Executive summary

Is it successful to force CSR-communication?
As the environmental crisis is becoming increasingly urgent, the world is taking precautions to prevent the crisis from escalating into a point of no return. One example of this is the directive 2014/95/EU, which was formulated to make companies provide high-quality environmental disclosures for stakeholders to rely on. Sweden implemented the directive in
2017, which constitutes the legal context of environmental disclosures which this study explores. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the quality of information in corporate sustainability disclosures has changed in connection with the introduction of the Swedish Environmental Reporting Act from 2017, in a comparison between the year 2014 and 2020. To analyze information quality in environmental disclosures, the theory of informativity was used. Informativity denotes a set of principles that evaluates the quality of information, these are scope, frequency, width and depth. These aspects establish the foundation onto which this study theoretically relies on. With respect to this theoretical framework, a quantitative content analysis consistent of 12 variables was used to determine the quality of information in corporate environmental disclosures. Thereafter a number of six
public Swedish companies were selected from the consumer staples sector. The study found that the scope of information relating to CSR had increased. The scope of information regarding environmental issues drastically increased, the scope of information regarding corruption and human rights also increased, whilst the scope of information regarding social sustainability drastically decreased. The width and depth of information also decreased from 2014 to 2020, whilst the frequency of information had increased. This means that environmental matters are given more space, and the entire field CSR-information is also given more space in 2020 in comparison to 2014. The quality of information did slightly increase from 2014 to 2020, but not significantly enough to conclude that the Environmental Reporting Act has had an effect. This study concludes that the Environmental Reporting Act
didn’t have a significant effect on the quality of information in corporate environmental disclosures.

Key words: Informativity, Quality of information, Sustainability Disclosure, Directive
2014/95/EU

Executive summary

CAN YOU GIVE US A SMILE?
The purpose of this study is to examine if the communication differs between journalists and femaleand male professional football players during live-interview situations. Since the 1900s sports
journalism has grown into what we today consider a main subject in modern journalism (Dahlén, 2008:71-72). Although research shows that women are less likely to be associated in sports news (Schmidt, 2017). Also, according to Dahlén (2008) sports journalism is constructed by a structure of norms, thus one of them is that the content is created to attract a male audience. This also leads to why men tend to have a bigger place in sports media. Futheron this also contributes to a vicious circle thus the interest of women’s sports fades out of existence. According to FIFA (2021) media play a big part
in the development of women’s football. Therefore, we also consider that the media is an important contributor to the work of equality, both within the sport but also in society. The subject of interpersonal communication and sports journalism is rather unstudied. There is a lot of research on the exposure of women and male athletes in media but there’s still a lack of studies analyzing the content itself. Therefore, we wanted to examine live-interviews, as it is a big part of sports journalism.

This study is based on five different core questions that’s considered to be answering our main purpose of this research. Firstly, we seek to know how often relatives and/or partners are mentioned in the interview per say. Previous research shows that men dominate as the main characters in sports journalism. When a woman is exposed through sports media it’s often in relation to another, mostly male, family member (Bryant, 2014; Schmidt, 2017). We therefore found this question relevant to our
study. Secondly, we wanted to know how often the journalist comments on the players visual appearances, as in looks and mood. Based on the previous research we can identify a pattern of female athletes being portrayed in a more sexistic way than male athletes (Weiller-Ables, Everbach &
Colombo-Dougovito, 2018). We also found it relevant to question how often visual appearances weren mentioned in relation to the game itself, since previous studies had proven that women according to the norm are expected to communicate in a more emotional way compared to men. We once stated the fact that women get less media exposure than men, therefore we also found it suited to examine the number of interviews per game for male- and female athletes. The fourth question known in this study
is whether the journalist is being more critical to the male- or female player. We based this question on Brown & Levinson’s politeness theory (referenced in Jensen, 2015:180) and Lakoff’s dominance approach (referenced in Norrby & Håkansson, 2015: 124-126), and further association to previous
sayings from Kristiansson, a Swedish commentator, that have great experience within the industry (Fotboll och Damsamhälle, 2015). Lastly, we questioned if the journalist had a different tonality interviewing a male- or female athlete. By this we meant to be interested in factors like infantilizing
and derogatory comments or the general feeling of the interview itself. For instance, mentioning the player’s gender. This question also involved our interest to recognize if “obvious questions” are being asked, such as asking a player if they’re happy after winning a game.

