When Childhood is the Product: Reflections on the Use of Signs in Marketing Practices Directed to Children by the Fashion Industry

Abstract

The article discusses the process and development of fashion as a coercive force of behavior and a social construction element, with an emphasis on the use of children as both active and passive agents of this phenomenon. Children are often driven by parents and guardians to explore their image with the ultimate goal of promoting consumption and imposing behavioral patterns. Through the deductive method, with bibliographic research in the theoretical framework, especially using legislation, scientific articles, and doctrine, the general objective is to analyze the exploitation of children in the fashion industry, investigating how children become a site of symbolic manipulation, where fundamental rights are sacrificed for the sake of visibility and consumption. And since it is a topic in constant evolution, the research does not exhaust itself in this text, deserving of constant continuation and deepening.