Defining Family: Representation and Rhetoric in the Marketing of Shared Mobile Phone Plans

Abstract

In theory, the shared service plans referred to collectively by mobile providers in the United States as “family plans” promote a broad definition of what it means to be a family. While promotional imagery reflects traditional constructions of the family, based primarily on the presence of a child, terms of service state any group willing to enter into a financial agreement can sign up for the shared plan. In exploring the mobile service industry's construction of “the family” this paper argues we must go beyond the traditional semiotic approaches of critical advertising studies that focus primarily on images and instead consider promotional campaigns in their entirety. Through interviews with company representatives, analysis of promotional material and review of companies' terms of service agreements, this paper argues that the ambiguous definition of family reflects the broader tensions and ambivalence embedded in the term.

Keywords:

• Promotional campaigns
• Advertising
• Mobile devices
• Critical advertising
• Methodology

Notes

[1] For practical reasons, images were restricted to point-of-purchase materials. Magazine advertisements were collected from high circulation general interest and targeted publications throughout 2011. Periodicals consulted included TIME, Vanity Fair, Reader's Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, Parenting Magazine, and Ladies Home Journal. Advertisements for mobile service providers appeared in TIME and Vanity Fair, but none promoted family plans. None of the other publications featured advertisements for mobile service providers. Attempts to collect television advertisements from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive, which includes advertisements aired during the news broadcasts from the national networks and CNN, did not yield enough results for analysis.

[2] Online advertisements are often tailored depending on the users' perceived interests and demographics. Although the online portion of the research was conducted using a “research browser”—one that was cleared of cookies and did not have any search history—it is possible advertisements were targeted.

[3] “Latchkey kid” is a term for a child who returns from school to an empty house, usually because his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) are working.