Abstract (eng)
The aim of this master thesis is to analyse the representation of mobile devices - including smartphones, tablets and notebooks - in children's films. In the form of a quantitative content analysis, 60 children's films of the past nine years, all of which ranging from the years of 2011 to 2019, will be examined. The research interest is twofold lies: (I) On the one hand, the author wants to find out how mobile devices are represented in films. In this context, amongst several other areas of interest, it will be recorded which mobile devices are integrated into the chosen film plots and how long they can be seen per scene. Brand recognition is also an important research aspect. (II) On the other hand, it will be investigated what film character interacts with the mobile device, the features being used and how the actor evaluates the device.
The central result of the study is that mobile devices are much less frequently represented in the form of brand placements than previously presumed. In only 17.8 percent (n=73) of the cases, real brands were displayed. Based on this observation, it can be assumed that children's films have little influence on the brand preferences of children concerning digital devices. This present master thesis is the first quantitative survey of children's films with regard to the representation of mobile devices as product placements. The content analysis, thus, forms the foundation for further research and is of inevitable importance for the study/field of communication science.