<p>Aldrig förr har den svenska konsumenten varit så hälso- och miljömedveten. Ett resultat av detta är att fler mervärdesmärkningar har dykt upp på våra butikshyllor. En av de mest kända mervärdesmärkningarna inom ekologiskt producerade varor är i dagsläget KRAV-märkningen.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om Uppsala Universitets företagsekonomistudenters attityder gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter stämmer överens med den bild som KRAV vill förmedla. Studenterna har fått ange vilka produktattribut de anser vara av störst vikt vid livsmedelsinköp, vilka sedan har jämförts med hur väl de anser att KRAV uppfyller dessa. Genom detta har vi kunnat urskilja en generell attityd hos studenterna gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter.</p><p>Resultatet visar på att studenterna har en positiv attityd gentemot KRAV-märkta varor. Dock visar undersökningen på att den bild som KRAV vill förmedla inte helt överensstämmer med den bild som studenterna har om varumärket. Den traditionella bilden av KRAV, där samhälls- och miljöansvar står i fokus, anser studenterna att KRAV uppfyller mycket väl. KRAV har däremot inte lyckats med att förmedla att KRAV-märkta produkter numera även står för god hälsa och smak. Vidare kan vi urskilja en tendens mot att studenterna inte värdesätter KRAV:s traditionella värderingar särskilt högt. Samhällsansvar och miljöansvar är inte någon prioritet vid studenternas val av livsmedel.</p><p>Slutsatsen vi kan dra av detta är att om KRAV vill nå ut till studenterna som målgrupp bör de lägga större betoning på de produktrelaterade attributen som studenterna anser vara av störst vikt (smak, nyttigt, kvalité, tillgänglighet). KRAV bör fortsätta sitt arbete med att ladda varumärket med hälsoargument och framhäva de attribut som studenterna värdesätter hög</p>

Aldrig förr har den svenska konsumenten varit så hälso- och miljömedveten. Ett resultat av detta är att fler mervärdesmärkningar har dykt upp på våra butikshyllor. En av de mest kända mervärdesmärkningarna inom ekologiskt producerade varor är i dagsläget KRAV-märkningen. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om Uppsala Universitets företagsekonomistudenters attityder gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter stämmer överens med den bild som KRAV vill förmedla. Studenterna har fått ange vilka produktattribut de anser vara av störst vikt vid livsmedelsinköp, vilka sedan har jämförts med hur väl de anser att KRAV uppfyller dessa. Genom detta har vi kunnat urskilja en generell attityd hos studenterna gentemot KRAV-märkta produkter. Resultatet visar på att studenterna har en positiv attityd gentemot KRAV-märkta varor. Dock visar undersökningen på att den bild som KRAV vill förmedla inte helt överensstämmer med den bild som studenterna har om varumärket. Den traditionella bilden av KRAV, där samhälls- och miljöansvar står i fokus, anser studenterna att KRAV uppfyller mycket väl. KRAV har däremot inte lyckats med att förmedla att KRAV-märkta produkter numera även står för god hälsa och smak. Vidare kan vi urskilja en tendens mot att studenterna inte värdesätter KRAV:s traditionella värderingar särskilt högt. Samhällsansvar och miljöansvar är inte någon prioritet vid studenternas val av livsmedel. Slutsatsen vi kan dra av detta är att om KRAV vill nå ut till studenterna som målgrupp bör de lägga större betoning på de produktrelaterade attributen som studenterna anser vara av störst vikt (smak, nyttigt, kvalité, tillgänglighet). KRAV bör fortsätta sitt arbete med att ladda varumärket med hälsoargument och framhäva de attribut som studenterna värdesätter hög

Guilt appeals are used to try to influence consumer behavior, with literature defining three kinds – existential, anticipatory, and reactive guilt. Anticipatory and reactive guilt appeals have never been individually studied. The purpose of this study is hence to explain the relationship between anticipatory guilt and reactive guilt, respectively, inferences of manipulative intent, and consumers’ attitude toward a brand. To test this, an online questionnaire was used, followed by linear regression and moderation analyses. The results show a positive relationship between both anticipatory guilt and attitude and between reactive guilt and attitude. Inferences of manipulative intent do not moderate either relationship. Keywords Guilt appeal, anticipatory guilt, reactive guilt, inferences of manipulative intent, consumer brand attitudes

The predominating theories on non-product-related attributes stretch only so far to explain why some brands do not manage to succeed on foreign markets where the product needs are essentially similar to their domestic markets. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to cast new light on the theoretical field of non-product-related attributes, by unveiling which non-product- related attributes affect consumer brand preferences on similar markets. This is done by studying consumer expectations on cosmetics brands in general and brand attitudes towards a Finnish cosmetics brand, on the Swedish market. The results suggest that most of the non-product-related attributes that are covered by predominating theories are still relevant for the formation of consumer preferences, but that new important attributes have also emerged. It was also found that the level of importance varies from attribute to attribute, and that some factors affect consumer preferences more than others. The findings serve as a basis for re-evaluating and expanding the theory of non-product- related attributes, and can help brands to succeed on similar markets.

In the last decades we have seen an increase of inclusive marketing, partly because of an increase of consumer awareness and expectations. But it can be hard to succeed with inclusive marketing, and previous research shows that many companies have been accused of CSR- washing, forced diversity, etc. Femvertising in particular has received a lot of criticism of being staged and insincere. Therefore, there is a need for brands to know what consumers expect from them regarding inclusive marketing. The purpose of this study was to capture Swedish female consumers’ perceptions on inclusive marketing, as well as their attitudes towards inclusive adverts. As most previous research has focused on gender stereotypes, there was a need for investigations of more topics within inclusive marketing. Also, Swedish consumers’ opinions of inclusive marketing lack research.  A qualitative method was used to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ perceptions. Through semi-structured interviews, the participants got to express their opinions of inclusive marketing overall, and then react to two different inclusive adverts. The adverts were chosen based on the theoretical framework.  The results show that inclusive marketing is important for Swedish female consumers, and that they experience that it is getting more common. According to the consumers, advertising should reflect the people in the real world, so everyone feels included. It should include people of different origins, gender, sexuality, age, etc. To tackle stereotypes could be to show people in settings where they are not traditionally connected to, or in other ways try to break the norms that society has created. The respondents in this study highly valued femvertising, in contrast to what some other scholars have found.  Inclusive marketing has a positive effect on Swedish female consumers’ attitudes towards the brand. However, the message that is promoted should fit with the content of the advert and with the brand, and it should also be consistent with the brand’s other communications. The use of a diverse group in advertising should feel natural because that will make it more authentic. Brands should not have to justify their use of models “outside the norms”. However, the study also shows that some consumers think that the use of inclusive marketing is always appropriate.  Lastly, the inclusivity in the adverts did not have a specific effect on the consumers’ purchase behavior. But, if a brand is not inclusive at all, it will affect both the consumers’ brand attitudes negatively, as well as their purchase behavior. The most important finding in this study is that it is important for brands to be inclusive in their marketing, however the inclusion should feel natural, and people’s differences should be normalized. Then companies reduce the risk of being accused of staged diversity or CSR-washing.

Background: As an effect of the growth of Instagram during the past few years, more brands have started to use this platform to communicate with their consumers, and a generation that has been shown to be particularly interesting for fast fashion brands, is Generation Y. During the past few years, a term called body-positivity has increased in popularity among social media platforms like Instagram, which purpose is to encourage exposure to different body types. There are several studies that have highlighted the issues regarding the use of exclusively thin models among fast fashion companies, and that this increase body dissatisfaction among women, especially in the Western culture where the ideal is unrealistically thin. This has resulted in criticism towards marketers which have led to some brands starting to use more larger models in their advertising. However, some brands still use exclusively thin models because they believe that this is what people wants to see. Evidently, there are different opinions regarding the subject. However, what has yet not been studied thoroughly is female consumers attitudes regarding the use of body diversity in advertising on Instagram and how this influence brand attitudes and further, their purchase intentions. Purpose: As the authors of this study found a research gap regarding consumers attitudes within the subject – the purpose of this study will be to explore female Generation Y consumer’s insights regarding body diversity in Instagram advertising, resulting in judgment, feelings, and attitudes towards the advertisement and the brand, and how these attitudes influence purchase intentions. The aim is also to explore to what extent the case companies include body diversity in their Instagram advertising. Method: The research purpose was fulfilled by doing an exploratory study, using an abductive research approach and qualitative method. The authors of this study did a semiotic analysis of the advertising content, and further on collected the empirical data by doing 12 semi-structured interviews. The data was further analyzed by incorporating a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that Nelly was the only case company including some body diversity in their Instagram advertising. NA-KD and Zalando evoked mostly positive feelings among the participants while Nelly evoked mostly negative ones. Further, the majority of the participants had favorable attitudes and positive purchase intentions towards NA-KD and Zalando. None of the participants had exclusively favorable attitudes towards Nelly’s advertisement, although half of the participants had positive purchase intentions towards the brand. Generally, the majority of all attitudes that were formed towards the case companies were not influenced by the body diversity (or no body diversity) that they were exposed to, but their attitudes were influenced by other things. The results also showed that including body diversity in Instagram advertising is important, for female Generation Y consumers. However, other factors might be more important and furthermore have a greater influence on their purchase intentions, like for example ethnic diversity.

