HJEMMEOPGAVER,!PROJEKTER,!SYNOPSER!U/! …pure.au.dk/portal/files/75190073/CS94214_412062.pdf ·...

Christina Elisabeth Søgaard Jensen BA Thesis in MMC 412062 2014

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HJEMMEOPGAVER, PROJEKTER, SYNOPSER U/ MUNDTLIGT FORSVAR

Home Assignments, Project Reports, Synopses without oral defence

INSTITUT FOR ERHVERVSKOMMUNIKATION Department of Business Communication

STUDIENUMMER Student No.

CS94214

EKSAMENSNR. (6 cifret nummer på studiekortet kaldet Kortnr. eller eksamensnr.) Student Exam No.: (6 digit No at your Student ID-‐card called either Kortnr. or Eksamensnr.)

412062

HOLD NR.: Class No. Ex.: U02

U03

FAGETS NAVN: Course/Exam Title

BAMMC Summer 2014 Bachelor Thesis Eso-‐BA-‐1/4120510073//bachelor’s thesis

VEJLEDER: Name of Supervisor

Christina Elisabeth Søgaard Jensen

ANTAL TYPEENHEDER I DIN BESVARELSE (ekskl. blanktegn): Number of Characters in your Assignment (exclusive of blanks):

54,981 – Bachelor + 2,614 -‐ Abstract


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Title Dilution of Identities: What happens to niche brand identities when

acquired by a Multinational Abstract As concern for the environment continues to be a hot topic in mainstream

society, businesses are expected, almost required, to develop and carry out some

form of green policy. Corporate Social Responsibility objectives have come to be

regarded as a mandatory task for the PR department to execute and

communicate on. Evidencing the firm’s concern in manifest actions and

demonstrating positive impact now carries a high profile, and the choice of

media to communicate it ranges from publication in their corporate literature to

displaying intent on product packaging. Doing so has proved beneficial to

companies who place a high priority on their social objectives; so naturally it

would seem that the benefit might be all greater for a company who chooses to

place it on the very same level as their financial and growth targets as a basis of

creating their brand and identity.

Ben & Jerry’s is a company that chose this path, and created a brand identity that

evolved around a 3-‐part mission, expanding on its product, economic and social

mission; each equally appreciated and with priorities distributed amongst them.

Focusing on the social and environmental mission, one might think that

companies, such as Ben & Jerry’s, who choses to adopt a social and green brand

identity, would do very well both economically in its markets as well as in

influencing others to adopt the same business lifestyle.

Sadly, Ben & Jerry’s is an example of one company that could not survive

competitive pressure solely by themselves and thus had to put themselves up for

auction for multinationals such as Unilever to acquire. In April 2000, Unilever

purchased the company, and have been able to grow Ben & Jerry’s market

presence on a global scale.

Despite having maintained its unique product innovation and gained increased

economic stability, there are rumours that the maintenance of their green brand

identity under Unilever has proved difficult; and that its brand integrity and

independence as a reflection of what their founders stood for, is fading.

This project investigates whether as a result of it’s acquisition, there has been a

dilution of Ben & Jerry’s original brand identity (in particular their green


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identity) and if in fact a company such as Unilever can actually maintain and

translate the Ben & Jerry’s true Green identity in global context.

To do so a multimodal discourse analysis of Ben & Jerry’s SEARS Report 2012

and Unilever’s Sustainability Plan 2013 will take place to reveal the

communicative styles that each represent, thus revealing the cohesiveness of

intentions and perspectives of each company in terms of their care for the

environment. To realize whether Ben & Jerry’s representation of their brand

identity is actually being successfully communicated domestically and in foreign

markets, in this case the United Kingdom, a questionnaire has been used to

investigate the current perceptions of the brand in order to aid in suppositions

and conclusions drawn from the analysis.

Number of Characters

Abstract: 2,614

Thesis: 54,981


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE & ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………...2

1.1. MOTIVATION………………………………………………………………………………………5

1.2. PURPOSE STATEMENT………………………………………………………………………..6

1.3. METHOD AND STRUCTURE…………………………………………………………………6

1.4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK………………………………………………………………6

1.5. DELIMITATIONS………………………………………………………………………………….7

2. THEORECTICAL BRACKGROUND

2.1. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS & BRAND MANAGEMENT…………………7

2.2. BRANDING AS STRATEGY……………………………………………………………………9

2.3. CREATING BRAND COMMUNITY………………………………………………………….9

2.4. SEMIOTICS IN CORPORATE LITERATURE…………………………………………..10

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

3.1. BEN & JERRY’S…………………………………………………………………………………..12

4. MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

4.1. BEN & JERRY’S SEARS REPROT 2012…………………………………………………16

4.1.1. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………...17

4.1.2. VISUAL ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………20

4.2. UNILEVER’S SUSTAINABILITY PLAN 2013…………………………………………23

4.2.1. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………...23

4.2.2. VISUAL ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………27

5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

5.1. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………….30

5.2. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………….32

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………………..36

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………………………….38


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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 MOTIVATION

“There has been concern for a number of years about the fate of socially responsible businesses that get swallowed up by larger multinational corporations

– do they loose independence, radical edge, or do they help drive innovative thinking?”

(Cofino, 2012, Oct 22) What happens to social enterprises once acquired by new parent companies?

Often no longer able to grow, even survive financially, many of these niche

market segment companies end up accepting defeat, giving their brand over to

Multinationals with more financial stability and leadership. There is a fear that

many of these companies, lose their independence and integrity in terms of the

green and social components of their brand identity, the message shifting and

distorting as “global”, potentially incompatible priorities are introduced. Is the

act of “Greening” your business made subservient to commercial value and

competitive advantage rather than maintained as an identity? (Friend, 2009)

Ben & Jerry’s is a company with a strong global brand identity. Its founders built

its brand on a basis of social and environmental concern, with hopes to become

leaders in a sustainable revolution, influencing other companies to adopt the

same business lifestyle. Projecting this credible and caring image has created

their unique selling proposition, and differentiated them from their competitors.

Having developed an identity as the country’s premier socially responsible

business, seeking to advance progressive social goals while still yielding an

acceptable financial return for its investors, they are recognized for their

leadership within the discourse of sustainable business.

In 2000, following a period of declining profitability, the multinational

conglomerate Unilever, parent company to over 400 brands, acquired Ben &

Jerry’s. The objectives behind the purchase, was to expand the brand to a global

scale.

Therefore, this company qualifies as a perfect example of a social enterprise

swallowed up by a multinational, and will therefore be the case study for this

project.


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1.2 PURPOSE STATEMENT

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there has there been a dilution of

Ben & Jerry’s original brand identity as a result of its acquisition by Unilever in

2000. In addition, I ask if a company such as Unilever can maintain and translate

the Ben & Jerry’s true Green identity in global context.

1.3 METHOD & STRUCTURE

This investigation calls for a consideration of cohesiveness of the communicative

styles in each company’s corporate literature on sustainability, alongside the

realization of current perceptions of the Ben & Jerry’s brand as interpreted by

audiences in the UK and the US.