Our hypothesis was based on the previous research mentioned above, in addition to the politeness theory, muted group theory, genderlect styles and the dominance approach. To summarize, our hypothesis stated that we would be able to identify differences in how the male and female athletes were treated. We thought that signs of the women being asked more personal questions aimed at family would be present, that they would get asked/comments about their visual appearances more often. Our hypothesis also stated that the overall climate concerning the interviews with women would be more gentle and less critical, but that the women probably would get interrupted and apologizemore often than the men. Concerning the question about media exposure, our hypothesis said that we would likely see less interviews per game for the women compared to the men.

This study is a quantitative content analysis and the material used are broadcasts of international games played by the Swedish national teams. The analyzed units are live-interviews chosen from selected international games, with Swedish male- and female professional football players. The
interviews have been broadcasted on one or more of the following channels: SVT, TV4, C MORE, TV12, TV6 & Viaplay, between the years of 2016 and present time (April 2022).

The main results of this study showed less differences between the genders than we expected. We couldn’t really find any strong statistical evidence suggesting that the journalists treat the players differently based on their gender during the interviews. There are occasional examples which stand
out, but they just aren’t enough to be of any statistical significance in this quantitative analysis. Overall, the genders seemed to be treated fairly equal, except for when it came to how many times they were being asked obvious questions. Our results showed that the female players were asked obvious questions in 20 percent of their interviews, while male players were asked these questions in 8 percent of theirs.

Our study also offered a few suggestions for future research. These suggestions contained research focused towards how journalists discuss injuries with the players, more qualitative approaches concerning how specific words are used during the interview, whether the gender of the journalist/the company the journalist works for plays a role in how the player is treated, and finally we suggested future research to focus a bit more on the commentary and discussion between the “experts” in the studio, (which is commonly also broadcasted before/after the interviews). During our analysis we got to hear short clips from these discussions, and they seemed to have a bit of a different communicative climate compared to the interviews.

Executive summary

In today’s society, we see advertisement everywhere. Personal-targeted advertising has also grown larger because of the information-gathering of users’ personal data, in order to design advertising that will suit the individuals interests. Ahead of the upcoming election this autumn, political advertising has made rapid progress. Politicians want to reach out to their
young voters on Instagram and therefore, are buying advertising space there. However, there is not much research about what people actually think of political advertising, which leads up to the purpose of this study.

The younger generation grew up with social media and a lot of advertising. Earlier studies show that this younger generation also finds this “new” technology positive and find personalized advertising more appealing than the regular type of advertising. The purpose of the study was to investigate how female first-time voters experience the political advertising
that is seen on Instagram. It was also essential to get an insight into their awareness of how their personal data is processed and used. Are they aware that the advertising that they see is targeted directly at them? And how do they feel about politics and advertising being combined together on a platform you spend a lot of time on?

The main purpose can then be broken down into three questions: what do users think about the targeted advertising on social media? What do users think about politically oriented advertising on Instagram? How do users view integrity in relation to targeted political advertising? To find out, five people were interviewed with questions that were designed based on the theoretical framework.

The results of the study show that targeted advertising is received positively among the interviewers, as they receive advertising that is in line with the individual’s own interests. What is considered uninteresting, they just scroll past. Even if the people do not reflect much on information-gathering, there is a feeling of being constantly monitored. The interest in politics is low, while the will to become more educated about it is strong

Executive summary

The purpose of this study is to examine how young people experience the marketing and brand of VELO, a tobacco-free snus company based in Sweden. This from an ethical perspective, but also how it correlates to their use of the plattform Instagram, VELO’s primary marketing platform, and the use of influencers to promote the white portions. In 2021, the sales of tobacco free nicotine portions increased 88%. Since the launch of nicotine pouches, the general use of nicotine has increased, not at least among young girls. For years, there has been research done on other addictive substances, such as tobacco products. Since the white portions have increased in
popularity in a short time, the research on white portions is limited. The primary focus of this study is therefore to examine how young consumers experience the marketing around VELO.

