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With social movements like Black Lives matter, #MeToo and Fridays For Future on the rise consumers expect companies to take a stand on these socio-political topics. A new marketing strategy, called brand activism is used to communicate brands values and actions. This paper will conduct a case study of the company Oatly which has been standing out for its daring marketing strategies and analyze their visual communication by using the methods of visual analysis, semiotics and critical discourse analysis. The main research question is how Oalty uses its visual communication to convey brand activism. By analyzing one oat drink packaging, an ad campaign and an Instagram post the findings of this paper conclude that Oatly has several ways of communicating brand activism. These include the use of value based communication, referencing historical activism movements and the sociopolitical theme of promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. The question arises about the authenticity of their opinions and the motives behind their brand activism. So whilst it's clear that companies like Oatly can convey the message of brand activism, this new marketing strategy needs further guidelines and methods of verification to ensure the use of authentic brand activism.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:15:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo Felipe Weinhardt Pires.pdf: 7507914 bytes, checksum: fea7067ceeb10e07b1389d8635b09586 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research goal is to analyse how some of the first examples of net activism in Brazilian appear through mobilizations based on social digital networks and how they gain strength as to occupy the public urban space. The study was developed based on two cases that took place in the city of São Paulo: the Churrascão de Gente Diferenciada , organized in May 2011 as a protest against the location change of a metro station in the project of a new line; and Amor Sim, Russomano Não , held in October 2012, in opposition to the candidacy of Celso Russomano as city mayor. We have selected these episodes because they the first two to gather three characteristics we consider essential for understanding the net activism development in the country: both appear within a context of local dispute, with no alignment with global agendas; are organized as decentralized networks with intensive usage of online social networks; and reach its climax occupying the urban public space. The empirical corpus was structured gathering the content posted at the Facebook event page of both cases and the related posts on Twitter identified by the hashtags #gentediferenciada and amorsimrussomanonao . Based on this material, we have analysed the two cases as political happenings , according to Lazzarato s concept, which integrate a context of shock between the strength of contemporary capitalism and the power of multitude, following the term understanding of Hardt and Negri and Virno. In order to analyse the enunciations that form the corpus, we took as base Lazzarato s (2006) concept of plurilinguism and also the essay Linguistic Postulates , from Deleuze and Guattari / Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar como alguns dos primeiros exemplos de netativismo no Brasil surgem através de mobilizações nas redes sociais digitais e ganham força a ponto de tomar o espaço urbano, identificando como se dá a produção de sentidos no conteúdo on-line relativo a eles. O estudo foi desenvolvido a partir de dois casos ocorridos na cidade de São Paulo: o Churrascão de Gente Diferenciada , organizado em maio de 2011, para se opor à mudança de localização de uma estação de metro no projeto de uma nova linha; e a mobilização Amor Sim, Russomano Não , realizada em outubro de 2012, em oposição ao candidato à prefeitura de São Paulo, Celso Russomano. Selecionamos estes dois episódios por terem sido os dois primeiros a reunir três características que nos parecem essenciais para o entendimento no net-ativismo no país: ambos surgem num contexto de disputas locais, sem um alinhamento objetivo com pautas globais; são organizados em rede, de forma descentralizada e com intenso uso das redes sociais digitais; e tem como ápice a ocupação do espaço público. Construímos o corpus empírico deste trabalho reunindo o conteúdo postado nas páginas desses eventos no Facebook, juntamente com os posts a eles relacionados identificados através da ferramenta de busca do Twitter. A partir desse material, analisamos esses dois eventos identificando-os como acontecimentos , segundo o conceito de Lazzarato, inseridos num contexto de embate entre a força do capitalismo contemporâneo e a potência da multidão , conforme o entendimento do termo proposto por Hardt e Negri e Virno. Para realizar a análise dos enunciados que formam o corpus, nos apoiamos no entendimento de plurilingüismo de Lazzarato e também no ensaio Postulados da Linguística , de Deleuze e Guattari

