Vad händer när en produkt eller tjänst försämrar konsumentens välmående och förtjänsterna ökar ju mer detta sker? Ett etiskt dilemma har uppstått inom digitala plattformar, däribland videoströmningsplattformar (VSP), på grund av detta. En genomgående trend för VSP:ar men också inom e-handeln och mobilappar har visat sig vara nyttjandet av manipulativ design i användargränssnittet, så kallade mörka mönster (eng. Dark Patterns). Inom VSP:ar har Autouppspelningsfunktionen och Rekommendationer utsetts som stora anledningar till att konsumenterna fortsätter att titta. Etiska riktlinjer för UX-designers (de som formar användargränssnitt) kan vara en möjlig väg från detta, andra åtgärder som diskuterats har varit att lagstifta eller lägga tron i att konsumenterna själva kommer att välja bort de plattformar som använder manipulativ design. I syfte att undersöka respondenters medvetenheten om-, förmåga att hitta- och medveten om den potentiella påverkan- och förmåga att hitta mörka mönster på VSP:ar genomfördes en onlineenkät (n=56). Resultatet för undersökningen visar att även om användare i viss mån är medvetna om- och har förmågan att hitta en del av de givna mönsterna bär dessa skyddsegenskaper ingen signifikant relation till att få användaren att undgå att bli påverkad av manipulationen. / What happens when a product or service impairs the consumer's well-being? And profits increase the more this happens? An ethical dilemma has arisen within digital platforms, including video streaming platforms (VSPs), because of this. A consistent trend for VSPs but also for e-commerce and smartphone apps has proven to be the use of manipulative design in user interfaces, so-called Dark Patterns. Within VSPs, the Autoplay feature and Recommendations have been cited as big reasons for consumers to keep watching. Ethical guidelines for UX designers (the ones who shape user interfaces) could be a possible way out of this, other possible measures are to create a legislation or add to the belief that consumers will opt out of those platforms that contain manipulative design. In order to investigate the awareness of-, ability to find- and influence gained despite awareness of- and ability to find dark patterns on VSPs, an online survey was applied (n=56). The result of the investigation shows that even if users are aware to a certain extent and have the ability to find some of the given patterns, these protective properties do not having a significant relationship with the respondent being able to avoid influence from the patterns.

No description available.

Counterfeiting is an illegal activity that continues to boom in the 21st century. Many research studies regarding counterfeiting undertaken in the past have had a strong focus on the supply side of the industry, whereas few studies look to consumer demand and even fewer towards consumer demand for counterfeit products in an emerging African market. The aim of this research study, therefore, was to provide a descriptive analysis of the South African consumers‟ intention to purchase authentic luxury fashion brands versus counterfeit products and secondly, to examine if various demographic groupings differ in their purchase intentions. In order to achieve the research objective, an extensive literary review was conducted on the global counterfeit problem with specific focus on the South African counterfeit industry. The concept and value of branding was highlighted, followed by a discussion on consumer behaviour in conjunction with the decision-making process and the consumers‟ intention to purchase. An empirical study was conducted with UNISA students residing within the areas of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape through a mixed method approach. Qualitative research formed the first leg of the study and assisted in identifying past purchase behaviour of authentic and counterfeit luxury fashion brands. Once identified, these brands were then utilised in a quantitative survey to satisfy the research objectives. The results of this research study indicate that South African consumers‟ have a high intention to purchase authentic luxury fashion brands versus a low intention to purchase counterfeit products. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

