To break through the clutter of advertisements, some advertisers uses sexual appeal as a technique to increase visibility and sales. The purpose of this study is to examine, from a Swedish and South Korean perspective, how the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising differ between generations. Culture and age has been proven to be factors affecting attitude towards advertisements, and previous research has found that the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising between Swedish and South Korean university students only differed slightly. To examine the attitudes, data was collected through a questionnaire. The results suggest that the attitudes of each age group are generally rather similar, regardless of culture. Ages 18 to 30 showed most negativity towards sexual appeal in advertisements.

This paper's aim is to critically describe and use Michel Foucault's method archaeology for discursive description of contemporary television beer advertisements broadcasted in the Czech Republic. Theoretical part tries to define terms as denounce, discursive formation and discourse and propose their possible usage in practical research. The paper supposes that television beer advertisements are governed by the same discourse which was used in other beer advertisement and all advertisements form a coherent whole. Analytical part's aim is to describe this coherent whole from the aim of discourse and specific chose of denounces that form picture of beer and its role in a men world. Key words: Foucault, discourse, archaeology, television advertisement, beer

In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, the creation of sustainable communication and marketing becomes crucial. Generally, young consumers are environmentally conscious and seek sustainable products while remaining wary of greenwashing and deceptive claims. However, they are likely to be heavily influenced by social media and peers, which makes them a receptive target for advertisers’ deceptive strategies. To achieve success, advertisements must be trustworthy and appeal to the target audience either emotionally or rationally. Sustainability labels like the EU Eco-label fosters consumer trust. Hence, our research will focus on the impact of sustainability message appeals on deceptiveness in laundry detergents and the influence of certifications in product advertising on customer deceptiveness.The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of sustainability messages on perceived deceptiveness of laundry detergents. Moreover, it explores the relationship between emotional and rational appeals and consumer behaviour, with a focus on trust, deceptiveness and purchasing intentions. Accordingly, the study was conducted on consumers to see how theyperceive emotional and rational advertisement. The findings will guide managers and entrepreneurs to effectively market cleaning products for enhanced sustainability perception and transparency. The study has employed a deductive approach, utilising a quantitative research design. Data was collected through a survey from 299 participants, aged 18-30, representing diverse European backgrounds. The collected data was analysed by using a moderated mediation approach, allowing for a comprehensive examination of the relationships between sustainability message appeals, deceptiveness, and the influence of certifications in product advertising. The research showed that consumers may be misled by emotional sustainability appeals in laundry detergent advertising, hence the intention to purchase decreases. Nevertheless, it was revealed that rational appeals and third-party certifications such as EU Ecolabel positively influenced perceived sustainability and purchase intention. The study also found that gender had no significant moderating impact, while sustainability awareness moderated the relationship between deception and purchase intention in emotional appeals.

Background:  The 2019 Gillette advertisement ‘We believe: the best men can be’ was released when the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum. The commercial addressed conventional ideas of masculinity and received a lot of public criticism for its message. To examine how advertising affects society’s perception of gender it is essential to develop an understanding of customer responses to this controversial advertisement.     Purpose:   The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how customers respond to the controversial Gillette advertisement and the reason for this reaction. The study looks to identify the variety of emotions, actions, and cognitive processes displayed by customers by examining comments made by users on the YouTube advertisement video.    Method:  Using netnography, both a qualitative and quantitative research method, the study examined 2,400 comments from the Gillette advertisement published on YouTube. To find trends and patterns relating to customer responses, these comments are grouped and analyzed thematically. Waller’s proposed response model for controversial advertising serves as the foundation for analysis, with the inclusion of modifications to consider the special features of the YouTube comments.    Conclusion:  Analyzing the comments on the advertisement indicates a wide range of responses to the Gillette campaign. Commenters expressed disapproval, sarcasm, dislike, and offense. Negative behaviors included plans to boycott Gillette or spread negative word of mouth. There were a few positive comments that expressed positive emotions like approval, liking, and appreciation, but little to no positive actions. A majority of the negative reactions were influenced by perceptions of masculinity, gender constructs within society, political affiliation, as well as perceptions of Gillette’s brand actions. These results offer insightful understandings of the challenges of addressing masculinity and managing the social environments in the context of advertising.

