The body of marketing is drastically changing, pushing frontiers in numerous of domains, geographically, behaviourally and strategically with much enhanced technology in an increasingly globalized world. As this phenomenon pushes forward on many fronts, it is worthwhile to ask what will happen in the near future in this field. In today’s society ‘Influencer Marketing’ is known to be an incredibly popular and successful marketing tool, where one might be wondering: What is a plausible future in this area? What are the potential threats and challenges (if any) that we may encounter? What drives Influencer Marketing in organizations and what questions do they have about its impacts and measurements? I am hoping to fulfil this gap with the assistance of Critical Future Studies, Inayatullah (1990,1998) Luke Goode, Michael Godhe (2017,2018) in analysing the various facts and information that are being addressed and most importantly critically assess what is being missed. This Master thesis is a critical study, reflecting the future thinking and strategies relating to Emotional Branding, Danny Brown, Sam Fiorella (2013) made by experts in the fields of Public Relations, using a quantitative content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The chosen methods demonstrate two distinctive results, the content analysis showing a rather positive overview whereas the semi-structured interviews unpack the complexities and challenges in Influencer Marketing and has a negative stance towards its future. Future Studies, is a rigorous branch of study, where unfortunately no one can know for certain what the future holds, however I believe that it is important that we acknowledge values and invite scholars to join this critical dialogue about possible futures and the way we can imagine and discuss the future. The results in this thesis also further demonstrates the necessity in studying this branch of study due to the contradicting answers that are being addressed in the analysis. This thesis also intends to signify that it will not be closure but an encouragement to consider the impetus for a much larger conversation.

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Through the phenomenon of digitization, political parties are now able to communicate their messages in a variety of ways. With this in mind, it is interesting to see how different parties tweak and refine their messages to different target groups. Earlier research suggests that arguments that affect people's feelings are those that make us act. It also shows that value-added words are usually used in connection with such arguments, which coincided with the results of this study. The purpose of this study was to combine rhetorical analysis and critical discourse analysis to see how the Sweden Democrats communicate their elderly policy in three main forums: election manifesto, motions, and the media. The framing of the main question therefore was "How do the Sweden Democrats communicate their elderly policy in their election manifesto, motions and in the media?". The material used in the analysis included three debate articles that were selected through the search words SD, Debate and 2018. Furthermore, the Sweden Democrats’ latest motion and the party's election manifesto on elderly policy were used. The analysis was conducted by reviewing the texts individually and by finding different tools that fell within the framework of rhetorical analysis and critical discourse analysis. This was followed by a summary of the tools that existed and of how the texts differed. The result of the analysis showed that the messages used in the three forums were similar, but that they were designed differently to suit the intended target group. For example, in the debate articles, the Sweden Democrats used arguments that evoked emotions, while in the election manifesto and above all the motion, they used arguments that were supported by data-based facts.

This thesis explores the current status of privacy in the context of the upcoming implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, more precisely, focuses on the redefined Right to be forgotten as its most controversial component. Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis was deployed to show how the Right to be forgotten is reshaping the privacy discourse in the age of big data, digitalization, surveillance and data driven business. Qualitative content analysis was used to serve critical discourse analysis as the first stage of the three dimensions, which built the foundation for the analysis of the broader discursive and societal practices. The digital age requires a rethinking of privacy in terms of the protection of personal data due to the embeddedness of technology in everyday life, big data, easy retrieval and cheap cloud storage. Forgetting and remembering are two facets that constitute human behavior but within the regime of technological advancements, both have lost, or changed their meaning. The new legislative framework aims to enhance forgetting but seems more of a façade to legitimate remembering. Several online blog posts written by experts in diverse fields of knowledge have shown that the current legislative framework is no longer sufficient due to technological change and unequal hegemonic relations, which contribute to reshaping the privacy discourse. The thesis does not give a final answer to the questions raised but contributes to the debate and to a comprehensive understanding of the new legislation in Europe.