The structure of the investigation involves:

• Hermeneutic method of a semiotic multimodal discourse analysis to

interpret the communicative styles each company employs in their

corporate literature

• A questionnaire to allow for empirical data to contribute to the validity of

the suppositions made in this project, adding a quantitative mixed method

to the entire investigation.

The thesis begins with a theoretical framework to introduce the reader to the

Marketing communications and branding mind-‐frame, followed by a description

of the Ben & Jerry’s company and brand identity. Subsequent to the analysis of

(i) Ben & Jerry’s SEARS report and (ii) Unilever’s sustainability report, a

discussion and conclusion sums up the findings deduced, validated as

appropriate by reference to the questionnaire’s results.

1.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The world of Marketing Communications and Branding is introduced through

various theories expressed in different research articles, mostly based around

themes introduced in Picktion & Broderick’s (2005) “Integrated Marketing

Communications” as well as Aaker’s (1996) “Building Strong Brands”. The

description of the Ben & Jerry’s company and brand identity for this report, is a

result of interpretation of online material on the company and their affairs,

either from itself or others. This interpretation categorizes its brand identity


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type to be understood as “an organization”, the decision inspired by Aaker’s

(1996) “Strategic Brand Analysis” 1 . The Multimodal Discourse Analysis is

inspired by Halliday’s Register analysis and Burkes Rhetoric theories, described

in Stiller’s (1998) “ Analysing everyday texts”, in terms its textual semiotics. In

addition, the visual follows Kress & Van Leewen’s (2006) “Grammer of visual

design”, both combining to articulate discourses created as a result. However, the

Textual Metafunction in each text has been excluded in the analyses, partly due

to the consideration of space and of its contribution, here considered as

sacrificial. The questionnaire follows instructions on constructing an effective

questionnaire by Shroeder (2001) and Denscombe (1999).

1.5 DELIMITATIONS

Due to the limitations of this BA thesis, the analysis of each company’s corporate

literature has been limited to only two sections. These are however the sections

believed to reveal the communicative goals and styles of each company.

Understandings of the results from the questionnaire are only referred to within

the discussion & conclusion. However, a full description may be found in the

appendix together with the questionnaire itself. As the questionnaire was only

able to reach 70 UK participants and 72 US participants, it is subject to slight

generalization as a result of the scope this thesis allows. However, it is believed

that the results provide a good indication, and taste of how each country

currently perceives the Ben & Jerry’s brand.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS & BRAND MANAGEMENT

“Marketing communications is all the promotional elements of the marketing mix

which involve the communications between an organization and its target

audience on all matters that affect marketing performance”

(Pickton & Broderick, 2005)

1Appendix p16


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Marketing communications, embedded in the well known four P’s of Marketing

mix theory, is where a company can create and contribute to a company’s brand

equity and identity (Kotler et al., 2012).

Going beyond mere promotions, marketing communications acts as the

company’s communicative link towards its customers and thus proves to be a

fundamental aspect of a company’s image and identity. Referring to the IMC

process model, explained in Picktons & Brodericks (2012) “Integrated Marketing

Communications”, it is essential for a company’s marketers to understand how

the IMC process model works; from sender to receiver, consisting of four

components: the sender, originating and communicating a message via a chosen

media, the vehicle transmitting information content to a defined receiver, the

target audience.

The skill lies in making sure that the right message is communicated in the right

way to the right audience: a communicative activity that links people together

and fosters relationships (Petek & Ruzzier, 2013).

These messages contributes to a company’s image and thus to perceive quality

and associations, building brand equity and identity to their consumers (Aaker,

1996). Therefore, marketing communications can be regarded as a company’s

“voice”; a crucial strategic tool for building their brand and identity (Petek &

Ruzzier, 2013).

By focusing on a branding strategy, and successfully applying marketing

communications to communicate the company’s attributes, a brand identity can

be shaped that consumers can relate to, learn to admire and associate with value.

Brand identity embodies what a company stands for and will, in effect, dictate all

brand-‐building efforts that can foster an important relationship between itself

and their target audience. These efforts act as building blocks, incorporating the

company’s vision, mission, values, personality and core competences, all

integrated into the communicative aspects involved in the promotions fragment

of the Marketing mix. The message is then presented to the consumer, who

together with others in their community, socially construct this identity through

their participation. If constructed successfully this should produce a brand-‐

consumer relationship that will benefit the company both economically and

socially (Petek & Ruzzier, 2013).


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2.2 BRANDING AS STRATEGY

According to Muniz & O’Guinn (2001), brands excel through communication,

typically through enabling a brand to create an elusive quality, which when

defined and communicated effectively, can transform and become a company’s

Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

By emphasizing a company’s USP in this way, one can then create a deep,

emotional relationship and connection with its consumers, thereby supporting a

“greater share of customer & share of dollar for the brand”. Companies that do so

will have the opportunity to carve out a consistent and ultimate brand character,

differentiating them in their competitive market (Haggin, 1994).

Not only does this offer a USP, but it will mold a meaningful personality for the

consumer to invest and associate with; a world they can relate to. This notion of

story telling and reference framework contributes to the brands equity and

creates a community of activists triggered by this USP (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).

2.3 CREATING BRAND COMMUNITY

“Brand communities are social entities that reflect the situated embeddedness of

brands in the day-‐to-‐day lives of consumers and the ways in which brands connect

consumer to brand and consumer to consumer”

(Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001)

Aaker (1991) hypothesizes that a brand’s equity consists of four components:

perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand associations but all

of which are directly affected by brand community.

Members of a brand community can carry out important functions on behalf of a

brand i.e. distributing information, preserving brand history and culture and

supporting its credibility (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).

With no geographical boundary, this community is composed of social relations

among fans of a brand who support a common understanding of what the brand

stands for. In this way, they share their own identity, consciousness, tradition

and sense of morality, inducing collective participation and action. If nurtured


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through expression of brand character and effective marketing communications,

these brand communities can become key contributors within the target

customer segment. This then feeds into the integrity and credibility of the

company and its vision (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).

This demonstrates the consumers active role in the creation of a brand, and

highlights the importance of a clear cut profiling of a brand and reaffirmation of

it’s existence; no longer as a social object, but as a social construction (Bianchi,

2011).

Therefore, a company, which has the will and the means to implement a brand

strategy, should go beyond creating and advertising their image. To establish a

lasting long-‐term communal bond between itself and its stakeholders, the

company should create a corporate soul, projecting beyond the company’s walls,

(Kotler & Pfoertsch, 2006); outliving any superficial marketing campaign

(Robichaud, Richelieu & Kozak, 2012).

2.4 SEMIOTICS IN CORPORATE LITERATURE

The most popular marketing communication method is advertising. Using

glamour and manipulation allows for a persuasive and colourful representation

of how a company wishes to communicate its identity and character to its

consumers. However, recent research has indicated that brand communication

should not only occur through visual means, but also through text; a brand story

constructed for each stakeholder group (Petek, & Ruzzier, 2013).

