Through the looking-glass: Exploring the wonderland of ‘other’ female portrayals in advertising

Abstract

Research on gender portrayals in advertising are prolific and mostly focus on stereotypical roles. However, there is no previous research report analysing portrayals that fall into the ‘other’ category of female roles. This article aims to provide an outline of female role portrayals in advertising and, importantly, to examine the ‘other’ role category for new portrayals. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on samples of South African magazine and television advertisements. The findings indicate that the stereotypical decorative role was prevalent in magazine advertisements, while in television advertisements the product user was the person most often featured. A detailed analysis of the ‘other’ category in both media revealed four new role portrayals. These roles represent a different view of the modern woman and may be used to differentiate effectively those brands in the media that are cluttered with advertising messages. The research provides directions for future content-analytic studies on the topic of female portrayals in advertising.     

A classification framework for out-of-home advertising media in South Africa

Abstract

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising media have expanded worldwide and the shape and format of these media globally, as well as in South Africa, have changed considerably. Until recently, the OOH advertising media landscape consisted primarily of outdoor advertising or billboards reaching vehicular traffic, but now has expanded to include a wide range of OOH advertising media types which aim to reach a mobile audience wherever they live, work, play, drive, shop or commute. Currently there is no coherent contemporary framework to compare and select the most effective media options to reach a selected target market in a specific OOH audience environment. This article draws from academic and practitioner sources to propose a classification framework for OOH advertising media in South Africa comprising four major platforms: outdoor advertising, transit media advertising, street-and-retail furniture advertising, and digital and ambient OOH media channels. The framework serves to inform marketers of viable and cost-effective traditional and contemporary OOH advertising media options. It also indicates what platforms are appropriate to reach specific audiences effectively in a variety of environments outside their homes. This is the first framework of its kind for the South African context that offers an orderly, integrated basis for future research.     

The Interface between Western and Indigenous Signs in Zanu-PF Advertisements for July 2013 Elections

ABSTRACT

Political contestation in Zimbabwe post-2000 has been largely acrimonious. In the electoral domain of the epoch, political advertising, has been one of the key tools through which this contestation took place. However, these advertisements have been barely studied and those that have made an attempt to study them did not examine them from advertising theory and/or sign theory perspective. The study argues that locating the analysis of political advertisements in advertising theory and sign theory presents an opportunity to gain insights into how political products gain sign value, exchange value and utility value. The study deploys advertising theory and sign theory to examine the value that selected indigenous and Western signs used by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) invest in the political products: ZANU-PF and Mugabe. By interrogating four purposively selected signs in ZANU-PF advertisements for the July 2013 elections, I seek to establish how political products are produced as signs and signs as political products. The selected signs are subjected to semiotic analysis. The findings show that ZANU-PF's use of these valorised Western and indigenous, often contradictory, signs is designed to appeal to votes on the basis that it is a democratic, divine anointed, Christian and African-oriented party.     

Examining Commuters’ Cognitive Responses to Minibus Taxi Advertising

Abstract

Limited scholarly studies have been conducted on transit advertising in general, but even more so in South Africa. The purpose of the current study was to examine commuters’ cognitive responses to minibus taxi advertising by measuring their: (1) noting of minibus taxi advertising; and (2) recall of elements in minibus taxi advertisements. A survey was administered by trained fieldworkers to a quota-based sample of 398 regular minibus taxi commuters at a major taxi rank in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The results revealed that minibus taxi advertising has the potential to attract commuters’ attention, since the vast majority of the respondents regularly note advertisements on passing minibus taxis. The findings also revealed that some sub-groups in the sample demonstrated different cognitive responses. It was furthermore found that the commuting respondents typically recalled visual cues, colours and branding elements of minibus taxi advertising. The unique contribution of the study is that it is one of the first to examine the effectiveness of minibus taxi advertising media on a cognitive level. Thus, from an industry perspective, the study can guide marketers, advertisers and managers in grasping minibus taxi advertising in order to make more effective use of this unique out-of-home (OOH) advertising media platform for their advertising purposes.     