Advertisement is funding a lot of the digital landscape we interact with on a day-to-day basis. As our digital landscape evolve and the field of Cross Reality is maturing, it is of value to examine its compatibility with this mean of monetization. With the perspective of three major stakeholders in mind (advertisers, developers and end-users) this study examines the impact of two different sets of advertisements, one set from a variety of brands and one set from a single brand, in a Virtual Reality experience. A user study is conducted with data being collected through a questionnairesupported interview as well as the advertisement software within the virtual experience. The results show very little impact on the user experience in general, however the data suggests a significant advantage for a variety of advertisement in terms of subconsciously reaching the user. / Reklam finanansierar stora delar av det digitala landskap vi interagerar med dagligen. Allt eftersom tekniken utvecklas och området Cross Reality mognar, är det av värde att undersöka dess kompabilitet med denna typ av finansiering. Ur perspektivet av tre huvudintressenter (annonsörer, utvecklare och slutanvändare), undersöker denna studie inverkan från två olika uppsättningar av reklam. Den ena uppsättningen består av reklam från en variation av varumärken och den andra uppsättningen består av reklam från ett enskilt varumärke. En användarstudie genomförs med data som insamlas via en enkät-stöttad intervju samt genom mjukvaran som levererar reklamen inom den virtuella upplevelsen. Resultaten visar väldigt liten inverkan på den generella användarupplevelsen, dock antyder datan att det finns en signifikant fördel för en variation av reklam när det gäller aspekten att undermedvetet nå användarna.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka stereotyper av kvinnor som förekommer i reklamen i Vogue under år 2021. Detta baserat på Goffmans sex stereotyper om genus i reklam, Hirdmans teorier om genussystem och genuskontrakt samt feministisk teori. Frågeställningar:  ●      Vilka stereotyper av kvinnor förekom i reklamen i Vogue under året 2021? ●      Vilka skillnader finns med tidigare etablerade stereotyper?   Metod: För att kunna göra en generalisering av innehållet valdes metoden kvantitativ innehållsanalys. Denna metod användes för att kunna göra en generalisering av reklambilderna och vilka stereotyper som förekommer i bilderna. För den här analysen slumpades 100 analysenheter fram genom obundet slumpmässigt urval, ur en population på 242 reklambilder utgivna under år 2021. För att kunna analysera analysenheterna konstruerades en kodbok och ett kodschema baserat på Goffmans stereotyper samt tidigare forskning. När analysenheterna har processats med kodschemat så analyseras och diskuteras resultaten med feministisk teori och Hirdmans teorier om genussystem och genuskontrakt för att kunna dra slutsatser och svara på frågeställningarna.   Slutsatser: Utifrån analysen har jag kunnat dra slutsatsen att de stereotyper som förekommer är: den ömtåliga kvinnan som försiktigt interagerar med sin omgivning, vidrör objekt mycket mjukt och hon smeker objekt och sig själv; den underordnade kvinnan som sitter och ligger passivt, hon tittar på i stället för att själv göra något och är mindre än mannen; och den frånvarande kvinnan distanserar sig mentalt från situationen hon befinner sig i, viker undan blicken och döljer sitt ansikte. De skillnader som finns i den här studien jämfört med tidigare etablerade stereotyper är framför allt en avsaknad av Goffmans stereotyp om the family, av 242 annonser förekom barn i en bild; nakenhet är sällan förekommande, bara kroppsdelar förekommer men inte till den grad att personen kan anses vara naken; slutligen är det avsaknaden av ansiktet som den förlängda armen som bryter mot tidigare stereotyper, kvinnorna trycker inte ansiktet mot och kelar med ett objekt eller person. / Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to analyse which stereotypes of women are present in the advertisements in Vogue 2021. This based on Goffman's six stereotypes about gender in advertisement, Hirdman’s theories on gender system and gender contract and feminist theory. Research questions:  ●      What stereotypes were present in the advertisements in Vogue 2021? ●      What differences are there compared to established stereotypes?   Method: To generalise the content, the most suitable method would be a quantitative content analysis. This method was used to do a generalisation of the advertisements and what stereotypes are present in the pictures. For this analysis 100 images were chosen through a simple random sample from a population of 242 images from 2021. To be able to analyse the images a coding scheme and a coding book based on Goffman’s stereotypes as well as previous studies in the field. When the sample has been processed the result is analysed through a feminist theory angle along with Hirdman’s theory on gender systems and gender contracts to be able to come to conclusions and answer the research questions.   Conclusions: Based on the analysis I have been able to come to conclusion that the stereotypes present are: the fragile woman who carefully interacts with her surroundings, softly touches objects and caresses objects and herself; the subordinate woman who sits and lays passively, she watches from the sidelines instead of actively participating and is smaller than the men around her; and the distant woman who mentally distances herself from the situation she is in, she looks away and hides her face. The differences found in this study compared to established stereotypes is mainly the lack of Goffman’s stereotype about the family, out of the population of 242 images only one image contained children; nakedness is rare in the images, some body parts are bare but not to a degree that the person can be considered naked; finally, the lack of the face as an extension of the arm as the women in the images are not pressing their faces against and cuddle with objects or other persons.

The purpose of this study is to address and understand how shock advertising can be used for the social marketing of non-profit organisations in Sweden. To better understand shock advertising in the Swedish context a case study of a campaign published by the Swedish non-profit organisation Talita, with the purpose of bringing attention and awareness to the problem of prostitution happening at younger ages in Sweden, is performed. The study uses reception analysis to gain insights to the contexts and ways the campaign was encoded as well as decoded by intended audiences.  The study begins with a content analysis of the material that provides information on how Talita and the communication agency responsible for the campaign encoded the information. After information on the context and encoding is analysed, three focus group interviews are performed with groups of teachers and parents of children aged 12–17 are presented. This is done to understand how they interpret and construct meaning from the campaign. The information from these interviews is thematized and analysed to be able to compare it with the organisation’s intended interpretations.  The result from this reception analysis showed that the shock advertising in this campaign was negotiated by the audience. The study even confirmed former research and found that elements of shock can lead to oppositional readings due to the audience feeling overwhelmed by the content and choosing therefore to do nothing or purposefully ignore advertisements. The case study was able to provide supporting evidence on media resistance and provide a contextual case example for how a specific Swedish audience of media consumers understand shock advertising in social marketing done by nonprofits.