For this project, corporate literature is chosen as the communicative initiative

for analysis, as it is an informative document relaying a company’s vision and

activities using both visual and textual elements. As a result, it can represent

parts of a brand’s identity. Despite the traditional idea of corporate literature

being lengthy, cheesy, boring and hard to find, the introduction of the corporate

website as a communicative tool has enabled the transmission of information to

be accessible to all. The idea of corporate literature has changed, not just for

internal information seekers, but for external users as well. Consequently this

medium can be a key communication tool to translate and transmit a company’s


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brand and vision, as well as denote intent and perspectives of the various

semiotic evidence contained in both text and image (Clarke, 2001).

It offers a two-‐way asymmetric communication flow between sender and

audience and back again. The feedback loop is not timely or direct but delayed

and therefore not in the form of direct dialogue (Pickton & Broderick, 2005).

However the fact that it is online offers a response mechanism (through

commentary sections), where after having read and internalized the

presentation of sensations associated with the brand, the brand community can

react (Bianchi, 2011).

In“mythologies”, Roland Barthes used semiotic tools to analyse and understand

visual and textual objects that lie in a composition and offered a procedure to

“break down” the functionality of their presence. His take on semiology is also

applicable to promotional materials and can offer original and specific insight

into the phenomena of the message. It acts as a means to understand the role of

each element in the composition of a company’s marketing and communications

material, whether an advert, campaign, website or a company report (Bianchi,

2011).

Within these compositions, there are signs and metaphors to be deciphered and

incorporated into cultural knowledge. It is up to the producer to create an image,

carrying visual information with a text functioning as anchor to guide perception

and interpretation. The analysis offers the discovery of two “souls” that reflect

the defined message. One “soul” is literal and denotative and the other symbolic.

The latter connotes persuasive appeals, an ideology, appealing to the cultural

thinking within a stakeholder group. By creating an effective promotional appeal,

it is possible to compel someone to do something, or to become something.

Through triggering congruent value systems, inspiring emotion and passion, a

discourse can be established in which reader and consumer can invest. The

communicative appeal that corporate literature can convey isn’t just a tailored

language, but a structured discourse; configured and specialized to reflect a

brand’s beliefs, image and identity. This union of brand and semiotics occurs

when the brand, in and of itself, acts as a sign, and thereby the original semiotic

device (Bianchi, 2011).


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Through this semiotic communicative form, brand identity can be mediated (in

this case through corporate literature) between the worlds of production and

consumption, revealing the true essence of the company’s vision to both.

However, it is important to somewhat disguise these semiotic elements in

persuasive ways and to use design techniques that create and reflect the desired

presentation and message, in a way that is both appropriate and authentic to the

company and its brand (Clarke, 2001).

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

3.1 BEN & JERRY’S

Once considered unnecessary and overpriced, being green and the appreciation

of green products has changed. As concern for the future and the environment

grows, this notion of presenting a “Green” side to your company has become

almost a necessity. The notion of being a good corporate citizen has developed

into a requirement for companies to live up to within most markets, be it in

retail, leisure or commerce. As more people worry about sustainability-‐related

issues of the future, green has gone mainstream with approximately 83% of

shoppers choosing to integrate some form of Green into their shopping.

Companies need to produce and supply “sustainably”, and integrate it into their

business core values (Ottoman, 2011).

As social and environmental consciousness increases, many companies have

made the decision to promote themselves in this light.

Many integrate being green into their business activities, as a marketing ploy to

align themselves with this current and developing mainstream culture. Smart

companies seize this as an opportunity to create competitive advantage through

the strategic management of environmental challenges and awareness (Esty &

Winston, 2009).

Some companies put their heart and sole into the very idea of being Green, using

it as a platform on which to build their brand identity. A company who claimed

to do this, is the well-‐known ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s, founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, is an

innovative leader in the super premium ice cream industry, providing high


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quality ice cream with a commitment towards social and environmental

responsibility (www.benjerry.com/values). The company communicates and

represents its quality and value through organizational attributes that contribute

to their Unique Selling Proposition. By representing its brand “as an

organization”, the company focused on its concern for society and the

environment, especially in its home market in the US, where it became known for

its initiatives, programs and campaigns in pursuit of its “sustainable business

revolution” (SEARS report, 2012). As a result, the Brand established a

personality for itself -‐ a fun, open-‐minded, hippy-‐like personality -‐ which helped

create a self-‐expressive vehicle that those within the brand community could

relate to and align with their own personality (Aaker, 1996). The company

focused on a 3-‐part mission as a standard-‐bearer of their corporate integrity, to:

• Support product, social and economic objectives

• Develop and offer high-‐quality product

• To pursue economic growth and profitability

Greening their brand identity and presenting it “as an organisation” enabled the

company to create brand communities, generating admiration and respect for

what Ben & Jerry’s chose to stand for as a result. These associations involve

emotional and self-‐expressive benefits for members of the brand community

(Aaker, 1996). This is how the company differentiated themselves within the US

ice cream market from other well known companies such as Haagen Dazs who

instead takes pride in branding itself “as a personality” through consumers using

the self-‐expressive benefits of sophistication and class as a functional tool

(Aaker, 1996).

Within its niche market segment for consumers who care for the environment,

Ben & Jerry’s have been successful and acquired many loyal customers.

“For us, the issue of climate change is not just an environmental issue, its an issue of

social & economic justice. Climate justice if you will”

(www.benjerry.com)

The first ice cream company in the world to use Fairtrade certified ingredients,

Ben & Jerry’s used this leadership to influence and encourage other companies to

adopt the same Green business way of thinking.


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In meeting its non-‐financial objectives however, its social and environmental

change investments and charitable donations started to hit profitability.

Eventually, the company was acquired by the Anglo-‐Dutch multinational

consumer goods company Unilever, in April 2000.

With over 400 brands in the food, beverage, cleaning agents and personal care

industry, it is now one of the worlds three largest consumer goods companies in

approximately 190 countries (www.unilever.com).

Along with this acquisition, Unilever promised to maintain the social activities

and brand identity that Ben & Jerry’s had worked so hard to create, but many

questioned if a global corporation -‐ clearly focused on the financial bottom line -‐

would be able to keep that promise. In fact, soon after the acquisition took place,

suggestions surfaced that key facets of Ben & Jerry’s social mission were being

cut (B revolution consulting, 2012).

As Unilever slowly took over the value-‐led business, it became obvious to some

that the company was only supporting their Green profile because they were

obliged to. Many employees suspected that the two companies were not working

in unison, and that the multinational was losing sight of the “spirit” that made

Ben & Jerry’s so valuable and different (Edmondson, 2014).

Both companies clearly pursue different Brand identities. Ben & Jerry’s unique

and differentiating brand identity wasn’t able to survive on its own, but by virtue

of the acquisition they have been able to continue financially as leaders in the US

ice cream market. As part of Unilever, the value-‐led company has been able to

grow its market to include Europe and other parts of the world. The acquisition

therefore proves to have benefited the company in financial terms as they, to this

day hold considerable market share (Bisaria, M. et al., 2005). It does raise the

question, however, if they have been as successful in communicating the “green

shade” of the Ben & Jerry’s company. Has Unilever allowed for an equal balance

between the elements of its 3-‐part mission?

