Date: 3 June Level: Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Paul Kato (95/03/11) and Henrik Aronsson (95/10/29) Title: Brand Activism, does it work? Tutor: Edward Gillmore Keywords: Brand activism, brand equity, social activism, attitudes, woke washing Research questions: a. How is the consumer-based brand equity affected by a company’s use of social activism in its marketing? b. How does this in turn affect consumer purchasing engagement? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers respond tosocial activism advertisements and how it influences their purchaseengagement. Method: The method used in this thesis is a quantitative research with anabductive research approach. The data has been collected through anonline survey and received 504 responses. Conclusion: Advertising that contains social activism has an overly positive impact onconsumer attitudes, purchasing engagement, and corporate consumerbasedbrand equity.

Woke-washing gives companies the possibility to take advantage of the consumers social, environmental, and political values to improve business. In contrast to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green-washing, woke-washing is a new term in the global north andthere is a lack of understanding to what extent it is relevant to the global south contexts. The purpose of this study was to explore how, and to what extent woke-washing arguments are usedwithin the published peer-review literature focusing on CSR discourse among business firms with operations in developing countries. The study was conducted through a structured literature review and an interpretative content analysis, and the results were discussed with thehelp of intersectionality and the decolonial approach of border thinking. This study concludes that arguments related to woke-washing are to be found within the literature on companies CSRoperations in developing countries. However, the power structures that affects who conduct the “washing” vary across developing countries. The woke-washing phenomenon that connects to the arguments in the literature shows that through CSR-initiatives companies, operating indeveloping countries, try to satisfy consumers. Since the values of the consumer in the global north differs from the values in the global south, the consumer from the global north alsocontributes to woke-washing. This is not true for all CSR-operations by businesses in the global south, however, it is a large enough occurrence that the discussion needs more attention in future research.

Följande studie undersöker ifall woke-washing förekommer eller inte i Belvedere Vodkas reklamfilm Belvedere Present Daniel Craig, Directed by Taika Waititi: Director’s Cut där Daniel Craig spelar rollen som ‘sig själv’ men samtidigt förklaras ha blivit humoristiskt koreograferad. Detta görs genom frågeställningarna: “Hur representeras maskulinitet genom framförande och kostym av Daniel Craig i rollen som ‘sig själv’?” samt “Hur tolkas gestaltningen av mansrollerna när Belvedere Vodka beskriver Craig som humoristiskt koreograferad?”. Genom en kvalitativ sociosemiotisk analys studeras ett urval där det genom resultatet tolkas som att det sker en stereotypisering av både hypermaskulinitet och queer maskulinitet i syfte att ifrågasätta genus som social konstruktion. Analysen kommer dock fram till slutsatsen att Belvedere Vodka är mer engagerade i att bevara en stereotypisk relation mellan man och sprit snarare än hur mansrollerna representeras. Konsekvensen av detta blir att repliken “Finally” misstolkas (i jämförelse med produktionsteamets uttalade syfte), vilket leder till att den flamboyanta gestaltningen upplevs som förminskande och avskräckande i jämförelse med den heteronormativa mansrollen. Diskussionen kommer slutligen fram till att en marginaliserad grupp ännu en gång inte får möjligheten att representera sig själv, samtidigt som behovet av att kategorisera sexuell orientering för att kunna avgöra ifall appropriering sker eller inte blir fortsatt problematisk.  Medieproduktionen som framförs i designdokumentationen baseras på en studie i sexuell hälsa och hur visuell kommunikation gällande detta ämne riktar sig till ungdomar. Medieproduktionen är utförd av Jennie Eklund, Amanda Lindh och Helena Ljunggren.

The aim for this study is to research Oatlys advertising campaign Help Dad from the perspective of how their values concerning sustainability are shown through the campaign. Based on the findings and result of the analysis, a discussion is held on if and how Oatly create discussions within society. The empirical material for the study is the Help Dad campaign which consists of four television commercials and an editorial piece from The Guardian. To examine the material, the critical discourse analysis along with the multimodal critical discourse analysis is applied. Interdiscursivity, theories in framing, semiotic theories and concepts in brand communications are used to understand Oatlys campaign, to deepen the discussion on how they market their values. The results show that Oatly equip a type of woke branding and even some “woke-washing” aimed to make a statement and seemingly influence young people to discuss sustainability with their parents. Parents are portrayed as unaware of social and political struggles in the world, while youths are portrayed as clever and strong. Oatly uses different techniques to build a loyal and friendly relationship to their young audience, while trying to convince them to take on more power within their family. They also send a strong message which shows their negative views on dairy products, by comparing drinking milk to alcohol abuse. Lastly Help Dad is criticized for capitalizing on difficult issues and because of the polarizing rhetoric used throughout the campaign. Even though the campaign has gotten a lot of negative reactions, Oatly won a prestigious marketing prize for the commercials. Since this campaign can be seen as polarizing and capitalizing on vulnerable groups, it sets a tone that doesn’t seem like the direction marketing should strive for.

A strong brand is a valuable asset for modern companies. Victoria’s Secret is an American lingerie company that has had a well established and successful brand for years. However, the company’s net sales and market share have been decreasing since 2016. The company has also received criticism for creating unattainable beauty standards and excluding women with different appearances. In recent years, the brand has made changes in their marketing. This might be an attempt to increase revenues again and to gain lost market shares back. However, the numbers have continued to decrease, which indicates that the new strategy has not been very successful. The questions that the study intends to answer are how Victoria's Secret’s marketing has changed between 2016 and 2022 and why the new marketing strategy does not seem to be successful. The purpose of the study is to increase the comprehension of possible challenges that can arise in the process of trying to change an already established brand. This is a qualitative, interpretive study that uses a method called semiotic content analysis. The semiotic content analysis was used to analyze how the brand’s advertising images have changed. The results from the semiotic studies were then analyzed through some theories and earlier studies on the subject, to find possible explanations to why the rebranding does not seem to have created the expected results. The study found that Victoria’s Secret’s marketing has become less sensual, aesthetic and fantasy-like. Instead it has become more inclusive and oriented towards comfort, relatability and self-esteem. The study further presents a couple of possible explanations to why the new branding concept does not seem to have become successful, according to a couple theories on the subject. The explanations that were found was that the company does not seem to have achieved a congruence between the brand’s new identity and the brand image, that the changes might not be perceived as authentic and that the brand can no longer capitalize on an idealized identity.