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University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol
Thursday 12th and Friday 13th July 2007
> Click here to view the detailed programme overview (online)
> Click here to download the detailed programme overview (pdf)
Conference Programme - Abstracts
Panel 10: Branding, Advertising and Corporate Cultures
Chair: Dr Greg Tuck
Steve Jobs: the human logo
Chloe Peacock, University of Brighton
branding, discourse, technologies, lifestyle
This paper will
focus on one aspect of
the emerging analysis
from my PhD research,
which is the idea of
the ‘human logo’. Using
Steve Jobs (the CEO of
Apple) as part of a
case study of the
Apple brand, findings
from a discourse
analysis of Jobs’
2005 commencement
address to a group of
Stanford University
graduates, were
compared with
secondary sources
about Jobs, and
reoccurring themes
from interviews with
Apple consumers. The
paper will investigate
how Jobs mediates
between producer and
consumer, through
reflexively
constructing for
public consumption a
‘lifestyle project’
(Giddens 1991), and
counterculture,
spirituality, and
technology/human
intimacy discourses.
Specifically this
paper will explore the
notion that in the
period of
late-modernity ‘people’
increasingly have been
able to brand
themselves. This
involves a type of
commodification of
selected aspects of
the self for public
consumption. Equally
people have come to
represent branded
forms of knowledge, in
the same way that a
more traditional logo
works as a sign to
represent a wider
system of beliefs.
This is set within
the context of the
overall project “Branding
the Information
Society?” which
examines to what
extent the rhetoric of
the Information
Society is promoted by
technology producers
through product
branding. It also,
explores to what
extent this rhetoric
is articulated and/or
renegotiated in the
production of
identities, using a
case study of Apple
Computers Inc.
The culture of sport utility vehicles: media representations in the UK and Germany
Fiona McLean, University College London
advertising, audiences, cross-cultural comparison, semiotic analysis, social movements
Sport Utility
Vehicles (SUVs) have
seen a substantial
growth in popularity
in the past decade,
despite growing
concerns about their
social and
environmental
impacts. In this
paper, I argue that
SUV advertising has
contributed to the
rise in appeal of the
vehicle through the
systematic
appropriation of
particular cultural
notions of nature and
the “urban jungle”.
I discuss some of the
meanings embedded in
SUV advertisements,
considering the role
that they play in
identity formation and
lifestyle aspiration,
and the common themes
and cultural codes
that are used in their
construction. I
also examine how
social and
environmental concerns
are being incorporated
into and recirculated
through the next
generation of
advertisements.
The paper concludes with a brief outline of the next stage of my research: a cross-cultural analysis of media representations of SUVs in the UK and Germany. The study involves a comparison of national attitudes towards 4x4s, taking into account audience readings of promotional messages and how these interpretations are changing due to increasing media coverage of climate change issues and growing anti-SUV sentiment.
Documentary as a form of interruption
Grant Davies, University of the West of England, Bristol
In this paper I propose to explore some of the ways and levels in which the production of documentary may be viewed as the art and science of interruption. Thus I intend to interrupt the traditional fact/fiction, objectivity/subjectivity debate that preoccupies much of the discourse and find a ground where the film maker is encouraged to think about how they can use the tools of documentary to interrupt the world around them. Within this broad framework I propose to focus on 4 main areas:
1. The frame as interruption: beginning with stills photography and moving through to the present day, I plan to explore the relationship between changing technology and interruption.
2. The interrupted moment: how have and can documentary makers interrupt the tacit agreement that precedes every encounter?
3. Editing as interruption: to edit a documentary is often to interrupt one image with another.
4. Self interruption: the case of Tristram Shandy - can a film-maker over interrupt?
Interpersonal communication competence in SME internationalization
Pipsa Purhonen, University of Jyvaskyla (Finland)
interpersonal communication, interpersonal communication competence, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), internationalization, intercultural communication
Facing economic
globalization,
internationalization
has become the
lifeblood for many
small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs).
The aim of this paper
is to illustrate
internationalization
of an SME as a
challenge for
interpersonal
communication
competence. In
international business
the competition for
products, prices and
technologies has
expanded to successful
development and
management of
transactional
collaboration and
international
networks. Networks are
created, developed and
maintained through
human interaction.
Therefore it’s a
necessity to analyze
what is interpersonal
communication
competence in
creating, developing
and maintaining such
interpersonal
relations and
communication networks
that are successful
for SMEs in their
efforts of
internationalization.
Building upon existing literature on interpersonal and intercultural communication, communication networks and SME internationalization, this theoretical paper aims to examine what is interpersonal communication competence in context of SME internationalization. In this paper interpersonal communication competence is seen as communicating effectively and appropriately in variety of situations and cultural contexts. It requires cognitive, behavioral, affective and ethical components related to time, culture, relationship, situation and function of interaction.
In addition to external operations, internationalization is a process of development and change within the enterprise. In this paper, demands of internationalization are considered from the perspective of interpersonal communication competence of firm owner-managers and employees.
Panel 1: Imperialism and Globalisation
Panel 2: Online Citizens and Democracy
Panel 3: Television Audiences
Panel 4: Mediating Identity 1
Panel 5: Reporting the Conflict
Panel 6: Journalism and Social Responsibility
Panel 7: Sexual Representations in Cinema
Panel 8: Popular Culture
Panel 9: Still Image
Panel 10: Branding, Advertising and Corporate Cultures
Panel 11: Film and Theatre
Panel 12: Alternative Film
Panel 13: Feminism, Gender and Identity
Panel 14: Fan Culture and Online Audiences
Panel 15: Public Service Broadcasting and Radio
Panel 16: Design for Screen
Panel 17: Uses of Music and Sound in Film
Panel 18: Mediating Identity 2
Panel 19: Citizens, Interaction and the Public Interest
Note: Please be aware that the programme might be subject to changes. Please refer back to this page for a final programme overview nearer the conference. The final programme will also be communicated to delegates via email.
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