These questions bring us back to our purpose statement, prompting an analysis

of the communicative styles of both companies applied within their reports on

sustainability, and whether they are consistent or not. The current perception of

the brand is revealed via results of the questionnaire created for this purpose

and will provide insight as to how the brand is perceived now, post acquisition,


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and whether it reflects Ben & Jerry’s own perception of its brand, “as an

organization”?

These results lead to a discussion whether Unilever view this green branding as

a value, or merely a competitive tool to be used in their quest for global

dominance, adding yet another brand to their name and status. Holt (2002)

claims that brands should reflect authentic values, which the organisation has

placed at it’s core and communicated both internally and externally of the

company. What I question in this paper, is whether Unilever has been able not

only to maintain Ben & Jerry’s Green profile in the US, but transport it to the UK

as well.

4. MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS An analysis of both Ben & Jerry’s SEAR’s 2012 report, and Unilever’s

Sustainability Plan located on each official website, will provide a clear indication

of how each company decides to communicate their “Greenness”, and to

whichever Stakeholders they choose to direct the text.

Semiotics in Corporate literature provide the critical evidence of how companies

think, prioritize and present themselves in terms of identity and activity

(Bianchi, 2011). In order to carry out a successful consideration and dissection of

content, both textual and visual elements will be investigated to effectively

establish the overall communicative goal of each of the company’s

representations, created through their composition.

Whilst stylistically different, the grounds for comparing these two texts is that

they contain comparable declarations and narrations of

• past performance and,

• plans for the future,

in terms of their care for the environment and social change. The CEO statements

and specific sections regarding the environment determine the scope of each

company analysis.

The textual elements included within each report will be analysed based on

Halliday’s register analysis and Burke’s Rhetorical theories, described in Stiller’s

(1998) “Analysing everday texts”, so as to categorise the Ideational and

Interpersonal Resources in each. In addition to the textual, to understand and


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highlight the overall communicative goal, a visual analysis following Kress & Van

Leewen’s (2006) “Grammer of visual design”, will run through each Metafunction

expressed within as well.

Comparison of communicative styles will reveal the intent of each document,

allowing myself to highlight the green perspective and intent of both companies,

and ultimately if Unilever’s shade is consistent of with that of Ben & Jerry’s. This

will contribute to the thesis’s investigation as to whether the parent company

successfully maintains and translates the brand identity the founders of Ben &

Jerry’s originally believed in, and stood for, to the UK market.

4.1 Ben & Jerry’s SEARS REPORT 2012

This analysis validates that the overall communicative goal of this publication is

to communicate to, and convince its audience of the company’s actions, integrity

and beliefs in being Green.

The sections chosen for this analysis are:

• “Letter from the CEO”

• “Climate & Environment”

4.1.1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

IDEATIONAL RESOURCES

Both these sections include certain process types within the style of writing that

conveys how the speaker views the world, and how he/she chooses to present

this to the reader.

The CEO letter is naturally written by the man himself, and thus already differs

slightly in terms of tone and perspective to the rest of the literature’s content,

written more objectively. As a whole however, the document maintains the same

discourse and thus aligns in the presentation of Ben & Jerry’s vision. The process

type is denoted by the use of verb and direct object, subject and indirect object,

which are used to transfer and translate the view of reality to the audience

(Stiller, 1998).

The CEO letter’s dominant process type is that of Mental; cognitive, reactive and

perceptive descriptions of how he sees his company now and in the future. The


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tone of text is personalized and emotional, hence subjective in nature. He

expresses his thoughts on the company’s progress up to the year 2012. Within

this process, the “subject” is the processor: Ben & Jerry’s, and the “direct object”

the phenomenon: its mission.

He describes his company’s 3-‐part mission, passionately justifying their pursuit

in their current position, financially and geographically.

With the help of emotionally packed adjectives such as:

“dedicated”, “proud”, “vigorous”, “meaningful”

the CEO reassures the reader of his enthusiasm, communicating an emotional,

subjective viewpoint of reality which he invites the reader to internalize. He

expresses reasons as to what they stand for, and why they choose to pursue this

mission. Nouns such as:

“Revolution”, “Inspiration”, “Reflection”

add to the emotional appeal of the text and reveal his mental expression, state of

mind and perspective on the company and its missions. He paints a caring brand

image and identity, one that actively seeks to better society and the future

environment, hoping to influence “Green” in businesses today.

Adding to its persuasive might, are descriptions of the “Sustainability

Revolution”. Action processes are combined with Mental; to express actions taken

in the past, present and future. Use of active verbs form active sentences, each

emphasizing what actions are needed for the 3-‐part mission to become a reality.

“Keep it alive”, “Keep the social responsible business revolution going!”, “We must

deliver”

Many verbs are accompanied by “must”; an auxiliary verb aiding the

communicative appeal of determination and action.

The end-‐product is personal, informal, relaxed in style, and subjective in nature;

reflecting the brand identity as established by its founder, fighting for a

revolution in approach.

Circumstantial roles indicate the relevance of the text. Time frames and tenses of

the verbs conglomerate to translate the perspective of the text; past and on-‐

going. The CEO presents each milestone and goal towards the social and

environmental mission in a time-‐line fashion. This is communicated through the

use of adverbials of time such as:


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“2012 was”/“During 2012”/“In 2013 and beyond”

The structure of the text contributes to a part-‐whole perspective, as the CEO’s

emotions, views and hopes for the future are almost listed into a description of

what the company and its brand consist of. It represents the 3-‐part mission as

the parts of the company; what it is and stands for, thereby creating a portrayal

of Ben & Jerry’s as a whole. A myronomy taxomony creates semantic relations,

which produce this part-‐whole like structure and perspective within the text. All

the attributes, in the form of missions, are what create this brand identity and

profile. The taxonomy is obviously overt, clear and comprehensible, with no

hidden meaning lingering behind the words.

The section named “Climate & Environment”, offers more evidence of

elements that contribute to the making of the overall communicative goal. The

view on reality changes slightly, with process types becoming solely action, as

the text turns narrative, “telling of the Ben & Jerry’s story and journey” over the

past year and of the importance of their mission for change. The subject is Ben &

Jerry’s as a company, who now acts as agent; “doer”. The style of writing becomes

a detailed report of the past years endeavors and on the fight for their “social

responsible business revolution” goal (www.benjerry.com/about-‐us).

The abundance of active verbs contributes to this pursuit of revolution;

“we are working”, “we have invested aggressively”, “we have made significant

strides”, “we will keep working”

Corresponding to the circumstantial roles, they are coherent in time and manner

with that placed in the CEO letter.

“In 2012”/“for many years”/“outcomes in 2011”

Each preposition helps the reader understand what occurred, when and in what

order. An on-‐going perspective is integrated alongside that of the past so as to

connect both present and future paths of the company.

