Image in the publicity for teenagers: characteristics and the production of meaning

Abstract

This research discusses the image in publicity for teenagers and its constitutive modes, how its meaning is produced, and its relations with the contemporary environment. The specific contributions of this dissertation and its links with other works are delimited from a prospect of Brazilian researches on adolescence and publicity. The concept of adolescence and its
construction along the 20th century is examined, as well as the traits of the current youth and the role of interaction technologies in the way these individuals communicate. The study points out how any visual product can be a source for empirical research and how the publicity images summarize
cultural trends of a time. The construction of meaning in publicity is characterized, as is the symbolic aspect of commerce and its association to values and lifestyles, besides the match of linguistic and visual messages in advertisement. Ethical and legal issues in teenager-oriented publicity are
also presented. The collection of images analyzed in this research was gathered from advertisements published between November 2009 and October 2010 in the four leading teenager magazines in Brazil – Capricho, Atrevida, TodaTeen, and Mundo Estranho. This material was classified as to the kinds
of product advertised to young people. The analysis of these images revealed seven tendencies, distributed into groups named as follows: abundance of visual references; association of the brand with celebrities; product standing out; the body as a vehicle for subjective expression; participation and interaction of the readers; creation and partnership in events; publicity content in editorial language. For each of the groups, image examples and their characteristics are presented.