Convicted marketing content containing sexual depiction : An empirical study of social media platforms after a scandal's occurrence

Sammanfattning: Title: Marketing content containing sexual depiction.- An empirical study of social media platforms after a scandal's occurrence. Authors: Gülay Edin and Elin Månsson Level : Master thesis, 30 credits Keywords: Social media marketing, content analysis, sexual marketing, gender discrimination, scandals in marketing Background: The internet has seen significant growth in marketing, leading to opportunities for sexual marketing practices that are difficult to control. Despite increased regulation and awareness, sexist marketing persists over time. This creates negative consequences, and ethics play a role in highlighting public vulnerability and marketers' responsibility. Sexual marketing can lead to scandals, and mitigating their impact is crucial for businesses. Businesses must therefore communicate with their audiences during crises. Research Questions: How a scandal related to sex appeal in marketing influence the content of businesses’ social media publishment afterwards? Purpose: This study aims to gather and analyse content published on social media after the deemed to include sexism in marketing. The aim is to broaden the academic field of sexual marketing and social media content by adding new empirical findings in this field. Method: This paper adopts a qualitative research approach to gather information. The qualitative approach allows for questioning existing variables and obtaining new perspectives. The study focuses on marketing scandals related to sexual appeal and social media content in the Swedish context, divided into two parts. Both stages utilise qualitative and inductive research approaches. Frame of Reference: The main theories in this research do cover several blocks in the field that are, social media marketing and visual content, sexual objectification in visual marketing content, the linkage between ethics and sexuality in marketing, corporate Social Performance, regulations, crisis management in the social media environment and Scandals in business contexts and mediatic influence. Findings: The results of this paper highlight a trend of sexism in the beauty and health industry's marketing. The research question focuses on how scandals related to sex appeal in marketing influence subsequent social media content, and the analysis reveals a significantly low impact in all contexts.