Emotional Claims Research Articles

Marketing plant‐based versus animal‐sourced foods in online grocery stores: A comparative content analysis of sustainability and other product claims in the United States

AbstractThe market share of e‐commerce grocery is swiftly rising, but online product listings may present different environmental sustainability and public health information. We analyzed product marketing content available on retailer websites and product images, comparing plant‐based (PBFs) and animal‐sourced foods (ASFs). Over sixteen thousand marketing and labeling content observations were gathered from seven leading U.S. e‐commerce grocery retailers for top‐selling ASFs and closely‐matched PBFs (N = 134; n = 68 PBFs, n = 66 ASFs), including sustainability, mandatory information, health, sourcing, and hedonic/emotional claims. PBFs averaged 47 total claims, ASFs 28. On‐web claims were substantially higher than on‐pack (PBFs 34 on‐web, 12 on‐pack; ASFs 19 and nine, respectively). On‐web information for the same products varied considerably across retailers, especially for sustainability and mandatory information. PBFs presented mostly sustainability claims on‐pack and health claims on‐web. ASFs led emotional claims and made almost no sustainability claims across settings. Across settings, mandatory information compliance was greater among PBFs whereas ASFs notably lacked disclosures for foods with major allergens. Online grocery lacks standardization—businesses should regard differences as opportunities for marketing sustainable foods.

Is Cause-Related Marketing all the Same for Different Cultures?

This research analyses how high emotional cause-related marketing claims influence attitudes and viral behaviors. With a SEM and an international sample of 1,232 respondents (Spain, England, and Ecuador) exposed to a video viral cause marketing stimulus, analysis shows, from a global international perspective (1) the influence of emotions on attitudes; (2) the attitudinal constructs consistency; (3) the simultaneous impact of the emotions also on viral behaviors; (4) the effect of attitudes variables on viral behaviors; and (5) the strong viral consequences connection. From a cross-cultural perspective, significant differences are identified. Recommendations in the context analysed: (1) convenience of including emotional claims, (2) adaption of international campaigns to local cultures to strength certain advantages; however, tailoring locally a global campaign cannot be affordable.

Populist everyday politics in the (mediatized) age of social media: The case of Instagram celebrity advocacy

This article is interested in populism outside the master frame of institutional politics (populist parties/leaders), considering, instead, the populist potential of celebrities’ everyday politics on social media. To understand this potential, the article suggests, we need to understand how celebrities are compelled by today’s mediatized communicative ecosystem to perform themselves as ordinary advocates for people-victims. We need to examine how the performative logic that this ecosystem forces into platforms accommodates certain emotional claims to ordinariness and normative-moral claims to advocacy—who is (un)worthy of a place in the victimized people that celebrities should advocate for. The article does so by analyzing two paradigmatically different case studies: Lady Gaga’s legacy-status and Greta Thunberg’s influencer-style performances of celebrity advocacy on Instagram. The analytical discussion leads to contemplating the mediatized populist politics of everyday politics that both perform, despite their differences, and its ambivalent relationship with liberal democracy (centrist moderation and neoliberal consolidation).

Use of persuasive strategies in food advertising on television and on social media in Brazil

We analyzed the use of persuasive advertising strategies by 18 food brands on TV and Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in Brazil in April 2018. Advertising strategies were investigated from three groups: power of advertising strategies (n = 10) (e.g., use of licensed character, celebrities, awards, etc), use of the prize offering (n = 9) (e.g., pay 2 take 3 or more, gifts or collectable, limited edition, etc), and use of brand benefit claims (n = 8) (e.g., messages that exalt sensory-based characteristics such as flavor, taste, aroma and recommend how to use/consume the product, etc). Almost 90% of the brands were ultra-processed foods producers and they carried 52 ads on TV and 194 posts on social media platforms. A higher frequency of the strategy ‘cartoon/company owned character’ was found on TV ads (19.2%; p < 0.0001) in comparison to social media platforms (0% on the three platforms) while the presence of ‘famous sportsperson/team’ prevailed on YouTube (41.4%) in comparison to TV (19.2%), Facebook (10.9%) and Instagram (9.1%), p < 0.0001. On YouTube ads, the claims ‘sensory-based characteristics’ (86.2%), ‘suggested use’ (51.7%), and ‘emotive claims’ (31.0%) were more commonly seen in comparison to the other media, while the claims about ‘new brand developments’ (23.1%), ‘price’ (9.6%) and ‘suggesting to children and the whole family to use the advertised product’ (21.1%) prevailed on TV. Ultra-processed food brands are the main food companies that advertise on Brazilian TV and social media and the message transmitted by these brands varies in each media according to the advertising strategies that are used.

