Publicidad y menores: qué piensan las madres

index●comunicación Revista científica de comunicación aplicada nº 15(1) 2025 | Pages 77-97 e-ISSN: 2174-1859 | ISSN: 2444-3239 To quote this work: Donstrup, M. & García-Estévez, N. (2025). Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers. index.comunicación, 15(1), 77-97. https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/15/01Ymenor Advertising and Children: the Viewpoint of Mothers PUBLICIDAD Y MENORES: QUÉ PIENSAN LAS MADRES Received on 10/09/2024 | Accepted on 19/11/2024 | Published on 15/01/2025 https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/15/01Ymenor Mayte Donstrup | Universidad Rey Juan Carlos [email protected] | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6236-4967 Noelia García-Estévez | Universidad de Sevilla [email protected] | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7871-2345 Abstract: This article explores the role of mothers in the literacy of media advertising by focusing on their perception of advertising aimed at children of preschool age in Spain. It analyses how they evaluate advertising discourse, especially branded content, and the features they consider important in advertising aimed at their children. This research is based on focus group discussions with mothers, which show that they engage in the critical assessment of advertising messages by playing the role of "gatekeepers" in commenting on the adverts and explaining them to their children. The mothers advocate for stricter regulations, especially in the food industry. Although they can recognise branded content, they initially did not associate it with advertising due to its playful and narrative format. However, they conclude that this type of content can be useful if it is clearly labeled as advertising and promotes educational values and healthy lifestyles. Keywords: Media Literacy; Children's Advertising; Branded Content; Mothers. Resumen: Este artículo explora el papel de las madres en la alfabetización mediática publicitaria, enfocándose en su percepción de la publicidad dirigida a niños en edad preescolar en España. Se analiza cómo evalúan el discurso publicitario, especialmente el branded content, y qué elementos consideran importantes en los anuncios para sus hijos. La investigación se basa en grupos de discusión con madres, revelando que estas realizan una lectura crítica de los mensajes publicitarios y ejercen un rol de "gatekeeper", comentando y explicando los anuncios a sus hijos. Las madres abogan por una regulación más estricta, especialmente en la industria alimentaria. Aunque reconocen el branded content, inicialmente no lo asocian con la publicidad debido a su formato lúdico y narrativo. Sin embargo, concluyen que este tipo de contenido puede ser efectivo si se etiqueta claramente como publicidad y si promueve valores educativos y estilos de vida saludables. Palabras clave: alfabetización mediática; publicidad infantil; branded content; madres. index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 78 1. Introduction Advertising in its various formats is omnipresent in our daily lives as citizens. As such, it can be inferred that citizens need sufficient critical thinking skills in order to grasp the messages and their intent; in other words, people must have media literacy skills. This study defines media literacy as the ability to decifer, evaluate, and analyse media content in a variety of formats (Aufderheide, 1993). In particular, this paper focuses on understanding the unique features of advertising literacy, or in other words, literacy related to the persuasive discourse communicated through the media. More specifically, we will analyse the mother’s role in monitoring children's advertising, and especially branded content, by looking at what they think , how they evaluate advertising discourse, and the features they believe should be included in advertising aimed at children. Branded content refers to the creation of relevant and engaging content associated with a brand, which is aimed at consumers, the goal of which is to build an audience and make an emotional connection with them (GarcíaEstévez & Cartes-Barroso, 2022). This type of content includes video, audio, story-telling, and games (Muntinga et al., 2011), which is presented in a nonintrusive way, implicitly conveying the values of the brand. Interaction with this type of content improves attitudes toward the brand (Schivinski et al., 2016), fosters loyalty (Helme-Guizon & Magnoni, 2019), and can increase purchase intent (Carlson et al., 2019). This approach becomes especially relevant with children, where brands try not only to capture their attention, but also to build trust and loyalty with their parents through content perceived as entertaining and useful. 