Child Consumption: A Vygotskian Perspective

Within the context of a fast-evolving marketplace where children have become key actors of promotional strategies deployed by global brands on social networks, it is necessary to question the various factors that shape children’s capacity to deal with consumer culture to become not only consumers but also powerful influencers on social platforms such as YouTube or Tik Tok. Immersed in the contemporary mass consumption culture that characterizes Western and fast-growing economies, children gradually learn to talk and think of each other and of themselves as apprentice-consumers, legitimate consumers, and as relevant influencers in the marketplace.

Children are present in the marketplace through a variety of activities such as understanding advertisements, choosing a proper gift for a classmate’s birthday, earning and saving pocket money, buying personal items, ...