published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

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This study examined in an experimental setting the influence of comparative message strategies in political attack advertising messages on voter perceptions of the attacker and of the targeted candidate. Relying on theories of social cognition (Fiske & Taylor, 1991), the study posited that, among voters unfamiliar with either candidate, ambiguous and image-based attack messages would facilitate greater negative attitude shifts toward both candidates than other attack message strategies. Attacks were found to lower perceptions of both targeted and attacking candidates regardless of message strategy. Image-based attacks lowered perceptions of targeted candidates significantly more than issue-based attacks but did not influence perceptions of attackers significantly. Level of ambiguity did not appear to influence voter perception of targeted or attacking candidates.

Attempts to ban tobacco advertising and promotion have always been very controversial. The tobacco industry defends its right to promote a legal product, while others argue that such a dangerous product should not be promoted, particularly where this promotion may encourage smoking amongst young people. In the UK, a tobacco advertising ban has been on the public policy agenda since 1989, and during the period of this thesis, was being actively discussed and progressed by both UK and EU legislators. This study addressed this controversy and was conducted to examine the extent to which tobacco marketing communications was related to youth smoking behaviour and how this process occurred. The work addressed two important gaps in the literature: 1) It examined the entire range of marketing communications devices used by the tobacco industry, including advertising, sponsorship, loyalty schemes, direct mail, sales promotions, point of sale materials, product placement, the internet and brand-stretching. 2) It was based on contemporary models of media/marketing effects which theorise that effects are not necessarily direct or predictable, and may operate through social or wider cultural influences. The research involved two discrete stages of research. First, focus groups were conducted with young people to examine how they engaged with tobacco marketing communications. As a result, a theoretical framework explaining the relationship between youth smoking and tobacco marketing communications was developed. This hypothesised that current smoking was correlated with tobacco marketing communications, perceptions of brands and smoking beliefs. Second, a quantitative survey was conducted to test this model. It was administered to 29 fifteen year olds, using a combination of interviewer administered and self-completion questionnaires. Bivariate and multi-variate analysis indicated that youth smoking was correlated with contact with tobacco marketing, as were certain aspects of brand perception and smoking beliefs. The implications of these findings for theory, research practice and public policy are discussed.

Submitted for the Degree of Master of Technology: Graphic Design, Technikon Natal, 1999. / The self-creation demanded of us by our national realities is no different from that which similar realities are demanding of others. The past has left us orphans, as it has the rest of the planet, and we must join together in inventing our common future. World history has become everyone's task,and our own labyrinth is the labyrinth of all mankind. / M

The present dissertation investigates the role of television advertising in shaping the cultural values of the Italian society in the circular process of mirroring pre-existing societal values yet inducing new ones, thus contributing to its evolution. It questions its role within the society, its relationship with families, women and youngsters, the kind of language used in communicating, between 1957-1977, the age of Carosello programme. A corpus of two thousand five hundred television adverts was viewed and filed, of which a hundred were selected according to the more frequent themes, their cultural and semiotic relevance, and twenty-two analysed by a semiotic approach, together with some more considered alongside. Chapter One deals with methodology, an overview of the main concepts and tools of applied semiotics and the socio-semiotic perspective adopted. Chapter Two, then, contextualizes television advertising into its broader socio-cultural milieu and the history of television. The following three chapters analyze the selected adverts according to five main recurring themes: Chapter Three, the first steps of TV advertising, its auto-referentiality and its language; Chapter Four, the family and its inner relationships, the couple and the institution of marriage; Chapter Five women‘s emancipation, the new generation of youngsters and new myths. Commercials are analysed by shots and sequences from a narrative and visual perspective in search of their deep underlying generative values. The approach is a holistic one, adapting itself to the prevailing characteristics of every occurrence, although the peculiar nature of the ads of the period entails a prevailing narratological model. All findings are then connected together to identify the main semantic areas indicating cultural values present in the Italian society of the period. The end findings consist of a set of interesting cultural values identified. At first a self-assertiveness of advertising as a way to popularity; then its preferred mode of communication through verbal language rather than pictures; a representation of families according to either the patriarchal or the consumerist model; a fundamental disbelief in marriage and a sexist attitude to women‘s representation; finally, a mistrust in the values of the new generations. All of these eventually pointing to the main semantic area of tradition, an index to the fundamental conservative yet contradictory role of the Carosello adverting which, while contributing to preserve traditional values, it also tended to replace them with its only main consumerist value. At a higher level, on a socio-semiotic perspective it is the role of that semiosphere which, while drawing from society it also contributes in shaping it.

This thesis identifies the multiple meanings of the contemporary suburb by exploring the construction of suburban residential identities through an analysis of developers’ promotional literature. Special reference is made to a large housing development in North Swindon, which was regarded as Britain’s biggest housing scheme when construction first began in 1994 (Webb, 1994; Boddy et al., 1997; Marvell, 2004). Home to over 30,000 people, the final parts of the development are still awaiting completion at the time of writing. Using an approach inspired by Roland Barthes (1972; 1977), this thesis uncovers the multiple meanings of the contemporary suburb in terms of how it is portrayed by housing developers. Interviews with representatives from various housing developers, town planners and architects have helped to identify the process of brochure production and the representation of suburban identities. The findings suggest that meanings within the suburb are not static and change over time. The meanings are largely derived from a rural idyll, yet the constructed form is sub-urban rather than sub-rural. Interestingly, the terms ‘suburban’ or ‘suburb’ do not feature in any of the promotional material sampled. This thesis deconstructs the material using both text and image. Whilst some meanings coexist between text and image there are noticeable differences which are consistent with studies using applied social semiotics (Hodge and Kress, 1988; Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006). This thesis provides a contribution to knowledge because no recent studies have been published on this area of study since Eyles (1987) and Gold and Gold (1990). A deconstruction of text and image has reduced the promotional material to eight superordinate headings that reflect the importance of community, environment, family, heritage, financial incentives, lifestyle, location and design. The methodological approach developed in this thesis has the potential to be applied more widely to suburban developments in North America, Europe and Australia, which suggests that this research can contribute to a wider understanding of suburban form. This thesis widens the debate amongst policy makers, planners and government at both local and national level regarding the contemporary identity of the suburb. It defines what is being constructed today in preparation for tomorrow.

D.Phil. / The aim of this study was to explore the psychosocial factors which impact on smoking behaviour and to consider the impact of these factors on the formulation of national policy, as well as business and management practices around the marketing and promotion of tobacco products. An analytic induction approach was followed in analysing the data of multiple cases. Interviews and observations were used to gather in-depth information on nine participants (smokers, ex-smokers, social smokers and non-smokers). The data was subjected to analytic induction in order to build a typology of smoking behaviour. This theoretical tool was compared to current knowledge and culminated in a model of psychosocial factors that influence smoking behaviour, which was tested against a further four cases. No negative cases were found. The outcome of this study suggests that promoters of tobacco products should follow a more focused approach towards dark marketing. It also highlights that government and other anti-smoking agencies are not always effective in reducing smoking and counteracting covert marketing practices. The study also illustrated that analytic induction can be applied successfully in consumer behaviour studies. Finally, it contributed to local knowledge of qualitative research, as analytic induction has not been applied fully in a local study before.

Thesis advisor: Frank Gollop / This dissertation analyzes advertising strategies in specialized markets like the prescription drugs, travel, health insurance and real-estate markets where the consumers' purchasing decisions are influenced by experts (e.g., doctors, travel agents, employers and real-estate agents). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.