The child « in absentia » in furniture retail catalogues

Valérie-Inés de la Ville () and Anne Krupicka ()
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Valérie-Inés de la Ville: CEREGE [Poitiers, La Rochelle] - Centre de recherche en gestion [EA 1722] - UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers - ULR - La Rochelle Université, Axe 2 (2011-2016) : « Marchés, Cultures de consommation, Autonomie et Migrations » (MSHS Poitiers) - MSHS de Poitiers - Maison des sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers - UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Anne Krupicka: CEREGE [Poitiers, La Rochelle] - Centre de recherche en gestion [EA 1722] - UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers - ULR - La Rochelle Université, Axe 2 (2011-2016) : « Marchés, Cultures de consommation, Autonomie et Migrations » (MSHS Poitiers) - MSHS de Poitiers - Maison des sciences de l'homme et de la société de Poitiers - UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: From an interpretive semiology perspective this paper examines the meaning suggested bythe absence of children in newspaper advertisements, commercial websites and catalogue images ofchildren's furniture manufacturers. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the multilayered processinvolved in conveying meaning to the "parent-child cluster" consumer through press and onlineadvertisements designed by children's furniture manufacturers.A corpus of 200 press advertisements and catalogues produced bychildren's furniture manufacturers (particularly IKEA and Gautier) was analysed using a combination ofBarthes' (1964) visual analysis and Greimas' (1987) narrative approach to visual discourses.The scenes portrayed to shape the message addressed to the "parent-child cluster" consumer,suggest that, in addition to fostering positive values such as self-fulfilment and stimulating backgroundfor an active child, they also promote discourses about contemporary childhood and parenthood.This paper highlights how furniture retailers through the figurative choices theymake to portray a child bedroom and to organize a series of child bedroom images within a catalogue,generate a brand discourse aiming to typify representations of childhood imbued with diversecognitive, social and emotional dimensions within diverse cultural backgrounds.

Keywords: Advertisements; Children’s bedrooms; Furniture manufacturers; Retail catalogues; Semiotics of consumption; Interpretive semiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01421226v1
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Published in International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 2016, 44 (10), pp.1-17. ⟨10.1108/IJRDM-05-2016-0088⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01421226

DOI: 10.1108/IJRDM-05-2016-0088

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