The marketing discourse of "perpetual adolescence," describes the ways in which the advertising industry trains all people, young and old, to be consumers of "youth" in a marketplace that privileges adolescence over adulthood; with ultimate goal of achieving access to an adult wallet that is controlled by a consumer with child-like sensibilities. The discourse of perpetual adolescence has always been present in advertising but came to prominence after WWII when drastic changes in population and the emergence of a new middle class were influential factors in shifting ideologies surrounding...
The marketing discourse of "perpetual adolescence," describes the ways in which the advertising industry trains all people, young and old, to be consu...