American Studies Commons^™

A Mother's Love: A Narrative Analysis Of Food Advertisements In An African American Targeted Women's Magazine, Janine Danielle Beahm

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how food advertisers contributed to the cultural identity of the "good mother" in the 1990s and 2000s. It expands on previous research that investigated traditional gender ideologies in food advertisements by narrowing in on the specific stories presented to African American women. It highlights a time when advertisers were responding to the demands of African American activists to recognize the African American consumer, and depict African American characters in a positive light. A narrative method of inquiry is utilized to deconstruct the stories in 117 food advertisements running in Essence magazine (an African American targeted women's magazine) …

Internships In Public Relations And Advertising: The Nature Of The Experience From The Student's Perspective, Catherine Ann Gugerty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative content analysis examines the nature of experience of public relations and advertising interns. Three decades of scholarly inquiry into the internship experience has provided little insight into the actual experience of the interns themselves. Yet what is learned directly from their individual experience can provide both educators and professionals valuable insight for enhancing the learning process. The following study is a qualitative content analysis of journals and focus groups of undergraduates enrolled in public relations and advertising internships/practicums. The interns' experience follows four themes: (1) the perception of importance; (2) perceived learning benefits; (3) influence of supervisors; and …

The Sunshine State's Golden Fruit: Florida And The Orange, 1930-1960, Scott D. Hussey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neither indigenous nor exclusive to Florida, the orange has nevertheless become an international symbol for the state. This connection between product and place appears in cultural materials regarding Florida. In fact and fiction the orange has operated as metaphor and synecdoche for an Edenic Florida. This thesis analyzes how the orange came to represent a "natural" Florida through the conflation of the commercial product with the state's history by way of political and marketing puffery. A litany of citrus advertisements, tourist ephemera, and historical associations regarding the state acknowledged and expanded the connections between the orange, improved health, and Florida. …

The Effect Of Celebrity Endorsements On Gift-Giving Purchases: An Application Of The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Christine Anghel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine how effective celebrity endorsements are in regards to the type of gift purchase one decides to make (i.e., buying for someone who has a high significant meaning to the buyer, such as a best friend, versus buying for someone who has a low significant meaning to the buyer, such as a casual friend). The study seeks to extend upon the anthropology research exploring gift-giving and marketing research exploring celebrity endorsements by applying the tenants of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). This study uses an experimental procedure in order to determine the effect …

Fashion Advertising, Men’S Magazines, And Sex In Advertising: A Critical-Interpretive Study, Jennifer Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines sexualized portrayals of women in fashion advertising found in metro-sexual men's magazines as visual rhetoric. Historically, studies on sexual images of women in advertising have focused on content analyses of these images and how they affect women. This study asks how sexualized imagery of women functions rhetorically as part of a branding message designed to sell products. The exemplar advertisements were chosen specifically for their sexual imagery from an earlier study by the researcher on sexual images of women in fashion advertisements found in men's magazines.

The messages interpreted within the visuals of this study reveal a …

The Role Of Ethnic Compatibility In Attitude Formation: Marketing To America’S Diverse Consumers, Cynthia Rodriguez Cano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the meaning of advertising through the eyes of the Hispanic consumer and how that meaning is apparent in attitudes and purchase intention. Specifically, the study investigates how ethnic minorities judge print advertisement that feature ethnically diverse models as communication cues. For the first time, data of how minorities evaluate the compatibility of models from different ethnic groups featured together in an advertisement was collected. Qualitative data was collected from Hispanics and typologies of cultural pointers for Hispanics and African-Americans developed. Experimental design, 3x2 within-group analysis, was conducted to test the 14 hypothesized relationships. Finding clearly support the …

Selling St. Petersburg: John Lodwick And The Promotion Of A Florida Paradise, Nevin D. Sitler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For over a century Florida's Tampa Bay area has been extolled for its abundant seashores and moderate climate. The success of early twentieth-century St. Petersburg as a tourist destination was due to a consistent method of self-promotion highlighting the natural and physical features of peninsular Pinellas County. Warmed by balmy Tampa Bay breezes, St. Petersburg had been dubbed the "Health City." This tiny 1890 coastal town of less than three hundred inhabitants, now blessed with a slogan, new train tracks, and a railway pier, was an ideal setting for tourism. By 1902, boosters declared St. Petersburg a city second to …