2. Advertising Literacy The media landscape is constantly evolving, and advertisers are adapting their formats to an ever-changing environment (De-Pauw et al., 2018). For example, contemporary advertising combines traditional formats with the integration of adverts into other types of content, whether it is fiction, information, influencer marketing, or interaction with the brand (Daems et al., 2017; Hudders et al., 2017; De-Pauw et al., 2018). In this ever-changing context, there is a need to understand how audiences engage with different types of advertising formats, and a need for media literacy as well. According to Malmelin (2016), media literacy refers to the ability to read and critically analyse different types and means of media depiction. This author offers the following description: Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers | Donstrup & García-Estévez 79 From a theoretical perspective, literacy is an umbrella term that comprises different types of reading and interpretation. In practice, literacy is the individual’s personal ability to understand different kinds of signs and symbolic systems and, on the other hand, the ability to produce different kinds of messages by using these symbolic systems (2016: 131). Advertising literacy is based on these assumptions. Moreover, it posits the idea that in order to interpret the symbolic systems of the media society, individuals must possess at least some literacy skills related to the specific symbolic system in question (Fernández-Gómez et al., 2023). In this regard, advertising has unique communicative features that require specific reading and writing skills, which are different from those required for understanding other symbolic forms of communication (Malmelin, 2016). Thus, advertising literacy can be defined as the beliefs shaped by consumers related to the motives, strategies, and tactics used in advertising (Rozendaal et al., 2013). Similarly, according to Pérez-Sánchez et al., advertising literacy is defined as «the collection of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for understanding and critically analysing the advertising information we receive, and for making informed decisions about the consumption of goods and services» (2021: 305). In similar terms, Livingstone and Helsper define advertising literacy as «the ability to critically analyze and evaluate advertising, including an understanding of advertising messages, the techniques used, and the goals of advertising» (2006: 145). Regarding the demands that adverts place on the audience for the purpose of being understood, Scott argues that advertising text implies that the reader must have the following skills: The reader must be selective, active and sceptical during the reading experience […] able to make subtle inferential distinctions using a variety of verbal and non-verbal cues, simultaneously an agile reader, who can change frames and strategies even within the temporal space of a single reading, and alter expectations, as the textual task seems to suggest an experienced reader, one with a broad-based interpretive repertoire, including a capacity for highly metaphorical, imaginative thinking (1994: 475). 2.1. Advertising Literacy and Children If advertising literacy requires the critical ability to recognise the symbolic capital of the advertising ecosystem, whether media, social, or economic, (Scott, 1994; Fernández-Gómez et al., 2023), and if we consider this ability in index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 80 children, we find that the latter are in the midst of a process of cognitive and social development. De-Jans et al., (2017) reviewed ten years of research (2006-2016) on advertising targeted at children, and identified five areas of study: (1) the effects of advertising; (2) the processing of advertising; (3) the content and features of advertising; (4) social influences; and (5) the protection and empowerment of children. As for the processing of advertisements, an area where research related to advertising literacy takes place, various studies highlight the lack of attention from academia to new formats (De-Jans et al., 2017; Fernández-Gómez et al., 2023), which creates a gap in the academic literature on how to help children activate their advertising literacy in the face of embedded formats. The limited number of studies investigating non-traditional advertising literacy in children focus on formats that combine information and entertainment, such as product placement (De-Jans et al., 2017), brand placement (De-Pauw et al., 2018), advergames (Mallinckrodt & Mizerski, 2007; Hudders et al., 2017; DeJans, et al., 2024), as well as banners (De-Jans et al., 2020), interactive ads on social media (De-Pauw et al., 2018; Taken-Smith, 2019; Feijoo & Sádaba, 2022; Taken-Smith, 2022), and influencer marketing (van-Dam & van-Reijmersdal, 2024). Regarding the latter, it is worth highlighting the findings of van-Dam & van-Reijmersdal (2024), who observed that adolescents showed greater affinity and compassion toward advertising content disseminated by influencers, rather than critically analyzing the messages. In terms of age range, a systematic study by Fernández-Gómez et al., (2023) points out the need to expand the knowledge of media advertising literacy in preschool-aged children. As for the preschool stage, other variables come into play, such as the role of parents and educators. As noted by the AdLit project (Hudders et al., 2017), the information provided by parents can be used to develop educational programs and awareness campaigns. Regarding empirical studies that explore the role of parents in childrens’ advertising literacy, some that stand out include the work of Oates et al., (2014) and Dens et al. (2007), who focus on television advertising in the food industry. Both studies identify the role of parents as gatekeepers and point to the multidimensional construct that operates at the moment of consuming advertising messages. This includes activating awareness of the commercial intent behind the message, the potential conflict it may generate, and an independent component related to the advertised food items. Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers | Donstrup & García-Estévez 81 3. Objectives Based on the theoretical framework, the main objective of this study is to analyse the role of mothers in the advertising literacy of preschool children in Spain, as well as their involvement in how their children consume advertising content, especially branded content. Thus, by considering advertising formats and the focus of the study, which is mothers of preschool children, this paper has taken an exploratory approach. The specific objectives are as follows: 1. Determine the level of knowledge and understanding that Spanish mothers have of advertising strategies aimed at preschool children. 2. Evaluate the influence mothers have on how children interpret and respond to advertising messages. 3. Identify the mothers' perceptions and attitudes toward the use of branded content with preschool children as a communication tool. 4. Methodology To achieve the proposed objectives, the authors have used one of the quintessential techniques for media literacy studies, which is the focus group. A focus or discussion group is a qualitative data collection method that seeks to understand how a group of people interpret a phenomenon through group discussion. The participants are brought together by the researcher, who sometimes acts as the discussion moderator as well. Morgan explains the concept as follows: «Focus groups are group interviews. A moderator guides the interview while a small group discusses the topics that the interviewer raises. What the participants in the group say during their discussions are the essential data in focus groups» (1997: 1). The key aspect of this technique is the interaction and debate among the participants: «In a lively group conversation, the participants will do the work of exploration and discovery for you. Similarly, they will not only investigate issues of context and depth but will also generate their own interpretations of the topics» (1997: 12). In this way, focus group data is produced by interaction between the participants of the group. Individuals present their own viewpoints and experiences, but they also listen to others, reflect on what is being said and, as a result of the discussion, sometimes reconsider their own perspective (Finch & Lewis, 2013). If we consider the specific aspects of media advertising literacy, the discussion was designed according to the guidelines of Rozendaal et al., (2011). The model proposed by the authors differentiates between two domains of advertising literacy. The first is conceptual advertising literacy, index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 82 which refers to the ability to recognize a commercial message and understand its intention. Specifically, this domain includes the following aspects: 1. Recognizing advertising and being able to distinguish it from other media content such as information and entertainment. 2. Understanding the commercial intent, or knowing that advertising aims to sell products. 3. Recognising the source of advertising, or who pays to insert the ads. 4. Identifying the target audience, which means understanding the concept of targeting and audience segmentation. 5. Identifying persuasive intent, or the fact that advertising tries to influence consumer behavior, for instance, by changing people’s attitude toward a product. 6. Persuasive tactics, or understanding that advertisers use specific strategies to convince. 7. Detecting advertising bias, or being aware of the discrepancies between the advertised product and the real product. The second dimension is attitudinal advertising literacy, which is evaluative in nature. This dimension has two components: scepticism toward advertising, or the tendency to distrust advertising, and the level of either liking or disliking the advert. 4.1. Research design Based on the foregoing, three blocks of questions have been compiled with the aim of understanding the following: participants’ perception of advertising, especially branded content; their ability to identify its objectives; and the parents’ evaluation of the advertising discourse, the latter of which is a key aspect of the research. To this end, four discussion modules were developed: introduction (to break the ice among participants); transition (with initial queries about advertising); key module (with questions aimed at reaching the proposed objectives of the study); and a final module (where some activities were developed in order to apply and put into practice the key questions) (Krueger, 1997). In summary, the questions used in the focus groups were as follows: 1º Introduction – The moderator presents the study. – The participants introduce themselves: Could you please tell everyone your name and what type of work you do? How old are your children? Do they go to school or daycare? Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers | Donstrup & García-Estévez 83 – Do you usually watch TV or other entertainment media? When do you do so? Do you watch it with your children? 