This study explores the marketability of Isak Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales, published in the US in 1934. The term marketability is used to refer to the book as a potentially desirable object for sale on the market, successfully promoted by the Book-of-the-Month-Club whose members were intent on educating themselves and refining their taste. The set-up and marketing strategies of the Book-of-the-Month-Club are considered in relation to the role of advertising as a discourse teaching social and personal values in a developing consumer culture where identity and personality were represented as never-ending, imperative projects.  The consuming self is an individual freed from the restraints of tradition and communal values, making her free choice of whom to be on an increasingly diverse market, endlessly reinventing her identity. But this self is also a commodity on an increasingly complex and impersonal market where appearance is destiny. A historically contextualized reading of Seven Gothic Tales makes it possible to use the term marketability to refer to the work itself as a literary investigation of the conditions of identity-construction in a culture dominated by market-mediated relationships. In this reading, the Great Depression figures as a moment that reveals the degree to which consumerist ideology and logic had come to determine the possibilities of imagining being and identity, a condition that Seven Gothic Tales both reflects and resists. The effect of globalized transformation of production and consumption were felt in the two places that went into the making of Seven Gothic Tales: the US where it was first published and colonial Kenya where the author lived between 1914 and 1931 and where the book was begun. This study argues that the success of Seven Gothic Tales in the US depended on the way in which Blixen/Dinesen's experience of colonial Kenya was an experience of commercial modernity that reverberated with the experience of the American readers. Central to this argument is the ideal of feudalism as an explicit and decisive element in the creation of colonial Kenya. The aristocratic theme that permeates Seven Gothic Tales must be understood in relation to a colonial socioeconomic context that reinvented the feudal ideal as a marketable commodity at a time when social status and identity had become negotiable on a consumer market.

This study represents an interpretation of Adam Smith's attitude toward a commercial society based upon natural liberty. In developing the thesis that the two works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, are logically consistent, it is necessary to establish the reason of reasons why Adam Smith embraced a commercial society based upon the "obvious and simple system of natural liberty." It will be established that he embraced such as system because it allowed the maximum accumulation of capital, which is the manifestation of being truly virtuous as developed in his Moral Sentiments. To go one step further, it will be seen that, so far as Smith is concerned, it is the rising bourgeoisie, the manufacturers and artificers, which is truly virtuous, i.e., accumulates capital.

This diploma thesis "The Image of Lifestyle in Magazine Vlasta between 1990 and 1999" is focusing on media image of lifestyle in the nineties in Czechoslovakia, later Czech republic. The subjects which were investigated in terms of a lifestyle were: housing, fashion, health, eating, weight loss, sport, traveling, new technologies, consumer goods and beauty. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and empirical part. In the theoretical part there is a political, historical, cultural and media environment in nineties. Empirical part describes a history and editorial staff of the magazine Vlasta. A content analysis was chosen for examining the magazine and it is described in methodological part. The goal of a quantitative and qualitative analysis is to prove stated hypotheses. The nineties meant for Czech people a lot of social changes and also everyday life was affected. The transformation involved habits and interests of people which can be observed during the decade. This diploma thesis is focusing on changes in lifestyle because of commercialism. Observes how much more people were interested in traveling considering new possibilities and aims also on health lifestyle.

Bakgrund: Revisorns oberoende tycks ständigt bli ifrågasatt vid kriser och skandaler. Revisionsbranschen har på senare år kommersialiserats och revisorns professionella ansvar innefattar numera andra områden än de traditionella, vars inverkan på revisorns oberoende det råder delade meningar om. Röster har också höjts om att själva begreppet oberoende bör bytas ut och ersättas av ett annat. Kopplat till oberoendefrågan ifrågasätts även huruvida begreppet klient eller kund bör användas som benämning för det granskade företaget, där klient kan kopplas till professionalism och kund till kommersialism. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utforska hur revisorns oberoende uppfattas utifrån ett klient- och kundfokus. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med i huvudsak en induktiv ansats. Empiri har samlats in genom dels semi-strukturerade intervjuer med revisorer från Big 4, dels en dokumentstudie med material från organisationer och myndigheter. Empirin har sedan analyserats genom begrepps- och innehållsanalys. Slutsats: Oberoendet beskrivs utifrån begrepp såsom självständighet, opartiskhet, förtroende, objektivitet, professionell skepticism och integritet. Den enskilda revisorn tycks ha en mer utförlig uppfattning av oberoendets innebörd än vad som kommuniceras utåt, vilket tyder på att det behövs en tydligare definition för att skapa förståelse från samhällets sida. I motsats till vad teorin säger pekar praktiken på att det råder en samstämmighet mellan kundbegreppet och professionalism. / Introduction Auditor independence is often questioned in times of crisis and scandals. The profession has in recent years been exposed to commercialization which has led to the auditor having other responsibilities except for the traditional ones, whose effects on auditor independence are still in debate. There are also those who thinks that the concept of independence should be replaced. Related to the debate of auditor independence is the question whether the auditee should be named client or customer, where client can be associated with professionalism and customer with commercialism. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how auditor independence is perceived based on a client and customer focus. Method The study has a qualitative researching method with mainly an inductive approach. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with auditors from the Big 4 and through a document study with data from organisations and authorities. The empirical data has been analyzed through concept and content analysis. Conclusion Independence is described as independency, impartiality, confidence, objectivity, professional skepticism and integrity. The individual auditor seems to have a more detailed perception of the meaning of independence than what is communicated to the society, which indicates the need of a more detailed description to help create an understanding. In contrast to theory, praxis shows a consensus between the use of customer and professionalism.

