Since the beginning of the 21st century, the doctor-patient relationship in China has become increasingly confusing to observers. On the one hand, insiders of the medical discipline believed that the doctor-patient relationship could not even be worse. On the other hand, Chinese health care professionals appeared to be much more popular than they used to be. On the leading social media site, Weibo, many health care professionals managed to transform themselves into celebrities by producing content and interacting with ordinary social media users. These grassroots celebrity physicians have obtained tens of thousands, and even millions, of social media fans on Weibo, and they initiated online conversations about public controversies surrounding health and medicine, such as the doctor-patient relationship, health care reform, the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and so on. The seemingly conflicting phenomena reflected the crises Chinese health care professionals were facing and their struggles to free themselves from these crises. Distrusted by the public, health care professionals attempted to repair their reputations and to rebuild a relationship of trust through their efforts in cyberspace. In other words, health care professionals' social media activities were largely a response to the frustrations they had experienced in their professional careers. In turn, being liked by numerous social media users reflected the publics' need to have direct conversations with health care professionals. This study used textual analysis, in-depth interviews, and surveys 1) to explore Chinese celebrity physicians' motivations for and gratifications obtained from establishing a professional presence via social media; 2) to examine the online conversations between celebrity physicians and their social media fans; and 3) to discuss the potential medical, political, and cultural outcomes of their online activities. Results of the study suggested that celebrity physicians in China mainly used social media to achieve three goals: to increase public health literacy, to rebuild their professional identities, and to push the government to make changes to the current health care system. Accordingly, celebrity physicians were found to play multiple roles on Weibo: medical experts, opinion leaders, and celebrities. Each of these roles were performed and recognized by their social media fans in different ways, indicating the complexity of virtual social networks. By analyzing Chinese celebrity physicians' online narratives and examining the factors that shaped their online activities, the project further explored the sociological factors contributing to digital media use, revealed the multiple connections contributing to the formation of virtual social networks comprised of celebrity physicians and their social media followers, and studied the presentation of cultural tension in cyberspace. From the practical perspective, future scholars and advocates could use the findings of this study to better design health and science campaigns. From the theoretical perspective, this study expanded the scope of the uses and gratifications approach, proposed new angles for examining the doctor-patient and the celebrity-fan relationships, and discussed the online presentation of, and inherent nuances contributing to, cultural conflicts.

In our current internet-driven society, social media platforms act as the most central tool for communication and social activism. Through my observations of the #MeToo movement, I argue that despite success in visibility, external factors stemming from social media have prevented the movement’s development beyond online platforms. These factors include Slacktivism, the online presence and power of celebrities, and popular feminism and it’s commodification. Considering that the #MeToo movement is ongoing, my observations of the movement thus far aim to answer the question if social media based movements, such as #MeToo, will produce any structural change within and beyond the entertainment industry.

This research assesses cultural meanings attributed to Asian American sport celebrities, focusing specifically on former professional tennis player Michael Chang and professional golfer Michelle Wie. This work will examine how they are represented in mainstream American media and how their images have been used in various advertising campaigns. A key assumption of this research is that cultural stakeholders are involved in their particular media representations. Given that Asian American athletes have occupied peripheral positions in American sport, media and their invisibility in advertising campaigns, the recent commodification of Asian American athletic bodies is worth examining in greater detail. Drawing on Susan Birrell and Mary McDonald's (1999, 2000) “reading sport” methodology, I critically read their representations in mainstream media and television commercials to explore the complexity and particularity of the articulation of power lines surrounding these Asian American sport celebrities. The “reading sport” methodology emphasizes the particularity of power relations and interdependence of lines of power. Accordingly, I situate his or her representations in the different contexts that each athlete had to encounter. Chang's representation is situated within the conservative climate of post-Reagan America, and Wie's representation is situated within the context neoliberal racism and postfeminism. This study provides a broad understanding of the media representations of Asian American athletes and their different ideological functions in different contexts. Given that there have been a serious lack of studies regarding Asian American athletes, this study seeks to extend the existing body of knowledge about Asian American athletes and their multiple representations.