2º Transition – On television there is a wide variety of formats, one of which is advertising: Could you tell me what you think advertising is? Based on the participants' responses, follow-up questions were sometimes asked, such as the following: What are the objectives of advertising? How do you recognise it? Is it easily distinguishable from other content? – Do you believe advertising is effective? – Do you remember an advertisement that has stuck in your mind? Could you tell us why it was memorable? Do you recall any adverts from your childhood? – We've discussed your childhood memories of advertisements. Now that you are mothers, what do you think of advertising aimed at children? Do you think they should have any specific features, given its audience? Do your children see advertising? The moderator now makes a summary to gather essential aspects of the section and obtain the participants' opinions about the glossary. 3º Key questions – Have you ever heard the term “branded content”? What do you think this concept means? – Do you think branded content is different from traditional advertising? [If there is no response: “Well, the term means…”] In what ways do you believe it is different? – Do you think branded content has a different purpose or advantage compared to conventional advertising? – How do you assess the value of using branded content in communications aimed at children and families? – Do you think branded content might confuse or influence children differently compared to more overt advertising? – How do you think branded content should adapt or take into account the characteristics of the child audience? – Do you think branded content should be subject to regulation or special recommendations when directed at children? index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 84 Activities In this section, several creative activities were carried out in order to understand how mothers would approach their children if they were advertisers. In each discussion group, various advertising pieces were shown as follows: – Exhibition of branded content aimed at children: 1. Barbie (https://www.youtube.com/@BarbieenCastellano/playlists) 2. Frosters by Llaollao (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45p_b49eZBQ&t=10s). Questions asked after viewing: - Could you explain what you have just watched? Reformulation: If you had to explain the clip to a friend, how would you do it? Which characters appear? What story is being told? - In the clip you watched, did anything stand out? If no ideas emerge from the group, ask if they consider it entertainment. - [They should be given paper on which to write notes and later present their ideas. The paper will be collected afterward.] If you were creating adverts and had to develop an ad for: a) A toy, for example, an action figure like Spiderman or Frozen. b) Or a food product like Fantasmikos ice cream or TostaRica cookies, how would you do it? 4.2. Study corpus The research sample consists of two focus groups, each comprising five women who are mothers of at least one preschool-aged child. This approach was deliberately chosen to ensure that the participants had hands-on and meaningful experience with advertising aimed at children, as well as branded content. In the end, the sample included ten people divided into two groups. According to Kitzinger & Barbour (1998), this type of qualitative research does not aim for a higher number of responses; instead, it focuses on meaningful answers. With this in mind, we used small focus groups to create a comfortable environment for the participants to share their opinions (Krueger, 1997). Furthermore, we followed the guidelines of other research into media literacy that have used two focus groups with significant results in the field of communication (Jones et al., 2010; Daems et al., 2017; Powell & Gross, 2018). In fact, as seen in the results, the second focus group led to Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers | Donstrup & García-Estévez 85 informational saturation in terms of the opinions and topics that were emphasised by the participants. As for the participants, they were selected through an open invitation on social media and local community groups, which helped reach a diverse audience. A description of the research subjects is summarised as follows: 1. Total number of participants: 10 women. 2. Age: The participants were between 35 and 50 years old, giving them a mature perspective on advertising and parenting. As for their children, the ages ranged from three to five years old, with one child being a ninemonth-old baby. 3. Family status: All the participants are mothers, which is crucial for the focus of the study, as it aims to understand how mothers perceive advertising and how it is received by their children. 4. Education: The sample includes women with different educational backgrounds, ranging from secondary education to a university degree, which provided a diverse range of opinions and experiences concerning advertising. 5. Media experience: The participants were asked about their media consumption, and most reported watching television and using digital entertainment platforms both individually and with their children. The results section will delve into the specifics of their media viewing habits. The focus groups were held on two dates in July 2024: The 12th and the 21st, with each lasting approximately 1 hour and 23 minutes. The setting for the discussions was a cosy and comfortable room with a table in the centre, which enabled interaction between the participants. To encourage participation among the women, the environment was organized as follows: – Child supervision: The participants' children played in a nearby courtyard and were supervised by two caregivers. This enabled the mothers to feel comfortable and secure while taking part in the discussions, knowing that their children were