SE6001 - Representation of Young Children: A Critical Analysis

This essay provides a critical analysis of the representation of young children in a Pampers advertisement, exploring the social constructions of childhood and the potential for creating socioeconomic inequality. It examines how the advert targets a specific demographic, constructing childhood as a social capital investment and highlighting the role of multimodality in conveying its message. The analysis draws upon sociological perspectives to discuss how the representation can reinforce unequal childhood experiences related to social status and economic background. By deconstructing the visual and textual elements of the advertisement, the essay reveals the underlying assumptions and implications regarding the value and care associated with children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, further exploring the societal attitudes and inequalities that are subtly conveyed through the representation.

Student I.D: 16018730
Context of representation (Retrieved from Lee 2001)
Objects and ideas that are used to infer or bring other meaning especially based on
ideas correlating to what people see and imagine are mostly known as representation.
According to Holland (2004), she states that every human being is involved and
included in many form of representation and ideas of representation, and images, which
represent and conceited contention of social wellbeing.
With respect to pictorial representation, the context of this representation is both about
child and mother advert on pamper (Lee 2001, p.39). It has been set in the marketing
context to promote the sale of pampers considered to be of higher quality. The purpose
of this representation is to inform mothers or adults with children about the presence of
high quality and organic pampers for children. It is also used to advertise and attract
customers to buy it. The main purpose of this advertisement is to promote the sale of
pampers. From the advert, it is clear that pampers is of high rating compared to other
brand napkins. Thus the advert seeks to promote the market of pampers which targets
certain group of individuals. The representation targets a group individual coming from
high social status. The presence of brightness and high quality pampers can only be
likened to a group of financially stable persons.
Considering the type of language used in the advertisement, the projection or choice of
words is essentially meant for a specific group of individuals mostly parents with high
level of income and have the ability of buying pampers and is literate associates with it.
According to Kress (2010), words are deliberately chosen by the creator of the
representation in order to convey specific message to target audience. From the

representation, the advert has been used to target the rich families thus eliminating
households with law income since they are likely to go for cheaper products compared
to pamper.
In this representation, construction of childhood as a social capital investment has been
depicted by these representation. According to Penn (2018), the construction of
childhood as social investment in this globalized economy shows how life chances and
social inclusion are becoming more dependent on capital. The use of pampers in the
advert represents an investment made by the parents who are in the high-income level
to their children. From the perspective that is brought out by Kress (2010), the pampers
advert uses multimodality and digital technology to make interaction between these
channels of communication possible (Lupton 2014, p.351).
From the advert of pampers, the creator has made distinctive choice of color, image and
text to mode mental image that is intended for the views. In this case, just as it has been
asserted by Kress (2010), different modes have been integrated to create the planned
image. The image used in the picture above contains bright colors such as blue and
white which have been used by the creator to enable the pictorial representation of the
pamper to be conspicuous so that it could easily capture the attention of the prospective
clients who come from families with high level of income. The choice of bright colors
was intended by the creator to bring the sense of bright and good care associated with
the ability of wealthy parents to provide for their children.
The representation creates an environment of social economic inequality in childhood
and gender. The idea brought by this representation is the inequality seen in children.
As Holland (2004) argues, the representation puts pressure on real family since not all
children are born in families that are not financially stable therefore choose to use
cheaper products compared to pampers. As evident from the pamper advert that it
targets a specific group who are of higher social class compared to others. Un-equal
childhood comes into play from the advert in the sense that some parents from higher
social status have the ability to buy the organic pampers for their Children.
On the contrary, some parents are not in a position to afford such expensive pampers
thus resolve to buying cheaper versions due to poverty. With reference to unequal
childhood, the pamper representation brings us the picture of what goes on in the
society. Some parents cannot afford to buy the expensive pamper brand thus opt for
cheaper alternatives. This is due to their low levels of income that force them to raise
their children in such conditions. Consequently, the rich parents do not find any difficult
and are more willing to go for the expensive piece of diaper for their children.
Additionally, this pictorial representation brings further the sense of unequal childhood
with reference to cultural and social status that children grow in. as can be seen from
the expensive pamper. We can see that there are children who are brought up in high

