Physical exercise is a trend that continues to grow, especially at the gym, but there are still members that do not use their training card in full. The overall aim of this study was therefore to investigate infrequent member’s experience of their training card. To answer this, focus was on motives to card purchase and perceived opportunities and difficulties of using the training card. The data was collected at IKSU trough a group interview with four managers within the organization, a questionnaire replied by 39 infrequent members and of those 11 individual interviews. The results showed that the motives differed between the informants but the main was the physical health. The three factors that were identified as affecting were frame-, facility- and personal factors. The conclusions drawn was that training facilities can develop procedures to capture their infrequent members in three areas; the occasion for the card purchase, customized training card and follow-up.

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate how individual consumers negotiate in the collective community in order to co-create value. By making use of the concepts of ‘resources’ from the Service Dominant Logic of Marketing and ‘cultural lens’ from Consumer Culture Theory, this dissertation considers both individual and collective interaction in order to demonstrate the roles of individual consumers in the value creation process and how the value creation process works. A comprehensive and up to date review of literature provides a guide to the theory and a path for research. This dissertation employed netnography to understand social and cultural aspects of consumption from an online football fan community. The data collection also included participant and non-participant observations, and local fans interviewings. Hermeneutical framework of interpretation was used to analyse data. The findings show that consumers can co-create value among themselves through the roles of ‘provider’ and ‘beneficiary’. It shows the dynamic movement of individual consumers within the continuous learning process of value creation. This dissertation demonstrates that brand community plays a role as a platform of value creation. Consumers can co-create value among themselves through the process of engaging, educating and enriching. The finding demonstrates active roles of consumers in value creation process. This dissertation also discusses how inequalities between resources of consumers in brand community can cause conflicts among them and how these conflicts stimulate consumers to co-create the collective resources. Within this process, consumers have collectively balanced the power through the social interaction in order to eliminate the domination and conflicts. This dissertation extends the previous researches in value creation within brand community by demonstrating how individual consumers engage and negotiated in value creation process. It contributes to respond working consumers and double exploitation through ‘sacrifice’.

Whilst the idealisation of extreme slenderness is widely recognised as a problematic issue, the negative portrayal of larger individuals is rarely criticised for its link with stigmatisation and problems with self-esteem. To the contrary, the representation of larger individuals in dehumanising terms – whether in news reports, advertising and research accounts – is generally regarded as a necessary means to encourage the pursuit of a ‘better’, ‘healthier’ self. However, these negative stereotypical portrayals – generally excluding the perspective and consent of those depicted – can also have adverse effects on human dignity, legitimacy and self-esteem of those thus depicted. Building on the work of fat studies scholars, as well as feminist marketing researchers, this research project seeks to contribute to the inclusion and rehumanisation of fuller-figured individuals, by involving them in the dialogue of visual and research representation. To do so, this research invited a group of fuller-figured women living in the UK and Canada, to ‘envision’, ‘model’, and ‘review’ their own self-presentations, primarily via the use of self-directed portraits, blogs, and conversations. Whilst the inclusion of their embodied perspectives is expected to contribute to humanising the representation of larger individuals – and offer a glimpse into what could be if we started considering women ‘of size’ as authors of their own depictions – it also contributes in filling a gap left by consumer researchers who have overlooked the way larger individuals make sense of their selves, bodies and well-being. As such, this research contributes to existing consumer research theories by explaining the ways individuals can envision their selves/bodies in the shadow of, but also in contrast with, the dominant marketplace promotion of slenderness. In terms of contribution, this research illustrates the relevance of therapeutic and embodied perspectives to understand the self, the body and to engage in acts of consumption. A new ‘self-nurtured’ discursive position offers challenges to the meanings generally attributed to larger individuals, and to the traditional approaches taken by consumer researchers to solve the ‘obesity crisis’. Overall, this research provides empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions to the field of consumer research. It also offers practical implications for the representation of larger individuals, and recommendations for those interested in the social marketing of health to enjoin people of all sizes in mindful acts of self-care and consumption.