A temática da publicidade encontra-se normatizada no Código de Defesa do Consumidor a partir de princípios e cláusulas gerais, que, se virtuosas pela abrangência interpretativa, igualmente passíveis de desencadear grande insegurança jurídica quando não calcadas em consolidada doutrina e parâmetros interpretativos concretos. Nesse contexto, a presente tese tem por escopo conferir nova e detalhada sistematização ao tema e, fundamentalmente, fornecer ao operador do direito diretrizes palpáveis à análise da enganosidade e abusividade nas mensagens publicitárias. Trata-se, por exemplo, da necessidade de se analisar a (i)licitude da publicidade a partir da figura do consumidor como critério interpretativo central do artigo 37 CDC, procedendo-se a uma releitura do conceito de consumidor médio. No exame da publicidade enganosa, em especial no âmbito da sua tutela difusa, propõe-se, ademais, o critério de investigação do consumidor típico da publicidade, a partir do qual o potencial de indução em erro poderá ser melhor apreendido. A tese aborda ainda o conceito de dado essencial para configuração da enganosidade por omissão e ressalta os efeitos das mensagens secundárias ao slogan principal da publicidade. Tema igualmente novo refere-se à adoção das pesquisas de mercado na constatação da (i)licitude da publicidade. No que tange à publicidade abusiva, o trabalho se lança ao exame e delimitação de seus conceitos indeterminados, destaca o aspecto da tutela dos valores da coletividade e demonstra a impropriedade de uma análise puramente subjetiva e individual dessas peças publicitárias. O presente estudo apresenta ainda um quadro sistemático das técnicas publicitárias mais freqüentes, i.e., merchandising, publicidade redacional, teaser, exagero publicitário e mensagem de tom excludente, publicidade testemunhal e comparativa, analisando suas implicações no âmbito do direito do consumidor. Por fim, aborda-se a responsabilidade civil na publicidade ilícita e os pressupostos do dever de indenizar. Examina-se a reparação do dano moral (individual e coletivo) e o aspecto punitivo de tais indenizações, bem como os sujeitos da responsabilidade civil e a existência (ou não) de uma responsabilidade solidária entre anunciante, agência, veículo e celebridades. / Advertising is regulated by the Consumer Defense Code (CDC) according to principles and general rules that, notwithstanding being characterized by their constructive scope, may give rise to legal uncertainty whenever they are not grounded on settled legal doctrine and concrete constructive parameters. In this context, the present thesis aims to grant new and detailed systematization to the issue, and provide lawyers with tangible directions to analyze the deceptiveness and abusiveness within advertising messages. It regards, for instance, the need to analyze advertising (un)lawfulness from the consumers standpoint as the core constructive criterion of article 37 of the CDC. At this point we scrutinize in details the concept of reasonable consumer. Upon examining deceptive advertising, especially with regard to its diffuse protection, we propose, in addition, the typical consumer investigative criterion in advertising whereby potential error induction may be better understood. The thesis also addresses the essential data concept to configure deceitfulness by omission, and underscores the effects of secondary messages on the main advertising slogan. Likewise, the theme is related to the adoption of market research to ascertain advertising (un)lawfulness. Considering abusive advertising, this thesis examines its undetermined concepts, highlights the protection of collective values, and evidences the inadequacy of its subjective and individual analysis. The present study also offers a systematic table of the most frequent advertising techniques, i.e., merchandising, copywriting, teaser, exaggerated and excluding advertising, testimonial and comparative advertising, analyzing their entailments within Consumer Law. Finally, the work addresses the liability related to unlawful advertisement and the elements that determine the duty to indemnify. Pain and suffering redress (either individual or collective) and the punitive feature of such indemnification are examined herein, as well as the liable subjects and the existence (or not) or joint liability among the sponsor, advertising agency, media vehicle and celebrities.

