Abstracts in English and Afrikaans / The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the underlying meanings of Old Mutual South Africa’s (OMSA’s) CSR 2.0 corporate advertisements. It specifically examined the underlying myths and ideologies conveyed through the texts. This qualitative study was conducted by means of a visual semiotic analysis (Machin 2012) on eight CSR 2.0 corporate advertisements, which were purposively selected. A theoretical framework to measure visual CSR 2.0 corporate advertisements was developed, which aided in the sampling, data analysis and interpretation processes. The findings of the study indicated that by positioning its CSR 2.0 positively in terms of change and transformation, progress and equal opportunities for all citizens, OMSA is fostering stakeholder-organisation relationships. In addition, it was also found that OMSA adopts established representational tropes of CSR 2.0 and use them repetitively that firmly entrenches the intended/encoded message to the viewer. / Die doel van hierdie verkennende studie was om die onderliggende betekenis van CSR 2.0 korporatiewe advertensies in Ou Mutual Suid-Afrika te ondersoek. Dit is spesifiek gemoeid met die onderliggende mites en ideologieë wat deur middel van die tekste oorgedra word. Die kwalitatiewe studie is uitgevoer deur middel van 'n visuele semiotiese ontleding (Machin 2012) op agt CSR 2.0 korporatiewe advertensies, wat doelbewus gekies is. 'n Teoretiese raamwerk, om visuele CSR 2.0 korporatiewe advertensies te meet, is ontwikkel, dit het bygedra tot die steekproefneming, data-analise en interpretasie prosesse. Die bevindinge van die studie dui daarop dat deur CSR 2.0 positief in terme van verandering en transformasie, vooruitgang, en gelyke geleenthede vir alle burgers te posisioneer, OMSA verhoudings met belanghebbendes kan bevorder. Daarbenewens is ook gevind dat OMSA gevestigde temas van CSR 2.0 implementeer en hulle herhaaldelik gebruik wat juis die beoogde / gekodeerde boodskap stewig aan die kyker bevestig. / Communication Science / M. A. (Communication Science)

The objective of this study is to establish the media usage and preference of consumers in the Transkei. The results are of special significance to media planners and advertisers in so far as they will assist in the media selection process. This in turn will form the basis of improved marketing communication between media planners and advertisers on the one hand and Transkeian consumers on the other. The media types investigated were newspapers, magazines, television and radio. The results indicated that three newspapers (Daily Dispatch, Intsimbi and Imvo), three magazines (!bona, Pace and Orum), one television channel {TV 2 - now CCV-TV) and one radio station (Radio Transkei) are extremely popular among the majority of Transkeians. The research results also indicated that the following topics are very popular in all the media types: local news, sport, education and arts/cultural articles. The results further indicated that Transkeians are generally favourably inclined towards advertisements. / Economics / M.Com (Business Economics)