well cared for. – Relaxed atmosphere: An effort was made to create a stress-free environment where the women could freely express themselves. The conditions of the space, along with the group dynamics, were designed to foster open and honest dialogue. The recordings were later transcribed manually, resulting in a total of 80 pages. Following the recommendations of Krueger (1998), the coding process was facilitated through the creation of a codebook, which highlighted the following key patterns to consider: frequency (repetition of participant index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 92 lower volume of advertising would be more appealing to them, which is in line with other studies on the perception of advertising saturation (CaseroRipollés, 2009; Martínez-Martínez et al., 2017). Consequently, they believe that current legislation is lax with regard to regulating the advertising industry, especially in relation to the food industry. Generally speaking, there is a tendency among the groups analyzed to judge contemporary advertising negatively, both in terms of quantity, as well as narrative quality. However, this is not the case when they reminise about advertisements from their childhood, which are recall with nostalgia. Furthermore, the effectiveness of jingles in recalling ads is worth highlighting (the ad recall factor), which is in line with other research conducted on this topic (Taylor, 2015; Taher & El Badway, 2022). Secondly, with regard to the perception of advertising in their role as mothers, it has been observed that the participants act as gatekeepers. Thus, although the mothers might not initially know the nature of those who transmit branded content, they act as filters by assessing and explaining the content to their children. These results contrast with those found by Cornish (2014), who argues that mothers can only act as gatekeepers if they are familiar with the advertising format beforehand. Therefore, even if their children may have moments of watching television or other digital media alone, the mothers discuss, evaluate, and explain the ads to their children, breaking down the various advertising strategies used to promote products. This is consistent with the findings of Haywood & Sembiante (2023), who found that proper media education of parents leads to healthy media socialization of children. Thus, the results of this study are consistent with those of Oates et al., (2014) and Dens et al., (2007), who identified the gatekeeper’s role, and in their case the focus was on food advertising aimed at children. Regarding the food industry, this sector received the most criticism in our study, with mothers believing that more regulation, or even a ban on promotion, is necessary. These observations are supported by scientific evidence. For example, in the meta-analysis conducted by Meléndez-Illanes et al., (2022), it has been noted that unhealthy food brands are recalled and recognised to a larger extent by children than other categories. Lastly, while the participants had previously interacted with branded content, they had not realised it was commercially motivated. In this regard, the participants believed that the absence of the brand, the entertaining narrative, and the playful nature of the format indicated that it was not an advertisement. Although initially hesitant, the participants believe that Advertising and Children: The Viewpoint of Mothers | Donstrup & García-Estévez 93 branded content is a good way to reach audiences. However, they believe it should be more clearly labeled as advertising, especially in the case of branded content aimed at children. In this regard, the materials that comprise branded content correlate with what the mothers would use if they were designing children's advertising: educational content, social values, and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. We believe this research offers valuable insight into mothers' perception of advertising directed at children. Therefore, we propose that future research should include the opinion of fathers as well, in order to explore how they, together with mothers, perceive and manage advertising directed at their children. Such research would provide a more comprehensive view of family dynamics in receiving advertising messages. Finally, the authors feel it would also be relevant to expand the scope of the study and conduct cross-national comparisons between countries, especially through the use of quantitative techniques that would allow the results obtained to be extrapolated to other regions of the world. Ethics and transparency Conflict of Interest The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Author Contributions Contribution Author 1 Author 2 Author 3 Author 4 Conceptualization X Data curation X X Formal Analysis X X Funding acquisition Investigation X X Methodology X X Project administration X X Resources X Software X X Supervision X X index●comunicación | nº 15(1), 2025 | Monographic 94 Validation X X Visualization X X Writing – original draft X X Writing – review & editing X X References AUFDERHEIDE, P. (1993). Media literacy: A report of the national leadership conference on media literacy. The Aspen Institute. CARLSON, J.; RAHMAN, M.M.; TAYLOR, A. & VOOLA, R. (2019). Feel the VIBE: examining value-in-the-brand-page-experience and its impact on satisfaction and customer engagement behaviours in mobile social media. 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