Reconciliation, Advertising and Childhood

This paper aims at exploring from an interdisciplinary theoretical framework the development of the representation of conciliation of work, leisure and family time in Spanish advertising, in general, and in Spanish advertising addressed to children, in particular. Our argument is structured in four parts: firstly, we tackle the relevance of looking at advertising when presently discussing the theme of conciliation of public and private spheres; secondly, we focus on the stereotypes upon which contemporary advertising constructs its discourse; afterwards, we revise how those stereotypes have been historically informed and how they have evolved; and, finally, we analyse children’s advertising as a case study, since, given children’s vulnerability before media messages, the research in this area is highly needed.