Marketing communication budget practices in South Africa

Abstract

International experience shows that the correct composition of a marketing communication budget is essential in building long-term brands. Trends in the United States of America (USA), for example, show that the composition of the marketing communication budget is positively skewed towards promotional spend (e.g. direct marketing, promotions, sponsorship and pubic relations). However, experience shows that high promotional spend at the cost of advertising spend (television, radio, magazine, outdoor and cinema advertising) might put long-term sales volumes and branding at risk. With evidence mounting that the marketing communication spend in South Africa is gradually showing a preference for promotional spend at the cost of advertising, fears of marketing communication practitioners that South African firms are buying short-term sales and market share at the expense of long-term brand equity, have increased. To investigate the validity of such fears a primary research study was conducted amongst 250 marketing/brand managers to profile current marketing communication budget practices in South Africa. Resolving the research problem at hand was largely dependent on the validity of the hypothesis which stated that promotional spending in South Africa has reached levels of more than half of the total marketing communication spend in South Africa. The survey results revealed that, on average, a 59/41 ratio currently prevails between advertising and promotional spend in South Africa. This finding contradicts the stated hypothesis and for now, at least, allays the previously mentioned fears of marketing practitioners. However, with the tendency of brand companies to increase promotional spend, budgeters are warned against the long-term risk of promotional spending at the cost of advertising. Because the study also features the most prominent marketing communication tools used and integrated to market products and services in South Africa over the long term, the findings serve as a benchmark for marketing and brand managers when constructing annual marketing communication budgets.     

Deterrence,uncertainty and cooperative behavior

The paper analyzes deterrence relationships in situations when the relevant forms of behavior are subject to lags such as in the case of foreign interventions and technological arms races. Mutual deterrence is a way of inducing cooperative behavior. Successful deterrence, in the cases considered, can be considered as ways of inducing cooperative behaviors in Prisoners’ Dilemma Supergames, the model used in this paper. It is argued that, in general, deterrence is more likely to be successful and hence cooperative behavior more prevalent in systems where the actors can move between strategies quickly (i.e., are flexible) and which are characterized by low uncertainty. The paper also analyzes the concept of discounting and time preference in the discussion of political phenomena where the concept has no market interpretation. It is analyzed as a rational response to uncertainty.     

Coping strategies in prolonged kidnappings

This study investigates prolonged kidnappings as a stressful situation and the different coping strategies used to survive it. A 35‐question, semi‐structured interview and an adaptation of the ‘Ways of Coping Checklist’ by Lazarus et al. (1986) were applied to live subjects who had been kidnapped by different Colombian guerrilla groups for periods of time above three months. The results of the interviews and checklist were compared; it was found that to achieve an efficient coping process it is necessary to be versatile with the coping directed to emotions, such as fantasy and self‐guilt, and directed to the problem, such as problem solving. Other topics for future studies are proposed.     

Utilising an Ubuntu-Centred Communication Management Framework to Analyse CSR Messages on SNSS

ABSTRACT

This article is the result of qualitative research conducted on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication disseminated by two financial institutions, FNB and Capitec, on their social networking sites (SNSs). The research employed a phenomenological research paradigm to explore the interactions between the financial institutions and their stakeholders on Facebook and Twitter. Collected data were analysed by means of interpretative discourse analysis as well as two computer-aided qualitative data analysis software programmes, Leximancer and Centim. The authors categorised the financial institutions’ CSR communication in themes and coded it according to a newly formulated theoretical framework of Ubuntu-centred communication practices on SNSs. It was found that FNB's CSR communication was based on Ubuntu values whereas Capitec's CSR communication did not exhibit key characteristics, such as the inclusion of narratives and archetypes, sound conflict resolution strategies, and the presentation of mutually beneficial solutions to societal issues. Based on the findings, it is proposed that organisation-stakeholder interactions can be facilitated when organisations disseminate CSR messages and constructively engage with stakeholders on SNSs. Moreover, culturally-specific communication management strategies, such as Ubuntu-centred communication, should be infused in holistic communication models to foster participatory online communities which are characterised by dialogue, mutual trust and reciprocity.     

Managing communication surrounding tungiasis stigma in Kenya

ABSTRACT

Tungiasis is a neglected parasitic skin disease widespread in resource-poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Stigmatisation of tungiasis sufferers has been identified as a key reason why tungiasis frequently progresses untreated in many parts of the world, however little research has investigated the specifics of tungiasis stigma or the communication strategies sufferers use to manage stigmatization. This article reports results of focus group and in-depth interviews regarding strategies used to manage tungiasis stigma from the perspective of persons living with tungiasis in Murang'a County, Kenya. Most frequently mentioned were withdrawal tactics. Participants also engaged in refutation strategies to deny responsibility for their condition. Implications for stigma management communication theory are discussed.     

The Conditional Effectiveness of Directive Mediation

ABSTRACT

This research re-examines the effectiveness of directive mediation in interstate rivalries. To do so, highlighting the importance of disputants’ willingness for successful directive mediation, this study identifies four conditions that affect the levels of disputants’ willingness to engage in mediation talks and proposes that the presence of such conditions improves or worsens the efficacy of directive strategies. We expect heavy-handed mediators will be less effective in a dispute involving highly interdependent or power-imbalanced rivalries while directive mediation performs poorly when it is led by unbiased mediators or when it is employed for long-running rivals. Our empirical findings, based on two existing rivalry datasets, suggest that directive mediation fares well when mediators are biased, when rivals are power-balanced, and when rivalries are protracted, and that the efficacy of directive mediation improves in disputes involving highly interdependent strategic rivals but decreases in the cases between highly interdependent general rivals.     

