Introduction Thoughts and Notes

Ive been struggling to write my introduction up until this point because I hadn't written enough of my essay to understand what needed to go in it. These are my initial thoughts for what could go in my introduction, obviously it needs constructing into a proper body of text but its a start. These notes were made in line with the dissertation guidance document. 

This dissertation is an investigation into social responsibility and analysing whether a corporation’s use of social responsibility as an advertising technique is actually a gimmick. 

It will analyse the use of social issues as advertising techniques in relation to the brand’s actions around the issue. 

Brand images will be broken down and analysed with the aim to understand whether the morals behind this image are genuine or whether the issue is being used as a gimmick. 

It becomes clear early on that there is no black and white answer to this and a lot of the resources referenced in this dissertation are very open to interpretation. 

The question, to what extent is social responsibility used as a gimmick, takes into account this grey area and aims to gather an idea of where the responsibility lies for society. Does it lean towards the corporation or consumer and where does the creative practitioner lie within this?

Subquestions 

A: Where does the responsibility for society lie when social issues are used in advertising?

Is it with the corporation, the creative or the consumer?

B: Are the intentions of corporations genuine?

C: Are the interpretations of the consumer directly influenced by the acts of the corporation and practitioner?

D: As the middleman, does the creative practitioner have a responsibility to society and/or a duty to the corporation? Which takes priority? Money/morals argument. 

Methodologies

A: Academic research, the main theorists being…

B: Aiming to disprove supposedly good intentions of the corporation of two examples (Benetton and H&M). Using practical work to warp bad intentions into something that appears to help social issues. 

C: Academic research, the main theorists being…

D: Research into individual practitioner opinions. Academic research into practitioner relationship with society (art has power) and corporation (need for money). Practical work looking at visually shifting the  responsibility for social issues. 

My position on this question is arguing that the responsibility leans more towards the corporation - this is evident when I am picking holes in their campaigns in chapter three.