My dissertation tracks the development of literary advertising in the United States during the late-nineteenth century through the emergence and evolution of Walt Whitman as a recognizable brand name. Situating the strategies of Whitman and his publishers within the broader context of nineteenth-century literary advertising, I trace the roots of modern publishing practices back to the experiments of a generation of American authors and would-be promoters. At the intersection of the professional author's ascent in the United States and the growing centralization and sophistication of the advertising trade, a new anxiety surfaces in the world of nineteenth-century American publishing: how best to sell the literary text and, in turn, market its author. Whitman's attempts to promote himself and Leaves of Grass--efforts that were sometimes prescient, occasionally ludicrous--focus this study of a period in literary advertising when professional authorship was a relatively new reality, poetry was widely read, and the rise of the literary celebrity was in the making. The multiple publications of Leaves of Grass may not, in their time, have defined this moment of American literary history, but retrospectively they invite us to consider how poets and publishers distinguished their literary commodities and authorial personas in rapidly expanding and increasingly unpredictable literary markets. This dissertation develops an important new dimension to the study of Whitman and the culture of literary celebrity: an in-depth examination of the promotional artifacts circulating in and around Leaves of Grass--the newspaper advertisements, circulars, print ornaments, promotional schemes, posters, broadsides, engravings, book covers, and critical annexes that were as central to Whitman's brand as his poetry. This book-studies oriented methodology challenges us to consider the role "non-literary" elements have played in the reception and consumption of literary works, especially in establishing the iconic status of authors like Whitman. Each chapter is devoted to a marker of the Whitman brand--an image, symbol, or promotional strategy that served as a metaphoric trademark of the poet and his distinct textual product. Chapter 1, "`No other matter but poems': Promotion Paratexts and Whitman's Gymnastic Reader," examines the use of promotion paratext to advertise the first three editions of Leaves of Grass and the sophisticated reading practice these texts recruited. Chapter 2, "'I announce a man or woman coming': The Poet as Printer's Fist," looks at Whitman's use of the "manicule" (a small pointing hand) as a symbol of the poet's function reproduced in and on Leaves of Grass. Chapter 3, "`Anything honest to sell books': Autograph-hunting and the Whitmanian Imprimatur," considers Whitman's relationship to the culture of autograph collecting and his innovative use of his own signature as a promotional device. Chapter 4, "Am I Not a Man and a Poet?: Branding Walt Whitman," examines the two most famous faces of the Whitman brand--Whitman the Bowery boy rough and Whitman the Good Gray Poet--revealing how those seemingly conflicting personas became the target of racialized critiques during the 1860s.

<p>Människor har i alla tider sett upp till kända personer som förebilder och representanter för något som de själva drömmer om att vara, vilket gör dessa kända personer till idealiska ansikten utåt för ett företags varumärke och produkter. Detta fenomen kallas celebrity endorsement och har länge varit en populär metod inom marknadsföring där syftet är att skapa associationer mellan ett varumärke och en känd persons egenskaper. Även i Sverige förekommer denna form av marknadsföring och vi vill i denna studie se hur svenska företag arbetar med detta. Vi har tagit del av vetenskapliga studier som menar att könet på den kända personen i marknadsföringen har betydelse. Då Sverige är ett av de mest jämställda länderna i världen är det även intressant att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag väljer idrottsstjärnor till sina marknadsföringskampanjer.</p><p>Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag använder sig av svenska idrottsstjärnor i sin marknadsföring samt om det finns några skillnader i urval då det gäller kvinnliga och manliga idrottare. Vi vill även ta reda på om företagen gör någon uppföljning på resultatet av marknadsföringskampanjerna och i så fall på vilket sätt detta genomförs.</p><p>Den teoretiska referensramen har legat till grund för denna studie och teoridelen är baserad på vetenskapliga studier om ämnet athlete celebrity endorsement, samt hur arbetet med detta fenomen går till. De delar vi berör är vikten av ett starkt varumärke, en beskrivning av fenomenet athlete celebrity endorsement, fördelar och nackdelar med denna typ av marknadsföring, hur valet av idrottsstjärna går till, om det görs någon uppföljning och utvärdering, samt om idrottsstjärnas kön har någon betydelse. Dessa delar utgör sedan grunden för teori-, empiri-, analys-, slutsats- och diskussionskapitel.</p><p>För att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag arbetar med athlete celebrity endorsement genomfördes fyra stycken telefonintervjuer med företag som är eller har varit aktuella med kampanjer tillsammans med idrottsstjärnor. Inför intervjuerna utformades en intervjuguide som baserades på den teoretiska referensramen. Dessa företag och idrottsstjärnor var: Länsförsäkringar och Henrik Larsson, Skellefteå Kraft och Heidi Andersson, Shapy och Jonathan Hedström samt Pärsons och Anja Pärson.</p><p>Empirikapitlet behandlar resultatet av intervjuerna där varje företag redovisas enskilt för att få en övergripande syn på hur respektive företag arbetar med athlete celebrity endorsement. Företagen i studien var positivt inställda till denna typ av marknadsföringsaktivitet och de ansåg bland annat att det är viktigt att idrottsstjärnas värderingar passar ihop med företagets.</p><p>De slutsatser vi kommit fram till i denna studie är att företagen är medvetna om de fördelar som finns men inte tänker lika mycket på nackdelarna med athlete celebrity endorsement. Vi har även sett en brist i att företagen inte planerar sitt val av idrottsstjärna utan går mer på känsla. Vi kan vidare dra slutsatsen att det inte heller görs någon uppföljning eller utvärdering av den specifika kampanjen samt att valet av en kvinnlig eller manlig idrottare inte har någon betydelse för de svenska företag som deltog i studien. En övergripande slutsats som vi kommit fram till är att athlete celebrity endorsement lämpar sig bäst när produkten är sportrelaterad på något sätt.</p>