INTERPERSONAL RESOURCES

Through sentence type and grammar, Interpersonal Resources signify the

nature of the relationship established between writer and reader.


19

Positional resources are integrated into the CEO letter, providing his subjective

outlook on the company’s performance. Exclamative sentence structures

emphasise feelings and beliefs in the mission and accomplishments. Sentences

are devoid of percentages or statistics, lowering credibility in terms of his

statements on performance, although somewhat compensated by the personal

authority behind his communication to his reader. He addresses an audience

who can choose whether or not to read further into the report, as he invites them

to access trustworthy, credible and objective information, presented in later

sections.

The genre of sentences used, including personal pronouns, integrate a sense of

pathos into the text, offering an emotional appeal to the writing and thus

invoking an emotional response from readers as a result (Kies, 1995).

The notion of ethos and logos are kept to a minimum at first, but come into play

later, where more easy to understand data is presented. Percentages and name-‐

dropping are utilized, supposedly to increase the credibility of the information

given. Titles of certificates gained though the years invoke authority and

recognition, trustworthiness and goodwill. This evidence of ethos adds a more

sensible and serious style to the laid-‐back tone the brand normally employs

(Kies, 1995).

Necessity and willingness are expressed through the use of Modality. Modal verbs

help the CEO in his expression to invite the readers to understand the

importance of joining ranks in the revolution for a socially responsible business.

Subjunctives used in the beginning of the letter offer hypothetical action, inviting

the reader to connect. This cordial invitation by the CEO himself into the heart of

the company, and home in Vermont, arouses the reader’s attention (Kies, 1995).

Transparent descriptions create a close, amicable and equal relationship with

readers, keeping pathos as the dominant resource throughout. They are brought

closer to the company through an honest, meaningful and hopeful presentation

of the CEO’s perspective and plans for the future and his company.

Communication is direct, as the writer addresses the reader as “you”. In addition

the CEO refers to himself and the company as “we” and “our”, reducing distance

by establishing a relaxed and informal communicative style.


20

In the section on the environment, this becomes more elastic, although not by a

substantial amount, as sentence structures evolve into a more declarative form

of statement. The evolution brings a more authoritative and professional style of

communicating than the CEO letter. The tone becomes more serious and action

oriented, changing the relationship to the reader.

4.1.2 VISUAL ANALYSIS

Despite the lack of visual elements in the sections chosen for textual

analysis, there are other illustrations, which contribute to the realization of the

overall communicative goal. Of 13 images, all but one are cartoon illustrations.

The exception is a real-‐life picture of the CEO himself. This portrait, and one

illustration, will be subject to analysis, as they are believed to be good

representations of the brand’s identity and communicative goal.

IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION

The image of the CEO is placed alongside the first few sentences of his

Letter. The Letter is in fact where the reader begins and it is his face that

welcomes him/her to its contents. He gazes directly at the onlooker, providing a

face to the voice that projects itself from the contents.

There are certain Ideational Metafunctions that can be realized within this image.

They contribute to what is being said textually. The structure of this image

presents a non-‐transactional action process, where only one actor gazes out

towards the onlooker, with no view-‐point on any other participant in the image.

The image reflects its a narrative appeal, and together with the text

communicates a comprehensive indication of who is in the image. Evidently,

there is a lack of conceptual elements in the image.

No other real-‐life representation of the company is included in this report. Other

representations come in the form of cartoons communicating a more covert

message than that of the portrait. The second image under the headline “a

sustainable model of Linked Prosperity” hides another tactic of visual modality

and design2. This image consists of an illustration of a globe circled by ice creams

and humans holding hands in harmony. The Ideational Metafunction present

here is conceptual; a meaning that can only be interpreted with aid of the 2 Appendix p1


21

accompanying text. There is an analytical process representing the parts or

possessive attributes (the people and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cones) that belong

to a whole; the globe. A symbolic process connotes a part-‐whole structure, where

the people and the “Green” mission, come together; all part of the bigger world,

and are the attributes that make it up. The symbolic attributes are connected to

symbolize the revolution for sustainable and green business responsibility. It

illustrates their brand concept of “Linked Prosperity” – the idea that all those

touched by the company and its prosperity are interconnected3.

INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION

The presence of Interpersonal Metafunctions composed within an image,

indicates the relationship between its participants and the on-‐looker.

The gaze projecting from the portrait creates a demand image. The direct eye

contact links the viewer to the CEO’s gaze, addressing the viewer directly,

demanding attention and inviting the viewer into his perspective.

The social distance is intimate, as the size of the frame is a close, head and

shoulders shot. This leads the analysis to suggest that the attitude is somewhat

subjective. The foreground forces the viewer to observe only him from an

imposed view. What background there is, is of nature and agriculture,

automatically placing it’s reader into its chosen context, helping the CEO imply

the underlying reason for the content of the report. The frontal angle introduces

the viewer to Ben & Jerry’s view of reality. The viewer is positioned in a certain

“chosen” viewpoint.

Truth Value can be derived from the modality markers situated within

each image, giving suggestive indications as to the degree of credibility the image

has: high or low.

As the image is a portrait, there is a full scale of colour saturation. The

background is slightly out of focus, only contributing context so that the setting

and discourse of the report is obvious; that of green and nature.

It is not realistic however, and is clearly one created for the purpose of setting a

context. It does not serve any informational purpose, and thus neither decreases

or increases the level of credibility. The representation of the CEO is clear in 3 Appendix p1


22

terms of pictorial detail, denotative with no hidden meaning. This evidence

defines the man, and thus compliments the accompanying text. The image

creates a relationship between the report and it’s onlooker, as the reader can see

the man behind the Ben & Jerry’s company; communicating to them directly and

transparently, increasing believability.

This association is not continued throughout the report, which is consistent with

the style of the text. There is a change in social distance as the reader is no longer

presented with a real-‐life representation of the company and it’s fight for social

and environmental change. All is now depicted in cartoon form. With little colour

saturation, differentiation, modulation and illumination, their truth value is

decreased, harder for the reader to take seriously. Instead, the images serve as

metaphors, their modality communicated not through modality markers but

through conceptual representations.

TEXTUAL METAFUNCTION

It is interesting to consider the composition in holistic terms of how the

information is structured and elements positioned. There is a combination of

both visuals and text placed on the left and right, swapping sides as the report

continues. This categorises the composition’s informational value in a polarized

form, with a given and a new. This seems logical for each section as the given and

the new (whether the text or the image), introduce the company, which is the

known (given) and what they hope to aspire to in the future; the revolution of

sustainable and green business (new). Each of the image’s salience is high as

they are full of colour and vibrant, allowing them to jump out of the page from

the text. The images are framed by the text surrounding them, but remain

disconnected. The only slight connection created to hold everything together is a

pale background, which emphasizes the images salience. Each reflects the theme

of the text, making it easier for the reader to understand and remember the

content. The only critique to be made is the lack of images in the “Climate &

Environment” section, leaving the text naked and alone with no visual aid or

metaphor to convince the reader of the content’s validity.