Along with an increased online presence, as well as expanded trade agreement between EU countries, the Swedish online gambling market has been facilitated and made more accessible than ever before. As a consequence, this growing gambling market has also correlated with increased gambling-related health- and economical issues amongst Swedish gamblers. At the same time online gambling companies keep increasing their investments in external communication and marketing activities. In order to protect the public, the governmental initiative “Spelinspektionen” initiated the new law, spellagen (2018:1138), which from the 1st of January 2019 is supposed to regulate marketing from online gambling companies. Based on a multimodal critical discourse analysis, the purpose of this study is to examine how spellagen (2018:1138) has affected marketing strategies from three different gambling companies; Leovegas, Ninja Casino and No Account Casino. The analysis studies a material based on six movies before the introduction of spellagen, and six movies after the introduction. Four central discourses has been identified, called The Hero, Action, Escapism, and Alonetime. Based on these discourses, the analysis used different tools from a multimodal discourse analysis in order to distinguish the strategies upon which the hidden- or open message was communicated. The analysis found that the gambling companies regularly used Per Binde ́s motives for gambling in their commercials. At least three out of five motives were identified through identity-creating strategies and emotional strategies which could be connected to Bindes motives “chances of winning”, “the jackpot-dream” and “moodswings”. The most prominent strategy for all of the commercials was the use of symbols and representation, which allows the company to communicate hidden or subtle meanings through connotations the company know that their target group will make. This main strategy did not make any drastic changes after the introduction of spellagen (2018:1138). The same message was still communicated, but now more often through visual elements rather than linguistic ones. The conclusion pointed out that in order for spelinspektionen to protect Swedish gamblers, spellagen (2018:1138) must be more concrete and descriptive, so that no alternative interpretations can be made. Other measures for spelinspektionen to consider is the amount of gambling commercials which the Swedish public are exposed to today.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / The purpose of this study is to investigate the new media ecologies of urban, low-income youth and youth of color, and how they develop literacies and competencies around technology in the particular spaces of Community Technology Centers (CTCs), while placing them within their broader technological experiences and raced, classed, and gendered identities. This study builds on the concept of youth as experiencing a "new media ecology" in which youth engagement with technology is understood as a phenomenon which connects all spheres of experience. Through this work, I refine the understanding of how marginalized young people engage with technology in order to expand our understanding of digital inequality and its effects, as well as how digital inequality and inclusion interact with young people's identities and social worlds more broadly. Young people, marginalized by their raced, classes, and gendered identities, are both accused of being wasteful in their technology engagement, and are welcomed into these non-traditional learning spaces in order to cultivate their uses of technology into more meaningful and productive outcomes. There is a growing proliferation of informal and creative digital learning programs, and corresponding research and interrogation of the activities within these spaces. However, we lack a full and holistic understanding of who these young people are as technological citizens and consumers, an understanding that is necessary to inform effective interventions around digital inequality. Through qualitative research within two Boston-area Community Technology Centers, including participant observation and interviews, this study presents an analysis of how young people as agentic individuals interact with the contexts they enter into to produce new forms of agency and disempowerment. Rather than focusing on one area of the digital learning environment or youth technological experience, as other researchers have done, I delineate a more complete and dialogic view of less-advantaged young people and their technological engagement. My findings build on the need for supportive informal technology learning environments for marginalized youth, both in terms of providing stable environments with rich resources for technological exploration and skill-building, as well as providing learning environments which valorize and encourage youth agency and identity work. It is also necessary to recognize and allow for differences among youth in these spaces, who vary not only in terms of race, class, and gender, but also skills, abilities, interests, and motivations. I also call attention to the ways in which structural inequalities enter into these informal learning environments, resulting in their reproduction. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

