Theses supervised by Agah Gümüş
11 theses · Eastern Mediterranean University
Social Media as an Advertising Tool: Reaching and Persuading Audience Through Instagram
Social media is a new kind of media that day by day becomes more important and takes irreplaceable place in peoples‟ everyday lives. As time passes usage purposes of social media gets wider and covers many different purposes. One of those purposes is being used by companies as advertising tool, as companies can advertise their products/services directly to their target audiences. Today while surfing in his/her homepages, one can see many advertisements directly targeted on his/her, and even not understanding advertising content of that post. This thesis focuses on one of the recent but at the same time very popular and widely used Social Media channel, Instagram. The study evaluates effectiveness and credibility of Instagram advertisements, people‟s approaches about Instagram advertisements, tactics used in Instagram advertisements in attracting audiences and generally effectiveness of Social Media advertisements. The total number of the participants attended in this study is 300 (F=166). The main characteristic needed from participants was to be Social Media and Instagram user. Participants were distributed questionnaires which included 30 questions, in different parts of Eastern Mediterranean University campus and Famagusta city of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The results of the study indicate that people accept Instagram advertisements as credible, they like seeing advertisement contented posts by celebrities and are willing to purchase products that advertised in Instagram and Social Media advertisements have persuasive effects on audience. Keywords: Social Media (SM), Social Media advertisement, Instagram advertisement, Uses and Gratification, Persuasion
Stereotypical Representation of Women: A Case Study of Nigerian Television Advertisements
The consistent representation of women in the media has received a huge amount of responses and has been an area of study for many researchers. Amongst other forms of media, television advertisement has been regarded as the most effective form of communication in the capitalist marketing industry. Advertisers have been found to spend so much money on researches related to gender and sex, because it enables good market segmentation. However, the advertisement industry has been blamed for prevalent stereotypes that exist in our society especially because these stereotypes reinforce gender inequality and subordination where women belong to a marginalized group. The aim of this research is to contribute to existing researches done in creating an understanding of the prevailing stereotypes in television advertising and to create an awareness of how gender is represented in Nigerian television advertisements, using 40 television commercials randomly chosen form 3 different Nigerian broadcast stations namely NTA, AIT and STV. This research is important because it serves as a form of media literacy especially because the research employs cultivation theory to explain how media cultivates us and influences our identity. The study also urges potential and prospective advertisers to practice advertising more ethically and also provide substantial evidence to audiences and consumers so as to be more critical and aware of the effect of TV on our values, beliefs and ideas. This research was carried out in order to reveal the consistency in how women are portrayed by the kinds of roles women play in Nigerian television advertisements. The researcher used content analysis to achieve this because it is a suitable method used to analyse texts especially media texts. Further, the researcher used survey method and distributes questionnaires to find out audience responses towards the stereotypical portrayal of women in Nigeria television advertisements. One major finding among others from this research is that the roles women play are limited based on the stereotypes that exists in the Nigerian culture. Hence, women play roles as the perfect house wife in other words, domesticated, i.e. as mothers, cooks, chid carers, and cleaners. Keywords: Television, TV, stereotypes, media, Nigerian, advertisement, gender, sex, representation, culture, society
The Representation of African American Women in Hollywood Films
The study „The Representation of African American Women in Hollywood Films‟ was conducted to examine the portrayal of African American women in Hollywood films from 2005 to 2015 from a feminist and black feminist stand point. The depiction of African American women in various stereotypical ways have become a serious issue, as it has been concluded in the mind of viewers that African American women are exactly the way they are been portrayed in the mainstream. Using the qualitative methodology of research, critical analysis was used to collect primary data to understand the content and better explain the messages contained in the three movies (The Help, I can do bad all by myself and Joyful noise) used for this research. The secondary data was collected from online journals, books, e-books, websites and motion pictures. The secondary data was used to support this study and also find related literature to this study. The findings of this study showed that aggression, over possession, stubbornness, annoyance, sex objectification, intervention patriarchy, sexism and self-discrimination with copious examples revealed in the selected films shows the true definition of how African American women are represented. Based on the analysis, African American women in the three movies were portrayed multiple times in the mammy, jezebel, and sapphire historical stereotype. Keywords: Hollywood, feminist, stereotypes, critical analysis, representation, patriarchy, sex symbols
Context Analysis of Advertising Design: A New Context-Based Semiotic Approach
