Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2658. Adviser: Deanna M. Hoelscher. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study has been to examine the construction of identities that are taking place when Swedish children and teenagers are, according to their local social services, in need of a family home. We have collected and analyzed data in the form of advertisement that is publicly available from the Swedish website Familjehemsbanken.se. It is a kind of marketplace that specializes as a go-between for the local social services in different Swedish municipalities and the presumptive local family homes. The descriptions of the children were looked at through a social constructionism lens where we identified patterns and different themes to which we assigned our own meanings or interpretations, based on the analyzed data and previous research and theories. What we found were broadly categorized into three themes; descriptions that were aiming to sell the kids to prospective buyers (family homes), descriptions that highlighted certain issues or problems that the child needed support with or descriptions that we considered neutral or ambivalent. As we conclude in the study, the descriptions in the last category could also be interpreted as either good or bad, depending on the reader and their own values and life experience. Our results show that even though child auctions (in essence: a form of economic slavery) were abolished in Sweden in 1918, today’s Swedish society are still dealing with socially vulnerable children as they – in practice – are still commodities on a marketplace. The methods and language may have changed, but the end result is still strikingly similar to what happened over a hundred years ago. One of the biggest challenges the authors faced was that it doesn’t exist any previous Swedish research on the subject at hand. We would argue, however, that the marketization of socially vulnerable children is an important issue that should be more deeply and thoroughly researched by further studies on the subject.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: B, page: 1619. Advisers: Steven H. Kelder; Ross Shegog. Includes bibliographical references.

Submitted by Programa de Pós-Graduação em Mídia e Cotidiano (ppgmc@vm.uff.br) on 2017-05-02T17:57:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Ingrid Schumann Seabra Martins.pdf: 3704258 bytes, checksum: 9412a5b301e6d374d65c0630bb61488a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Josimara Dias Brumatti (bcgdigital@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-06-13T17:46:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Ingrid Schumann Seabra Martins.pdf: 3704258 bytes, checksum: 9412a5b301e6d374d65c0630bb61488a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-13T17:46:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Ingrid Schumann Seabra Martins.pdf: 3704258 bytes, checksum: 9412a5b301e6d374d65c0630bb61488a (MD5) / Capes / O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar de que forma a publicidade pode estimular crianças a se tornarem, não apenas consumidores finais, mas também influenciadores na tomada de decisão por parte de quem possui efetivamente o poder de compra. Buscou-se ainda estudar a influência de consumo que a criança pode vir a realizar no seio familiar, no caso de produtos de uso não exclusivamente infantil. Finalmente, buscou-se compreender em que grau a publicidade estaria envolvida no estímulo desta postura específica de consumo, assim como as possíveis consequências deste comportamento na subjetividade infantil. A posição da criança na sociedade passou por mudanças ao longo dos anos: se antes, muitas vezes, ganhava ínfima atenção da família, hoje tem sua opinião amplamente valorizada dentro de casa, ganhando projeção o comportamento denominado “protagonismo infantil”. Este destaque pode ocorrer até mesmo em questões de consumo e é sobre esta via que esta dissertação se debruçou. Foram feitas leituras sobre psicologia infantil, aspectos históricos-sociais da infância, técnicas de marketing e linguagem publicitária voltados a este público, políticas da comunicação publicitária infantil no Brasil e em outros países, além de terem sido analisadas diversas pesquisas sobre consumo e influência de compra em crianças. A partir deste material, partiu-se para a análise de comerciais televisivos e realização de entrevistas com pais de crianças entre 5 e 10 anos. Como principais resultados, identificou-se setenta e sete (77) anúncios de produtos ou serviços de uso familiar ou adulto, com elementos atraentes às crianças, e confirmou-se, nas entrevistas, a influência da publicidade sob o público infantil. Como alguns impactos possíveis deste “marketing de influência” na subjetividade infantil, percebeu-se a própria postura consumista, bem como o chamado “encurtamento da infância” / This study aimed to investigate how advertising can encourage children to become not only consumers, but also