This study explores Generation Z’s attitudes towards the use of humor and memes in brand communication on TikTok. Despite controversies surrounding the plattform, involving both legal matters and privacy concerns, the app is growing rapidly. This has led to at least five million companies present on the platform, as it has grown to become an important tool to evolve the corporate identity through branding and interactions. Through the theoretical frameworks encoding/decoding and Corporate Identity Theory, the essay examines Generation Z’s perceptions and preferred communication strategies in the digital age. Through a thematic analysis of the qualitative material gathered from eleven semi-structured interviews, the study reveals that humor and memes in corporate communication promotes engagement. However, to receive positive attitudes from our selection of Generation Z, the contextual relevance in regards to current trends in pop cultural media as well as alignment with brand values is crucial. The lack of these factors can result in negative attitudes and brand avoidance. Representatives of Generation Z also believe that the boundary for inappropriate use of humor and memes is defined by the seriousness of the organization, avoidance of offensive content and consideration of the brand’s interpretive authority and identity
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-531865 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Eriksson, Louise, Lindahl, Ella |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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