The representation of shopping in children’s books

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the representations, figures and processes of shopping/commerce in books published in France that are aimed at three to seven-year-olds. Design/methodology/approach A semiotic analysis of nearly 50 books published over the past 60 years. Findings Thes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of retail & distribution management 2016-10, Vol.44 (10), p.976-995
Main Authors: Badot, Olivier, Bree, Joel, Damay, Coralie, Guichard, Nathalie, Lemoine, Jean Francois, Poulain, Max
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Bookstores
Business administration
Children & youth
Childrens literature
Childrens picture books
Consumers
Families & family life
Humanities and Social Sciences
Knowledge
Libraries
Materialism
Parents & parenting
Reading
Retail stores
Shopping
Socialization
Studies
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Summary:Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the representations, figures and processes of shopping/commerce in books published in France that are aimed at three to seven-year-olds. Design/methodology/approach A semiotic analysis of nearly 50 books published over the past 60 years. Findings These books reveal a broad diversity in the images of shops given to children (ranging from the traditional shop, a source of pleasure and creator of social ties, to the hypermarket/megastore, a symbol of stress and overconsumption) and the wealth of information that is given to children to help them assimilate the process of a shopping transaction. Originality/value The originality and richness of this research lies in its methodological approach. Indeed, it is perfectly aligned with a recent academic trend that calls on researchers to mobilise and compare new data collection tools to apprehend current and future consumer behaviour. Consequently this research is based on an immersion in children’s books that depict the world of commerce in one way or another.
ISSN:0959-0552
1758-6690
DOI:10.1108/IJRDM-08-2015-0134