Att rekonstruera julens budskap -En kvalitativ studie av hur kommersiella företag och hjälporganisationer använder sig av föreställningar om julen i reklamfilm.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to investigate and increase the understanding of how the two commercial companies IKEA and SAS and the two aid organizations/nonprofit organizations UNICEF and Save the Children use perceptions of Christmas to produce messages in their Christmas advertising/commercial film. The study also discusses if there may be communicative and pictorial similarities and differences in how these brands constructs messages in commercials, and why it may be that the brands choose to use these messages in commercials based on the recipient possible interpretations. The theories used in this study are promotional culture, framing theory, preferred meaning, semiotics (denotation and connotation), myth and rhetoric (ethos, pathos and logos). The method used to answer the purpose and issues are the qualitative method that uses the theories semiotic and rhetoric to analyze the material. The study's results derived from the qualitative content analyzes of the material (the brands IKEA, SAS, UNICEF and Save the Children Christmas advertising films) show that IKEA message might want to show that they want to help the customer and that they pay attention to the customer needs. And that IKEA also in that message says that the solution and the products for your Christmas preparations are available at IKEA. SAS uses the Christmas tradition and myth of Santa to describe and make sense of a service, and showing that they care about the customer comes in time, even at Christmas when something is important. UNICEF can therefore be interpreted use Christmas as a persuasion method. UNICEF commercials can be seen to be designed to make the receiver more generous and get the feeling that it wants to contribute. Save the Children's message is focused on you should buy "nothing" for Christmas, and why it should be seen as an alternative to other Christmas gifts on the market. Based on this final discussion research shows that it could be possible that the commercial companies (IKEA and SAS) want to appear less “selling” when they are trying to sell their products or services through messages constructed by notions of Christmas, and that they instead try to ensure the customer needs. The study further shows that the help organizations seem more " selling" when trying to sell their products and get people to contribute to their aid activities. As a result of the need to be more commercial. Why the brands have chosen these messages and strategies can finally, as evidenced by the final discussion, come from the fact that the brands want to create the best competitive opportunities in the market, and that the strategies may have been selected by the brands though they might be considered as the most effective.