The thesis explores advertorials, advertising made to look like editorial content, from a consumer behaviour perspective. Introduction                 Consumers are exposed to a staggering amount of advertisements each day. This so-called advertising clutter makes it difficult for marketers to reach the consumer. Therefore, in the late 1980’s marketers started to use unconventional ways of advertising. One of these was the use of advertorials, a form of advertising that borrows the appearance and other features from editorial material. Problem discussion       Since advertorials are made to look like editorial material, but is in reality an advertisement, it is of interest for researchers and practicing marketers alike to know what effects using them has on the brand. Previous research differ in the view on advertorials; some claim that it is a good way to advertise as it is seen as less intrusive and irritating, while others say that the deceptiveness makes people irritated. Purpose                        Through a quantitative case study of Aftonbladet.se, a Swedish news website, from a consumer perspective analyze the effects the level of deception of online advertorials have on 1) brand credibility, and 2) the irritation level, on both the medium and the advertiser. Also, 3) to thereafter examine if possible alterations in irritation and brand credibility trigger changes in brand attitudes towards medium and advertiser. Background                  Newspapers have long been dependent on the revenue from advertisement sales, even more so since the emergence of free newspapers and news web sites. With this in mind, the importance of advertorials stands clear. In the on-line world, where readers jump from article to article and from site to site, the advertorials play an important role in “catching” the reader and make him/her stay on the site. Moreover, advertorials is one of the formats of on-line advertising which commands the highest revenues. Frame of reference        The on-line context provides additional ways of deceiving a consumer, in comparison with print media. Therefore, the frame of reference focuses on previous research on the effects the deception can have with a consumer and the perception of the brands included; irritation, brand credibility, brand attitude, likeliness to return to site, and advertising avoidance. For later testing, 11 hypotheses were defined. Method                        The study uses a mixed method approach, with both quantitative and qualitative data. An experiment, with one control group and two different manipulations formed the basis for the data collection. 19 out of the 103 participants in the quantitative study were asked to participate in the qualitative study as well. Analysis                        As the distribution of the data was found not to be normal, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test the hypotheses. All hypotheses but one were accepted. Further, to explore the relationship between variables, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was also performed. Conclusion                   It was not possible to prove that a higher level of blend-in decreased credibility of any of the two brands, neither does induce more irritation. It was also not possible to discern a statistically significant effect on the attitude towards the brands, likeliness to return to Aftonbladet.se, or future avoidance of adverts by Volvo. However, several of the participants of the interviews expressed concern over the long-term effects the use of advertorials may have on the brand of Volvo. Further, advertorials are definitely highly deceptive, and almost half of the respondents did not realize they were reading an advert even at the lowest level of blend-in, which is currently used by Aftonbladet.se and Volvo. / Avhandlingen utforskar advertorials, reklam kommer att se ut som redaktionellt innehåll, från en konsument beteende perspektiv. Introduktion                Konsumenter exponeras dagligen för oerhörda mängder reklam. Detta gör det svårt för marknadsförare att nå konsumenten. Sedan slutet av 1980-talet har vissa marknadsförare därmed börjat använda okonventionella metoder för reklam. En av dessa är användandet av ”dolda annonser”, en form av reklam som lånar utseende och andra funktioner för att smälta in med redaktionellt material i tidningar, på webbsidor och så vidare. Problemdiskussion       Eftersom ”dolda annonser” är gjorda för att likna redaktionellt material, men i själva verket är en annonser är det av intresse för både forskare och praktiserande marknadsförare att veta effekterna användandet har på deltagande företags varumärken. Tidigare forskning skiljer sig i synen på dessa ”dolda annonser”, vissa hävdar att det är ett bra sätt att göra reklam, eftersom det ses som mindre påträngande och irriterande, medan andra säger att dess vilseledande natur faktiskt gör människor uppretade. Syfte                            Genom en kvantitativ fallstudie av Aftonbladet.se, en svensk nyhets-site, från ett konsumentperspektiv analysera effekterna på 1) varumärket trovärdighet, och 2) irritationsnivån, både på annonsorganet och annonsören, när ”dolda annonser” smälter in mer med redaktionellt innehåll. Dessutom, 3) att därefter undersöka om eventuella ändringar i irritation och varumärkestrovärdighet leder till förändringar i attityd mot annonsorganet och annonsören. Bakgrund                     Tidningar har länge varit beroende av intäkterna från annonsförsäljning. I takt med att framväxten av gratistidningar och nyhets-siter har försvårat marknaden har ”dolda annonser” blivit en allt viktigare inkomstkälla. I den elektroniska världen, där läsare kan hoppa från artikel till artikel och från plats till plats, spelar ”dolda annonser” en viktig roll i att fånga läsaren. Referensram                 Online-kontextet ger större möjligheter att vilseleda konsumenten i jämförelse med tryckta medier. Därför är den teoretiska tungdpunkten lagd på tidigare forskning om effekterna vilseledande marknadsföring kan ha på en konsuments  uppfattning av deltagande varumärken vad gäller irritationsnivå, varumärkestrovärdighet, attityd, sannolikhet att återvända till webbplats, samt reklamundvikande. Ur tidigare forskning konstruerades 11 hypoteser för senare prövning. Metod                          Studien använder en blandad metodstrategi, med både kvantitativa och kvalitativa data. Ett experiment med en kontrollgrupp och två olika manipulationer låg till grund för insamlingen av uppgifter. 19 av de 103 deltagarna i den kvantitativa delen ombads att delta i den kvalitativa studien med. Analys                          Eftersom fördelningen inte var helt normalt distribuerad användes Kruskal-Wallis test för att testa hypoteserna. Resultatet var att alla hypoteser utom en godkändes. Relationen mellan variabler undersöktes också genom hierarkisk multipel regressionsanalys. Slutsats                         Det var inte möjligt att bevisa att annonser som smälter in mer leder till minskad trovärdighet för någon av de båda varumärkena, och inte heller lockar fram mer irritation. Det var inte heller möjligt att urskilja en statistiskt signifikant effekt på attityd gentemot varumärken, sannolikheten att återvända till Aftonbladet.se, eller framtida undvikande av annonser av Volvo. Dock uttryckte flera av deltagarna i intervjuerna oro över de långsiktiga effekterna användning av ”dolda annonser” kan ha på varumärket Volvo. Vidare är definitivt annonserna mycket vilseledande, och nära hälften insåg inte de läste en annons även på nivån som används av Aftonbladet.se och Volvo idag.

