posted on 2015-02-24, 11:01authored byQian Gong, Peter Jackson
This article analyses the representation and consumption of infant formula advertising on Chinese television, following the food scare of 2008 when milk supplies were contaminated with the poisonous chemical melamine. Drawing on the concepts of encoding/decoding and ‘circuit of culture’, the article investigates how the Chinese dairy industry encodes the messages of food safety and quality in their advertisements, and how parents decode these messages as part of their daily risk management strategies. Combining a critical analysis of advertising imagery with focus group and interview evidence regarding its consumption, the article suggests that the dairy industry juxtaposed images of science and nature to mediate messages about the quality and safety of infant formula. The study’s evidence confirms that Chinese consumers decode these messages based on their previous experience and knowledge, exhibiting considerable ambivalence about the advertising of infant formula and reflecting significant anxiety about the product’s quality and safety.
Funding
This research was funded by the European Research Council. For more information see http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/conanx
History
Citation
European Journal of Cultural Studies, 2013, 16 (3), pp. 285-309 (25)
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE/Department of Media and Communication