In order to do this, we have applied a qualitative method, conducting nine semi-structured
interviews with young adults aged 16-25. During the interviews, the respondents were asked
about their use of white portions, VELO as a company and the marketing of the white portions.
This led to discussions regarding the ethical perspective of influencers promoting addictive
substances. The respondents were also shown images taken from VELO’s Instagram and from
some of the influencers promoting the products on their Instagram page.

The results show that what is happening on Instagram affects the respondents’ attitudes towards snus. If an influencer promotes something as cool, it is common for others to develop the same attitudes. The fact that they also testify that they sometimes consume the products that influencers suggest supports that result. This means that what happens on Instagram in some way has a connection to the respondents’ attitudes. In addition, we found that the psychological needs met by using snus and using Instagram are similar, needs such as satisfaction, group affiliation, satiety dependence, time travel and more.

Most people considered that the wide range of flavors is unproblematic on a personal level and considered it positive to an extent, as they have more choices. On the other hand, it was considered more harmful on a societal level as there will be a lower threshold for young people to start using snus. Regarding the ethical aspect, there were differences in the opinions on whether VELO markets itself in an inappropriate way. The majority agreed that the marketing takes place towards an inappropriate target group. It became a question of definition where the respondents had different boundaries and opinions.

Executive summary

During the last decade, social media has become an increasingly important part of our everyday lives, as has the advertising that we are fed daily on various platforms and social networks. The advertising on Instagram has almost become as much a part of our daily feed as our friends’ updates, and it seems to be even more and more. Has it become too much, has the
real purpose of using Instagram been replaced by a feed filled with advertising rather than a platform for social interaction?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of advertising on Instagram, the target group for the study is women born in the 1960s. We found a lot of studies about advertising, but very few that focus on an older generation.

To achieve the purpose of the study we have worked with three main questions, (1) what motivates the interviewees to use Instagram? (2) What attitudes do the interviewees have towards personalized advertising on Instagram? And (3) what significance does the credibility of advertising have on the purchase intention? The theoretical framework of this study
consists of Uses and Gratifications, The dynamic motivation activation model, The attitude model, and Electronic word-of-mouth. As well as previous study about advertising, attitudes about personalized advertising and purchase intention. To answer our questions we have conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 women born in the 1960’s.

Our results show that it is possible to identify several motives for women born in the 1960’s Instagram use. The most prominent motive was social interaction, both with friends and family. Followed by being part of a community and killing time. Secondly, the attitudes towards advertising on Instagram turned out to be appreciated, at least when the advertising is
one’s own choice. The general attitudes towards advertising were relatively negative at first, but when the advertising was directed and thus tailored to its interests, it was perceived as more positive. Lastly, our study revealed two groups with different opinions. One half found famous people and influencers advertising trustworthy and the other half had a negative
attitude. The results also indicate that the ones who follow famous people or influencers have consumed Instagram to a greater extent. In summary, it can be stated that there is a certain ambivalence about the perceptions of advertising on Instagram, it is perceived as both disturbing and at the same time appreciated. When there is too much advertising, and it interferes with the individual’s use of Instagram, it evokes negative emotions. At the same
time, the results of the study show that personalized advertising is perceived as something positive when it corresponds to the individual’s interests. Regardless of perceptions of advertising and that there is sometimes a tendency for too much advertising in users’ feeds,users still choose to continue using Instagram and see their time on Instagram as valuable.

Executive summary

The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyze how adolescents and young adults experience advertising on YouTube. We have through qualitative interviews studied our respondents’ self-experienced attitudes towards video-ads and influencer marketing, and how this may affect their YouTube consumption and/or their propensity to buy the advertised
products or services.