23

4.2 UNILEVER SUSTAINABILITY PLAN 2013

4.2.1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

IDEATIONAL RESOURCES

The ideational resources employed within Unilever’s sustainability plan

are Relational as both the CEO and sections on greenhouse gases are more

explanatory, creating a more objective tone compared to that of Ben & Jerry’s.

The CEO constructs his opinions in an expository manner, indicating who the

company is and the issues facing the world, which affect the company, thus

incorporated in their future plans. An Identification process identifies the

environment, company vision, performance, challenges, partners and

sustainability.

The subject acts the identified and the subject complement the identifier, as the

CEO explains who the company is, and the initiatives made in response to the

issues facing it.

“2012 proved to be another challenging year for the global economy”

“The threat of the worlds largest economy going over a fiscal cliff and the euro

crisis added uncertainty and undermined fragile consumer confidence”.

(Unilever Sustainability Report, 2013)4

Focusing on the CEO Letter, the presentation of Unilever’s reality is aided by

Ideational Resources to identify how they are supporting a more sustainable

future. Through the Identification process, the text reveals and records what they

are doing to achieve goals, and the impact they have on the company. This differs

from Ben & Jerry’s CEO letter, which is an emotional expression of green identity,

and the necessity for its businesses to adopt that lifestyle to the benefit of not

just themselves, but society as a whole. Ben & Jerry’s includes no thematic

expression of economic concern, something which contrasts to Unilever’s

sustainability plan. This could indicate the priority ranking between

sustainability and market leadership from the Unilever perspective.

It thus produces a clear and categorized indicatory report that introduces the

reader into a world quite different from that of Ben & Jerry’s. 4Appendix p8


24

There is little reference to personal thoughts or expressive statements from the

CEO as he refers to himself only once as “I” towards the end of his letter. This

takes place in the last paragraph of the letter, whereas in Ben & Jerry’s, the CEO

makes the voice his own by continuously referring to himself and the company

as “we” and “our”, speaking directly to the reader as “you”.

Action processes dominate alongside that of Identification in the

“Greenhouse gases: helping tackle climate change” section. Here they

communicate their actions, targets and results, and how they support a

sustainable business lifestyle. The company acts as “doer” with its plan taking the

role of the “Phenomenon”. Both the SEARS and Sustainability plan contain future

perspectives and therefore employ similar processes to help communicate an

active feel to the text. Both speak of change and the evolutions of a sustainable

business profile, articulated through active speak, helping to arouse attention

and create desire in their reader. Within Unilever’s report, sentences

communicate actions in terms of the company’s intentions for growth and

change, such as:

“In 2012 we grew by over 19%”/ “increasing efficiency”/ “reducing the hot water

used”/ “to achieve our goal we need to provide”/ “reformulating”/ “encouraging”

Each active verb empahsises the company’s pro-‐activeness in re-‐evaluating their

sustainable position and “code of conduct”. Unilever continue to anchor each

sustainable goal or objective with that of growth and sales, equating each as

priority goals. Within Ben & Jerry’s SEARS report, focus is placed less on the

financial performance of the company, and more on their progress in “Green

Mission & Revolution”.

“In 2012”/ “by 2012”/ “over 2011-‐2012”/ “since 2008”

Circumstantial roles represent and indicate both time and process. They steer

the direction and content of the information given, chopping it up into chunks of

time, producing a textual timeline for the reader to follow.

This method of time stamping each activity shows that the company tries to

convince its reader of its ambition to deliver.

Little emotionally driven vocabulary is used, which provides hints as to

how the company hopes to be perceived by its audience, and the aspirations to


25

invoke in them. Within the plan’s section on “Greenhouse gases”, there is a sense

of Classification processes. Explanations of each activity are split into “bubbles” of

information, divided into subsections: “Our Targets”, “Our performance” and

“Our perspective”. This identifies the different, necessary steps to reduce

greenhouse gases in their business planning and strategy. A Myronomy Taxomy is

created as a part-‐whole structure of what is necessary to achieve sustainability.

The semantic relationship between tasks and plan enables the reader to

internalize the information by understanding its connection and relevance for

Unilever’s plan. This is similar to that of Ben & Jerry’s taxonomy, however

Unilever’s categorization creates a more conventional, business oriented and

organized style to the report, indicating how Unilever wants to present itself;

contrasting with the informal, if still professional style of Ben & Jerry’s.

INTERPERSONAL RESOURCES

These sections contain Relational processes, which help establish the

communicative relationship between reader and writer. Unilever’s declarations

and statements produce an objective and slightly emotionless perspective when

compared to the SEARS report. Little persuasive or emotional language is used to

influence readership, using only simple and fair declarations, and facts on the

world’s current economic and environmental situation. It is simply matter of

fact; more corporate than that of Ben & Jerry’s passionate and inclusive style of

writing. Unilever’s style exudes a sense of authority, as the text provides

research and numbers to support its declarations on company performance.

Along with these numerical representations, there is a considerable amount of

jargon used within both sections of the plan, suggesting that only those who have

prior knowledge of the business and economic discourse would fully appreciate

the information given. Terms such as “Fiscal Cliff”, “Euro Crisis”, “emerging

markets”, and “total value chain” increase the formality of the content within.

As a result, a more formal, business relationship is established; one presenting

Unilever as a serious company with an attractive, sustainably economic

ambition.

Many of the verbs present in the CEO’s letter introduce attitudinal lexis revealing

the attitude of the speaker.


26

“continue”/ “performed”/ “inspires”/ “maintained”

These verbs all present lexis of strategy and planning, complementing the

discourse of the sustainability report. Although kept at a minimum, and

overthrown by other functions, it does feed into suggestions as to the vision

behind the words and the purpose for the document’s existence.

In the proceeding section within the report, Interpersonal Resources remain

much of the same as before. Sentences remain declarative, stating what is being

done and what is necessary. There are no exclamative or interrogative

expressions to invite or invoke emotion in the reader. Sense of Logos dominates

over Pathos, as reason and logic dominate to explain the company’s performance

and strategy. The numbers, graphics and percentages that accompany

descriptions provide reason and rational information to govern and develop the

audience’s understanding (Kies, 1995).

This gives the text a certain sense of influential appeal. There is no invitation for

the audience to join in the company’s sustainability acts, but presents it’s own

action and performance -‐ disconnected from the reader -‐ signifying perhaps that

the text is selling an image, and not motivating change in others outside the

spectrum of their company.

This disconnection maintains a level of formality significantly above that of Ben

& Jerry’s, and remains more “corporate”. This demonstrates the difference in

personality between the companies even though Unilever are the parent

company of Ben & Jerry’s. The Unilever brand claims leadership and hopes to

represent themselves in that status, remaining aloof and at a distance from

others around them.

4.2.2 VISUAL ANALYSIS

Two pictures have been chosen from the sustainability plan to highlight the

differences between the use of visuals in the documents produced by Ben &

Jerry’s, and Unilever.

• Image of Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman

• Image introducing the section on “Greenhouse gases”.