No description available.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-08-06T19:06:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Lermen Haupenthal.pdf: 727361 bytes, checksum: 9ff9387207dc4e793f48c03879b6c9b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-06T19:06:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Lermen Haupenthal.pdf: 727361 bytes, checksum: 9ff9387207dc4e793f48c03879b6c9b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-25 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / A partir de 2010 um fenômeno vem se intensificando no Brasil: a vinda de haitianos. O objetivo desta dissertação é entender o papel das escolhas e práticas de consumo no processo de aculturação dos haitianos no Rio Grande do Sul. O estudo fundamenta-se na abordagem de Cultura do Consumo. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi de natureza interpretativista, um pesquisa qualitativa através de entrevistas em profundidade, observações participantes e análise da mídia popular. Os principais resultados encontrados nesta pesquisa envolvem consumir por consumir, desconhecendo o significado, a possibilidade de negociar e não controlar a adaptação pelo consumo, à cultura do assistencialismo, o desequilíbrio das escolhas e práticas de consumo, a prática comum e próxima e finalmente, a prisão de consumo. / From 2010 a phenomenon has intensified in Brazil: the coming of Haitians. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the role of choices and consumption practices in the acculturation of Haitians in Rio Grande do Sul The case study is based on the approach of Consumer Culture. The methodology used for this study was interpretive nature a qualitative research through in-depth interviews, participant observation and analysis of social media. The main findings of this study involve consuming for consuming, not knowing the meaning, the ability to negotiate and not control the adaptation by consumption, the culture of philanthropy, the imbalance of choices and consumption practices, the common practice and next and finally the prison consumption.

Today’s postmodern consumer culture is embedded with consumption and products are now used for their symbolic properties. Possessions have become so important for us that they have become a part of our extended selves and forms of differentiation between individuals and groups of people. The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the role of fashion brands in the identity construction of adults. The objectives of the research focused on how an individual’s identity of self is constructed with the help of fashion brands, especially in social environments, and how an individual’s social identity is formed through fashion brands and in- and out-groups. The topic is discussed while uncovering brand symbolism and relationships. Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) was used as a theoretical framework in this research. Focus group studies were chosen as a research method and total of three focus group discussions with participants aged between 19 to 32 years were held in Helsinki, Finland. The consumption of fashion brands was found to have a relevant role in the construction of an adult’s identity. Consumption of particular fashion brands was used to communicate personalities and identities, and relationships with fashion brands were found to become especially important in social situations. Fashion brands also stand central in the formation of in- and out-groups and friends were found to have the biggest influence over consumption choices. In-groups were found to form between people with interests towards the same fashion brands and unfavourable fashion brands were associated with members of out-groups. Adults were found to categorise people into groups based on the brands they wear and prevailing stereotypical mental images. Individual self-expression through fashion brands was found high, although given the concept of a salient identity, individuals were often found to conform to the expectations of the in-group. Most importantly, individuals and in-groups stated differentiation from out-groups to be a priority. / Program: Master programme in Fashion Management

Denna studie har behandlat ämnet konsumentkultur och vår studie har undersökt hur företaget Nudie jeans Co’s kultur angående hållbarhet tas emot och efterlevs av deras jeansköpare. Den metod som valts för vår studie är intervjuer med jeansköpare samt en representant från Nudie. För att få en förståelse kring konsumentkultur har en teoretisk referensram byggts upp kring McCrackens (1986) modell angående ämnet. Denna modell tar upp olika begrepp kring hur konsumentkultur överförs från företag till enskild konsument, samt vilka instrument som används för att göra detta. En modifierad modell har även gjorts, som förklarar hur Nudies kultur överförs till sina jeansköpare. Utifrån vårt resultat har det framkommit att jeansköparna har en del gemensamma egenskaper men att deras engagemang och kunskap kring jeansen skiljer sig åt. Jeansköparna har därmed delats in i fyra olika kategorier som vi valt att kalla nudienörd, mellanmjölk, den okunnige samt miljöfreak. Utifrån vårt resultat har det visat sig att Nudies jeansköpare inte ser företagets hållbarhetstänk som avgörande faktor då de köper jeans, utan faktorer som kvalitet och passform är det som styr. Däremot känner många av jeansköparna till flera av Nudies kärnvärderingar vad gäller hållbarhet, vilket tyder på att företagets kultur nått jeansköparna till viss del. Vi konstaterar att Nudie är rätt i tiden med sitt hållbarhetsarbete och den mening de tillskriver jeansen. Dock har syftet ännu inte nått jeansköparna på samma sätt som Nudie önskar eftersom företaget ligger något före jeansköparnas utveckling.