A temática da publicidade encontra-se normatizada no Código de Defesa do Consumidor a partir de princípios e cláusulas gerais, que, se virtuosas pela abrangência interpretativa, igualmente passíveis de desencadear grande insegurança jurídica quando não calcadas em consolidada doutrina e parâmetros interpretativos concretos. Nesse contexto, a presente tese tem por escopo conferir nova e detalhada sistematização ao tema e, fundamentalmente, fornecer ao operador do direito diretrizes palpáveis à análise da enganosidade e abusividade nas mensagens publicitárias. Trata-se, por exemplo, da necessidade de se analisar a (i)licitude da publicidade a partir da figura do consumidor como critério interpretativo central do artigo 37 CDC, procedendo-se a uma releitura do conceito de consumidor médio. No exame da publicidade enganosa, em especial no âmbito da sua tutela difusa, propõe-se, ademais, o critério de investigação do consumidor típico da publicidade, a partir do qual o potencial de indução em erro poderá ser melhor apreendido. A tese aborda ainda o conceito de dado essencial para configuração da enganosidade por omissão e ressalta os efeitos das mensagens secundárias ao slogan principal da publicidade. Tema igualmente novo refere-se à adoção das pesquisas de mercado na constatação da (i)licitude da publicidade. No que tange à publicidade abusiva, o trabalho se lança ao exame e delimitação de seus conceitos indeterminados, destaca o aspecto da tutela dos valores da coletividade e demonstra a impropriedade de uma análise puramente subjetiva e individual dessas peças publicitárias. O presente estudo apresenta ainda um quadro sistemático das técnicas publicitárias mais freqüentes, i.e., merchandising, publicidade redacional, teaser, exagero publicitário e mensagem de tom excludente, publicidade testemunhal e comparativa, analisando suas implicações no âmbito do direito do consumidor. Por fim, aborda-se a responsabilidade civil na publicidade ilícita e os pressupostos do dever de indenizar. Examina-se a reparação do dano moral (individual e coletivo) e o aspecto punitivo de tais indenizações, bem como os sujeitos da responsabilidade civil e a existência (ou não) de uma responsabilidade solidária entre anunciante, agência, veículo e celebridades. / Advertising is regulated by the Consumer Defense Code (CDC) according to principles and general rules that, notwithstanding being characterized by their constructive scope, may give rise to legal uncertainty whenever they are not grounded on settled legal doctrine and concrete constructive parameters. In this context, the present thesis aims to grant new and detailed systematization to the issue, and provide lawyers with tangible directions to analyze the deceptiveness and abusiveness within advertising messages. It regards, for instance, the need to analyze advertising (un)lawfulness from the consumers standpoint as the core constructive criterion of article 37 of the CDC. At this point we scrutinize in details the concept of reasonable consumer. Upon examining deceptive advertising, especially with regard to its diffuse protection, we propose, in addition, the typical consumer investigative criterion in advertising whereby potential error induction may be better understood. The thesis also addresses the essential data concept to configure deceitfulness by omission, and underscores the effects of secondary messages on the main advertising slogan. Likewise, the theme is related to the adoption of market research to ascertain advertising (un)lawfulness. Considering abusive advertising, this thesis examines its undetermined concepts, highlights the protection of collective values, and evidences the inadequacy of its subjective and individual analysis. The present study also offers a systematic table of the most frequent advertising techniques, i.e., merchandising, copywriting, teaser, exaggerated and excluding advertising, testimonial and comparative advertising, analyzing their entailments within Consumer Law. Finally, the work addresses the liability related to unlawful advertisement and the elements that determine the duty to indemnify. Pain and suffering redress (either individual or collective) and the punitive feature of such indemnification are examined herein, as well as the liable subjects and the existence (or not) or joint liability among the sponsor, advertising agency, media vehicle and celebrities.