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Introduction (Purpose) - The main purpose of this study is to investigate how participation is differently understood and its effects in the relationship between managers and employees. By answering the research question has the potential to improve more effective participation practices. Theoretical framework – Discourses are considered as sites of power which involve an act of resistance itself. Both concepts co-emerge together in a dialectical relationship. The co-existence of different participation discourses inevitably provides tensions which are understood as a normal condition of the organizational life. Design/methodology/approach - The research setting took place in Uppsala Kommun Vård och Omsorg where the data was collected during 14 weeks. Due to my position as an employee within the organization, an inductive approach was considered as the most suitable reasoning in this research. By taking a qualitative design, interviews and observations were carried out to both managers and employees in three different groups. Findings - The organizational context as well as the different understandings of authority between managers and employees involves tensions which are used to articulate contrasting expectations and participation discourses. Significantly, the employees’ silence at the meetings is not only used by the managers and the group leaders to reinforce their own identities. Furthermore, the absence of a group leader does not eliminate this figure as such. This shows the inefficiency regarding the organizational debate about the appropriateness and maintenance of group leaders (i.e. “samordnares”) within personal assistants’ groups. Conclusions – Contrasting participation discourses reflect how power is differently exercised between managers and employees. Moreover, the intentionality of power and, hence, resistance behaviors is often misunderstood between managers and employees. To improve more effective participatory practices, some of the following examples were found; the requirement of clarify employees and group leaders’ competences within the decisions making processes, the correct organization in advance of the items for discussion, decentralization of responsibilities among the employees as well as conducting group meetings at the clients’ residence, at least once a year.

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Spelbranschen är en av de snabbast växande marknader men den är också kritiserad för att vara mansdominerad och sexistisk. Tidigare forskning om genus inom spel, visar att en majoritet av spelutvecklare är män och en effekt av detta är att spelen många gånger är gjorda för just män. Forskningen visar också att kvinnor är underrepresenterade i spelen och när de är med framställs de ofta som hjälplösa och svaga. Den forskning som är gjord kollar nästan uteslutande på spel som riktar sig mot en vuxen publik, men väldigt få studier har gjorts om genus i spel som är riktade mot barn. Därför undersöker denna studie hurvida kvinnliga karaktärer framställs i spelserien The Legend of Zelda, som är riktad mot barn. Genom att göra en semiotisk bildanalys har kvinnliga karaktärer i spelet analyserats. Analysen har gjorts med teorier som berör stereotyper, kroppslig mångald och The male gaze. Studien har även undersökt om hurvida framställningen förändrats över tid. Resultatet visar att spelserien nästan uteslutande framställer kvinnor, och deras kroppar, på ett stereotypsitk sätt. Analysen visar även att spelserien är riktad mot män och faller inom ramen för The male gaze. Analysen visar dock att framställningen av kvinnor har föränmdrats över tid, men att det fortfarande är en bit kvar innan de stereotypiska porträtteringarna inte längre en del av The Legend of Zelda. / Even tough the game industry is one of the fastest growing markets it´s still critized for being sexist and dominated by men. Previous research, about gender in video games, has shown that a majority of game developers are men, and due to that alot of the games are created to please men. Research also show that women are rarely portrayed and in the instances they are, they are often described as helpless and weak. The studys prior to this one are focused on games that are marketed for an adult audience but very few enlighten gender in games made for children. Therefor this study are focused on the portraying of women in the video games series, The Legend of Zelda, wich is a game targeted to children. With the use of a semiotic method women in the game serie have been looked upon, to answer the question with the help of various gender theorys. This study also tries to answer if the portraitation has change over a time period. The study shows that the game serie almost every time portray women, and their bodies, in a stereotypical way. The analysis also show that the games are made for a male audience, and therefor falls into the theory of The male gaze. Furthermore the portrating of women has changed over time but it´s still a long way to go until the stereotyped woman is no longer a part of The Legend of Zelda.

MA