Is commercialism a threat to authenticity? This is a qualitative research method and study of IKEAs advertising series Där livet händer. To appear genuine and authentic has become highly important for companies and brands. Critical consumption discourses makes it harder for companies to be perceived as genuine. Där livet händer was launched autumn of 2016 by IKEA Sweden. An advertising series with a concept that aims to represent swedes in their everyday life. The creators of the production worked to avoid traditional language within advertising, instead they wanted to achieve an authentic expression. This study aims to get a better and deeper understanding of advertising where the producer strives for authentic expression. To fulfill the purpose of the study we have used a semiotic analysis of the series Där livet händer, and done qualitative group interviews with different types of consumer groups with different kinds of perspectives on consumption. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Jenkins theory about convergence, Bauman’s theory about consumption culture and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. This study shows that the consumer’s individual identity projects through consumption controls how they perceive commercial messages. Brands can through authentic expression, as in authentic recognition, reach different types of consumer groups. To be perceived as authentic, however, seems to be more difficult. Especially if you want to reach consumer groups with more critical perspectives on mass consumption. The home is central in the IKEA commercials, it is also strongly related to the origin, presence and human identity. By recognition linked to the nuclear family and the home, IKEA has more or less managed to affect the different consumer groups in this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-133616 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Eklund, Julia, Jaako, Amanda |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| 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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