This research study examined what the motivations and consequences of self-disclosure on Instagram were as well as its correlation with Impression Management Theory. The research used a 37 question survey which was distributed on social media, through the Department of Media and Communication at ETSU as well as a public speaking class. There were 232 participants in this study who were 18 or older and used Instagram. Research found that individuals’ self disclose using levels of relationship management, showing off, information sharing and habitual behavior. Future research includes the opportunity to incorporate a sample of participants across different cultures to analyze the differences in self-disclosure styles on Instagram.

Organizational-public relations discourse is changing given the advent of social media, and corporate statements are evaluated under different criteria in the digital age. Grounding Budweiser’s response to controversy over their 2017 Super Bowl advertisement in terms of consumer expectations for corporate social responsibility provides a new perspective for approaching Bostdorff and Vibbert’s (1994) conceptualization of values advocacy. This study recognizes the power of the rhetorical stakeholder, a discursively created public, and demands re-evaluation of the values common to society from a co-creational OPR perspective. Conceptualizing dialectic values advocacy outlines the changing values among contemporary, common stakeholders as well as the means for communicating these values superficially to promote unanimity among publics and organizations. Previously successful universal values like unity and patriotism have since been replaced with sensationalism and discord; formally engendering these values through ambiguous controversy allows an organization to strategically construct audience perceptions of reputation.

Representation has become a buzzword in the advertising industry. With more consumers asking for brands to represent more diverse people in advertisements, this study examined cases when representation in advertisements received negative feedback. By examining three cases where brands received negative feedback after the release of an ad, the researcher explored perceptions and reactions toward the representation of Black people in advertisements. This study conducted a thematic analysis of popular press and trade publications to look for themes among the three cases. With the use of Critical Race Theory and Image Repair Theory, the researcher aimed to fill a gap in research by investigating the perceived problems and reactions towards negative advertisements. The perceived problem in the ads explored in this study was that the ads were Racist. The sub-themes Skin Color and Proximity explained how racism manifested in each ad. Themes that were found relating to public reaction were: Questioning, Multiple Mishaps, Denouncing the Brand, and Solutions to the Problem. Knowing your Customers was the singular theme identified regarding the advertising industry. The themes found when examining brand’s reactions were: Apologizing, Unintentional Representation, Pulling the Advertisement, and Examining Internal Processes.

More law enforcement agencies are adopting social media as a progressive policing strategy each year. They utilize it for several reasons including, community outreach and engagement, public relations, notifying the public of safety concerns, recruitment, intelligence gathering for investigations, among other uses (IACP, 2017). This study explores Southern California Law Enforcements’ use of social media through a survey and content analysis. First, the survey results suggest that more than 93% of departments surveyed concentrate on community outreach through their social media channels. Second, the content analysis results suggest that when media (pictures/video), links, and hashtags (#), are included in posts the more engagement will take place. The more engagement a department receives online the more their voice and message are heard. The results of this study contribute to the sparse literature dedicated to law enforcement and effective use of social media.

When the polls close and the ballots are counted, the best sound is the roar of ecstatic cheering from delighted but exhausted campaign committee members. A bond campaign takes an inordinate amount of work, but the results are worth the effort when the campaign is managed in a systematic way. Districts can be successful bond recipients when they effectively market their schools to gain the support of their constituents. Public schools across the U.S. are in dire need of major repairs, remodeling, and rebuilding to meet the educational needs of students. Unfortunately, passing a school bond election is entrusted to school superintendents and other district leaders, who are often inexperienced and ill-prepared and have neither the time nor inclination to focus on tasks that take them far from their primary purpose of teaching and learning. Attaining voter support in a school bond election requires a thorough understanding of school and community issues. The literature review focuses on communication theory and research to garner support of school district's internal and external stakeholders. Communication is instrumental in passage of a construction bond election. This dissertation is theoretically grounded in problem-based learning and the research and development process. The tested product is a handbook for superintendents or other district-level administrators on strategies and practices that assist in passing a construction bond election. In the Preliminary and Main field tests, superintendents and other district leaders used the handbook in a workshop. Survey results provided summative data to assess the efficacy of the handbook and the workshop. Formative results also provided rich information to improve and revise the handbook and workshop.

One aspect of the role of advertising in the process of maintaining and reinforcing or challenging the socially constructed worlds of maleness and femaleness, and especially the portrayal of the "woman's place," was explored in this study.