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The aim of this thesis is to investigate how digital activism is conducted on Twitter, particularly in relation to the dialogues and demands for Europe’s green economic recovery plan from COVID-19. It seeks to analyse the communication made using #GreenRecovery on Twitter by various actors over the period of May to June 2020, guided by the theory of public sphere and social movement and literature on digital activism, hashtag activism, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Political Activity (CPA) using a qualitative and quantitative content analysis.By analysing the frequency patterns of tweets and by uncovering the different types of communication, this paper sheds light on the users involved as well as the issue frames and mobilisation strategies that were visible in the #GreenRecovery discourse . Results of this study demonstrate that #GreenRecovery is used by varying actors on Twitter such as individuals, social movements, businesses and others. Furthermore, the hashtag has been used to raise awareness, communicate particular information, mobilize action and also employ assertion as dominant digital spectator activity. Tweets with #GreenRecovery was primarily framed towards the need for a redesign of the economy, indicating demands for changes in policies by targeting accounts of political actors from the EU Commission. It is further implied that during the discourse, #GreenRecovery acted as a structural signifier as a response to the leaked proposal of the Recovery Plan demonstrating that it has the potential to create hashtag communities.

This study examines digital media activism during the full-scale war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion in 2022, focusing specifically on Instagram content posted by users with connections to Kharkiv city between March 18-25, 2022. Kharkiv was heavily affected by bombings throughout the war.  The theoretical framework combines Bennett and Segerberg’s (2009) theory of connective action with Vegh’s theory of internet activism (2013) and Earl et al.’s (2010) perspective on Vegh’s theory. Additionally, the analysis, observations, and theory review led to the development of an additional category, building upon Bennett and Segerberg’s (2009) theory of connective action.  The research methodology involves a four-step toolkit comprising qualitative content analysis, semiotics (denotation and connotation), and anchorage. The analysis of patterns and classification confirms the high level of involvement in digital media activism by users and reveals differentiation based on the purpose of communication. Semiotic analysis and anchorage demonstrate the intellectual and emotional engagement of Ukrainians in digital society and their efforts to provide information and support.  The study introduces a new classification of digital media activism for content analysis and establishes a new category within the theoretical framework. It expands possibilities for future research on digital media activism and online activity during war or similar life-threatening situations. Furthermore, the study presents a methodological toolkit applicable to limited content formats such as Instagram stories, Facebook Stories, and Snapchat.

This research project uses the 2010/11 student protests in the UK as a case study to understand why certain individuals mobilise for forms of political participation and activism and why others do not. The student protests are ideal as a case study of participation and non-participation for a number of reasons. The UK Government’s proposal to treble the cap tuition fees for students in England represented an issue of widespread grievance for the student population, a grievance which was compounded for many by the Liberal Democrats’ decision to u-turn on its 2010 election campaign pledge. The student response featured large-scale regional and national demonstrations, as well as the formation of a network of simultaneous campus occupations across the UK, arguably presenting a greater scale and diversity of protest than had been seen for a generation. Despite these multiple participatory opportunities, however, student participation did not come close to matching the scale of opposition to trebled fees and university funding cuts as articulated in surveys. This raises fundamental questions about the social and political differences between participants and non-participants. Using original survey data of students from 22 UK universities, and 56 in-depth interviews with students from 6 universities, this research examines social and political patterns and relations between high, medium and low-cost/risk participants, and non-participants. Taking into account the idea of the university campus as a network of actors, the research posits that networks may preclude as well as facilitate participation. The research studies in detail the formation and maintenance of student activism networks – including their collective identifications and dis-identifications. Conversely, the study also looks at the social networks of non-participants, and how these may help to socially produce and sustain non-participation at an agency level. Finally, the research considers whether the protests against fees and cuts should be seen as a unified movement, and whether student attitudes taken together reveal a broadly-identifiable ‘participatory ideal’.