Counterfeiting is an illegal activity that continues to boom in the 21st century. Many research studies regarding counterfeiting undertaken in the past have had a strong focus on the supply side of the industry, whereas few studies look to consumer demand and even fewer towards consumer demand for counterfeit products in an emerging African market. The aim of this research study, therefore, was to provide a descriptive analysis of the South African consumers‟ intention to purchase authentic luxury fashion brands versus counterfeit products and secondly, to examine if various demographic groupings differ in their purchase intentions. In order to achieve the research objective, an extensive literary review was conducted on the global counterfeit problem with specific focus on the South African counterfeit industry. The concept and value of branding was highlighted, followed by a discussion on consumer behaviour in conjunction with the decision-making process and the consumers‟ intention to purchase. An empirical study was conducted with UNISA students residing within the areas of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape through a mixed method approach. Qualitative research formed the first leg of the study and assisted in identifying past purchase behaviour of authentic and counterfeit luxury fashion brands. Once identified, these brands were then utilised in a quantitative survey to satisfy the research objectives. The results of this research study indicate that South African consumers‟ have a high intention to purchase authentic luxury fashion brands versus a low intention to purchase counterfeit products. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:29:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiola Meira de Almeida Santos.pdf: 864245 bytes, checksum: f73c9c68ec473a97001d22bf4eadbcf9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-13 / The purpose of this study is to investigate digital marketing and consumer protection. It seeks to scrutinize recent digital marketing techniques and respective consequences towards consumer relations. In order to address the issue, the study firstly draws the profile of consumer society and technological development verified in the last few years, which is necessary to understand the reasoning for alterations in consumers behavior and of the techniques adopted by suppliers to place its products and services in the market. Through the analysis of consumer market, the study then scrutinizes Brazilian Consumer Protection Code, a statutory Law full of principles, as a public order Law, specially the provisions of article 4 of Law No. 8078/90, that is, those pertaining to Brazilian policy of consumer relations, to the other principles that might be gathered from the Code and, within this context, the principles relating to advertisement, marketing and commercial practices. Another approach refers to marketing development, its main characteristics and brief considerations regarding the relation between advertisement and semiotics, through the study of marketing in the digital age and of current online advertisement techniques. This background allows the analysis of main issues deriving from digital marketing techniques, when they are undertook without observation to Consumer Protection Code, such as: creation of consumer databases, products customization and building up of consumer profiles by means of violating consumers privacy as a result of the nonstopping seek of sensitive information, besides unfair competition. The results of the research indicate that such practices should be deemed as deceptive commercial practices by virtue of the increasing unreasonable advantages demanded by suppliers of digital age, and presents suggestions and legislative bills that aim to avoid aggravation of consumers vulnerability and protect its privacy / O presente estudo traz como objeto de investigação o marketing digital e a proteção do consumidor e pretende abordar e analisar as recentes técnicas de marketing digital e as consequências para as relações de consumo. Para adentrar o tema, o trabalho traça, primeiramente, um perfil da sociedade de consumo e da evolução tecnológica surgida nos últimos anos, necessário para entender a razão da alteração de comportamento do consumidor e das técnicas de oferecimento de produtos e serviços. Com a análise do mercado de consumo passa-se a discorrer sobre o Código de Defesa do Consumidor, sua natureza de norma principiológica e cogente, por se tratar de norma ordem pública, especialmente os preceitos que regem as relações de consumo, desde os previstos no artigo 4º da Lei nº 8.078/90, ou seja, aqueles atinentes à política nacional das relações de consumo até os demais que podem ser extraídos do Código e, neste contexto, os princípios concernentes à publicidade, o marketing e as práticas comerciais. Outra abordagem alude à evolução do marketing, suas características principais e breves considerações sobre a relação dos anúncios publicitários com a semiótica, chegando ao estudo do marketing na era digital e das atuais técnicas de publicidade