<p>This BA thesis examines how the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet writes about celebrities.Our questions were: How much does Aftonbladet write about celebrities? What kind ofcelebrities does Aftonbladet write about? In which context do celebrities appear inAftonbladet? We have also studied how these matters have changed since 1978.In our research we have used quantitative content analysis. We have analyzed a total of 956articles about celebrities from 1978, 1988, 1998 and 2008. We chose to analyze articles fromtwo synthetic weeks each year.We have used theories about celebrity culture, popularization and personalization and alsoabout public and private in our analyze.Our conclusions were that Aftonbladet has written a lot of articles about celebrities for a longtime, but the articles about celebrities in Aftonbladet have increased by 170 percent since1978.The number of articles that Aftonbladet has written dealing with the private life of celebritieshas not changed much at all since 1978. This was something that surprised us because weexpected that Aftonbladet would write more about the private life of celebrities in 2008 thanin 1978.</p>

This dissertation examines the way the life and ministry of Robert Hall, Jr. (1764-1831) functioned as both a theological exemplar and a cultural celebrity. Chapter 1 sets forth the thesis and defines its terminology and introduces the research methodology and the limitations of the project. Chapter 2 reintroduces the life of Robert Hall to a generation that has forgotten him. Details of Hall's education, pastoral ministry, mental breakdown, and death are provided here. Chapter 3 discusses the preaching methodology Hall inherited from preceding generations of Baptists and how Hall changed that methodology over the course of his life. Chapter 4 first addresses Hall's theological journey before observing how Hall employed different doctrines in his preaching. The chapter concludes with a concise examination of Hall as a preacher and the way he also served as a theological exemplar. Chapter 5 investigates Hall as a cultural celebrity, in many ways the first of such among the Baptists. The root of Hall's celebrification as a conversationalist, a rhetorician, and a preacher are all examined. Chapter 6 examines four of Hall's most famous sermons. It was these sermons that made Hall famous across the English nation and established him as a celebrity.

Abstract The use of celebrity endorsement strategy is nowadays more frequently used by marketers in order to increase their sales and thereby extend their market shares. Many celebrities are used in various marketing campaigns and in most cases; the use of celebrities as endorsers is seen from mainly positive aspects. This made the authors curious whether the negative aspects, that also exists when using celebrities as endorsers, affects consumers in their purchasing decisions when a celebrity gets associated with negative publicity. Another cause of interest is which factors of a certain celebrity are most important and crucial in consumers’ perceptions, in the case of negative publicity. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study which factors consumers find important for a company to consider when a celebrity gets negative publicity, to maintain successful brand recognition. Literature review: The use of previous studies within the field of celebrity endorsement clarifies many important aspects when it comes to celebrity endorsement and this chapter is elaborated from 4 different perspectives; Company, Celebrity, Brand and Consumer. Based on previous studies, the authors identified 6 crucial attributes when using celebrities as endorsers and this can also be seen as a pre-study that the research process has been based upon. Furthermore, the 6 attributes are chosen from the three first mentioned perspectives in order to be able to fulfil the purpose. Hence, this thesis is conducted from a consumer’s point of view. Method: A quantitative method is used in this thesis since the authors want to base the results on collected data that is expressed in numbers and also to generate a general apprehension in this phenomenon. Moreover, the combinations containing the 6 attributes are used in the conjoint experiment. Conclusions: It was proven in this study that consumers do get affected by celebrities as endorser, when the attributes from the literature review are in a combination. But, the consumers’ perception of the attributes differs in different cases. However, the main finding was that there are two crucial attributes, trustworthiness and expertise that companies should take into account when using celebrities in their advertising campaign.