To gain insight into the impact that investors have on the firm's auditor choice decision, this study investigates the association between changes in investor monitoring and auditor turnovers. Hedge fund activism provides a unique setting to observe how highly motivated investors, willing to incur significant expense to effect changes in target firms, are able to influence a firm's decision to dismiss their external auditor. I find that activist hedge fund targets see an increase in auditor turnovers and dismissals during the years following hedge fund activism relative to both the two years' pre-activism and a propensity matched sample of firms. I document that the increase in auditor turnovers is primarily driven by target firms with a Big 4 auditor, and that hedge fund targets primarily seek a lateral change in auditors. Consistent with institutional concerns that excess compensation impairs auditor independence, I find that activist targets are more likely to dismiss their auditors when the auditor is earning high non-audit service fees and high abnormal audit fees. I then examine how the market interprets the lateral change in auditors. I find that financial statement reliability increases for lateral auditor changes associated with independence concerns. Finally, I examine the conditions under which the hedge funds are able to facilitate an auditor change. I find that hedge funds pursuing less aggressive activist campaigns, and hedge funds seeking less public forms of interventions are more likely to seek an auditor dismissal. This relation between non-confrontational campaigns and auditor dismissals is consistent with prior research suggesting that hedge funds seeking to work with management are better able to enact changes in a target firm.

In 1992, Augusto Boal, founder of the globally influential repertoire of performance techniques known as Theatre of the Oppressed, was elected as a vereador, essentially the equivalent of city councilor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Boal and his office staff used theatre as their primary method for collecting citizen input about legislation. His term lasted from 1993 to 1997, and his office shepherded thirteen bills to their successful passage as law. This dissertation examines three twenty-first century Legislative Theatre projects, all drawing on techniques from Boal’s initial Legislative Theatre project but staged in North America. The case studies include Practicing Democracy, a 2004 production by Headlines Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a project that directly engaged the Vancouver City Council; a Legislative Theatre workshop facilitated by Augusto Boal and his son Julian Boal as part of the pre-conference of the annual Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, in May 2008, an event that culminated with a performance in the Omaha City Council Chambers; and The Eye & Tooth Project: Forum Theatre on the Death Penalty, a 2009 workshop and performance in Austin, TX, exploring how participants could practice lobbying skills through theatre. With these three theatre processes as examples, I explain how using Forum Theatre as the primary method for Legislative Theatre constructs citizenship as a process of collective knowledge-building. These projects stage citizenship as a collaborative act through which citizens gather to teach each other about their experiences with policy. Each production differently constructs performance as a “think tank” epistemology—an embodied way of building and transferring knowledge about legislation. I describe how Legislative Theatre think tanks dismantle traditional discourses of “detached” expertise by constructing citizens themselves as experts. In the process of making these larger arguments, this dissertation also addresses a variety of practical questions useful for future practitioners of Legislative Theatre: How was each project designed? What were its goals? How did the creators apply performance toward those goals? How and why did they forge connections (or not) with lawmaking bodies? For what communities might the projects have been more or less accessible? / text

This dissertation examines the work of alternative economies activists who have spent the last 18 years constructing barter systems and local currencies in Medellín, Colombia. Through barter, these activists hope to spark an ethical re-evaluation of production, exchange, and consumption, and to create an economy that serves Medellín's middle-class professionals, rural peasants, urban workers, students and the chronically under-employed. They also see barter as an important social and political project to repair a social fabric torn by decades of violence and economic exploitation. For these activists barter is a counter to capitalism, violence, and social fragmentation; it is a new proposal rooted in cooperation, collective well-being, and the development of local capacities. Previous researchers have thoroughly examined the emergence, organization, and impacts of these types of alternative economies, but they have neglected what many activists consider to be the greatest challenge: to cultivate the new social relations and subjectivities necessary to enact and maintain those models. In the words of Colombia's barter organizers, the goal is to "change the chip" and "clean out the cucarachas" of our capitalist mindsets in order to "create a new culture of solidarity." This research is located at precisely that sticking point. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic research, I examine the nature and impacts of barter and the challenges that barter activists face as they try to recreate economies, social relations, and subjectivities. Medellín's barter projects, I conclude, offer extremely important opportunities for cross-class and cross-generational interaction in a city that is violently divided. They also provide material and social supports for traders who are seeking to develop alternative subjectivities, and they help active traders gain control over the means of production and the conditions of their work. However, their counter-hegemonic potential is significantly limited by three tensions within organizers' strategies: a tendency to prioritize socio-cultural forms of activism at the expense of economic ones, a focus on conscious and moral aspects of subjectivity rather than material and embodied aspects, and a stridently anti-capitalist stance that discourages economic articulations and thereby reinforces the material and socio-cultural power of capitalism.