This research tried to validate a new approach to semiotic analysis in advertising posters. The aim of writing this thesis was to reveal a new approach in dealing with signs and the way it is used in advertising design. Due to the nature of advertising designs they are constructed on the selection and combination of signs and because of this, people can also select and perceive some of the signs in advertisings posters. Based on the results, it is possible to say that there are no absolute parameters to design an advertising poster in which all the receivers will have the same understanding. Designers aren’t the only ones that will select and combine signs also readers of the text follow the same procedure in order to read the signs. These differences in interpretation is based on the differentiation of understanding Context B and the Context C of each receiver which is due to the information available from the individual perception of the so-called Context B and Context C. Based on the results and findings of this research, the researcher has proven that not only the human perception is different from individual to individual in advertising posters, also it is depended on the three context which the researcher called Context A the linguistic context, Context B the situational context and Context C which is the background knowledge of each individual. These variations in interpretation and perception of advertising posters have three main reasons that can be concluded as three contexts. Some people do not select and perceive all the sentences, including linguistics and/or non-linguistics sentences. The difference in the situational context can be the reason of reading the text in different ways, due to the fact that the knowledge of individuals can be different, consciously and/or unconsciously this knowledge can affect the way that an individual read and understand a advertising posters. Keywords: Semiotics, Context, Advertising Design, Human Perception.
Case Study of Tertiary Students News Taking Preference: Social Media or Online Newspaper
In this study preferences, trend and usage of social media and online media for news taking from local and international students’ perspective is examined. This study aims to find the most preferred way of news taking by local and foreign students. Twos concepts of online media and social media are the keywords of this study. In general, the integrated of community-based input, content-sharing, interaction and collaboration are called online communication or social media and on the other hand online media are the media that work as an online available machine for presenting different contents. This study is a comparison study using nonrandom sampling method. 200 students are surveyed among 5000 students living in different dormitories. Half of the sample was Turkish language and the other half was not Turkish language and among each language category half of the students were male and the other half were female. Since this research is a quantitative research, SPSS software is applied for analysis of the data. Findings of this study are already supported by secondary data such as different literatures and studies. However, the main questions of this study are answered after results were interpreted. The results of study showed that there is no significant effect of online news media on social media. Results of findings in this study showed that there is significant difference between Turkish and other languages, the results indicated that students with Turkish languages prefer to use online media to track news more than students with other languages. Related to effect of language on social media, the findings of current study did not support the hypothesis and results showed that there is no significant difference between languages in social media. It is recommended to further study to focus on a special type of social media such as social news media, to compare it with other types of media. It is also suggested to the further researcher to investigate effects of social media on improving productivity of students in university which will be an interesting topic. Keywords: social media, online media, news taking, mother language, students.
Brand Trust, Brand Loyalty and Intention: Facebook as a Student Recruitment and Retention Channel
ABSTRACT: Social Media Marketing has recently been adapted by many brands, including Higher Education Institutions. The cost of marketing through conventional media at a global scale could be very large therefore effective means of communications, campaigns and strategies should be employed for a stronger brand management. These strategies and campaigns should involve tools to strengthen brand trust, brand loyalty, intention and behavior which will improve the reliability of the products or services that can turn into sales. In higher education, brand loyalty and brand trust takes another dimension as there is no product to be sold. Brand trust and brand loyalty however, is necessary for continuous student recruitment in higher education institutions. One of the means of cost effective communication to deliver the product’s quality messages through instant communication with subscribers or followers, is social media. This thesis, in two different studies interrogates whether social media reinforces brand trust and brand loyalty for current students in a Higher Education Institution. It also investigates whether social media has a role in motivating high school students’ intention in their university choice. The results indicated that Facebook presence of Higher Education institutions strengthens brand trust and brand loyalty for current students however is not significantly related to high school students’ intention to choose a university. Keywords: Social Media, Brand Trust, Brand Loyalty, Intention, Higher Education Institutions.