Political advertising on television is a relatively “new” phenomenon in South African general election campaigns (circa 2008). The purpose of this study is to analyse and compare the three sampled 2009 and 2014 African National Congress (A.N.C.) political television advertisements, with a specific focus on the verbal, non-verbal and visual rhetoric in the communication of election campaign messages. To achieve this goal, the study reviewed literature in the subject of rhetoric and post-colonial perspectives in the areas of Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism, focusing specifically on the seminal work of the Afro-centrist, Molefi Asante, and the anti-Western-centric scholar, Samin Amin. The study uses social semiotics (as both a theoretical approach and a research methodological framework). As a theoretical approach, the social semiotic approach was conceptualised by Valentin Voloshinov (1973) and Michael Halliday (1978), and it argues for the creation of social meaning within a text and within a society. The study focuses on the former, the creation of meaning within a text, that is, the content of the three sampled political advertisements. As a research framework, the approach was adapted by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen (1996). The study favours their social semiotic research method which provide the interpreter/researcher with dimensions, or “tools’, with which to explicate and deconstruct textual meanings. Thus, in this study, social semiotics as part of the broader field of discourse analysis, was used to deconstruct the latent and manifest ideologies of the non-verbal, verbal and visual rhetoric of two 2009 and one 2014 A.N.C. political television advertisements. Using this combined theoretical framework (rhetoric, social semiotics and Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism), and, research approach, it could be determined whether the verbal, non-verbal and visual rhetoric of these three A.N.C. political television commercials represents Afrocentric and/or Eurocentric post- colonial The main findings of the study show that both the visual and verbal rhetoric of the sampled A.N.C. political television commercials represents a combination of a varying ideological constructs, namely the “nationalist”; “socialist”; “liberal feminist”; and, “liberal capitalist ideologies” (cf. Haywood 1998; Thompson 2003). Furthermore, the findings of the study point out that the verbal, non-verbal and visual rhetoric of the selected A.N.C. political television commercials, are neither exclusively Afrocentric nor Eurocentric in nature. Both post-colonial perspectives are represented, in varying degrees, in the sampled A.N.C. commercials. The study makes a significant contribution to the political communication landscape in South Africa, in that, it is an exclusively qualitative content analysis, as opposed to previous, quantitative content-analysis studies (cf. Fourie 2008; Fourie & Froneman 2003; Fourie & Froneman 2001). It is also important to note that as far as can be determined, that this is the first study to use social semiotics, as either a theoretical framework or a research method. The key limitation of the study is that, it only focuses on three purposely sampled A.N.C. election campaign television advertisements, and does not include the political television advertisements of opposition political parties, such as the Democratic Alliance. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

Thesis (MA (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / The survival of an organisation in a global competitive business environment depends on its survival skills (e.g. adaptability, flexibility and innovativeness), which is situated within its human resources. Hence, the recruitment function’s role is critical, since it is responsible for the procurement of key intellectual capital that could equip the organisation with a competitive advantage. However, against the accelerated growth of the Internet combined with global competition, traditional recruitment methods are increasingly failing to rise to the challenge of securing key intellectual capital, due to being too time consuming and expensive. Consequently, organisations are progressively turning to online recruitment (which does not refer to one specific technique, but rather several different Internet tools that can be employed as a recruitment method, such as organisational websites, specialised job sites, media websites or newsgroups). However, the presence of an organisational website that advertises vacancies is not sufficient to guarantee its success as a recruitment method. Hence, it is vital to gain an understanding of website recruitment, as well as how to maximise the website’s effectiveness and ability to facilitate successful online applicant behaviour (SOAB), in order to harness its full potential as a recruitment method, able to secure key intellectual capital. For the purpose of this study, SOAB refers to potential applicants (i.e. job seekers entering an organisational website in search of employment opportunities) being able to browse the website without any difficulty and obtain relevant and sufficient information concerning the organisation and its listed vacancies. In addition to enabling potential applicants to assess whether he/she will be able to fit, perform and accelerate in the work climate and culture of the organisation (i.e. decide whether he/she would like to work for the organisation), a website that facilitates SOAB, should also enable potential applicants to contact the organisation to address additional information needs. In essence, this study comprises of three phases and centres on the identification of website content- and usability design benchmarks that should contribute to a website’s ability to facilitate SOAB. By means of a comprehensive literature review, it is argued that the content- and usability design are vital contributing factors to a website’s ability to facilitate SOAB. It is also proposed that the effectiveness of the website as a recruitment method is, to a certain degree, linked to the effectiveness of the alignment of an organisation’s online recruitment strategy with the five stages of potential applicants’ job decision-making process (i.e. the recognition of an employment need, search for career related information, evaluation of career alternatives, identification and acceptance of employment and post-choice evaluation). Phase one, entails the identification of website content- and usability design benchmarks and culminates with the development of the Website Benchmarks Checklist. Phase two, which constitutes the overall purpose of this study, entails an audit of the sample of the ‘best’ SA employers’ (drawn from a survey conducted by the Corporate Research Foundation, 2005) websites. The primary aim is to determine the extent to which the sample’s website design incorporates the identified benchmarks. However, the quality of potential applicants’ interaction with a website (i.e. informative content being communicated in an effective, efficient and satisfactory manner), greatly influences their perception of the organisation’s image, its attractiveness as an employer, as well as their intention to pursue employment within the organisation. Hence, the third phase of the study entails the subjective evaluation of three websites (selected from the audited sample), by a sample of potential applicants. Throughout the study, the empirical tests conducted were descriptive in nature and utilised survey research methods to acquire the required data, related to the specified goals and objectives that encapsulate the aim and purpose of this study. The results obtained provided valuable insight into website design benchmarks that should assist potential applicants in their job decision-making process, increase a website’s ability to facilitate SOAB and maximise its effectiveness as a recruitment method responsible for securing key intellectual capital. In addition to revealing that the majority of the sample employs its website as a recruitment method, the audit results also indicated that although a high level of adherence existed concerning the sample’s incorporation of the usability design benchmarks. However, a notable difference that ranged from very little to relatively high existed with regards to the extent to which the sample’s website design adhered to the content design benchmarks. The subjective evaluation of the three websites by potential applicants revealed that in addition to being critical contributors to the quality of their interaction with a website, the content- and usability design also had a profound impact on their assessment of the websites. Finally, the results also showed that a similarity existed between potential applicants’ subjective evaluation and the extent to which the design of the three websites adhered to the recommended benchmarks (audit results).

