The Reconstruction of the “Youth Ideal” in Narrative Advertising

Abstract

It is asserted that the period of aging and society has a high correlation while aging can be considered as a formation of social institutions that provide a specific type of discourse in a life course. It is assumed that this discourse can have the potential to construct hierarchical stratification among age grades which can also cause ageism. It is asserted that a so-called postmodern world is constructed in a discourse where youth and its related ideals are centered in all life activities, which can commonly be observed in advertisements. The aim of this study is to find out how narrative advertisements reconstruct the ideals of the youth in a consumer society by the help of making semi-structural in-depth interviews with people from four different life stages. Three narrative advertisement examples from three different categories such as; service, durable goods and nondurable goods will be chosen and be analysed through discourse analysis.