Infantilization in 21st century advertising

The consumption orientation of 21st century capitalism – manifested in many ways, but key among them being advertising – is considered to be driven increasingly by an infantilist ethos that targets adults as if they were children. The purpose of the doctoral thesis is to examine and improve a deeper understanding of infantilization as an emerging phenomenon in 21st century with regard to its implementation in Turkish advertising. Consumer infantilization increasingly becomes a technique to attract adults by approaching them like children with advertisements based on the imagination and level of a child. With this regard, the present thesis will demonstrate how and why brands implement the concept of infantilization within the framework of their marketing strategy in Turkish advertisements. Using the qualitative multiple-case study research design, the thesis adopts a psycho-semiotic method within the postmodern worldview by analyzing selected advertising campaigns (226 commercials and 52 Facebook posts) of 60 well-known brands in Turkey between 2004-2018. On a global scale, academic research on infantilization in advertising context in-depth is scarce, and in respect to Turkish advertising even in total absence which is quite surprising. In fact, the Turkish advertising landscape is rich in elements from children's worlds which originally address children, but actually are instrumentalized in particular for adult consumer purposes with the effect that psychic dynamics are activated. For this reason, the overriding aim of the thesis is to reveal how the ideal postmodern consumer – the child-like adult – is attempted to create through infantilization by the means of childhood signs in Turkish advertisements. Thus, the study will show that infantilization has the potential to serve as a catalyst to reinforce consumerist behavior and, therefore, is an effective strategy which is used by companies to manipulate adult consumers within unconscious processes. As a result, the thesis wants to fill this huge research gap by exploring infantilization both in theory and practice.