundaries between individuals are blurred, when innocence blends and dissolves differences.

12. MORTON & MABEL – ad for clothes: […] timeless, functional pieces for busy kids […] recycled materials […] reducing waste and cost. Take the stress out of your child’s wardrobe, and provide options that span the day of a child. Ignoring fashion’s calendar their collections strive to create true seasonless pieces that give you the most bang for your buck.

In a metadiscursive manner, this ad highlights the fact that, in order to follow the “fashion’s calendar”, shopping for a child’s wardrobe is a stressful activity.

13. ISABELLA COUTURE – ad for dresses: […] a high-end couture dressmakers for children and women catering to the finest international clientele. […] incredible brand […] stunning collections […]

102 Again, difference arising from class affiliation is embraced and encouraged. But advertising discourse is not supposed to redress inequalities, it does not have a social agenda. Conversely, in its attempt to persuade, it draws upon the values of a society, therefore it is symptomatic. Moreover, in a vicious cycle, it also reinforces and perpetuates these values through its very existence. Regarding the use of phrases like: “high-end couture”, “children’s lifestyle boutique”, “busy kids”, “a real fan”, “dare to dream BIG”, high street fashion”, accessories and decor” etc., all these denote notions that are typical of the adult life in today’s world.

3. Conclusion Not forgetting that absolute generalizations cannot be made above text level, the discourse of such ads is situated in a wider context of popular magazine culture which, at present, is undergoing a crisis of exposure as a result of technology. The image of children and childhood as speculated in these ads converges towards a crucial ideological dimension: there is preoccupation with achievement, high social status and power, while beauty and elegance are ubiquitous in a world where human interaction is objectified. Women, as the main target public of these messages, or parents, in broader terms (as parenting gender roles appear to be undifferentiated), are responsible for providing children with a plethora of objects which are not essential for survival, but for creating a coveted exclusive image, in a frantic effort to hurry children into adulthood.

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