Furry Children. Similarities and Differences in Baby and Pet Food Advertising

Abstract

In recent years, the relationship between humans and pets has undergone a significant transformation, approaching parity with that between parents and children. This transformation can be understood in the context of animist ontology, as outlined by Descola (2005). The phenomenon under discussion is the “complex articulation of social and affective relations that generates an unprecedented form of kinship, a kinship in which the animal also has its own roles, depending on the subject with which it enters into a parental relationship” (Marrone 2024, p. 187). This shift is evident, at least in part, in the discourse of pet food advertising. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of a corpus of Italian and foreign commercials aimed at child and pet food sponsorship. The aim is to trace the transformation of the human-animal relationship over time.