Selecting actors to appear in an advertisement is an important decision which has a crucial impact on the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. The same message, delivered by different actors, produces varying outcomes among consumers. This dilemma concerning the choice of actors occurs particularly in multi-racial societies, such as South Africa, where advertisers have to target different sectors of the community. In multi-racial societies, the choice of actors in advertisements goes beyond the usual commercial reasons. Indeed, two dimensions are generally conferred to multi-racial advertising. Firstly, the use of multi-racial representations allows for the targeting of a wider population that also owns a wider purchasing power. Marketers who want to market their brand use, for example, white and black actors so that white and black consumers can identify with the actors and recognize themselves as the target of the advertisement. Secondly, the multi-racial representations of this type of advertising hold a social role that counteracts the segregated depiction of the society. Consumers who are exposed to a multi-racial advertisement might perceive this social dimension and attribute a social responsibility to the advertisement. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the influence of the above dimensions on the effectiveness of a multi-racial advertisement. On the one hand, this study investigates the Identification Process followed by a consumer exposed to a multi-racial advertisement. On the other hand, it examines how consumers attribute a social responsibility to a specific multiracial advertisement and how this attribution, in turn, influences their responses to the advertisement and brand. Finally, the impacts of both of these dimensions on consumer behaviour are compared and the most persuasive dimension is identified. This thesis draws on Attribution Theory and Identification Theory in arguing that there are strong economic imperatives for adopting a multi-racial advertising approach. The thesis develops a conceptual framework and tests empirically hypotheses regarding the key constructs and moderating variables. The empirical results point out that both dimensions symbiotically influence the effectiveness of a multi-racial advertisement. Specifically, the results highlight that the social responsibility attributed by the viewers to the advertisement influences their behaviour more than the Identification Process.

The objective of this study is to establish the media usage and preference of consumers in the Transkei. The results are of special significance to media planners and advertisers in so far as they will assist in the media selection process. This in turn will form the basis of improved marketing communication between media planners and advertisers on the one hand and Transkeian consumers on the other. The media types investigated were newspapers, magazines, television and radio. The results indicated that three newspapers (Daily Dispatch, Intsimbi and Imvo), three magazines (!bona, Pace and Orum), one television channel {TV 2 - now CCV-TV) and one radio station (Radio Transkei) are extremely popular among the majority of Transkeians. The research results also indicated that the following topics are very popular in all the media types: local news, sport, education and arts/cultural articles. The results further indicated that Transkeians are generally favourably inclined towards advertisements. / Economics / M.Com (Business Economics)

