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Key-words: institutions, market, economic sociology, advertising to children, regulation

 

Discussions on the regulation of advertising for children have increased in the last few years (KELLY, 2010; INSTITUTO ALANA, 2012; INSTITUTO PALAVRA ABERTA, 2011), as much in Brazil as in the rest of the world. They have been occurring within several arenas, but specifically, the economical theory has been used as grounds to defend self regulated advertising, therefore avoiding State regulation (INSTITUTO PALAVRA ABERTA, 2011). On the other hand, those who defend State regulation argue that the consequences of said advertising on children are too prejudicial to be left to market regulation, done through its own companies and private agencies. While this discussion goes on, commercials continue to be aired and frequently watched by children. The goal of this article is to discuss the regulation of food advertising for children on television, through the analysis of commercials aired on three different Brazilian networks. This analysis will be achieved starting from the concept of market, contrasting the economic theory and the economic sociology perspectives. Data gathering was done in three television networks (Globo, Discovery Kids and Cartoon Network), in two different stages, of six days each. Two days for each network, 10 hours worth of recordings, from 8 AM to 6 PM. The first stage: from March 19th to March 26^th, 2012; and the second stage: from April 23^rd to April 30^th, 2012. Weekends were excluded. In a total of 120 hours of recording time, there were 1,689 commercials, not including self promoting commercials from the networks (films, soaps, shows, sports). Out of those before mentioned, 70 were food commercials, of which 10 were selected for the analysis: Ades Juice (carton), Bauducco cookies, Bauducco swiss roll, Danoninho Crush, Del Valle Kapo Juice (carton), Fini jellied candies, Habib’s (Brazlian/arab fast food), McDonald’s, Ovomaltine and Cheetos Elma Chips. The chosen criteria were: a) to be a food or drink commercial; b) commercial aimed at children or of a product that could attract their attention; c) not be an Easter Egg commercial, since one of the stages was carried out right before Easter; and d) be longer than 30 seconds. These commercials were aired 33 times during the research’s period, between a minimum of once and a maximum of six times, the mode airing frequency being four times. The commercials were analyzed through the use of Atlas Ti software. The coding aimed at identifying the information and meanings conveyed by the commercials. Of the selected commercials, none could be easily classified as a healthy food, actually more than half could be considered as unhealthy/junk food when the amount of sugar and fat are taken into account. The Economic theory advocates that commercials are necessary to improve consumer knowledge of the product, however, none of the commercials offered nutritional information or explanations about the possible benefits or damages to one’s health. The commercials appeal to the imagination and the playfulness of the child, seeking to entice and not to inform. One can make an analogy of the advertising market for children’s food with the noxious markets described by Debra Satz (2011), which would be more prejudicial to society, the more efficient they were. On the other hand, this market seems closer to what Fligstein (2001) calls as market as field, where conflicts and disputes build and transform the market. The self regulation theory seems to be an attempt to define different conceptions of control, that will benefit that market’s dominant companies.