The purpose of this study is to explore the expressions of a commercialising fashion journalistic genre by focusing on how ELLE.se, Sweden’s biggest online fashion platform, use advertorials and click-based content. This is investigated through three research questions focusing on what journalistic and marketing discourses that are apparent in advertorials and click-based material; what blend of genres that are seen in different kinds of text commercial on ELLE.se and what discursive conflicts between journalistic ideals and commercial pressure are seen in the production of advertorial content. Theories used in the study are marketisation of public discourse together with Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the commercialisation of news and lastly genres, also focusing on fashion journalism as a genre. In order to explore the expressions a discursive analysis is used on advertorials and click- based material on ELLE.se whilst qualitative interviews with respondents producing the content are conducted to investigate the third research question. The results of the study show that numerous journalistic and marketing discourses are apparent in advertorials and click- based material, with personification through conversational discourse, the pursuit of happiness by portraying the reader as an imperfect person and a friendly brand through corporate advertising as three recurrent themes. A majority of the text commercial at ELLE.se balances between editorial content and advertisement, demonstrating many aspects of an evolving hybrid genre. Lastly, respondents in the qualitative interviews identify digitalisation, loss of journalistic quality and decreased reliability as three discursive conflicts between journalistic ideals and commercial pressure. The result stresses how the impact of commercialism and how journalistic and promotional discourses are continuously blended, showing aspects of ongoing hybridisation and converging genres.

This thesis explores representations of the Holocaust in the Jewish Museum Berlin and the impact of commercialism on representational choices. Daniel Libeskind’s bold architectural design, which ultimately became the Jewish Museum Berlin, is in many ways a Holocaust memorial. By exploring curatorial strategies in regards to exhibition design and content, this thesis analyzes the debates within the Jewish Museum Berlin over the appropriate manner to represent the Holocaust to the museum-going public in contemporary Germany. This thesis argues that commercialism and the prospects of commercial viability played a significant role in curatorial decisions concerning exhibition narrative. Germany leads the world in acknowledging and exploring their past social crimes but, this thesis argues, an important opportunity for atonement was lost when the administration of the Jewish Museum Berlin privileged commercial success over the presentation of more difficult and uncomfortable, yet socially necessary, representations of the horror of the Holocaust.

Title: By what strategies is the old media using the new media? A qualitative essay on TV: s use on social media Number of pages: 54 Authors: Marie Magnusson och Sabina Karlsson Tutor:  Karin Fast Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Spring 2011 University: Karlstad University Purpose/Aim: Our purpose is to examine which strategies and why two TV-channels, SVT and TV4, are using social media. Our anticipated view is that SVT as a public service organization and TV4 as a commercial operator may have different motives with its use of social media. Material/Method: A qualitative method consisting of interviews by informants from SVT and TV4. Main results: Our result is that there isn’t any big difference between SVT and TV4 in the way they’re using social media. However, that SVT has to more specifically make sure no commercialism exists, while TV4 don’t have to think about it. Keywords: Social networking, convergence, commercialism, communication, Internet, public service, television. / Titel: Genom vilka strategier använder gamla medier de nya? En kvalitativ studie om TV:aktörernas användande av sociala medier Antal sidor: 54 Författare: Marie Magnusson och Sabina Karlsson Handledare: Karin Fast Kurs: Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap C-nivå Period: Våren 2011 Universitet: Karlstads Universitet Syfte/Mål: Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka vilka strategier och varför två svenska TV-aktörer, SVT och TV4, använder sig av sociala medier. Vår förtida uppfattning är att SVT som public servicebolag och TV4 som kommersiell aktör kan ha olika syften med sitt användande av sociala medier. Metod: Kvalitativa intervjuer har gjorts med informanter från SVT och TV4. Resultat: På vilket sätt och vilka sociala medier man använder sig av verkar i grunden vara det samma hos båda aktörerna, SVT och TV4. Men SVT måste mer specifikt se efter att reklam inte existerar, medan TV4 som är kommersiella inte behöver rätta sig efter det. Nyckelord: Sociala medier, konvergens, kommersialisering, kommunikation, Internet, public service, television.