Mass media advertisements: Responses to selected advertisements in semi-urban Limpopo

Abstract

This article developed from pilot research in a coursework Master's module in African Languages into combined outcomes of persuasive messages and visual literacy based on semiotics. It tested assertions by various writers about mass media, as applicable to a semi-urban or rural group of (black) South Africans with educational levels ranging from Grade 10 to Honours level. Owing to the fact that interviewees are financially constrained (and therefore cannot always afford television access or the acquisition of magazines), the focus of ‘persuasive messages’ was on billboard advertising in their living and work contexts. It was found that the consumers (respondents to the questionnaire) reacted positively to billboards that supported products on which they have been relying; that once they have been introduced to a product and found it efficient, competitive campaigns do not impinge on their stance; but also that – in this particular semi-urban area – traditional values folklore and usages have to be taken into consideration by advertisers for effective communication.     

The Two Halves of Sports-Diplomacy

ABSTRACT

What strategies does the United States pursue when it no longer perceives overt military intervention as politically viable or desirable but the problems or issues for which it was formerly undertaken remain? This analysis identifies three such periods in American foreign policy since the United States became a World Power and draws from the work of Peter Hall to develop a typology of strategies according to the magnitude of policy change. These range from adjustment in the settings of interventionism – persistence; the substitution of alternative instruments of foreign policy – ameliorism; and the principled rejection of interventionism in conjunction with a more systematic critique of prevailing foreign policy assumptions – transformationalism. Yet each approach is beset by certain structural limits and contradictions arising from the domestic politics and constitutional-institutional system of the United States that are important in understandiing and appreciating more fully the challenges – and opportunities – of the period ‘after interventionism’.     

Managing the negotiation agenda

Conclusion The agenda is one of the main structural elements of negotiation, in addition to such questions as site, identification of participants, and elements of timing. Together, they answer the who, what, when, and where questions. As with other aspects of negotiation, the agenda can be used either manipulatively to enhance leverage or to improve the prospects for agreement and the possibilities for mutual gain. In most cases, it will be used both ways, reflecting the nature of negotiation as a mixed-motive situation.Although it can be instrumental to volunteer as a sole source to write the agenda, in most cases it becomes a joint activity to construct a consensual basis for subsequent negotiation. In these situations, agenda-building becomes one of the pre-negotiation activities that set the tone for the relationship (Saunders, 1985). In other situations, the parties may engage in actual negotiation without a formal or written agenda. When this occurs, the risks and uncertainties may be high but the party who appreciates the importance of the informal agenda has a tremendous advantage.Whether one plans it or not, during the course of negotiation the parties will discuss a finite set of issues in some sequence and from a particular perceptual framework. Consciousness of the universality and centrality of the agenda is prerequisite to guiding negotiation to a successful conclusion. William R. Pendergast is Associate Dean at Boston University's Metropolitan College, 755 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. 02215, where he teaches graduate courses and executive development seminars on negotiation. He is preparing research on power and influence, and on strategic choice in negotiation.     

Firestorm Response: Managing Brand Reputation during an nWOM Firestorm by Responding to Online Complaints Individually or as a Cluster

ABSTRACT

This study provides evidence of how marketers should respond to a sudden discharge of negative word-of-mouth (nWOM) communication that spreads rapidly across social media platforms, known as an online “firestorm.” The study aimed to determine whether a company’s response policy during an online firestorm influenced their brand reputation among observers of the firestorm. An experiment offered three different company approaches to the firestorm. The study used a conclusive quantitative design by manipulating independent variables in a controlled environment in order to infer causality through an online survey to 300 participants. The study shows that when faced with the option of replying to a cluster of complaints or each individual complaint, a more positive brand reputation is engendered through individual replies. While research in digital marketing has progressed to provide companies with strategies to use digital platforms as a marketing tool, the negative side of social media—in this case online firestorms—is still largely left unattended. Addressing the direct issue of how to respond to online firestorms is therefore of significant relevance to marketing practitioners and academics.     

