The impact of marketing practices and its regulation policies on childhood obesity. Opinions of stakeholders in Spain

The aim of this study was to identify Spanish stakeholders’ views on the relationship between childhood obesity and the marketing and advertising of food and beverages aimed at children in Spain, as well as on the corresponding of regulations. We performed a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with Stakeholders/Key Informants (KI) from 13 organisations: experts (2), consumer advocates (1), public health advocates (2), food manufacturers (2), advertising advocates (1), government representatives (1), child/family/school advocates (2) and media (1). The variables studied were Prevalence of childhood obesity and its relationship to marketing/advertising and Regulation of marketing. In order to identify the most relevant arguments (pearls) in the discourses, a blind independent analysis by four members of the research team was performed. We found that the prevalence of childhood obesity was perceived to be higher than the European average. Self-regulation was identified as the main form of marketing control. Only food manufacturers and advertising agencies considered voluntary action and supervisory procedures to be effective. The other stakeholders advocated state control through legislation and non-state actions such as external assessment and sanctions. Despite the divergence of opinion between stakeholders, there was agreement on the need to improve supervision and to ensure compliance with current self-regulatory codes in Spain.

Building bridges… and properties aplenty: cultural problems in Spanish real estate marketing for prospective British buyers

N.B. reproduced with permission of Peter Lang Verlag. For citation, please, use the original reference, that is Campos Pardillos, M.A. and Balteiro Fernández, I. 2009. “Building bridges… and properties aplenty: cultural problems in Spanish real estate marketing for prospective British buyers”. In: Guillén-Nieto, V., C. Marimón-Llorca and C. Vargas-Sierra. Eds. Intercultural Business Communication and Simulation and Gaming Methodology. Bern: Peter Lang. Pp. 155-174.

‘Branded webseries’. Acciones estratégicas del anunciante basadas en la ficción ‘online’ corporativa y el ‘marketing’ de contenidos

Desde antaño, anunciantes y marcas se han adherido a los contenidos audiovisuales, televisivos y cinematográficos, a través del patrocinio de producción, emplazamiento publicitario y bartering. Se trata de una estrategia básicamente accesible a presupuestos prominentes. Pero los cambios en la comunicación y la democratización de la creación y difusión de contenidos han abierto esta táctica al resto de anunciantes cuyas partidas publicitarias tratan de unir valores de marca y entretenimiento a través de las branded webseries. Se presenta un estudio de carácter exploratorio sobre la creación, difusión, promoción, recepción y socialización de webseries, historias de marcas basadas en la ficción y en el uso de Internet. Desde la triangulación metodológica, se aborda el estudio del caso de Risi y las tres temporadas de la webserie ¿Por qué esperar? mediante las entrevistas en profundidad con sus creadores, el análisis descriptivo de estas, así como el análisis cuantitativo de la audiencia y sus interacciones. Los resultados comparativos permiten describir el uso de la creatividad, los personajes famosos afines al público objetivo y el efecto generado por este tipo de historias generadoras de engagement.

Communication strategies in civil movements: «Marea Blanca», «Marea Verde» and Telemadrid’s mobilization

This article analyses the importance of the communication strategies applied by three significant social movements: Telemadrid workers’ mobilization (Madrid’s public television), the «Marea Blanca» («White Tide»), which grouped up the healthcare professionals, and the «Marea Verde» («Green Tide»), which was done by teachers. These movements are a practical application of the «indignados» («outraged») movement and, following the 15-M steps, they improved these strategies in what refers to communication and mobilization. For this purpose, we carried out two investigations: twelve in-depth interviews with leading members of these social movements; and an online questionnaire passed to strategic planners who are the experts in communication strategies from the advertising agencies.