YouTube was founded in 2005 and started as a relatively small media platform for consumers to share videos on their own channels for others to view, but rapidly grew to the Google owned YouTube we know today. Today it is one of the biggest social media platforms with around 2.2 billion users as of the year 2021 (Statista, 2021). Nowadays social media celebrities and opinion leaders known as “influencers”, also known as “YouTubers”, rule the
platform with millions of people consuming their content. The Swedish YouTuber Pewdiepie has as of now (May 2022) over 111 million followers. Huge amounts of followers often equals huge amounts of views on their content, which attracts companies for them to advertise their products and services on. This results in a large amount of advertisements for
the consumer. The consumer therefore has to pay with their time on watching advertisements to be able to consume the actual video they want to see.

We focused our study on the group, seen in past research, that consumes YouTube the most. People ranging from 15 to 27 years old; adolescents and young adults. We wanted to study our respondents’ attitudes and reflections about advertisements on YouTube. This led us to choosing a qualitative interview-method for this study. The results, with a broader discussion
in the thesis, showed how all of our seven respondents reflected negatively on YouTube advertising, but they appreciated influencer marketing more than the traditional video-ads.

We bounced the results of theories and previous studies to help us analyze our results. The theories varied from common communication-studies theories, for instance: encoding and decoding, the two-step hypothesis and the third person effect, but also less common like Rappaport’s theory about the ways companies advertise to create a relationship between brand and consumer. Previous studies used in this thesis have examined advertising, the internet, and the effect on children, adolescents and young adults. The theories and past studies match partially or entirely with our results.

Further, we discussed the possible flaws and imperfections with what we could have done
differently, and what result we would get from another method. We also discuss what parts of
the results that surprised us, and what did not. To exemplify:
● an occuring advertising fatigue
● the respondents did not identify influencer marketing as a form of marketing at first
thought
● an existing feeling of relationship between some respondents and the influencer.

Executive summary

We live in a society that is embossed by social media. It has gone from being a platform where you share photos and updates with your closest friends, to becoming a platform that influencers make a financial living on. Today it is almost impossible not to be exposed to advertisements on social media, whether it is ads or influencer marketing. Today’s children and adolescents have never lived in a world without Smartphones, apps and likes and
therefore know nothing else.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate 13 to 16-year-olds’ attitudes towards advertising on social media. We have two questions that intend to answer the purpose of this essay. The first
question addresses what the respondents think advertising is on social media. The second question addresses which advertising generates the different attitudes in Ducoffe´s theoretical framework, Model of Attitude, according to the respondents. To analyze the respondents’ answers we applied the Model of Attitude, which has the intent to explain attitudes towards advertising on the Internet. The model also has the intent to show how different types of advertising create different types of values for the user that could result in different types of attitudes later on. To answer our thesis, we have applied a qualitative method to gain a deeper
understanding of adolescents’ attitudes towards advertising on social media. This is carried out with semi-structured interviews.

Based on the results from question one, it can be seen that the respondents consider both influencer marketing and paid ads to be advertising, which indicates an awareness of what advertising is. The majority of respondents were more positive about tips than advertising. The respondents tend to assimilate advertising that is characterized by parasocial relationships the most, which may be because it is perceived as a tip from a friend rather than advertising per se. You can also see that the respondents have a good understanding of how influencer marketing works and have a positive attitude towards it, if it is done in an honest way and with a genuine approach. However, few respondents knew about targeted advertising. When we informed them about what it meant, several respondents were positive about a social media page tailor-made towards them. A few on the other hand found it unpleasant, but in the end most still preferred an individualized page.

Based on the results from our second issue, it can be seen that the respondents’ answers about annoying, entertaining, and credible advertising correspond to the definition outlined in the Model of Attitude. However, Ducoffe’s description of information did not agree with the respondents’ perceptions. He believes that informative advertising is something positive, but the respondent’s answers indicated that it would rather be negative as they did not have the interest nor the will to read too much information.

To conclude this, we can see that the respondents generally have a positive attitude towards advertising on social media.