The intent of this thesis is to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health in the young adult population. Current research indicates that there is a connection between increased social media use and deteriorated mental health. Unfortunately, young adults, the most active social media users, have a predominantly high risk for developing mental health issues, making this connection particularly concerning. At present, it is unclear how social media and mental health are connected; therefore this thesis explores the individual and social theories that may give reason for this connection. Theories that are discussed include: the impact of sedentary behaviors on mental health, displaced behavior, sleep interruption due to blue light exposure, social media's effects on romantic relationships, and social media's effects on platonic relationships.

On April 10, 2019, a global crisis began outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. A Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane owned and operated by Ethiopian Airline crashed in the desert killing all on board. The accident mimicked a six months old Lion Air flight 610 which happened in Indonesia and claimed the lives of all crew and passengers. Together, these accidents claimed the lives of 346 people and have been noted as one of the dark days in modern aviation history. Subsequently, the aviation world grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircrafts amid safety concerns. This brought severe public criticism to Boeing, America’s biggest manufacturing exporter, relative to the safety of its flagship airplane. Applying crisis communication theories such as Apologia, SCCT, and Image Restoration, the study finds that these strategies together with other public relations strategies could support public perception in favor of Boeing.

Increasingly, corporations receive pressure from activist organizations to alter activities that these individuals find problematic and irresponsible. Despite this escalation, research on activism from a public relations perspective progressed slowly; much of this literature privileges the perspective of corporations and rarely examines the process from the activist perspective. To address this gap, this dissertation examined how activist organizations use issues management and communication strategies to incite corporations to change their practices and policies while simultaneously building relationships with pertinent audiences. This study incorporated data collected from qualitative interviews with activist practitioners representing a variety of activist organizations, along with organizational texts and news articles. These data provided an understanding of how activist organizations campaign against corporations using a variety of strategies and tactics in an effort to pressure corporations into changing their behavior. Because this dissertation focused on how activist organizations generate and promote issues to gain the attention of their targets, issues management served as the theoretical framework. Guided by this theory and existing issues management models, this dissertation demonstrates how activist groups identify and establish legitimacy for their issue(s). As issues management is traditionally studied from a corporate perspective, the findings show that the process differs slightly for activist organizations and introduces the Issue Advancement Model to demonstrate how activists employ issues management. Additionally, this dissertation explored how activist groups develop relationships with their targets, supporters, communities, and other relevant publics, noting the nuances involved in each of these dynamics. Specifically, this dissertation supports claims that the dialogue approach is more appropriate for understanding and analyzing the corporation-activist relationship than other public relations models, but also notes that some activist organizations may not seek resolution. In addition to these theoretical findings, this dissertation also offers practical implications, introducing the Corporate Campaign Model, which depicts how activist organizations challenge firms while also offering suggestions for corporations targeted by these groups.

In a broad sense, public relations is the communication between an organization and its audience. Public relations helps create and maintain a relationship between the two. When an organization experiences a success or failure public relations is put into place to help rally public support. The intent of this thesis aims to determine the tone of President Obama in U.S. newspapers and social media in association with the capturing and killing of terrorist Osama bin Laden. This thesis examines a variety of U.S. newspapers by region and social media. Newspaper articles related to the topic were retrieved from six regional newspapers: Columbus Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, Charlotte Observer, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. From these papers, a specific time period was chosen to examine articles. The months of April, June, and August 2012 were chosen. During these months, a keyword search for “osama bin laden” was used. Articles that contained this keyword were then examined and coded. Blogs and Facebook pages of the Republican and Democratic Party were examined. Two political blogs, Daily Kos and Red State, were chosen. From these blogs and Facebook pages, the same time period was chosen as for the newspapers. The keyword search was also the same, “osama bin laden”.

Though brands are created and maintained using many different management strategies, market and academic research has offered evidence that brands presenting the strongest personalities are more likely to perform better and resonate longer with consumers. This paper examines the components of brand personality using connections between contemporary branding and 13 classic archetypes. The study also discusses the life cycle of the brand, including development of brand personality and achievement of iconic status in conjunction with archetypal marketing. The research of Faber and Mayer (2009) is the basis for an analysis measuring participant attitudes toward popular brands by matching them with archetypal descriptions and explores possible correlation between product category and archetype. Results show evidence for high levels of participant agreement when categorizing archetypal representations of popular brands as well as consistency across product category. Results are also indicative of a relationship between gender and archetype selection.

