Generating ‘happiness’ : a semiotic and thematic analysis on experiences of consumption and media marketing strategies for Inanda parents

Abstract

This dissertation explored ways that parents in Inanda perceive and manage media messages and consumer choices within the generational demands to keep their children happy. Using the interpretive approach, the study looked at semiotic and general thematic analyses to understand the messages that parents respond to when raising young people in this township. The researcher also addressed the dynamic relationships that exist between consumer actions and how parenting takes place in the 21st Century. The study also pursued the main research problem of how the media plays a role in shaping consumer patterns among parents and it also explored the driving force behind Inanda parents’ consumption patterns in trying to create a ‘better’ world for their children by means of buying them material things. To address this, the researcher applied Arnould and Thompson’s (2005) consumer culture theory that looks at a form of material culture that is often driven by the market for consumers to attain a certain lifestyle. The secondary theory is McLuhan’s (1964) communication theory which upholds that the audience is a vital part of the communication process. The two theories are used to better understand how signs and symbols are communicated to consumers via the media, resulting in consumption culture. Using purposive sampling, the researcher conducted face-to-face interviews which were semi structured around the main research questions, with questions that are open-ended for probing purposes (See Appendix C) to critically analyse the effects and influence media marketing strategies have on how consumers receive and perceive these messages. Additionally, photographs of children (with permission from their parents) were used (with children’s faces blurred out) as part of data collection. The messages that are passed on to potential consumers through the media are usually in a form of signs and symbols and to better comprehend the main objective of this dissertation the use of semiotic and general thematic analyses put the researcher in a favourable position to decode, analyse, interpret, organise and define data in line with the view that semiotics is the study of signs and symbols in works of art (Ferreira 2007), while general thematic can be used to make sense of collective or mutual meanings and experiences by concentrating on context through present data (Braun and Clarke 2012). This project moved towards an understanding that media has the power to persuade young people into believing that happiness comes at a price and that their lives will only be perfect if they buy the latest products on the market (Klein 2000).