Chocolate culture: Preferences, emotional implications and awareness of Italian consumers

This paper analyses the preferences and emotional connotations of Italian consumers towards different chocolate types and assesses which label information consumers take into consideration during the purchasing process. A survey was conducted to collect data from 390 respondents from two different Italian chocolate production regions (Sicily and Piedmont). The results show that overall, consumers prefer dark, extra-dark and milk chocolate. However, a significantly higher percentage of women and men from Piedmont prefer “Gianduia” (hazelnut-based chocolate), when compared to Sicilians, whereas the type of chocolate formats preferred by consumers differs by gender (P < 0.05). Different attitudes before or after chocolate consumption are closely related to a certain type of product, in which gender and the geographical aspect are key influencing factors. Women and men from Piedmont feel unpleasant emotions towards chocolate before and after consumption, this was observed in the correlation analysis where positive correlations between anger emotions before consuming chocolate with guilty and sad emotions after consumption were noted in women and men, respectively (P < 0.05). In contrast, no significant correlations between feelings reported before and after chocolate consumption of Sicilian men was observed. During decision making, more than 40% of participants are aware of the cocoa quantity, nutritional information and fair-trade certification on the chocolate label. Our findings provide an empirical basis to inform the chocolate industry regarding consumer attitudes towards chocolate, to raise awareness of the social dimension in food labelling and to provide a baseline for the choice of a marketing communication strategy which plays upon emotional claims.

Place meanings and national parks: A rhetorical analysis of social media texts

Many national parks now use social media to communicate their special qualities of place and guide visitors’ experiences. But, how do they actually construct effective social media messages that resonate with their audiences? To answer this, we used rhetorical discourse analysis to examine a one-year sample of texts from the Facebook posts of three large U.S. national parks. Rhetorical discourses are persuasive; their contents, forms and styles of organization can be studied to understand how social and cultural practices of meaning-making are enacted by communicators in an effort to influence audiences. In this study, we applied Aristotle’s three modes of argumentation (ethos, logos, and pathos) to guide the rhetorical analysis. Results show that agencies primarily provided emotion-laden and informational materials for social media followers in making claims about place and about visitor experiences. Four rhetorical themes about the uniqueness of park places, the management of people, parks and significant life moments, and time and timelessness, were identified. These contributed to an overall discourse about parks and spirituality that seemed intended to reaffirm the perspectives of existing audiences of park visitors. Understanding the rhetorical-discursive qualities of social media messages, however, can help agencies adjust their communication strategies to reach more diverse audiences while deploying a wider range of rhetorical approaches. For park managers the following aspects are of high relevance. - Social media presentations can extend and enhance a national park’s relationship with publics. - Park management agencies use emotion, logic and organizational credibility to construct social media claims. - Parks’ social media texts are rhetorical (persuasive), relying primarily on emotional claims and information dissemination. - Visitor-generated stories re-posted on a park’s social media site can expand both park’s and audiences’ social and cultural perspectives. - Study parks’ social media texts presented rhetorical discourses of spirituality that reinforced traditional place relationships and ways of engaging with national parks. - Social media postings are often directed to people who already visit the park; wider use of rhetorical ideas for more diverse audiences are needed.

Law and emotional belonging. The doubleness of inclusion and exclusion in Swiss mixed-gender swimming classes

ABSTRACT In a judgment that attracted much media attention, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled on 10 January 2017 that obligatory mixed-gender swimming for schoolgirls against the will of their Muslim parents did not violate the right to religious freedom, because the obligation was justified given its integration function. However, the applicants’ claim that such an obligation undermines their sense of belonging to Switzerland was left without reply in the government’s response and the Court’s judgment. This article asks whether and how the Court could have included the applicants’ ‘affective’ claim in its considerations on integration. More broadly, the article aims to discern the Court’s general approach to emotional claims of belonging and where it might be improved. It is argued, drawing from empirical findings in the social sciences, that there is a non-linear relation between different processes of integration. These findings show that while performing an act might improve someone’s cultural integration, it might diminish their emotional integration. The Court should be more aware of these complexities when using the term ‘integration’, as its current linear understanding of integration tends to overlook the importance of belonging.

Security and Human Rights: Finding a Language of Resilience and Inclusion

This is the introduction to the second edition of Security and Human Rights (Hart Publishing 2019). When the first edition of this collection was published in 2007, many scholars were struggling with the question of whether it is possible to reconcile a commitment to human rights with the demands of security in a post-9/11 world. More than a decade later, this fundamental tension remains at the heart of many discussions about the relationship between security and human rights. But in the years that have passed since the first edition, we have also seen the re-emergence of nationalism and xenophobia, a hardening of attitudes towards migrants, and a dramatic increase in Islamophobia in populist security discourse. Combined, these trends mean that the liberal order underpinning the international human rights framework since World War II is now under threat. Two shifts may be necessary in order to reinvigorate an effective defence of rights in the face of security mandates. First, defenders of human rights must directly and critically engage with emotive claims of insecurity and unrealistic promises of security. Rather than reacting with similarly reductive narratives, we should seek to develop a discourse of sober resilience – one that provides a serious account of the risks to security while acknowledging both the inherent constraints on democratic states in achieving security and the wider security benefits to be gained from protecting rights. Ultimately, this narrative will need to build on a recognition, even a celebration, of the risk that comes with a free society. The second, related shift involves meaningful acknowledgment of the role that liberalism has played in the historical and continued oppression of vulnerable groups. By addressing the ways in which the law in supposedly liberal democracies has been co-opted in the name of security, we help to lay bare flaws in the individualistic liberal vision of rights and the disconnect between abstract claims of universality and lived experiences on the ground. This process of exposure should not be seen as a step towards the abandonment of the liberal human rights project but rather as part of an attempt to revive it and make it relevant to those who have borne the ‘costs of security’.

Varieties and effects of emotional content in public deliberation

Abstract The Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) is a deliberative process that has been used in the United States to involve panels of citizens in producing balanced and easily understandable accounts of proposed ballot measures and their potential effects. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how the CIR process is shaped by evaluative framing in which the rational component cannot be clearly separated from the emotive base of assigning responsibility. We analyze the argumentative dynamic of advocates’ presentations during the 2010 CIR on Measure 73 and discuss emotional claims as products of narrative structures that define problem situations. We explore how the distinction between manipulative and valid emotional claims within the context of public deliberation can be made with the help of three categories of analysis: Themes, Ideals, and Scenarios.

An Overview of the Journey of Stem Cell Based Interventions from Bench to Bedside and the Growing Challenge of Unproven Interventions

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Background: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Current researches on Stem Cell Interventions (SCI) are mostly at various stages of clinical translation, and not ripe for immediate marketing. However, there is a global rise in patients opting for unproven SCI from dubious stem cell clinics.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Objectives:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; To describes the usual stages of SCI’s clinical translation, factors fuelling the increase in unproven SCI and possible strategies for tackling the situation that have been mentioned in research articles and patient information sources. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Conclusion: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stem cell tourism is on the rise. Direct to customer marketing of SCI through websites and social media using emotional narratives, patient testimonials and false claims of benefits, and unrealistically positive portrayal on social media are contributing factors. The situation may be addressed by treating stem cells as medical innovation and speeding up their clinical translation using modifications like expedited, conditional marketing approval. Medical societies can generate meta-analyses and updates for keeping clinicians informed about the latest therapies so they can guide patients. These along with organisations like ALSuntangled, can generate patient information booklets to help patients make informed decisions. Also, Patient Information Campaigns on social media and media’s coverage of increasing SCI related lawsuits can possibly help raise public awareness about unproven SCI. &lt;/em&gt;

Critical appraisal of drug promotional literature using World Health Organisation guidelines

Background: Pharmaceutical marketing using drug promotional literatures is an important strategy adopted by the companies to promote their drugs. The primary objective of the present study is to compare the drug promotional literature of different pharmaceutical companies on the basis of World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on ethical drug promotion.Methods: This observational, cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital, Delhi. The promotional literature was evaluated in accordance with WHO guidelines, nature of claims, pictorial content presented in it and for the cited references.Results: A total of 208 promotional brochures were analysed. Only few (5.8%) of the promotional literature fulfilled all the criteria as mentioned by the guidelines. Nutritional supplements (27.9%) were the most promoted group of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies were most reluctant to provide information regarding contraindications (9.6%), adjuvants (11.5), side effects (10.6%) and drug interactions (9.6%). Generic name, brand name, dosage form, therapeutic indications were outlined in most of the brochures. Exaggerated emotional claims were made in 47.1% brochures, followed by that of efficacy in 39.4% and safety in 25% of brochures. Pictures of medicinal products outnumbered others with 39.9% followed by pictures of women, children and doctors with 20.7%, 17.3% and 13.5% respectively.Conclusions: Majority of the drug promotional literature did not comply with the ethical guidelines and was inadequate in terms of their adequacy, quality and reliability. Hence, it can be concluded that the majority of the promotional advertisements that are given to the prescribers are not able to spread awareness towards rational prescribing.

Quality of claims and references found in Australian pharmacy journal advertisements.

To evaluate the quality of pharmaceutical advertisement claims and supporting references in Australian pharmacy journals that target community pharmacists. All full-page advertisements for a medicinal product, found in two Australian pharmacy journals from the year 2012 to 2015 were included. Advertisement claims and references were evaluated by claim type (unambiguous to immeasurable) and level of evidence (strong to irrelevant) in supporting references. Two hundred and ninety distinct advertisements and 598 claims were identified, with a median of 2 claims per advertisement. Twenty-seven percent of claims were unambiguous, 40% were vague, 16% were emotive/immeasurable and 17% were non-clinical or other marketing claims. Half of all claims were referenced. Although 68% of unambiguous claims were referenced, 63% of those were supported by studies that were funded directly or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies. Only 13% of claims were supported with strong or moderate independent evidence. Pharmaceutical advertisements continue to present vague and emotive claims with little independent supporting evidence. Pharmacists need to be aware of these limitations when providing patient care. Increased awareness of this issue among pharmaceutical companies, Australian pharmaceutical journal publishers, regulators and pharmacists will assist in promoting optimised healthcare outcomes for the Australian public.

Education PolicyinLeadership Practice

Over the last few decades, high-stakes accountability has become commonplace in education policy both in the United States and internationally. In this paper, we consider the role of school leaders and “accountability talk” in implementing this shift through a case study of one urban school principal's talk during a period of reform. Consistent with broader policy discourses, the 650 instances of principal rhetoric in 14 elementary school meetings reflected issues of standardization and assessment through rational appeals to logic (logos). However, the principal's “accountability talk” also relied on rhetorical sequences that wove these rational appeals together with moral (ethos) and emotional (pathos) claims, thereby connecting the accountability paradigm to more established discourses associated with the educational profession. We argue that school principal's talk is a primary means through which broader institutional changes and local work practices become coupled together, often in ways that blend apparently competing models of organization. As such, accountability talk should be of both empirical and theoretical interest for scholars studying school leadership and education reform.

Evaluation of drug promotional literature directed to consumers and physicians

Background: The present study aims at analysing promotional brochures and direct-to-consumer advertisements using the criteria for ethical medicinal drug promotion compiled by World Health Organization. Methods: Using World Health Organization criteria for ethical medicinal drug promotion, thirty brochures were evaluated for their fulfilment of the criteria and claims they are making. Also eight Direct to Consumer (DTC) TV advertisements were coded for their claimed indications and the factors used to attract consumers. An overview of what impact does drug promotion has provided through reviewing the published literature. Results: Brochures and advertisements directed to physicians were found to lack information with regard to generic (17.2%), brand (0%), indication (13.8%), dosage regimen (27.5%), safety information (62%), references (10.3%), manufacture (3.4%), safety (24.1%), efficacy (34.5%), suitability (20.6%), pharmacokinetics (3.4%) pharmaceutical property (3.4%) and extravagant emotional claims (3.4%). Information lacking in DTC TV advertisements include, risk factors (62.5%), alternative treatment (62.5%), indications (37.5%), side effects (75%), contraindications\precautions (50%), and sources for more information about the promoted drug (25%). Conclusions: Drug advertisements presented to physicians or directed to consumers did not fully satisfy the WHO criteria and their lack of essential information may lead to medication misuse.

Professional and Ethical Challenges in Determinations of Causality of Psychological Disability

Psychologists serving as Qualified Medical Examiners (QMEs) in settings where mental and emotional damage claims (i.e., psychological disability stemming from psychological injury) are involved typically must comment not only upon the impact of the injury on the individual’s functioning and quality of life, but also on the causality of the psychological disability. This is a highly specialized endeavor for which little guidance exists. The disparate conceptualizations of causality in the fields of psychology and law and the unavoidable complexities associated with determining causality, especially the apportionment of causality across industrial and non-industrial factors, are discussed. The questions at the core of the present paper are: 1) What are the ethical challenges facing psychologists working as QMEs who are tasked with determining causality of psychological disability in the ways currently required by the law, and 2) What considerations should guide ethically-minded psychologists in such settings? The authors argue that, although some level of subjectivity is unavoidable, psychologists working within the legal system can take the lead in bringing an evidence-based approach and greater scientific rigor to the high-stakes causal evaluations required as a basis for determining compensation for injured workers.

Media, passion and humanitarian reality television

The article explores affective economy in a humanitarian reality television. It shows the ways in which reality television is increasingly occupied with ‘doing good’ by investigating Australian originated series Go Back to Where You Came From. The international format has been sold to nine countries and produced in co-operation with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. By bringing together theorizations of affective economy and post-humanitarianism, the article examines the emotional register and moral claims attached to the imagery of asylum seekers and refugees, and the conditions of television production for gearing audience participation towards humanitarian action. In the heart of this investigation lies the question of media change and marketization of the humanitarian field that proposes new forms of solidarities and moralities in public. The article identifies not only the potential but also the critical challenges of the combination of reality format and humanitarian message.

Effects of Consumer Weight Level and Advertising Appeals on Consumer Attitude Toward Food and Advertisements

This study examines the link between consumer weight level, food type, and consumer attitude toward both food and food advertisements. Further, this research explores how food advertisements containing emotional or informational claims influence the attitudes of overweight and normal-weight consumers. Two experiments were conducted to study the interaction between weight levels, food types (meat vs. vegetables), and advertising appeals (emotional vs. informational). The results showed mixed support for the six hypotheses. The findings indicate that consumer weight level interacts with food types, and emotional/information appeals affecting food evaluation and attitudes toward food advertisements. Managerial implications for food manufacturers and advertisers are discussed.

Liability for psychological and psychiatric harm: the road to recovery.

This article examines the judicial approach to emotional harm claims from a medical perspective. Legal rules in this area are already recognised as being illogical and incoherent. Psychological and psychiatric research illustrate that they also conflict with empirical findings. By basing claims on erroneous criteria, courts may deny liability in meritorious cases, and impose liability in possibly less deserving claims. This not only brings the law into disrepute, but also reinforces the stigma that surrounds mental illness, and does disservice to an already misunderstood and vulnerable section of people in society. The article examines the evidence for the threshold requirement that distress must qualify for a psychiatric diagnosis to be actionable, and for the Alcock secondary victim criteria. It contends that these legal rules are based in misconceptions about mental illness and trauma, and suggests an alternative approach that is more principled, yet also addresses policy concerns about excessive liability.

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

“The army and the people are one hand!” Fraternization and the 25th January Egyptian Revolution

AbstractOn 28 January 2011 the Egyptian army was deployed onto Cairo's streets following three days of escalating protests. Upon entering Midan al-Tahrir, a column of newly arriving army tanks and APCs was attacked by protestors. Throwing stones and dousing the vehicles in petrol before setting them alight, protestors pulled soldiers out of their vehicles and beat them. Seizing ammunition and supplies, protestors even commandeered a tank. Minutes later those same protestors were chanting pro-army slogans, posing for photographs with soldiers and sharing food. How protestors respond to the deployment of security forces assumed loyal to a regime determined to end protest is often summed-up in the dyad of “fight or flight.” In this paper, I consider a third option: fraternization. Through a social interactionist lens, I explore the prevalence of pro-army chants, graffiti, the mounting of military vehicles, physical embraces, sleeping in tank tracks and posing for photographs with soldiers in and around Midan al-Tahrir during the 25th January Egyptian Revolution. I draw on the contentious politics literature, as well as micro-sociologies of violence and ritual, to suggest that fraternizing protestors developed a repertoire of contention that made immediate, emotional claims on the loyalty of regime troops. From initial techniques of micro-conflict avoidance, protestors and their micro-interactions with soldiers forged a precarious “internal frontier” that bifurcated governance from sovereignty through the performance of the army and the people as one hand in opposition to the Mubarak regime.