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consumers segment, which appears to be responsive to CSR appeals. As a consequence, many advertisers have begun to rethink their advertising practices.
As companies are increasingly being pressured to publicly address their social and environmental efforts, such CSR efforts are frequently positioned front
and center in companies’business and advertising communications (Esteban, 2008). Facing growing public skepticism towards their products and services
(Fontanarosa et al., 2004), pharmaceutical manufacturers may well benefit from highlighting their CSR efforts. Apart from a very small number of investi‑
gations, neither consumer evaluations of OTC drug ads, in general, nor responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) ad appeals, in particular, have been
explored. The primary goal of this investigation is to shed light on responses towards CSR messages in non-prescription drug ads in four countries. The four
countries chosen for the investigation are Austria, Germany and the U.S., which all qualify as low-context cultures as well as Brazil, which has a more
high-context orientation (Hall, 1976). This investigation examines whether CSR appeals – socially and/or environmentally-oriented efforts promoted as
part of a corporation’s advertising campaign – present a fruitful strategy for pharmaceutical manufacturers. In a globalized marketplace, promotional
messages are increasingly standardized, with the same message utilized in (culturally) different markets. For this reason, a field study was conducted (967
subjects; non-student sample), investigating how promotional CSR messages are perceived in a cross-cultural setting (Brazil: n = 241; Germany: n = 244;
Austria = 240; and the U.S.: n = 242). Results indicate that CSR appeals in OTC pharma ads were viewed less favorably by consumers in Germany, where
they failed to trigger liking in respondents; however, CSR appeal ads resonated in particular with consumers in the U.S. and Brazil. The results could not be
correlated with the cultural dimension of high vs. low context, but do suggest that marketers intending to incorporate such appeals in their commercial
messages might need to tailor their campaigns on a country by country basis. In conclusion, limitations are addressed and implications for further research
are provided.
PP 095 The Presence of “The Other” in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Reports: A Discursive and Semiotic Analysis
A. Catellani1, A. Errecart2
1 Université catholique de Louvain, Ecole de communication, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
2 Université Paris 13 – Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication LabSIC, Paris, France
This paper presents the results of a research based on a qualitative analysis of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reports published by some important
French businesses. The basic aim of this research is to understand the rhetorical ways in which external stakeholders of the businesses (clients, partners,
NGOs’ representatives, public authorities, journalists, experts, scientists) are represented in these texts, both through verbal language and through visual
images. Scientific literature has showed that monologue and self-reference are often central features of CSR and corporate communication. Nevertheless,
the rhetoric of conversation, interaction and two-way symmetric communication is present, since many years, in corporate and CSR discourses. We want to
verify whether and how this rhetoric is concretely developed in these texts, by taking into consideration the figures of 'the other”. This research is based on
a double approach: discursive and semiotic. Discourse analysis studies how the enunciator builds an identity and tries to act on others. It is useful to analyze
the argumentative and rhetoric dimension of these texts, which are aimed at producing legitimation and erasing conflict (Krieg-Planque and Oger, 2010,
p. 94). Semiotic analysis is developed here basing on the post-structural tradition, and it focuses on different levels of multi-modal devices: iconic, plastic,
narrative, axiological. This double analysis focuses on the two last editions of CSR reports of three main French businesses in three different sectors: Lafarge
(building materials), BNP Paribas Fortis (bank and insurance), and Total (petrochemical industry). These three businesses are main actors of sensitive sec‑
tors, they have been recently involved in reputational problems, and the relation to 'the others” is specifically important. The final result of the research is
the identification of cross-sectoral tendencies. References CATELLANI Andrea, 2015b, «Visual aspects of CSR reports: a semiotic and chronological case anal‑
ysis », in DUARTE Melo Ana, SOMERVILLE Ian, et GONÇALVES Gisela (eds.), Organisational and Strategic Communication Research : European Perspectives II,
Braga, CECS - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade Universidade do Minho, pp. 129–149.
issue/view/167/showToc ERRECART Amaia, 2011, « A la rencontre des SIC et de la sémiotique : le partenariat entre une organisation économique et une
organisation associative comme espace d'interaction langagière et de médiation sociale », Communication & Organisation n° 39, juin 2011 : « Les appli‑
cations de la sémiotique à la communication des organisations », pp. 167–181. IHLEN Øyvind, BARTLETT Jennifer, MAY Steve (Eds.), 2011, The Handbook
of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility,Wiley-Blackwell. KRIEG-PLANQUE Alice et OGER Claire, 2010. « Discours institutionnels : perspectives
pour les sciences de la communication ». Mots. Les langages du politique. Lyon, ENS Editions, (94), 91–96.
PP 096 Variation of Readability: Strategically Used or Indifference Towards Language Quality? An Analysis of DAX 30 Annual Reports
C. Thoms1, A. Schunck1, K. Wohlgemuth1
1 University of Hohenheim, Institute of Communication Science, Stuttgart, Germany
In the economic context, media coverage and public opinion cannot only affect intangibles like a company’s reputation or credibility. When bad news is
extensively discussed in the media and the public, the consequences can also become very concrete in financial terms. The concept of impression manage‑
ment (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2011), the incomplete revelation hypothesis (Bloomfield, 2002) and the obfuscation hypothesis (Courtis, 1998, 2004; see
also Bayerlein & Davidson, 2012; Clatworthy & Jones, 2001) take this as a starting point to deduce that managers in general are interested in controlling
the information that leaves the company and its effects on the stakeholders (i.e. journalists, investors, analysts etc.). Readability and its variation is said
to be one mechanism to achieve this. Above all, the obfuscation hypothesis postulates that companies strive toward making negative news more difficult
to process. In doing so, they are said to try to delay or prevent negative reactions and to preserve the reputation of a person or a company. The underlying
idea: important (negative) information is not concealed, which is crucial, as companies are – partly regulated by law – obliged to inform the public. But
the information is made difficult to read with the hope that the readers ignore it. While the assumptions concerning the strategic use of readability sound
conclusive, empirical evidence often lacks rigour. In many studies, negative news is simply presumed to be more or less present in different parts of a text.
Or the predominance of negative news is linked to the economic performance of a company, which is seen as a proxy. In our view, these approaches do not
serve as a test of the theory and might explain inconsistent findings. An actual analysis of the tone of the presented content is indispensable. Our study