27

IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION

Dressed in a suit and tie, the portrait of the CEO5 welcomes the reader to the plan

and the Ideational Metafunctions within this shot give hints as to Unilever’s

communicative goal and perspective.

The image’s simplicity speaks to its narrative appeal as there is only one

participant with no specific gaze directing the viewers attention. What is

important here is the conceptual symbolic structure, as it is more about what the

image, and the participant within, signifies. It suggests an implication of rank and

status of the man behind the company vision of Unilever. He is used to codify the

esteem and power of the company through a formal, clean and suited

representation of the CEO.

The second image6 also holds conceptual processes within, as it doesn’t even

narrate the title of its section. There is no identification of climate change or

reducing green house gases depicted, instead it depicts a lady in a shower,

washing her hair with “Tresummé shampoo”, a Unilever brand. The image

reminds the viewer of an advertisement and not an image usually associated

with sustainability. Therefore it merits grounds for comparison as it

demonstrates a difference in how the company chooses to communicate through

visuals to that of Ben & Jerry’s.

A symbolic conceptual process here could suggest the company’s customers

happily using their product. Smiling and beautiful, the female model is the

satisfied user of the product, representing the company. This could also connote

that consumers, who control the use of water and natural resources, hold the

company’s sustainability plan literally in their hand, but it is only through text

that this conceptualization can be understood. The section discusses their

intention to reduce the consumption of water, thus the attributes within the

image create a symbolic process that can be more overtly understood after

having read of their water consumption concerns.

5 Appendix p7 6 Appendix p9


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INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION

The CEO image is an offer image, where there is no eye-‐contact from CEO to the

viewer, demanding attention, or a reaction, as his gaze directs to nothing within

the image. It is clear to see who is speaking, but no recognition of the reader or

initiation to join in its perspective is obvious. The size of frame, medium shot,

creates a social distance, which keeps the relationship with the viewer formal,

correct and corporate.

At first glance, the portrait seems objective, with no manipulations to suggest

otherwise. However, as the angle and representation of the CEO is considered,

subjectivity can be discerned. The viewer is in fact, placed into a framework by

the image, by way of blue background -‐ a colour that Unilever chooses to

represent its brand. The angle at which the viewer must gaze at the CEO is from

below, thus placing them in a subordinate stance. The CEO is made to seem

imposing and awesome as a result, categorizing both him and viewer in their

respective power roles. The second image has an absence of gaze, and therefore

reinforces a social distance. The model does not face the viewer at a frontal

angle, but rather invites the viewer to follow her gaze towards the shampoo

bottle, placing the viewer at an equal level rather than from below. This can also

be understood as subjective in nature as she directs the viewer’s attention quite

obviously to the Unilever product in her hands.

There is a defined colour scheme of blue and white used throughout the

document; colours usually associated with the Unilever brand. The colour behind

the model in the shower is turquoise, however. This could connote the “Greening

of the company’s profile”, its transformation into a company that is more

sustainable and environmentally conscious. Both images have truth-‐value in

terms of its modality, as they are real participants, however both seem slightly

staged. The second image in particular creates an essence of advertising, which

may chip away at the integrity of their plan that their textual representations

hope to communicate credibly.

TEXTUAL METAFUNCTION

The placement of both text and visuals offer a professional, informational end-‐

product. There is no apparent central element in the arrangement of both


29

sections chosen for this analysis, and therefore do not offer any symmetrical

composition. Particularly, in the letter from the CEO, his image is placed to the

left and its text on the right, divided into columns to organize and structure the

content within. The polarized arrangement therefore offers a Given and a New.

That, positioned to the left is given and depicts the company’s CEO

communicating to an audience with a gaze that directs the viewer to its text

located on the right of the page: the new. The given is not introducing anything

new, and the assumption is that the reader can identify what, and who, the image

represents as a “given”. Directed to the New, it is here that the key, detailed

information lies; of the company’s growth performance and other current issues.

From a holistic perspective, there is a sense of connection between the two, in

terms of what they represent conceptually in the image, and textually in the

written. There is no overt connection, as colours are different and emphasised

through framing, separating the image from the text. The second page containing

the image of analysis offers a different polarized form, that of the Real and Ideal.

The Ideal is located at the top of the page within the title “Greenhouse gases:

Helping tackle climate change”. This represents the promise that the company

has made as a part of their sustainability plan; tackling the issue of climate

change. The Real, however, in this case the image of the model showering using a

Unilever product, represents a reality visualizing the Unilever product itself. This

provides factual information on “helping tackle climate change” that the viewer

can see and visualize themselves. This concept and composition of information

seems to be disconnected, as the Real does not necessarily reflect the Ideal in an

overt manner.

5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

5.1 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

To conclude from the analysis of the communicative appeals within the Ben &

Jerry’s SEARS report and the Unilever Sustainability plan, the identification of

the different discourses will help realize the true intentions behind each

literature that the companies provide to stakeholders, in order to communicate

their “Green Profile”. (Stiller, 1998).


30

The discourses within the SEARS report are of:

• Business

• Transparency

• Motivation

• Social & environmental change

Interestingly, the business discourse articulated in the report through text and

image of the CEO, does not prove strongest. The look on the viewer and

invitation into the CEO’s business perspective is minor, and somewhat

subordinate to metaphorical social and environmental change discourses, in

both text and image. These substantially contribute to the communication of a

caring, socially responsible enterprise and what is being done in the name of

remaining green. Both the textual and visual elements work in unison to

communicate their green performance and future, concocting an informal,

amicable and colourful brand character that their brand community could relate

to.

Transparency is communicated mainly through textual means, as CEO and

company candidly acknowledge each goal not achieved, adding a degree of

honesty to each statement, and presenting itself as a “for-‐profit” corporation that

seemingly does not put profits first (Page & Katz, 2010).

No financial or complicated jargon or data is used as a communicative tactic,

making it possible for everyman, both the young and the old to comfortably

understand. The only thing that brings a question, is why the report is not

available on the UK website as on the US site. There are only a few paragraphs

briefly describing their sustainable responsibility, yet no call for a revolution

(www.benjerry.co.uk/values/issues-‐we-‐care-‐about/climate-‐justice).

Its presence could have helped expose the sustainable presentation of the brand

to the UK audience, allowing perceptions of this to thrive globally. In addition,

the contents of the CEO letter has now been reduced considerably on the US

website and even totally removed from the UK, subtracting yet another personal

aspect from each website, disconnecting viewer and content both domestically

and internationally.


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This shows that Ben & Jerry’s “iconic status as a socially progressive brand” is

diluting through the progression of this report within its own domestic market

and that of abroad, perhaps as a result of its acquisition (Page & Katz, 2010).

Discourses articulated through Unilever’s focus on:

• Leadership

• CSR

• Growth

• Intention

Leadership established through textual declarations of their global market

ranking and dominance is incorporated into its statements on performance and

plans for the future. Most of these statements of green planning and

sustainability are served up with a side-‐order of economic consideration,

expressing how each plan will benefit the company’s performance, and less on

the future of the world and the environment.

