Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns

Typically, consumer advertising is designed to promote or build brand identity for goods or services. Yet when a major crisis disrupts the everyday flow of life, advertisers often pivot from directly pitching their brands to conveying messages that somewhat reflect the tone of public service announ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tony Kelso, Zeynep Altinay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group 2022-04-01
Series:tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1310
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850043586994765824
author Tony Kelso
Zeynep Altinay
author_facet Tony Kelso
Zeynep Altinay
author_sort Tony Kelso
collection DOAJ
description Typically, consumer advertising is designed to promote or build brand identity for goods or services. Yet when a major crisis disrupts the everyday flow of life, advertisers often pivot from directly pitching their brands to conveying messages that somewhat reflect the tone of public service announcements. After examining the nature of much of the television advertising produced shortly after the United States was placed on lockdown following the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, this exploratory study investigates posts to Twitter to begin to address the question: To what extent did viewers’ interpretations of pandemic-themed commercials either accord with or challenge the advertisers’ intended messages of hope? The results show that targeted consumers demonstrated a greater tendency to contest advertisers’ inspirational themes than to passively accept them. These findings are discussed within the context of advertising’s ideological function as propaganda aimed toward especially active audiences in the age of social media.
format Article
id doaj-art-a10f645ac66340818b23185dff09f436
institution DOAJ
issn 1726-670X
language English
publishDate 2022-04-01
publisher Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
record_format Article
series tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique
spelling doaj-art-a10f645ac66340818b23185dff09f4362025-08-20T02:55:12ZengPaderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research GrouptripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique1726-670X2022-04-0120110.31269/triplec.v20i1.13101310Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising CampaignsTony KelsoZeynep Altinay Typically, consumer advertising is designed to promote or build brand identity for goods or services. Yet when a major crisis disrupts the everyday flow of life, advertisers often pivot from directly pitching their brands to conveying messages that somewhat reflect the tone of public service announcements. After examining the nature of much of the television advertising produced shortly after the United States was placed on lockdown following the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, this exploratory study investigates posts to Twitter to begin to address the question: To what extent did viewers’ interpretations of pandemic-themed commercials either accord with or challenge the advertisers’ intended messages of hope? The results show that targeted consumers demonstrated a greater tendency to contest advertisers’ inspirational themes than to passively accept them. These findings are discussed within the context of advertising’s ideological function as propaganda aimed toward especially active audiences in the age of social media. https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1310advertisingaudience studiesCOVID-19propagandaTwitter
spellingShingle Tony Kelso
Zeynep Altinay
Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique
advertising
audience studies
COVID-19
propaganda
Twitter
title Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
title_full Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
title_fullStr Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
title_full_unstemmed Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
title_short Challenging Brands’ Calculated Messages of Hope during a Pandemic: Twitter-User Response to COVID-19 Advertising Campaigns
title_sort challenging brands calculated messages of hope during a pandemic twitter user response to covid 19 advertising campaigns
topic advertising
audience studies
COVID-19
propaganda
Twitter
url https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1310
work_keys_str_mv AT tonykelso challengingbrandscalculatedmessagesofhopeduringapandemictwitteruserresponsetocovid19advertisingcampaigns
AT zeynepaltinay challengingbrandscalculatedmessagesofhopeduringapandemictwitteruserresponsetocovid19advertisingcampaigns