Issue-Related Learning in a Gubernatorial Campaign: A Panel Study

This study is based on data from a three-wave telephone panel survey conducted during the 1998 governor's race in Florida. The evidence suggests that a considerable amount of issue-related learning (having to do with candidate policy stands and group endorsements) took place over the course of the general election campaign, though substantial differences were observed from one issue area to the next. Further analysis indicates that learning was especially likely to occur among voters (a) who were more knowledgeable about political affairs to start with (confirming that the so-called “knowledge gap” may be exacerbated during campaigns), (b) who scored high on a measure of advertising negativity (for one candidate but not the other), and (c) who early in the campaign, read their local newspaper less frequently. Consistent with prior research, TV news appears to have done little or nothing to boost issue-based learning among the electorate.     

Nothing Is True,Everything Is Permitted: Premodern Religious Terrorism

Abstract

In the beginning faith was the alpha and omega of revolutionary dreams and terrorist actions. This article will examine case studies among the Peoples of the Book—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—for religious terrorism is not the product of one faith. It argues that the cultural resonance of each movement examined offers a blank slate on which contemporary seekers, dreamers, and fighters may write. The title, borrowed from a popular novel, is the leitmotif of this form of violence. By all objective forms of analysis, the movements chronicled in these pages are a parade of seemingly stupid ideas held by idealists, fools, and fanatics who dreamed that, with God at their side, they could bring perfection to a fallen world. In such a cause, antinomian violence is inevitable and genocide its logical outcome. Yet these early movements are not to be despised, for together it was they, not the huddled masses cowering before the powers that be, that created the modern world.     

Indian federalism at the crossroads: Limits of the territorial management of ethnic conflict

ABSTRACT

This article critically examines territorial strategies adopted by the Indian state to accommodate territorially concentrated minority groups in two very recent cases: the formation of Telangana (2014) and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) (2003). We situate both cases within the broader context of linguistic state reorganization in India since the 1950s. We argue that while the formation of states on the basis of linguistic principle was necessary given the long history of demand for linguistic states in India, it is, as Telangana and BTC clearly bear out, not sufficient to accommodate minorities. This is especially the case when, inter alia, language is: (1) appropriated by the dominant group within a state (or states) as a vehicle to perpetuate political majoritarianism, (2) supplemented by weak power-sharing arrangement, and (3) occasioned by longstanding popular perceptions of historical injustices and relative deprivation.     

A justice philosophy of public relations management

ABSTRACT

From a justice perspective, strategic publics may be viewed as victims who have been harmed by the organisation and now seek reparation. Long-term relationships are only formed with organisations that treat strategic publics fairly. For public relations to be viewed as just, it must incorporate all three dimensions of justice theory, viz: distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. When all three dimensions are incorporated, public relations stands a better chance of the organisation being viewed as just and trustworthy by strategic publics. Only when strategic publics experience the relationship with the organisation as trusting and dignifying will they be able to feel committed to the organisation and its decisions; feel attached to the long-term relationship; and be less hostile when outcomes of strategic decisions are unfavourable.

Justice theory provides public relations with a philosophy of how to conduct themselves with strategic publics that influence the goal attainment of organisations.     

AVOIDING TRAGEDY IN POWER POLITICS:

When and why do states adopt new grand strategies? According to a “neoclassical realist” model, changes in international conditions are the chief cause of long-term adjustments in grand strategy, while domestic political-military cultures help specify the precise grand strategies chosen by state officials. What results are outcomes that appear surprising or skewed from a realist perspective. I test the neoclassical realist model against the cases of u.s. strategic adjustment in 1918–1921 as well as 1945–1948 and find that the long-term trajectory of America's rise to world power is best explained by international pressures. The precise strategies chosen in each period, however, were heavily influenced by American political-military culture. The implication is that theoretically inclusive forms of realism can provide convincing explanations for changes in grand strategy; furthermore, states can remain somewhat “differentiated” in terms of their foreign policy behavior, for cultural reasons, and in spite of international pressures to the contrary.     

Supporters’ responses to contested trade negotiations: the European Commission’s rhetoric on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership*

Abstract

Negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) commenced in 2013, and soon became the most controversial bilateral trade agreement negotiations ever attempted by the European Union (EU). When trying to understand the escalating debate over the proposed agreement, most analyses have highlighted opposition to the deal, especially from civil society organizations. However, a full understanding of the debate surrounding TTIP requires analysis of supporters’ responses, as these changed in response to strategies used by opponents of the agreement. This article uses a novel approach in trade policy scholarship—rhetorical analysis—to focus on the European Commission Trade Directorate’s response to contestation over TTIP. Drawing on work on the ‘rhetoric of reaction’, this article identifies the rhetorical strategies used by EU trade commissioners from 2013 to 2016. It outlines the evolution of the rhetoric and accompanying changes in process and policy, providing insights on the impact of TTIP politicization on the guiding principles of the EU’s trade policy.