Intention and Growth is communicated through the organization of text. Small

“bubbles” of tasks, performance and goals resonates professionalism, whereby

knowledge is visualized as separate and disconnected issues to be strategically

dealt with, one-‐by-‐one.

This strategic, corporate perspective of the company’s sustainability plan,

delivers a very promising and attractive visual image of the company’s business

processes. However, in each “bubble”, there are many textual indications of a

lack of significant progress.

The covert discourse that becomes clear in conclusion of our analysis, is one of

CSR and advertising. Both the CEO portrait and image contain connotative

meaning, presenting the company in favourable light; a desirable representation

that could attract certain, financially oriented stakeholders. The structure and

layout of this report resembles that of many other corporate magazines and

sustainability reports, with no specific differential tactic used to induce action in

the reader. This communicates a CSR theme in a PR product setting,

simultaneously reassuring its reader of the company’s goodwill, and its concern

for the communities around them. This is once again reflected in the formal use


32

of language, terms and jargon associated with an area of expertise that may not

be fully appreciated by those with no prior knowledge of business.

This could be due to Unilever’s formal, corporate approach to business,

indicating the purpose behind the creation of this report; to sell and

communicate an image of a Leader clearly focused on the financial bottom line

(Page & Katz, 2010).

5.2 CONCLUSION

“In business communication, the interest in audience has focused on the ability of

corporate communicators to influence consumer behavior through effective

marketing communication – with the objective of increasing corporate profitability

in the interests of the owners and stakeholders”

(Shroeder, 2001)

In contrast, the discourses produced in the SEARS report offer substance to

brand communities who are passionate about the Ben & Jerry’s brand identity,

and offer initiatives to fight for social and environmental change.

The community that may react to the Sustainability Plan would be more within

the investor or shareholder category, with clarifications of financial and business

welfare and growth, whilst remaining sustainably responsible.

The SEARS report clearly communicates the Green and Social brand identity, its

founders actively chose, proving a lack of cohesiveness of communicative

objectives between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company. Deductions from the

results of the project questionnaire unfortunately show that Ben & Jerry’s

“Green” identity is not interpreted by the US and the UK. In fact, showing that

this generation of consumers do not characterize and associate the company as a

social enterprise, but associate the brand with its products and character

instead. This validates suggestions that the Unique Selling Proposition of the

founder’s values, are not being communicated effectively to consumers, neither

on their own turf, nor in the UK. Perhaps the USP’s purpose, which once

differentiated Ben & Jerry’s in the ice cream market has now shifted, becoming a

promotional/ commercial proposition rather than an actual identity or value.


33

Each tub of ice cream carries the Fairtrade sticker; yet most participants in the

US and UK remained oblivious to it. In fact the majority do not even actively seek

out eco-‐friendly labels. They admitted to not being exposed to Ben & Jerry’s

Green profile and 3-‐part mission, despite choosing in-‐store packaging as the

medium by which they had most exposure to the brand as a product. This could

question the effectiveness of Ben & Jerry’s choice of packaging design, as a way

to communicate their “greenness”.

Included in the questionnaire is an investigation into the perception of the

Häagen Dazs ice cream brand to gain insight into how a key competitor is

perceived. In fact, when asked to name the first ice cream brand they could

recall, UK participants named Häagen Dazs at only a 5% difference than Ben &

Jerry’s. When asked to name an American ice cream brand, Ben & Jerry’s

dominated UK perceptions, with Häagen Dazs only mentioned a few times. In

fact, the competitor was not even mentioned by US participants, validating the

effectiveness of Häagen Dazs global brand strategy: to disguise it’s true

nationality through symbol creation of Europe and purity

(www.haagendazs.com/Learn/Philosophy/). This perception was received in

both UK and US markets as many associated the brand “as a product or symbol”.

From the questionnaire it seems clear that Ben & Jerry’s Green profile and 3-‐part

mission are not, currently understood within the US and the UK. Despite its

strategy to communicate brand identity and values, and including eco-‐labels on

their actual product, the company is most recognised by its product flavours and

personality. From the analysis of the SEARS report, its availability and

informality, it is clear that the company fights for, and believes in social and

environmental change, but the effectiveness of communicating this, proves

ineffective in their own home and internationally, under the Unilever umbrella.

Could this indicate perhaps that Unilever are taking Ben & Jerry’s former brand

presentation and identity for granted, thus neglecting its nurturing and

translation within global context?

It could support post acquisition rumours, that Unilever have influenced a shift

of values towards economic growth by de-‐emphasising its social mission in the

process (Page & Katz, 2010). According to De Chernatony (2001) cited in


34

Robichaud, Richelieu & Kozak (2012), the identity of a brand is forged from

within an organization and this internal brand building fosters a coherence

between brand identity and its expression as an organization (Robichaud,

Richelieu & Kozak, 2012). This leads to the assumption that perhaps, the once

darling proponents of the social enterprise inside the company, have changed; as

Ben & Jerry’s is no longer able to project their iconic status as a socially

progressive brand in the same light as before it’s take over (Page & Katz, 2010).

The brand iceberg separating the visible and invisible parts of their brand

identity are melting, with the invisible part being transformed as Unilever bring

their own employees in and integrate new policies (Bianchi, 2011). It could be

that their invisible “green” culture is being diluted and dissolving into the visible,

treated as a commercial marketing advantage only, because those now in charge

feel the market pressure to preserve the company’s former qualities and

activities that consumers came to support, as the “eco-‐trend” becomes more

popular and mainstream (Page & Katz, 2010).

To conclude, both analysis and questionnaire provide key evidence to support

suggestions of Unilever’s dilution of Ben & Jerry’s shade of green, both in

translations across international borders and maintenance in the US. Perceptions

of the unique brand on both sides of the Atlantic reflect only the commercial

representation of the brand, and no longer their values prioritising its 3-‐part

mission with its emphasis on social and environmental change.

Unilever, who’s communication of their sustainability plan is anchored in their

economic welfare, appear not to be a company who can transport and maintain a

value led company globally, rendering it mainstream and less impactful amongst

competition; or it might just be that simply no social enterprise can thrive in

terms of growth in a wider, global market. The preference of other brands to that

of Ben & Jerry’s among the UK audience, could simply be because the Unique

Selling Preposition that once made the company stand out so much, has become

lost amongst other goals and hopes for the company’s growth within global

markets. This USP is what fed life into Ben & Jerry’s brand communities, and if

this is no longer maintained, will starve the brand equity of the strength and

support which these communities can create. It dilutes the brands


35

equity/integrity in terms of what its founders believed made their company and

product superior (Haggin, 1994).

Could Ben & Jerry’s be the destiny for any company that chooses to pursue a

Green brand identity, to ultimately see it used as a commercial tool rather than

as an identity or lifestyle in the face of financial survival?

Has being green become a trend in society today, whereby companies choose to

view it as a way to add an attractive gloss to their image? Or can it survive as a

tradition that companies diffuse throughout the company, a value to influence

and change the future of society?

Ultimately are they telling or just selling?


36

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