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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Mother’S Gaze And The Model Child: Reading Print Ads For Designer Children’S Clothing, Christopher Boulton
The Mother’S Gaze And The Model Child: Reading Print Ads For Designer Children’S Clothing, Christopher Boulton
Christopher Boulton
To view the video version of this argument, please visit https://works.bepress.com/chris_boulton/14/
This audience analysis considers how two groups of mothers, one affluent and mostly white and the other low-income and mostly of color, responded to six print ads for designer children’s clothing. I argue that the gender and maternal affiliations of these women—which coalesce around their common experience of the male gaze and a belief that children’s clothing represents the embodied tastes of the mother—are ultimately overwhelmed by distinct attitudes towards conspicuous consumption, in-group/out-group signals, and even facial expressions. I conclude that, when judging the ads, these mothers engage in …
Don’T Smile For The Camera: Black Power, Para-Proxemics And Prolepsis In Print Ads For Hip-Hop Clothing, Christopher Boulton
Don’T Smile For The Camera: Black Power, Para-Proxemics And Prolepsis In Print Ads For Hip-Hop Clothing, Christopher Boulton
Christopher Boulton
While much has been written on marketing to children, there remains a curious gap in the literature concerning marketing through children. This study considers print ads for three brands of hip-hop clothing for children (Rocawear, Sean John, and Baby Phat) that appeared in Cookie, a parenting magazine aimed at adults. I argue that, by depicting children in a “cool pose” of “flat affect,” these ads violate social expectations and assert "Black Power" through a para-proxemic challenge to the viewer. The result is a prolepsis — or foretaste of the future — which rhymes the child models with their adult equivalents.