University of Vermont student Rachel Franz developed a coding tool to evaluate pro-consumer indicators in picture books.

While working as a babysitter and nanny, University of Vermont student Rachel Franz, a double-minor in studio art and green building and community design, noticed that many of the picture books she was reading to children were reinforcing materialistic behavior with consumerist messages. So for her senior thesis, she decided to do a study of 30 picture books written between 1998 and 2012, from a list of Caldecott Medal Winners, New York Times bestsellers, and books recommended by librarians. 

[Franz] created a comprehensive and unique coding system that identified 50 indicators across 10 categories representing different ways in which picture books can promote and discourage the consumer socialization of readers. Text and illustrations were coded to measure the occurrence of indicators of consumerism or counter-consumerism across five themes: individual material orientation, interpersonal material orientation, social norms, commercialization and environmental messages.

 

Some of the 37 pro-consumer indicators included “desire for more stuff,” “material goods as a vehicle for approval/gaining friends” and “focus on objects instead of peers in social setting.” Among the 13 counter-consumer indicators were “self-acceptance,” “sharing,” and “positive orientation to the outdoors/inspiration.”