The retail sector spends millions of dollars each year advertising to consumers. This is a considerable investment for companies seeking effective ways to inform and persuade the consumer. Consequently, retailers need to develop creative message strategies and tactics that will positively affect consumer attitudes. One particular tactic available to retailers is the use of a spokesperson in the advertisement. Salespersons are used in numerous advertisements and can provide key benefits to an advertiser. However, to maximize these benefits, retailers need to carefully select the spokesperson that will be most effective for their store and product. This purpose of this research is to examine the characteristics that influence consumers' perceptions of print advertisements that include a spokesperson in the advertisement. Most of the past literature concerning spokespersons has concentrated on the consumer perspective of meeting and interacting with a living, breathing person. This research seeks to use the past research on salespeople to examine the spokesperson as a cue in a print advertisement. In this perspective, the consumer views the spokesperson from a visual-only perspective. The proposed experiment will utilize print advertisements from two retail businesses. More specifically the study will investigate how consumers react if the individual viewed in the advertisement is typical (matches with their preconceived stereotype) or if the salesperson is atypical (does not match with their preconceived stereotype). This research also examines how men and women are viewed differently in the spokesperson role and how changes in physical appearance may impact consumers' perceptions. The research also studies the influence of spokesperson stereotypes on consumers' cognitive responses.

Background: Nowadays nostalgia has become a staple within the marketers’ toolkit on grounds of the plethora of positive effects it has on consumers. It is however solely focused on memories and the individual’s yearning for the past. A new concept, forestalgia, is the direct counterpart to nostalgia, and it focuses on the individual’s yearning for an idealised future. Due to the infancy and limited knowledge of this concept, little is known about the practicality and appeal of this concept for advertisers. This research paper aims to utilise video games as a case to expand upon existing knowledge regarding forestalgia, potentially providing insights that can benefit advertisers.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine forestalgic experiences of Gen Z using gaming and Counter-Strike 2 as a case to develop in-depth knowledge of this phenomenon, address gaps in the existing literature and develop avenues for future research to be conducted in this area.  Method: Exploratory research has been conducted on this topic with the use of semi-structured interviews, and further analysed using the IPA (Interpretative phenomenological analysis) method. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with Gen Z individuals who have an extent of familiarity with gaming, specifically the Counter-Strike series. The paper was written with interpretivism as the ontology, and interpretivism as the epistemology, and was written with an abductive approach.  Conclusion: The findings explored the experience of forestalgia amongst participants, identifying key themes extracted from the interviews conducted. In addition, the findings displayed potential links between nostalgia and forestalgia, whilst also contesting the claim that individuals under 30 don’t experience personal nostalgia. The findings also highlight potential avenues for further research on forestalgia.

The assertive training literature has documented the effectiveness of both behavioral and cognitive methods to increase individual's assertiveness. However, the ability for such methods to enhance the generalization of treatment effects to untrained assertive response classes and the natural environment has been poor. In addition, little notice has been paid to the durability of these changes. Although the past several years have witnessed more intensive efforts by investigators to program generalization as part of their interventions, results have continued to be disappointing. A specific generalization-enhancing treatment strategy, self-directed practice, has been utilized with much success in phobic populations. This strategy, and the theoretical orientation it reflects, has been proposed for use in assertive training. The present study sought to examine the effectiveness of this method as compared to the traditional assertive training procedures and investigate the role of self-efficacy expectations in mediating initial behavior change and its subsequent generalization.

[pt] Este estudo buscou identificar como homens homossexuais interpretam e reagem a propagandas, direcionadas a diversidade de gêneros, e ao papel representado pelos atores. A partir de lembranças dos entrevistados em relação a alguma propagada, e empregando também seis propagandas previamente selecionadas de forma aleatória, foram conduzidas 15 entrevistas em profundidade com homens homossexuais, moradores do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Os resultados apresentaram evidências de diferentes reações, cognitivas e afetivas, provocadas por estereótipos representados nos anúncios, denotando estigmas relacionados ao público homossexual. O nível socioeconômico, a idade e o grau de escolaridade dos entrevistados parece influírem em suas reações. / [en] This study aimed to identify how homosexual men interpret and react to advertisements, directed to the diversity of genders, and the role played by the actors. Based on the respondents recollections of some of ads, and also using six previously and randomly selected advertisements, fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with homosexual men living in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The results evidence different cognitive and affective reactions triggered by stereotypes represented in the advertisements, betaking stigmas related to the homosexual public. The socioeconomic level, the age and the education status of respondents seem to influence their reactions.