AbstractTitle: “Heat without passion and caution without fear”: celebrity journalism and press ethics in Aftonbladet – a text analysisNumber of pages: 48Author: Moa ThorssellTutor: Martin FredrikssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall 2009University: Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala UniversityPurppose/Aim: Analyzing how the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet writes about celebrities on a daily basis; the quality of the journalism and how they follow the press etics.Material/Method: Qualitative textual analysis of seven newsarticles about celebrities published in Aftonbladet, November 9th to November 15th 2009.Main results: Of the seven analyzed articles six could be considered as less good journalism. In the other cases, considering the journalistic ideal to have several sources, were rarely the case. Most of the articles were poorly based on facts and quotations. Sometimes the reporter had not even spoken to the person in question. The lack of information in the articles was compensated with dramatic titles and preambles. Even in the rest of the text the journalists used dramatical words to make the story bigger than it was.The articles also revealed the personal life. Around fifty percent of the articles were based on people who were difficult to define as public or private figures. Though they had participated in a reality show on tv, Aftonbladet decided to define them as celebrities. With defining them as celebrities the paper had less restrictions press ethically for what it could write. However, in reality the articles involved people who were not used to the media’s attention, but who most likely would do a lot to stay in the spotlight. Something that the media, with not following the press ethics, could easily take advantage of. But also with the person who were more easily defined as celebrities, the articles went far into the personal life.My analysis states that when it comes to news about celebrities the press ethics is less important, even though it concerns the private life of others. One also felt like it was less requirements for journalistic quality in these cases. Moreover all the articles could be classified as articles with a high news value. In conclusion a high news value did not automatically mean high quality journalism. Rather the high news value had to do with that it was articles about celebrities opening up their private life.Keywords: Celebrity journalism, public/private figure, press ethics, tabloid.

Människor har i alla tider sett upp till kända personer som förebilder och representanter för något som de själva drömmer om att vara, vilket gör dessa kända personer till idealiska ansikten utåt för ett företags varumärke och produkter. Detta fenomen kallas celebrity endorsement och har länge varit en populär metod inom marknadsföring där syftet är att skapa associationer mellan ett varumärke och en känd persons egenskaper. Även i Sverige förekommer denna form av marknadsföring och vi vill i denna studie se hur svenska företag arbetar med detta. Vi har tagit del av vetenskapliga studier som menar att könet på den kända personen i marknadsföringen har betydelse. Då Sverige är ett av de mest jämställda länderna i världen är det även intressant att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag väljer idrottsstjärnor till sina marknadsföringskampanjer. Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag använder sig av svenska idrottsstjärnor i sin marknadsföring samt om det finns några skillnader i urval då det gäller kvinnliga och manliga idrottare. Vi vill även ta reda på om företagen gör någon uppföljning på resultatet av marknadsföringskampanjerna och i så fall på vilket sätt detta genomförs. Den teoretiska referensramen har legat till grund för denna studie och teoridelen är baserad på vetenskapliga studier om ämnet athlete celebrity endorsement, samt hur arbetet med detta fenomen går till. De delar vi berör är vikten av ett starkt varumärke, en beskrivning av fenomenet athlete celebrity endorsement, fördelar och nackdelar med denna typ av marknadsföring, hur valet av idrottsstjärna går till, om det görs någon uppföljning och utvärdering, samt om idrottsstjärnas kön har någon betydelse. Dessa delar utgör sedan grunden för teori-, empiri-, analys-, slutsats- och diskussionskapitel. För att öka förståelsen för hur svenska företag arbetar med athlete celebrity endorsement genomfördes fyra stycken telefonintervjuer med företag som är eller har varit aktuella med kampanjer tillsammans med idrottsstjärnor. Inför intervjuerna utformades en intervjuguide som baserades på den teoretiska referensramen. Dessa företag och idrottsstjärnor var: Länsförsäkringar och Henrik Larsson, Skellefteå Kraft och Heidi Andersson, Shapy och Jonathan Hedström samt Pärsons och Anja Pärson. Empirikapitlet behandlar resultatet av intervjuerna där varje företag redovisas enskilt för att få en övergripande syn på hur respektive företag arbetar med athlete celebrity endorsement. Företagen i studien var positivt inställda till denna typ av marknadsföringsaktivitet och de ansåg bland annat att det är viktigt att idrottsstjärnas värderingar passar ihop med företagets. De slutsatser vi kommit fram till i denna studie är att företagen är medvetna om de fördelar som finns men inte tänker lika mycket på nackdelarna med athlete celebrity endorsement. Vi har även sett en brist i att företagen inte planerar sitt val av idrottsstjärna utan går mer på känsla. Vi kan vidare dra slutsatsen att det inte heller görs någon uppföljning eller utvärdering av den specifika kampanjen samt att valet av en kvinnlig eller manlig idrottare inte har någon betydelse för de svenska företag som deltog i studien. En övergripande slutsats som vi kommit fram till är att athlete celebrity endorsement lämpar sig bäst när produkten är sportrelaterad på något sätt.