The present study assesses the effect of financial services advertising on investors’ decision-making by adopting a two-sided approach: a stimulus-side analysis to document the nature and prevalence of advertising strategies and advertising disclosures being used and a response-side investigation to examine the investors’ processing of and receptiveness to financial services advertising. By performing a content analysis of recently published financial services magazine advertisements, this study provides a contemporary look at whether and how financial services companies inform, persuade, and communicate with average investors. Results from this content analysis method is also used as a foundation to help design realistic test ads in the subsequent experimental design as a response-side approach. Combined with stimulus-side data, a between-group experimental design allows an empirical test of how the interaction between investors’ exposures to different advertising practices (i.e., advertising strategies and advertising disclosures) and individual regulatory focus might affect the ways investors perceive and evaluate the advertised financial product. In this stage, the likely processing and persuasive differences between advertising strategies and advertising disclosures and the potential moderating role of investors’ regulatory focus form the basis of the response-side approach to complement the content analysis phase. Results from the content analysis show that financial services companies increased informational advertising strategies and presented more advertising information during the three-year (2007-2009) period of interest. Findings indicate that financial services companies might play a role in enhancing the role of communication, information, and advertising in the marketplace for financial literacy. However, in order to adequately evaluate the range of investor’s response to advertising strategies and advertising disclosures, this study employs a two advertising strategies (information versus transformational) x two advertising disclosures (complete disclosure versus non-disclosure) x two regulatory focus (promotion-focused versus prevention-focused) between-subject, randomized, experimental design. Findings from the experimental design reveal that investors’ financial decision-making may be affected by internal characteristics (i.e., regulatory focus) as well as external information (i.e., advertising strategies and advertising disclosures). Especially, regulatory focus was found to be function as a moderating variable that can influence the direction and strength of relationship between different financial services advertising practices and the outcome variables of financial decision-making such as risk perceptions, product attitudes, and purchase intentions. Finally, theoretical, managerial, and policy implications are discussed and opportunities for the future research are identified.

In response to the German occupation of Belgium in World War I, future U.S. president Herbert Hoover and a handful of his colleagues in the mining engineer industry founded the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB). The CRB engineered one of the greatest relief movements in history partly on account of its successful public appeals; nevertheless, the success of these appeals has never been fully explained due to a remarkable dearth of scholarship on the topic. This paper seeks to fill in the gap by analyzing salient documents in the Mudd Family Papers, located in Honnold/Mudd Library’s Special Collections section. The artifacts ultimately evince that the CRB tailored its appeals to the American upper and middle classes, appropriating their respective motifs and lexicons to successfully mobilize both groups; that rumors of wartime atrocities against Belgian children augmented its appeals to the middle class; and that it issued targeted messages to its American supporters after the United States’ entry into World War I, maintaining vital public support. The findings of this paper promise to add invaluable knowledge to an exceedingly understudied historical subject.

This paper focuses on the problem of collapsed “stay in the market” (SIM) beliefs during financial crises. The primary purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether or not inoculation messages represent a viable communication strategy to preemptively protect SIM beliefs during forthcoming financial crises. Ancillary purposes of this study were to further investigate the role of print and video crises, explicit instructions regarding post-inoculation talk (PIT), and gain and loss frame inoculation messages on the inoculation process. This study used a between subjects factorial design (3 x 2 plus four additional conditions) to explore ten hypotheses. Data collected from 513 participants were analyzed using multivariate and univariate tests and planned comparisons. The results of this investigation indicate that inoculation messages can serve as a viable preemptive crisis communication strategy, that inoculation can protect beliefs equally well when the crisis message is presented through video or print, and that employing a loss frame can strengthen the inoculation process. Mixed results regarding PIT call for further research. Research and practical implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.

The purpose of this research project was to develop a reliable and valid scale to assess the perceived message sensation value (PMSV) of print messages. The goal of this project was accomplished by conducting two studies. Study one involved collecting 397 undergraduate students’ responses to one high and one low sensation value anti-smoking message, while for study two, 284 undergraduate students’ responses to one high and one low sensation value anti-crystal meth message were collected. The results of the studies highlighted that the PMSV of a print message can be assessed using three dimensions (emotional arousal, novelty, and dramatic impact) and 12 items. Additionally, the newly developed PMSV scale for print messages remained stable across sensation-seeking levels and two different sets of anti-drug messages. Analysis of the data collected also provided support for the convergent, divergent, and predictive validity of the PMSV scale for print messages. Furthermore, from the data it can be inferred that PMSV is an important element that contributes to perceived message effectiveness and attitude towards the ad. The findings associated with this research project also suggest that both high and low sensation seekers preferred high over low sensation value print messages. Lastly, the implications of the PMSV scale for print messages were addressed.