In this paper, we propose organizations can leverage the storytelling process to convey corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions and events. In doing so, organizations may mitigate the major challenges that hinder positive returns from CSR initiatives–awareness and skepticism. We propose a conceptual model that demonstrates the effects of CSR storytelling. Specifically, we propose the storytelling process yields positive impacts on internal and external stakeholder outcomes including increasing employees’ thriving and meaningful work, as well as the attitudes and trust of multiple external stakeholders. To support the proposed relationships in our model, we apply narrative transportation theory and complement it with theory and literature on brand outcomes, CSR, positive organizational psychology, and communication. We discuss our contributions and highlight the value of continued research at the intersection of storytelling, CSR, and internal and external organizational outcomes.

The study introduces the concept of attitudes and its fundamentals, as well as how it revolvesaround the given attitude object, in this instance brands. Furthermore, it introduces thephenomena of email marketing and how it has evolved its consensual form that is mostcommon today, referred to as PEM (Permission-based email marketing) in this study.Conclusively explaining the important influences between these two as well as the researchgap in this given context. The final purpose of the paper is to explain the impact thatpermission-based email marketing has on brand attitude. The methodology of the study itselfutilized a cross-sectional approach with a self-completion questionnaire via a conveniencesampling through a web-based survey. The final sample consisted of 108 respondents thatwere deemed acceptable. The study concluded that entertaining content and informativecontent seemingly affects brand attitude positively, whereas the impact of frequency couldnot definitively be explained. Finally theoretical and practical implications of the results arediscussed, as well as limitations of the study and recommended future research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to theoretically develop and empirically validate separate scales that represent a consumer’s expectations of business ethics (BE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach: A literature review and qualitative research were conducted to generate items for the scales. Initial item reduction was performed qualitatively based on a panel of experts. A follow-up quantitative assessment using an exploratory factor analysis further reduced the items. The scales were then validated using confirmatory composite analysis with partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Findings: Separate scales representing consumers’ expectations of BE and CSR behaviors were developed. The scales exhibited reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity and external validity. Practical implications: The separation of these scales into two components will facilitate more precise examination of consumer perceptions of these two components of product and brand images, and how they may impact brand attitudes and brand trust. Originality/value: This is the first effort to develop separate scales for consumer expectations of ethics and CSR, and assess their impact on brand outcomes.

Magister Commercii - MCom / A brand extension strategy is one of the marketing tools that firms utilise to introduce new products in the market. One of the advantages of adopting this strategy is that firms are able to leverage on the positive image, reputation, and equity of a recognised and established brand,thereby reducing risk associated with launching new products.This study examines how consumers perceive the overall quality and similarity/fit of the brand extensions (Nike camera, Nike socks, and Nike golf balls) in relation to the original brand (Nike athletic shoes) and how these perceptions influence their attitudes towards the extensions. The researcher proposes that the perceived overall quality of the brand extensions will be congruent to that of the original brand and that the attitude towards the brand extensions will be favourable only when there is a perceived similarity/fit between the brand extensions and the original brand.In order to get these insights, the study surveyed 147 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of the Western Cape across all faculties. A non-probability convenience sampling method was used to access respondents. To collect data, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed using a questionnaire which consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions in the form of free associations technique and 5-point Likert scales. The data gathered was analysed by means of descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation coefficient. The findings indicate two things.(1) respondents only perceived Nike socks’ overall quality to be congruent to the original brand, Nike athletic shoes. (2) respondents only perceived Nike socks to be strongly similar to the original brand, Nike athletic shoes. Despite this, respondents had a favourable attitude towards all the brand extensions irrespective of whether they perceived the overall quality of the extensions to be congruent to the original brand or not, and whether they perceived the extensions to be similar to the original brand or not. These factors did not influence respondents’ attitudes towards the extensions negatively.