influential in decision-making by those who actually have the purchasing power. We sought to investigate the influence consumption that the child may hold within the family, about products created for adults and family. Finally, we sought to understand the extent to which advertising is involved in stimulating this specific posture consumption, as well as the possible consequences of this behavior in the children's subjectivity. The child's position in society has undergone changes over the years: before, it was common to be ignored by the small family, today his opinion is valued in family topics and in other issues as well. This behavior stimulate the rising of the child as a “protagonist”. This reaction can occur even in consumer issues and it is about that topic that this dissertation leaned. We read about child psychology, historical and social aspects of childhood, marketing and advertising language techniques aimed at this audience, political advertising of infant communication in Brazil and in other countries, and analyzed several studies about consumption and buying influence of children. With this material, we observed television commercials and made interviews with parents of children between 5 and 10 years. As main results, it was identified seventy-seven (77) product announcements of produtcts/services for adult or family use, that had attractive elements to children. In the interviews, it was possible to confirme the influence of advertising on children. As some possible impacts of this “marketing of influence” in the children's subjectivity, it was noticed the very consumerist stance, as well as the so-called “shortening of the childhood”.

Det faktum att unga människor, genom sociala medier, i allt större utsträckning erhåller makt att påverka har kommersialiserats av företag genom marknadsföringsmetoden influencer marketing. Merparten av forskningen kring influencer marketing fokuserar dock på företag eller följare – men vad vet vi egentligen om hur dessa influencers själva betraktar fenomenet och sin roll? Vad är det egentligen som driver influencers under 18 år? Denna studie ämnar besvara dessa frågor och därigenom tillhandahålla viktig insikt kring hur företag bäst förhåller sig till gruppen unga influencers. I studien medverkar fem influencers i åldrarna 14–17 år från mobilappen TikTok, där de i skrivande stund har mellan 172 000 till 2,3 miljoner följare. Studien visar på en relativt medveten grupp unga individer med god förståelse för sin roll i marknadsföringssystemet, likväl som för sin roll som opinionsbildare och influencer. Generellt uppvisar de en negativ uppfattning till reklam i allmänhet men en positiv inställning till influencer marketing. De innehar vidare stark kritisk inställning till det som de identifierar som missbrukande av rollen influencer. Trots att influencers främst tycks drivas av personlig vinning så har de en tydlig önskan att fungera som förebild och inspirationskälla. Influencers tycks vidare i stor grad drivas av inre motivationskällor och uppvisar stor personlig integritet samt selektivitet vid val av företagssamarbeten. Ett framgångsrikt samarbete bör därför upplevas som självvalt, innehålla rätt typ av budskap samt ge visst utrymme för egna tolkningar. / The fact that young people, through social media, has increasingly been given the power to influence has been commercialized by companies through the marketing method influencer marketing. However, most of the research on influencer marketing focuses on companies or followers – but what do we really know about how these influencers themselves regard the phenomenon and their role? What is it that drives influencers under the age of 18? This study aims to answer these questions and thereby provide important insights about how companies best relate to the group of young influencers. The participants in the study, which are aged between 14 and 17, are active on the mobile app TikTok. At the time of writing, they have between 172,000 to 2.3 million followers on the platform. The study shows a relatively conscious group of young individuals with a good understanding for their role in the marketing system, as well as their role as opinion leaders and influencers. Generally, they show a negative view of advertising in general but a positive attitude to influencer marketing. They also have a strong perception of possible negative aspects, that they identify as an abuse of the role influencer. Despite the fact that influencers mainly seem to be driven by personal gain, they have a clear desire to act as a role model and source of inspiration. Influencers seem to be strongly driven by internal sources of motivation and therefore show great personal integrity as well as selectivity to collaborations with companies. To achieve a successful business collaboration, the cooperation should therefore be perceived by influencers as self-chosen, contain the right kind of message and finally give enough room for the influencer’s own interpretations.