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PurposeThis paper seeks to report from a qualitative study of the global television concept Pop Idol with the aim of evaluating children's and teenagers' involvement as consumers, both in their roles in purchasing goods and services, and being targets for well‐designed promotional activities.Design/methodology/approachBased on content analysis and interviews with children, the paper analyses the dynamics between marketing strategies, program content and child audiences.FindingsThe paper discusses how young consumers distinguish between two "regimes of truth" in the television concept: first the creation of a superstar, and second the broader phenomenon that Pop Idol represents, which is mainly about creating consumers through participation.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to acknowledging children's perspectives and childhood as not only valuable but necessary to inform consumer research, since children are deeply and unavoidably enmeshed in consumption in fundamental ways.

PurposeThe paper is a viewpoint about Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857‐1929) a known yet misunderstood author, as much appreciated as criticised. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of Veblen's work whilst providing a few keys to his writing and showing the interest of his work for the business and society field of researches.Design/methodology/approachIt starts by presenting Veblen's body of work. Then it turns to a general evaluation of Veblen's work. It finishes with a discussion of Veblen's possible contributions to the business and society field.FindingsFinds that Veblen's work is an attempt to understand the fundamentals of the functioning and evolution of societies and economies and that in many respects he placed great emphasis on the relations between the work of business and society.Research limitations/implicationsThe implications may be theoretical since this paper is an invitation to renew the standard way of studying the business and society field.Originality/valueThis may be seen as a new approach to Veblen's work.

PurposeThis paper seeks to provide a systematic understanding of the controversy surrounding commerce in US schools.Design/methodology/approachThe paper surveys the history, research and policies related to commerce in schooling (1890‐2005) within the USA. The literature is organized according to four emergent US perspectives – protectionist, celebrant, cultural critic, and educated consumer.FindingsThe review finds that dominant US assumptions of commercial media subscribe to a stimulus‐response model of learning, rather than an active model of young people as constructing their own experiences with commercial media. Much of the research and many of the policies about commercial media in schools reflect adult assumptions about how young people learn, rather than provide empirical research about how young people actually interact with commercial texts while in school. The paper questions an excessive emphasis on the texts and technologies of instruction and calls for more empirical research that is grounded in theories of social constructivism, symbolic interactionism, and media education.Research limitations/implicationsThe four dominant media perspectives generated through this review of literature are limited to the USA.Practical implicationsA useful review of literature and schema to inform the understanding of educators, policy makers, and researchers as to the dominant US perspectives about commercial media and the education of young people. The schema can be used as a springboard for research and inquiry into the perspectives and policies of commercial practices and education in other countries.Originality/valueThis paper contextualizes nearly a century of research on commercial media and the education of youth in the USA, and provides a historical and theoretical context for researching education, technology and commerce in the USA and other countries.

PurposeMarketers have increased decision‐making responsibility when they work either directly or indirectly with children and adolescents; a vulnerable sector of the population. These young consumers are the target of much‐criticised practices. The objective of this paper is to lay the foundations of a code of ethics for the marketing industry.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the stakes for marketers are outlined, in addition to an overview of the epistemological and historic foundations of the marketing discipline; materialism, pragmatic utilitarianism and liberalist individialism.FindingsFinds that each of these concepts is subject to allegations of suspicious and outright immoral marketing practices.Originality/valueThe paper gives food for thought on morality, professional deontology, ethics and individual decision‐making responsibility. This code of ethics is designed to serve as a pragmatic paradigm and it is destined for marketers who are both decision‐makers and social stakeholders.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to explore how discourses of children's empowerment through goods have emerged and function as a key narrative among many in children's commercial industries, particularly in the USA and Canada.Design/methodology/approachThe central philosophical and theoretical approach guiding this inquiry rests on the notion that the "child consumer" exists as a rhetorical figure which has an existence that is as consequential as "real," biographical children. The child consumer arises from, and in many ways resides in, discourses produced by marketers, retailers, researchers and advertisers on the pages of marketing publications, often framing the imaginations and guiding the actions of advertisers, retailers, merchandisers and marketers. Articles from trade publications such asAdWeek,BrandWeek,Brandmarketing;KidScreenandProgressive Grocer, in addition to books written by marketers about the children's market since the 1990s, were examined.FindingsThree key themes – choice, recognition and involvement – were found to be the most prominent in framing children's consumption as "empowering."Originality/valueFor scholars and practitioners, the paper offers an approach to understand corporate practice as moral practice by highlighting the ideological justifications presented in defense of promoting children's consumption in the last decade. It offers a cautionary tale about the power of capital to produce and deploy social meaning.