This thesis explores representations of the Holocaust in the Jewish Museum Berlin and the impact of commercialism on representational choices. Daniel Libeskind’s bold architectural design, which ultimately became the Jewish Museum Berlin, is in many ways a Holocaust memorial. By exploring curatorial strategies in regards to exhibition design and content, this thesis analyzes the debates within the Jewish Museum Berlin over the appropriate manner to represent the Holocaust to the museum-going public in contemporary Germany. This thesis argues that commercialism and the prospects of commercial viability played a significant role in curatorial decisions concerning exhibition narrative. Germany leads the world in acknowledging and exploring their past social crimes but, this thesis argues, an important opportunity for atonement was lost when the administration of the Jewish Museum Berlin privileged commercial success over the presentation of more difficult and uncomfortable, yet socially necessary, representations of the horror of the Holocaust.

Will community television one day be lamented in the same way as the Glenn Valley Bridge Club in Pennsylvania, where no one remains 'who can tell us precisely when or why the group broke up' (Putnam, 2000: 15)? Robert Putnam's bestseller Bowling Alone proposed that people 'need to reconnect with one another' and rebuild their communities for the good of society. Although he may not have succeeded in instigating a revival of lawn bowls and bridge, Putnam did spark a debate about the meaning of "community" today and its role in bringing about positive social change. At a time when the communications landscape is set to transform with the introduction of digital broadcasting technology, this thesis looks at the status of community broadcasting and its role within civil society. Taking Australia's community television sector as its starting point, it aims to define the pressures, public philosophies and policy decisions that make community broadcasting what it is. This thesis is structured thematically and geographically. The introductory chapters establish the research question in relation to Australia's community broadcasting sector. As well as tracing the intellectual path of community media studies, it sets out to locate community broadcasting within broader intellectual debates around notions of community, governance and the media. These are brought back to the "on-the-ground" reality throughout the thesis by means of policy analysis, interviews and anecdotal evidence. Chapters Three to Five map out the themes of access, the public interest and development by reference to community broadcasting in different regions. In North America I explore notions of free speech and first-come-first served models of access. In Europe, notions of "quality", public service broadcasting and the difficult relationship that community broadcasting has with public interest values. Through the Third World and the Third Way I examine how community broadcasting is implicated within development discourse and ideas of social change. The final chapter of the thesis moves into the virtual region of the Internet, looking at changing notions of access and the relevance of new communications rationales to the community broadcasting project. At the intersection of the various themes and models discussed throughout the thesis exists a strong rationale for the future of community broadcasting. Although new technologies may be interpreted as the beginning of the end of community broadcasting, I have argued that in fact it is an idea whose time has come.

The aim of this study is to examine how the holiday Valentine’s day was introduced in Sweden during the 1950’s. The essay reviews the topic from the field of economic history, with focus on advertising history in Sweden during the first half of the 20th century. Valentine’s day has roots in English medieval traditions and a Roman legend from 270 but has no evidence of being celebrated in Sweden earlier than 1956, when the company Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) launched its first collection of Valentine’s day cards to be put on presents to give to your loved ones. In that sense, the Swedish form of celebrating Valentine’s day stems more from American pop culture and customs, which makes the analysis of Valentine’s day in Sweden fitting in the discourse on Americanization of the European advertising industry and culture. The study uses the definition of Americanization provided from Harm G. Schröter (2005), and reviews advertisements and commentary found in newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet (1956–1971) from a narrative approach, described by Peter Hansen (2012). The research questions focus on how advertisements create meaning around the holiday Valentine’s day, and whether or not the introduction of the holiday in Sweden can be seen as a part of Americanization of the Swedish culture and advertising industry. The study found that advertisements for the holiday uses Swedish and European history, an emphasis on selling the feeling of gift giving and the strive for a modern lifestyle to create meaning around the holiday and a legitimate place in the Swedish calendar. The introduction of the holiday can also be seen as a part of Americanization of the Swedish advertisement industry, with examples as portraying the American celebration as an ideal and using American advertising techniques in the advertisements analyzed.