Background: Digital advertising has changed the way businesses market their goods or services, providing an attractive approach for clients to interact with content. The rapid growth of digital advertising is also associated with its efficacy and cost-savings measures which have seen an increase in digital ads’ exposure among users. However, this could result in negative attitudes towards adverts leading to ad avoidance as a growing trend. Many users apply self-control strategies to prevent the appearance of digital ads through ad-blocking technologies or subscriptions. This movement of ad avoidance incurs financial costs, and loss of revenue and makes it difficult to impact consumer behavior. Consequently, customer engagement becomes poor since users often find it hard to convince probable buyers not to view commercials therefore destroying the notion that advertising is a tool for promotion.   Purpose: This study explores ad avoidance and consumer choice in digital advertisements. It seeks to determine the influence of ad avoidance on consumers’ alternatives, and how it impacts their attitude, perception, and behavior regarding a particular product or service. The research will integrate what we already know and give recommendations on how marketing strategies can be used to mitigate negative outcomes arising from ad avoidance while increasing the involvement of customers with digital ads. Method: A qualitative method with an abductive approach conducted through semi-structured interviews with a focus group was carried through to examine the behaviors and motivations of people who avoid ads. Conclusion: In this study, the effect of ad avoidance on consumers’ mobile phone decision-making journey was explored. The study focuses on the consumer decision-making journey and its effects on purchase decisions. It is established that consumers consciously shun irritating ads which affect all the stages of the decision-making process. Ad avoidance influences the initial phases such as need recognition, information seeking, and evaluation of alternatives. Moreover, it also investigates advertising types, ad blockers, and people's views toward mobile versus desktop ads. Mainly, it highlights trust in advertising as crucial, especially in influencer marketing, difficulties posed by intrusive mobile advertisements as well as constraints inherent to ad-blockers.

Regardless of industry or job type, most organizations aim to recruit large qualified applicant pools via job advertisements or postings. With little control over those individuals that choose to apply and those that do not, organizations and their recruiters are likely to do what they can to increase their applicant pool. This allows for more options in potential hires during the selection process. In order to control the applicant pool as much as possible, recruiters can try and influence potential applicants through the posted job advertisement. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that many recruiters will write a slightly inflated or overly positive view of the job in order to appeal to more applicants. However, individuals job searching may perceive this attempt as misleading or deceptive. In order to understand perceived deception in job advertisements and what features of their text elicits an overall negative attitude towards the advertisement, this study proposes a mainly exploratory approach to discover if there is a homogenous higher-level construct of perceived deceptiveness or if there is a more person-centered approach via latent profile analysis (LPA) to explain what applicants perceived as deceptive. After the nature of perceived deceptiveness is better understood, this study aims to utilize natural language processing (NLP) topic modeling to find common deceptive topics within different dimensions of the job posting such as, pay, benefits, qualifications, etc. With the limited empirical guidance provided to practitioners, the proposed study can help facilitate research on best practices in job advertisement writing to gain qualified and quality candidates. In turn, those candidates will tend to maintain positive attitudes towards the job and organization, which can persist even after being hired. / Doctor of Philosophy / In today's job market, organizations aim to attract qualified applicants through appealing job advertisements. However, some applicants may perceive these attempts as misleading or deceptive. This study explores whether there is a common view of what is deceptive within the text of a job advertisement or if it varies based on individualized perceptions. This study aims to classify different types of applicants and their associated perception of deception in job ads. This study also employs natural language processing techniques to analyze the language used in job advertisements, pinpointing common deceptive themes in various sections of the job posting, such as pay, benefits, and qualifications. By uncovering how people perceive deception in job ads, this study hopes to provide valuable insights to organizations for crafting more honest and transparent job postings. This can attract high-quality candidates who maintain positive attitudes towards the job and organization, ultimately contributing to improved hiring practices and fostering a more positive work environment.

Today's global economy demands that international automobile companies have an awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences. Companies use advertising to promote their goods or services, but how many of them manipulate their international marketing to reflect the needs and concerns of specific cultures? Many people share concerns when it comes to purchasing a car, including the cost and environmental impact of specific models. Cultural values, however, vary distinctly around the globe and have an effect on a person's consideration of a purchase. As one of the world's leading automakers, BMW must address both cultural values and global concerns in order to sell the luxury vehicles they are known for. By analyzing BMWs print, television, and Internet advertisements, I have determined how the company presents their products as potentially fulfilling the customer's needs and addressing German and American cultural values. I evaluated the prominence of common rhetorical features, strategies, and appeals by developing a rubric that can be applied equally across media. This project combines technical communication and German to ultimately conclude in practical applications. My research and conclusion demonstrate that an international company's willingness to include precise design choices reflects cultural values in specific contexts and that these choices can address international problems.