A master thesis from Aalborg University
A Call for Representation: Investigating Inclusive Marketing through Multimodal Discourse Analysis and the Notion of Stereotypes
Author(s)
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-06-02
Pages
69 pages
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the field of inclusive marketing in western culture. The aim of the thesis is therefore to investigate what characterises the marketing efforts in a number of examples where brands are perceived as successful in regard to employing an inclusive marketing strategy. The examples of marketing efforts are ASOS’ advertisement Collusion “For the Coming Age” from 2018 as well as excerpts from ASOS’ Instagram profile, Aerie’s presentation video Your 2020 #AerieREAL Role Models from 2020 as well as excerpts from Aerie’s Instagram profile, AXE’s advertisement AXE “Find Your Magic” from 2016, and the Google Pixel 2 advertisement The Picture Perfect Life from 2018. The theoretical framework used to analyse the examples involve the notion of stereotypes as well as knowledge about the use of stereotypes in advertising. Moreover, this is supported by perspectives on inclusive marketing that offers insight into what inclusive marketing entails. The analysis is conducted through the use of multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics, which aid in locating and interpreting the characteristics of the brands’ inclusive marketing efforts. The findings conclude that presenting diverse models and communicating an inclusive, positive and empowering message that targets many types of people generally characterises the brands’ inclusive marketing efforts. Thereby, the brands represent and communicate to a wide range of different people. The findings also reveal that few of the examples exhibit complete inclusivity, as some brands fail to represent some people of marginalised or underrepresented groups. Furthermore, the findings lead to a discussion about whether it is possible to employ an inclusive marketing strategy without connecting the message to a positive outlook on the matter.
Documents
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