Facebook Addition and Brand Tracking: Case Study Eastern Mediterranean University
The study ‘Facebook Addiction and Brand Tracking’ was conducted to investigate and assess the addiction to Facebook, and its role in remembering and following brands. The focus of this study is to analyze the addiction of Facebook among Eastern Mediterranean University students, and how these students build a relationship with their favorite brands. With the use of quantitative research method, the survey method was established as the main tool for the research. A sample size of 400 respondents who represented 10% of the population was issued questionnaire consisting of 30 questions. Of the 400 questionnaires, none was left behind, they were all returned. The questionnaire was divided into two, which consisted 200 English questionnaires and 200 Turkish questionnaires. In respect to respondents sex, T-Test was conducted to assess the significant differences between the mean of respondents. The result of the study indicates that all 400 respondents use social media, and 38.5% of the sample particularly make use of Facebook compared to other social media. The main reasons student use Facebook is for checking news online, exchanging messages and sharing photos and videos. In the results, 45% of students turn on the internet for information on their favorite brands. Facebook advertising is very good and effective affirms 48.5% of the study. Keywords: Social Media, Facebook, Addiction, Brand, Advertisement.
Celebrities on Social Networking Sites Advertisements and Their Impact on Purchase Decisions
[Abstract Not Available]
The Impact of Colour on Print Advertising among the Different Culture in EMU
Print advertising was designed for the local target market and primarily focuses on the local language to communicate with the customer. However, immigration and education in international universities such as Eastern Mediterranean University influences the rise in diversity of cultures. The diversity of international students inhabiting one area proliferate the need to use specific design elements of advertising such as visual and colour to appeal to every individual cultural background. Therefore, the use of appropriate colours in advertising can greatly affect the success of the advertised product. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of colour on print advertising amongst 350 students from different cultural ethnicities who study in the Eastern Mediterranean University. The methodology to carry out this study was quantitative, and random sampling method was used in order to collect data. After collecting data, the SPSS software was used to analyse it. In data analysis, descriptive statistics were based on the demographic information of questionnaires, and therefore, T-TEST and ANOVA methods were conducted to test the research questions. Findings of the study show that amongst all the colours studied in this research, red colour attracted the most attention among respondents in the print advertising. However, gender and cultural differences in the choice of colour were not effective elements. Keywords: Print Advertising, Colour, Different Culture
Understanding likes on Instagram amongst EMU students
This study aims to analyze the opinion of Eastern Mediterranean University students when it comes to understanding likes on Instagram. The study is based on Uses and Gratification Theory and seeks to explore the extent to which university students understand this concept and what it implies and means to them. As well as how they gratify their needs when using Instagram. The study employed quantitative methodology. Questionnaire was distributed to 300 students in Eastern Mediterranean University although 277 questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed. The first section of the questionnaire was related to demographic information of participants. The second and third section was related to social media and attitude scale statements respectively. The study reflects that all participants are users of Social Media and have an Instagram account. It also reflects that the response of people to post have a certain implication to daily lives and is relevant for various reasons. Further studies can explore using a comparison of Social Media and not just focusing on one in particular. Also, Social media is used not only by students but also by working class for various reasons. So, staff or other persons aside from students can be involved in the next research. Keywords: social media, instagram, uses and gratification.
Oil Spills, Climate Change, Pollution and Land Decay: Media Framing of Environmental Issues in the Iraqi Media
Iraq is a significant country in the Middle East and significant natural resources in Iraq include natural gas and petroleum. Refining Iraqi oil causes serious environmental issues such as oil spillage, air, water, and land pollution and all of these problems contribute to climate change. Several studies have associated air, water, and land pollution with wars and oil spillage which is a form of pollution that can be viewed from the perspective of intentional and unintentional acts. In many cases, the way the media presents their understanding of the issue instead of how the audiences understand it and should understand it. As a result of the limited comprehensive study dissecting the diverse media frame of oil spills, pollution, and land decay in Iraq, this study is necessary to fill this research vacuum by evaluating the media framing of oil spills, pollution, and land decay in Iraq. Quantitative content analysis in combination with frame theory and agenda-setting theory was applied to examine the reflection of newspapers in media framing of oil spills, climate change, pollution, and land destruction in Iraq. The study concludes that news on environmental issues has been well discussed in the Iraqi media. The reflexivity shown in newspaper coverage suggests that Iraqi investigative journalism may play an advocacy role in portraying environmental problems in a reactive manner that confronts and criticizes Iraq's official goals. The study recommends that since newspapers are a widely used news medium in Iraq, news can now be sent to individual residents via social media 24 hours a day.