The study is significant because advertisements do not merely function as tools for promoting products. They also shape public understanding of family roles, gender relations, and caregiving responsibilities. Through repeated exposure to digital marketing content, brands may influence how audiences perceive who is expected to take responsibility for children’s growth and well-being.
Promina, one of Indonesia’s well-known complementary baby food brands, actively communicates with consumers through its official TikTok account @bayisehatpromina. The platform provides a direct channel for the brand to deliver parenting-related messages while promoting its products. The researchers examined how the language used in Promina’s advertising captions represents mothers and their responsibilities in childcare.
The research applied Robert N. Entman’s framing analysis model, which identifies four elements in communication messages: defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and recommending solutions. The researchers analyzed four verified promotional captions from Promina’s official TikTok account to understand how the brand frames maternal caregiving roles.
The findings reveal a consistent communication pattern across all analyzed advertisements. All four captions directly addressed the audience as “Moms”, positioning mothers as the primary recipients of parenting messages. No references to fathers, co-parenting, or shared parental responsibilities were found within the analyzed captions.
In defining problems, Promina’s advertisements framed children’s nutritional exploration and developmental experiences as issues requiring active maternal involvement. The recurring campaign message “Coba Ini Bisa Itu” (“Try This, Can Do That”) suggests that providing diverse food experiences is an important pathway for children’s development.
The analysis also found that mothers were positioned as the key actors responsible for solving these caregiving challenges. Phrases such as “Moms sudah ajak si Kecil untuk eksplorasi ini itu belum?” (“Moms, have you encouraged your little one to explore yet?”) implicitly assign responsibility for children’s nutritional exploration to mothers.
The moral evaluation aspect showed that the advertisements portrayed active, informed, and resourceful mothers as examples of ideal caregivers. Actions such as searching for nutrition information, choosing appropriate products, and sharing parenting content with other mothers were framed as positive expressions of maternal care and responsibility.
Meanwhile, Promina products were consistently presented as the recommended solution. The advertisements positioned baby food products not only as consumer goods but also as tools that help mothers perform their caregiving roles effectively.
“The findings indicate that Promina’s advertising communication in the analyzed sample does not only promote baby food products but also constructs a particular understanding of who is responsible for childcare,” stated Manalu and Doho in their research.
However, the researchers emphasized that the findings should be interpreted cautiously because the study represents an initial analysis based on a limited sample. Only four TikTok captions from one official account were examined, and the research focused exclusively on textual content without analyzing visual elements such as video characters, family representations, or the presence of fathers in promotional materials.
Despite these limitations, the study provides an important perspective on how digital advertising contributes to discussions about gender representation and parenting roles. The findings encourage further research involving larger datasets, multiple platforms, and audiovisual analysis to understand whether similar patterns appear across the broader baby-food advertising industry.
From a social perspective, the study highlights that advertising messages can influence more than purchasing decisions. Repeated portrayals of mothers as the sole responsible caregivers may contribute to the normalization of unequal parenting expectations. More inclusive advertising strategies that represent fathers and shared parenting could provide a more balanced reflection of contemporary family life.
For businesses and marketing professionals, the research offers insights into the importance of responsible communication strategies. Representing diverse caregiving roles may help brands build stronger relationships with modern families while supporting more inclusive parenting narratives.
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This open-access article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, allowing researchers and readers to access and utilize the findings for further studies in communication, media, gender representation, and digital marketing.
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