Esta Dissertação tem como objetivo desconstruir discursos acerca dos modos de ser jovem na contemporaneidade articulados ao consumo como prática social. Compreendo que é através das estratégias engendradas no âmbito da cultura do consumo que objetos, imagens, desejos, identidades, valores, modos de ser podem ser transformados em mercadorias: podem ser ‘adquiridos’, consumidos e por fim descartados. Tornam-se ‘objetos’ a serem usados e exibidos. Entre tantos artefatos que circulam e são produzidos nessa cultura de consumo, está o Caderno Patrola, encartado no jornal Zero Hora – jornal de maior circulação no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Assim, realizo uma leitura (entre tantas possíveis) a respeito de mídia, cultura de consumo e juventudes. De certa forma, é uma leitura que os Estudos Culturais, campo teórico no qual me movimento, possibilitam-me produzir. Para que esta Dissertação pudesse ser construída tal como está, o corpus de pesquisa se constituiu de diferentes materiais, a saber: seleção de edições do Caderno Patrola, pesquisas em diversos sites, incursões em comunidades virtuais do orkut e em blogs,, conversas com jovens leitores do Caderno através do Messenger e e-mails com a editora do Caderno. Nas análises, trago algumas reflexões a respeito dos modos de endereçamento do Caderno Patrola, discutindo algumas das estratégias do Caderno para interpelar os sujeitos jovens para suas páginas, bem como para convidá-los a consumir produtos que ‘anuncia’. Ainda, analiso o modo como os discursos do Caderno Patrola não apenas sugerem objetos de consumo que podem constituir certos modos de ser jovem, como também podem ensinar o que consumir para ‘possuir’ tais modos, para, assim, adotarse as ditas posições desejáveis de ser jovem. A partir das problematizações realizadas no decorrer do estudo acerca do Caderno Patrola, é possível compreender como se investe no promissor mercado jovem, não só fabricando produtos para eles como também transformando os produtos fabricados pelos jovens em algo rentável. Além disso, é possível constatar como as próprias culturas juvenis se tornam um produto, uma vez que muitos desejam ser, estar, permanecer jovem e, por isso, passam a consumir produtos ditos pertencentes a elas. Assim, através do potencial pedagógico do Caderno, procuro entender algumas das configurações da cultura de consumo, como somos produzidos nessa condição cultural e de que modo o Caderno, como um artefato dessa cultura, apresenta-se articulado a ela. / This Dissertation aims to deconstruct discourses concerning the ways of being young in the contemporary articulated to consumption as social practice. I understand that it is through the produced strategies in the scope of the consumer culture where objects, images, desires, identities, values, ways of being can be transformed into products: they can be ‘acquired', consumed and finally discarded. They become objects to used and to shown. As an artifact between much others that circulate and are produced in this consumer culture is the section Patrola – a newspaper supplement that circulates on Fridays in Zero Hora, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Thus, I realize a reading (one of those that is possible to) about media, consumer culture and youths. In some way, it is a reading that the Cultural Studies, theoretic field in which I movement myself, make possible to produce. In order to this dissertation be constructed as it is, the corpus is constituted of different materials: select edition of the Patrola section, research in many sites, incursions in virtual communities of orkut and in blogs, talks with young readers of the Patrola through Messenger and e-mails with the editor of the section. In the analyses, I reflect about modes of address of Patrola section, discussing some strategies of the section that interpellate young for its pages, as well as inviting them to consume the ‘announced' products. I also analyze how the discourses of Patrola not only suggest consumption of products that can constitute ways of being young, but how they can teach what consume to own theses ways, in order to adopt desirable positions of being young. From the problematization of this study concerning to Patrola, its possible to understand how one invests in the promising young market, not only producing manufactures for them as well as transforming the manufactured products by the young into income-producing. Still, I could examine how the youth cultures become a product, once that many people desire to be young through the consumption of products that one says to belong to them. Therefore, thought the section’s pedagogy potential, I looked for understand some of the configurations of the consumer culture, how we are produced in this cultural condition and the way that Patrola, as an artifact of this culture, is articulated to it.