“Do You Even Understand What Off The Rack Means?” - Americanization and Jewish Identities in the Television Series Friends

This paper analyzes American Jewish identities in mega popular television series Friends. The story of the show is centered on six friends: three American Christians, and three American Jews. While the series present American Jews as a normal social reality, there are still problems in terms of their representation. This paper analyzes representation of American Jewish identities in terms of Jewish values and worldviews, and representation of Jewish faith and tradition. A qualitative content analysis of all 10 seasons of the popular show has been conducted. The conclusion of the paper is that the media are enforcing Americanization by creating a cast of Jewish Americans in the American popular culture where Jews are portrayed as Americanized in a sense they embrace Christianity as part of their tradition

Engagement and Empathy Discourses in Corporate Communication

This paper analyzes engagement and empathy discourse in a corporate document The Science of Engagement published online by a leading UK PR agency. The method used was a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the document, and the findings reveal that the engagement discourse in this document positions the consumer as a passive, compulsive purchaser, while the empathy discourse largely frames the consumer as young and more empathic than previous generations, and thus an easily accessible target for brands to appeal to, using emotional communication on social media. The conclusion of the paper is that in contrast to conceptual understandings of engagement as two-way and empathy as other-oriented, the Agency relies on early understanding of engagement as a cognitive process based on instincts and persuasive communication, and not as a concept of social communication that will be dependent on cultural and social differences, individual approach, and trust. This practice goes against the already acknowledged view of engagement and empathy as more than just cognitive responses by consumers, and presents an outdated understanding of these increasingly debated concepts

Hillary Clinton in the Media, and the Changing Discourse: From Expected Roles to the Critique of Feminism

This paper analysed Hillary Clinton’s historical problems with the media starting from her first appointment at a US First Lady to her being the Democratic nominee for the US presidential elections in 2016. The paper analysed academic literature demonstrating Clinton’s problems with the media bias, and then added own discourse analysis of articles on Clinton and feminism in two main national newspapers that have consistently demonstrated the power of setting the agenda and forming public opinion in the U.S., The Washington Post and The New York Times. Discourse analysis has been used to analyse 20 selected articles that discussed Clinton’s feminist views in a period from September 2015 until September 2016, which was also a campaign period for 2016 U.S. elections. The findings add to the current research on the topic and show that the media undermined liberal feminism and its goals to undermine Hillary Clinton, whereas in the past Hillary was a subject of media criticism because of her refusal to fit into expected roles and be a supportive wife only. In other words, the discourse of criticism of Hillary Clinton has changed over time but every time with the same results, i.e. undermining the image and career advancement

Exploring corporate social responsibility's global and Glocal practices in Qatar: A practitioner and stakeholder perspective

This study analysed corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the state of Qatar, aiming to determine the discipline’ global and glocal dimensions. The study investigated the notion that CSR remains western-driven in contrast to the scholarly trend that increasingly values national variables. Given the importance of CSR, the relationship between theory and contextual influences becomes a central element to evaluate the opportunity for specific corollaries to mainstream CSR. The methodology deployed for the study included a literature review, and interviews with practitioners and stakeholders. The results showed that although CSR as a concept is valid per se, an appropriate approach would value the operating environment as a key determinant, appreciating that specific cultural contexts necessitate variations to the mainstream theory

Product and Packaging Innovation: Attitudes, Behaviours, and Strategies for Sustainable Packaging

The report presents findings of a large consumer survey on packaging, environmental issues and the media, conducted by Dr Martina Topic, Ben Mitchell and Olga Munroe. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of 1000 respondents, and forms a backbone of the future research and research outputs currently being prepared. This report has been distributed to the clients of the Retail Institute and will be presented at the Annual Retail Institute conference in September 2018

The Corporate Social Responsibility in Lidl’s Communication Campaigns in Croatia and the UK

The purpose of the paper was to investigate whether Lidl uses CSR communication in their Advertising and Communication Campaigns in two different business contexts, and if so, how. The paper built upon existing analyses of CSR Communication by analysing Lidl’s websites in both countries, and went step forward and analysed TV adverts of the company in both countries as well. The analysis discovered importance of the social context in using CSR to promote business, as well as a different communication management strategy where Lidl does not communicate with UK public as extensively as with the Croatian public due to different views on the CSR communication. An in-depth analysis of TV adverts of Lidl in Croatia and the UK using their YouTube channel with all promoted TV adverts, as well as official websites of Lidl in both countries was conducted. The findings were analysed using the qualitative method of thematic, contextual analysis. The findings reveal that CSR is used as an argument to foster sales and consumer trust in Croatia but not in the UK. The communication management strategy is different in two countries due to different views of the public about CSR Communication, and Lidl\u27s Communication strategy is designed accordingly