In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, we observed that global advertising showed structural changes in its appeal towards the confinement of citizens, contrary to the usual commercial appeal to their mobility and social interaction, particularly by commercial brands that, given the high adherence to their messages, transcend the traditional relationship with consumers - the so-called love brands. Based on this observation, we questioned whether the advertising of love brands, in a global context of fighting the pandemic that has crossed the social, political, scientific, economic and public health spheres, by calling for a change in a modus vivendi, has played an active role in social change by participating in the transformation of the world for the benefit of citizens. Therefore, one of the main objectives of this research was to assess whether, in this period, the communication of these brands, by incorporating this transformative role, contributed to a particular form of communication, which we have called humanist advertising. To this end, we set out to build this approach made up of specific attributes, born of the conviction that the advertising discourse that mediates between citizens and the structuring themes for sustainable development transforms it into a humanist advertising discourse, which has a particular form and content. It was therefore the aim of this thesis to conceptualize, by aggregating established theory in the light of contemporary social and cultural advertising movements, what we consider to be a differentiated advertising approach - the humanistic advertising. Using an analysis grid of our own, we crossed the proposed theory with the advertising objects of pandemic communication, with the aim of validating the debatable argument of this thesis, in which we state that 'the advertising of commercial love brands, by persuading citizens to confine themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic, played an active role in social transformation that constitutes a demonstration of humanist advertising'. As a result, we confirmed that the advertising of love brands, by appealing to the lockdown of citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic, fulfilled a persuasive role of social transformation; we proved that this transformative role constituted a demonstration of humanist advertising; and we verified that the theory of humanist advertising, presented and tested in this thesis, proved to be wide-ranging, objective, relevant and productive. In this way, this research aimed to add knowledge to the scientific field of advertising theory, crossing the proposed concept of humanist advertising and the consolidated concept of love brand, applied to the particular context of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Date of Award | 11 Jul 2024 |
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Original language | Portuguese |
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Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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Supervisor | Eduardo Cintra Torres (Supervisor) |
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- Covid-19
- Lockdown
- Love brand
- Brand
- Humanistic advertising
- Doutoramento em Ciências da Comunicação
A publicidade mundial e o confinamento de 2020: afirmação do papel humanista da publicidade e das marcas
Ferreira, R. L. S. D. S. (Student). 11 Jul 2024
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis