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In its co-branding with The Body Shop, which frames does Dove use to enhance its brand activism and what are the effects thereof?

Chen, Hongying LU (2022) SKOM12 20221
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
Today, more and more consumers are asking brands to take a stand on socio-political issues in order to generate a values-based connection with consumers. However, most previous research has focused only on individual brand activism, with little attention paid to co-branding brand activism. Through the co-branding case of Dove and The Body Shop, this study aims to understand how Dove framed its collaboration with The Body Shop through framing theory and the impact these frames had on both brands, thereby enriching knowledge about co-branding brand activism. Therefore, the research question of this paper is: In its co-branding with The Body Shop, which frames does Dove use to enhance its brand activism and what are the effects thereof? For... (More)
Today, more and more consumers are asking brands to take a stand on socio-political issues in order to generate a values-based connection with consumers. However, most previous research has focused only on individual brand activism, with little attention paid to co-branding brand activism. Through the co-branding case of Dove and The Body Shop, this study aims to understand how Dove framed its collaboration with The Body Shop through framing theory and the impact these frames had on both brands, thereby enriching knowledge about co-branding brand activism. Therefore, the research question of this paper is: In its co-branding with The Body Shop, which frames does Dove use to enhance its brand activism and what are the effects thereof? For this study, campaign-related posts made by Dove on its social media platforms and comments made by some consumers below the posts of both brands were selected as data. Through the framing analysis, the results show that Dove used three main frames in its co-branding campaign with The Body Shop, which enhanced the authenticity and credibility of its brand activism to a certain extent, yet had some negative effects on The Body Shop. Therefore, the implications of this study are to clarify through the research what kind of frames will bring better results in co-branding brand activism. And both parties wanting to involve co-branding brand activism need to consider each other’s authenticity and credibility of the values they want to communicate to ensure that co-branding works better than individual brand activism. (Less)
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author
Chen, Hongying LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
co-branding, brand activism, woke washing, framing analysis, cruelty-free
language
English
id
9085879
date added to LUP
2022-06-27 14:29:01
date last changed
2022-06-27 14:29:01
@misc{9085879,
  abstract     = {{Today, more and more consumers are asking brands to take a stand on socio-political issues in order to generate a values-based connection with consumers. However, most previous research has focused only on individual brand activism, with little attention paid to co-branding brand activism. Through the co-branding case of Dove and The Body Shop, this study aims to understand how Dove framed its collaboration with The Body Shop through framing theory and the impact these frames had on both brands, thereby enriching knowledge about co-branding brand activism. Therefore, the research question of this paper is: In its co-branding with The Body Shop, which frames does Dove use to enhance its brand activism and what are the effects thereof? For this study, campaign-related posts made by Dove on its social media platforms and comments made by some consumers below the posts of both brands were selected as data. Through the framing analysis, the results show that Dove used three main frames in its co-branding campaign with The Body Shop, which enhanced the authenticity and credibility of its brand activism to a certain extent, yet had some negative effects on The Body Shop. Therefore, the implications of this study are to clarify through the research what kind of frames will bring better results in co-branding brand activism. And both parties wanting to involve co-branding brand activism need to consider each other’s authenticity and credibility of the values they want to communicate to ensure that co-branding works better than individual brand activism.}},
  author       = {{Chen, Hongying}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{In its co-branding with The Body Shop, which frames does Dove use to enhance its brand activism and what are the effects thereof?}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}