Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 1-1-2017 Integrated Marketing Communication as Epideictic Rhetoric and Its Implications for Ethical Branding Tricia McFadden Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the Marketing Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation McFadden, T. (2017). Integrated Marketing Communication as Epideictic Rhetoric and Its Implications for Ethical Branding (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/239 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION AS EPIDEICTIC RHETORIC AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ETHICAL BRANDING A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Tricia Giannone McFadden December 2017 Copyright by Tricia Giannone McFadden 2017 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION AS EPIDEICTIC RHETORIC AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ETHICAL BRANDING By Tricia Giannone McFadden Approved November 3, 2017 ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Janie Harden Fritz Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Professor Professor (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ Dr. Richard Thames Assistant Professor (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. James Swindal Dr. Ronald C. Arnett Dean, McAnulty College and Graduate Chair, Communication and Rhetorical School Studies iii ABSTRACT INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION AS EPIDEICTIC RHETORIC AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ETHICAL BRANDING By Tricia Giannone McFadden December 2017 Dissertation supervised by Dr. Janie Harden Fritz Traced to ancient scholarship, rhetoric, and the philosophy of communication and through interpretive perspectives, rhetoric, narrative and ethics have been established grounding of communication and social structures. IMC has emerged as a contemporary genre of epideictic rhetoric with ethical obligations to our postmodern polis. Through the redefining of the branding metaphor within an ethical, grounded and narrative framework, the focus on ethos and connection to the audience through Schrag’s “fitting response” may combat the previous challenges of narrative and marketing and its deconstructive effects. IMC as communicative praxis engages branding discourse in action with texture as the bonding agent between the brand and audience, thereby, opening a dialogue to conduct IMC within an ethical framework in a dynamic global marketplace. iv DEDICATION For my mother, Virginia “Ginny” Giannone, the one whose example in life and faith still guides me today – even from the Heavens. Believe. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank Duquesne University’s Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies for this enriching journey. Through the guidance, support, and wisdom of my mentors, Dr. Ronald C. Arnett, Dr. Janie Harden Fritz, Dr. Richard Thames, and Dr. Calvin Troup, I have arrived at this point a changed person with true appreciation of the discipline, praxis-oriented scholarship and teaching, and the humanities in the marketplace. Thank you. Dr. Janie Harden Fritz, words cannot express my appreciation for you, your dedication, and your continued faith in me. Without this program, without my mentors, and without grounding in philosophy and theory, I would not be the person or teacher that I am today. Learning is a blessed gift. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...……iv Dedication………………………………………………………………………………....v Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..vi Chapter 1: Schrag’s Interpretive Lens……………………………………………...…1 Chapter 2: Origin & Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)…...26 Chapter 3: IMC as Epideictic Rhetoric………………………………………………51 Chapter 4: Narrative and IMC……………………………………………………….72 Chapter 5: Postmodern IMC in an International Marketplace……………………….91 Chapter 6: IMC within Ethical Frameworks……………………………………….112 Chapter 7: Implications for Teaching IMC from a Humanities Perspective……….122 Works Cited …………………………………………………………………………..146 vii “By speaking of communication as a mode of human existence I mean that in our speaking and listening and in our writing and responding we to a great measure constitute the beings that we are. One could speak of this as the ontological dimension of communication. It is through communication that we become who we are.” -Calvin O. Schrag viii Chapter 1: Schrag’s Interpretive Lens “The interwovenness of communicative praxis is an interweaving of discourse and action, language and nondiscursive practices, speech and perception, yielding a holistic space of expressive intentionality.” -Calvin O. Schrag This work originates out of an interest in Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), Communication Ethics in the Public Sphere, Rhetoric and Narrative. A professional background in marketing and continuing admiration for the words of Aristotle, Calvin O. Schrag and Walter Fisher inform my entrance into the conversation. This dissertation calls upon Schrag’s communicative praxis as a constructive hermeneutic framework and embraces the work of Fisher’s notion of narrative. The ethical challenges of IMC are predominantly discussed through either a personal experience perspective or through a critical literature approach. The personal experience approach commonly reflects the metaphors of “deceit,” “suspicion” and “spin.” For example, a consumer is disgruntled by a brand’s claims of a product that did not meet his/her expectations or feels that the product was falsely marketed. The consumer forms a negative perception of the product and/or brand that inhibits future communication and trust between the brand and consumer and, quite possibly, creates negative word-of-mouth public relations. It is also important to consider that practitioners leave the profession for ethical reasons. Such situations position deceitful practices in the field against one’s own conscience and “traditional” moral standards. Through the critical literature approach, the focus turns to the “good-bad” dichotomy of traditional business. The “good” view is that IMC works as a part of the 1 capitalist economy; thus, promoting healthy markets through the branding, marketing and selling of goods and services. Sut Jhally argues advertising and marketing as the most powerful and systematic storyteller of propaganda in our culture. Such commercial discourse is “the ground on which we live, the space in which we learn to think, the lens through which we come to understand the world that surrounds us” (3). Jhally argues that this dominant system fueled by economic growth and the very consumer culture that it has nourished is destroying society. Both perspectives contribute discussion to the ethical challenges facing this evolving new philosophy of marketing and branding. Each provides an external approach to the interpretation of the processes and outcomes of IMC practices towards the audience –one at the micro level and the other at the macro level. The personal perspective connects IMC to how it affects “me,” while the critical approach opens up the discussion to how IMC affects the marketplace as a whole. Both perspectives add to the overall conversation regarding the ethical challenges of IMC from audience-focused approaches, but what about the voices within—looking from the inside out to address the ethical challenges of IMC? By transcending the personal and critical perspectives, this project will focus on perspectives involving IMC and branding practitioners and organizations involved in the internal workings of IMC in today’s marketplace. How can an organization develop and practice a redefining of branding within an narrative and ethical IMC approach in a dynamic, contested marketplace that from the start is marked with cynicism and suspicion? 2 Working from a constructive view of IMC as a form of epideictic rhetoric, rather than the more traditional deliberative perspective, this project will explore ways to conduct epideictic IMC and branding within an ethical framework, while engaging and contributing epideictic commonplaces. IMC has by this nature a rhetorical calling forth of more than just a target audience; the ethical and rhetorical embeddedness demands attention to a truly pivotal role that IMC plays in society. Among rhetorical theorists, particularly Aristotle and Heidegger, rhetoric is “something that can ‘move,’ and thereby advance, the moral consciousness and conduct of people. Rhetoric plays a crucial role in articulation of civic virtue and morality; it is evocative; it calls” (Hyde 256). The marketing messages are not just promoting a product; the persuasiveness and lure are appeals to deeper lifestyle, cultural and socio-political messages and a “who are we” picture. IMC functions as a type of evocation that demonstrates a “showing forth” (epideixis). The rhetorical characteristics are existential connections into everyday life, where human life is impacted. Rhetorical appeals to the foundations and dimensions of human experience in terms of truth, beauty, goodness and unity are commonly embedded metaphors. According to Calvin O. Schrag, “discourse and