The rapid increase in the expenditure on below-the-line promotions (consumer and trade promotions, direct marketing, sponsorship and public relations) relative to above-the-line advertising (television, radio, print, outdoor and cinema) in South Africa has earmarked a new era of integrated marketing communication strategies across all sectors. Ultimately, this strategic shift has brought about a need to better understand the relationship between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions and to measure the impact of such changes on company sales/profits over the long-term. In the research undertaken amongst 250 senior marketing, brand and product managers of South African brand-owned companies, the relationship between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions in the marketing of South African products and services was investigated across six different economic sectors. It was evident from the findings that most brand-owned companies currently integrate above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotion activities. The study shows that most brand-owned companies in South Africa combine press, radio and television (above-the-line) with consumer promotions (below-the-line). The most frequently used above-the-line advertising medium is television, which is also seen as the most important mode to support long-term brand building amongst consumers. In turn, print is regarded as the most important above-the-line mode to support trade franchise building. Most frequently used below-the-line modes include direct marketing and public relations. Direct mail and cooperative advertising are seen as the most important below-the-line consumer and trade franchise building modes respectively. Although marketing communication expenditure is positively skewed towards above-the-line adverstising, most recent trends show a gradual increase in the use of below-the-line promotions. To prevent a brand's sales/profits from decreasing over the long-term due to too high below-the-line promotional expenditure, the study encourages a sound balance between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions. Although the ideal ratio of above-the-line advertising to below-the-line promotions is related to the nature of the product and service being marketed, the extent of competitive activity in the market and the frequency of purchase, amongst many other salient factors, the study regards a 60/40 ratio as the most ideal for building long-term brands. On the other hand, a ratio of 35/65 is regarded as the critical point at which company sales/profits may deteriorate because of too high below-the-line promotional spending. In conclusion it can be said that the marketing communication industry of South Africa has entered a period of integrated marketing communication practices which requires sound marketing communication budget strategies conducive to the long-term survival of South African products and services. / Business Management / D. Com. (Marketing Communication)

The rapid increase in the expenditure on below-the-line promotions (consumer and trade promotions, direct marketing, sponsorship and public relations) relative to above-the-line advertising (television, radio, print, outdoor and cinema) in South Africa has earmarked a new era of integrated marketing communication strategies across all sectors. Ultimately, this strategic shift has brought about a need to better understand the relationship between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions and to measure the impact of such changes on company sales/profits over the long-term. In the research undertaken amongst 250 senior marketing, brand and product managers of South African brand-owned companies, the relationship between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions in the marketing of South African products and services was investigated across six different economic sectors. It was evident from the findings that most brand-owned companies currently integrate above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotion activities. The study shows that most brand-owned companies in South Africa combine press, radio and television (above-the-line) with consumer promotions (below-the-line). The most frequently used above-the-line advertising medium is television, which is also seen as the most important mode to support long-term brand building amongst consumers. In turn, print is regarded as the most important above-the-line mode to support trade franchise building. Most frequently used below-the-line modes include direct marketing and public relations. Direct mail and cooperative advertising are seen as the most important below-the-line consumer and trade franchise building modes respectively. Although marketing communication expenditure is positively skewed towards above-the-line adverstising, most recent trends show a gradual increase in the use of below-the-line promotions. To prevent a brand's sales/profits from decreasing over the long-term due to too high below-the-line promotional expenditure, the study encourages a sound balance between above-the-line advertising and below-the-line promotions. Although the ideal ratio of above-the-line advertising to below-the-line promotions is related to the nature of the product and service being marketed, the extent of competitive activity in the market and the frequency of purchase, amongst many other salient factors, the study regards a 60/40 ratio as the most ideal for building long-term brands. On the other hand, a ratio of 35/65 is regarded as the critical point at which company sales/profits may deteriorate because of too high below-the-line promotional spending. In conclusion it can be said that the marketing communication industry of South Africa has entered a period of integrated marketing communication practices which requires sound marketing communication budget strategies conducive to the long-term survival of South African products and services. / Business Management / D. Com. (Marketing Communication)