on-line. Com esse pano de fundo o estudo encontra subsídios para discorrer sobre os principais problemas que as técnicas de marketing digital, quando utilizadas sem o respeito ao Código de Defesa do Consumidor, acarretam para a sociedade, entre eles: a formação de banco de dados, a customização de produtos e formação de perfis por meio da violação da intimidade e da vida privada em razão da busca incessante de dados sensíveis e a concorrência desleal. O resultado da pesquisa aponta no sentido de que referidos atos configuram práticas comerciais abusivas em razão das crescentes vantagens manifestamente excessivas exigidas pelo fornecedor da era digital e apresenta algumas sugestões e projetos de lei que tentam impedir que a vulnerabilidade do consumidor reste por demais exacerbada e sua privacidade corrompida

<p>The present study investigates lexical similarity perceptions by students of Swedish as a foreign language (L3) with a good yet non-native proficiency in English (L2). The general theoretical framework is provided by studies in transfer of learning and its specific instance, transfer in language acquisition.</p><p>It is accepted as true that all previous linguistic knowledge is facilitative in developing proficiency in a new language. However, a frequently reported phenomenon is that students see similarities between two systems in a different way than linguists and theoreticians of education do. As a consequence, the full facilitative potential of transfer remains unused.</p><p>The present research seeks to shed light on the similarity perceptions with the focus on the comprehension of a written text. In order to elucidate students’ views, a form involving similarity judgements and multiple choice questions for formally similar items has been designed, drawing on real language use as provided by corpora. 123 forms have been distributed in 6 groups of international students, 4 of them studying Swedish at Level I and 2 studying at Level II. </p><p>The test items in the form vary in the degree of formal, semantic and functional similarity from very close cognates, to similar words belonging to different word classes, to items exhibiting category membership and/or being in subordinate/superordinate relation to each other, to deceptive cognates. The author proposes expected similarity ratings and compares them to the results obtained. The objective measure of formal similarity is provided by a string matching algorithm, Levenshtein distance.</p><p>The similarity judgements point at the fact that intermediate similarity values can be considered problematic. Similarity ratings between somewhat similar items are usually lower than could be expected. Besides, difference in grammatical meaning lowers similarity values significantly even if lexical meaning nearly coincides. Thus, the obtained results indicate that in order to utilize similarities to facilitate language learning, more attention should be paid to underlying similarities.</p>

The present study investigates lexical similarity perceptions by students of Swedish as a foreign language (L3) with a good yet non-native proficiency in English (L2). The general theoretical framework is provided by studies in transfer of learning and its specific instance, transfer in language acquisition. It is accepted as true that all previous linguistic knowledge is facilitative in developing proficiency in a new language. However, a frequently reported phenomenon is that students see similarities between two systems in a different way than linguists and theoreticians of education do. As a consequence, the full facilitative potential of transfer remains unused. The present research seeks to shed light on the similarity perceptions with the focus on the comprehension of a written text. In order to elucidate students’ views, a form involving similarity judgements and multiple choice questions for formally similar items has been designed, drawing on real language use as provided by corpora. 123 forms have been distributed in 6 groups of international students, 4 of them studying Swedish at Level I and 2 studying at Level II.  The test items in the form vary in the degree of formal, semantic and functional similarity from very close cognates, to similar words belonging to different word classes, to items exhibiting category membership and/or being in subordinate/superordinate relation to each other, to deceptive cognates. The author proposes expected similarity ratings and compares them to the results obtained. The objective measure of formal similarity is provided by a string matching algorithm, Levenshtein distance. The similarity judgements point at the fact that intermediate similarity values can be considered problematic. Similarity ratings between somewhat similar items are usually lower than could be expected. Besides, difference in grammatical meaning lowers similarity values significantly even if lexical meaning nearly coincides. Thus, the obtained results indicate that in order to utilize similarities to facilitate language learning, more attention should be paid to underlying similarities.