This study examined the exposure of the Nextel brand name in major U.S. newspapers 1 year before and after Nextel became the primary sponsor of the North American Stock Car Association of Racing. A content analysis of 576 newspaper articles was performed. The hypotheses tested the quantity and quality of Nextel's coverage, as well where the stories were appearing and where the brand was being used in the stories. The study found the number of Nextel mentions in year two was almost 4 times as many as year one. The data reveal a dramatic increase in cases found in sports stories. In regard to value, Nextel's NASCAR sponsorship resulted in less negative and considerably more neutral media coverage. However, Nextel's mentions also became less positive. Nextel mentions associated with NASCAR increased in year two, from none in year one to 62.5% of all cases in year two.

Supply chains are developed to reduce business expenses and increase efficiency. However, a disruption in the supply chain, or a failure in one of the links, can expose organizations to crises that can severely impact short-term bottom line and long-term corporate reputation. This study examines the communication challenges inherent in supply chain crises using Samsung’s 2016 Galaxy Note 7 phone crisis as a case study. Results of this study show, in a supply chain crisis, stakeholders hold the organization responsible, regardless of where in the supply chain the break occurred. This study also examines the impact of complexity inherent to supply chain crises and the challenges organizations face during a crisis when organizational reputation is impacted by links in the supply chain outside the organization’s direct control.

A new trend is emerging, seeking to recognize the benefits of and encourage the use of public transportation. In the past, public transit agencies have not directed much energy or focus at marketing, seeking to use limited funds elsewhere. “The common perception is that money spent on marketing would be better spent on transit systems themselves…over time, a sustained investment in marketing increases the number of people who use transit. Increased ridership leads to increased revenue, and ideally, an increase in service to match the new demand” (Arpi, 2009). Even as marketing gains importance in the public transit world, questions remain as to how to make effective marketing choices for the public transit market. This report explores public transit marketing, and its application to the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority. The San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority (RTA) provides regional public transportation service throughout San Luis Obispo County. Case study interviews, conversations with RTA, and review of academic and professional sources have supplied information and guidance on these questions. An interview with RTA was conducted to establish goals and guiding research questions for the exploration of marketing. A literature review provided a context of the field, through professional, academic, news, and media pieces. The research questions were explored through case study examples, in the form of interviews with Intercity Transit (Olympia, WA) and Orange County Transportation Authority (Orange County, CA). Further analysis of 2011 ridership survey data provided an additional level of information to consider. The research methods resulted in a range of findings that are applicable to RTA. The report concludes with the following recommendations for marketing RTA: 1. Focus on consistent branding. 2. Establish a system of more detailed ridership information. 3. Identify segments and direct messages. 4. Further develop new technology and social media tools.

A key role of public relations is to manage crises, unexpected yet unpredictable events that cause emotional and physical harm (Coombs, 2007). Among the challenges in handling a crisis effectively is dealing with the various media in which information is presented. Because the use of social media in a crisis is a relatively new phenomenon, further understanding of the challenges and opportunities of these media is warranted. Part of meeting this challenge requires precise modeling of consumer responses to safety messages. To remedy gaps in our understanding of social media and food safety crisis communications, consumer intent to comply with a food safety message was evaluated within the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991). Superimposed on the TPB intention model were possible moderator variables of message source (professional versus user-generated) and message reliability (confirmed versus unconfirmed information). Three focus groups provided background for the construction of a research instrument according to guidelines specified by Francis, Eccles, Johnston, Walker, Foy, et al. (2004). A 2x2 experimental design with four scenarios (message source x reliability), and realism checks of the scenarios were conducted. A pilot test with 130 undergraduate university students preceded administration of the instrument to a representative U.S. consumer panel of 400 participants. Results indicated that intent to comply with a food safety message was higher in response to messages in professional sources than in user-generated sources, but that the majority of this effect could be explained by participant age, which in turn predicted use of social media. Message reliability did not affect intent to comply—confirmed and unconfirmed messages had similar effects on intent to comply. All aspects of the TPB were confirmed by the current results with the exception of perceived behavioral control, which was so consistently strong that it was unable to predict variations in intent to comply with a food safety message. Consequently, the current data support the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) rather than the TPB. Implications of the results for public relations and crisis communications, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

This study investigates the influence of dialogic relationship and organizational cultures on the military-public relationship. College students (N=218) participated in a 2 x 2 (dialogic relationship: high vs. low x organizational culture: military vs. civilian) independent groups factorial quasi-experiment. To induce dialogic relationship, two versions of the U.S. Army internet webpage screenshots were created. Organizational culture was controlled by purposive sampling two groups of military and civilian subjects. The results indicate that dialogic relationship and organizational culture combine exerts an effect on the military-public relationship by increasing perceptions of control mutuality, trust, commitment and communal relationship for civilians but not the military. In addition to its theoretical contributions, the results of this study have important practical implications for the military public affairs.