Childhood's end? Marketing actions and the "premature adulthood" of the child consumer/O fim da infancia? As acoes de marketing e a "adultizacao" do consumidor infantil

The main purpose of this paper is to critically analyze childhood representations that appear in a children clothes company's marketing actions, to reach an understanding of this actions' contribution to the "premature adulthood" of the child consumer. We analyze two communication campaigns (Autumn/Winter 2008 and Spring/Summer 2008/2009) of Lilica Ripilica, a well-known brand in the Brazilian children market. To do this we use the method of critical discourse analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001), in three stages: textual analysis (a "discription" of the texts); processual analysis (analyzing texts and the discourse practice); and social analysis (understanding the social and cultural effects of the discourse practice). As a result, our analyzes reveal that the brand's discourse aims to "teach" children beauty standards and behaviours that are related to the adult world, something which reinforces the indissociation between child/adult. A similar reality was indentified in the Middle Age literature (ARIES, 1981). This paper's contribution involves the observation of this same indissociation, but in a diferent perspective: the "premature adulthood" of children as a way of socialization in the consumer market. The research shows that a new model of miniature adult seems to be constructed by the actions of marketing.