social status and cultural background that pave way for their success while others
especially those from poor backgrounds such as street children are deprived of some
social opportunities to try new things.
Families from higher social status would want to associate themselves with the high
quality product thus will opt to buy the organic pamper. Due to financial constraints on
households with low income, managing to buy the high quality products becomes
strenuous, as it is not on their capability, as Holland (2004) puts it, the advert of above
puts pressure on real families especially those families facing the viscous circle of
poverty.
From the description of representation, we are able to know, it is possible to show that
childhood is unequal due to a number of factors (Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence 2013).
The representation brings the attitude of unequal statuses that exist within the society.
Not all people have the ability to afford certain products in the market. From the word
go, the advert distinguishes itself and identifies with persons from the higher class of
economy. The inequality among children can further be seen through their different
races, color, gender and sizes in addition to social status as depicted by (Dahlberg,
Moss, and Pence 2013).
Even though the creator of the representation does not intend to show inequality in
childhood, we can still find these aspects from the representation. This advertisement
may not make sense to peoples living in poverty. According to Clark (2010),
consequently, the advert shows inequality as seen in the choice of household. The
household chosen depicts individuals from higher status of life who are the target of the
representation. Bright color dominates in the representation and this qualifies individuals
with bright future. The households from low income have been segregated from the
advertisement, which actually a talk of high price of pampers. Consequently, inequality
is conveyed from the advert in the sense that the mode of delivery can only be
accessed by the rich.
This is due to their low levels of income that force them to raise their children in such
conditions. Consequently, the rich parents do not find any difficult and are more willing
to go for the expensive piece of diaper for their children. Additionally, this pictorial
representation brings further the sense of unequal childhood with reference to cultural
and social status that children grow in as can be seen from the expensive pamper. We
can see that there are children who are brought up in high social status and cultural
background that pave way for their success while others especially those from poor
backgrounds such as street children are deprived of some social opportunities to try
new things. Such kind of advert can be viewed through television and other electronic
devices, which may not be readily available to families with low income. Financial
constraints on households with low income, managing to buy the high quality products

becomes strenuous, as it is not on their capability. In general, the advert represents
inequality that exists in childhood (Wyness 2011, p.13). As denoted by Kress (2010),
modes are used by different people to communicate information which recognizable in a
particular culture. Additionally, modes have been used by the creator so as to create a
holistic image. The representation above may arouse the issue of inequality since it is
apparently sense of inequality (Clark 2010 p. 11)
List of References
Clark, RM 2010, ‘The Context of Childhood’, in Clark, RM, Childhood in society for Early
Childhood Studies, learning Matters, London Metropolitan University,LMU pp. 5-16.
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. and Pence, A. (2013) Beyond quality in early childhood education and
care: languages of evaluation (3rd ed.), London: Routledge.
Holland, P. (2004) Picturing Childhood: The Myth of the Child in Popular Imagery, London:
Taurus (E book http://catalogue.londonmet.ac.uk/record=b1683402~S1 ).

Kress, G. (2010) Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication,
Abingdon: Routledge.
Lee, N 2001,’ begins in their own right? The recognition and mis-recognition of children’, in
Lee, N. Children and Society: Growing up in an age of uncertainty, Maidenhead, Berkshire,
Oxford university press. Pp 36-54.
Lupton, D. (2014) ‘Precious, Pure, Uncivilized, Vulnerable: Infant Embodiment in Australian
Popular Media’, Children in Society, Vol. 28, Issue 5, pp 341-351.
Penn, R 2018, ‘Perspectives of Childhood’, in M Richard, Childhood Studies: A Reader in
Perspectives of Children, Routledge, London metropolitans University, LMU, pp. 7-38.
Solstad, C. (2019). Two HIGH Value Pampers Coupons - My Crazy Savings. [Online] My Crazy
Savings. Available at: http://mycrazysavings.com/2016/05/two-high-value-pampers-coupons/
[Accessed 16 Mar. 2019].
Wyness, M 2011,’The Social Meaning of Childhood’, in Wyness, M., Childhood and Society: An
introduction to the Study of Childhood, Palgrave MacMillan, London Metropolitan University,
LMU, and P 9-29.