Identifying Human Values Reflected in "Digitoral" Marketing Campaigns

Abstract

This research describes psychological values as they appear in social commerce related online marketing campaigns. Values are studied by their functional roles, which is what they do, rather than what they are (Gouveia, Milfont, & Guerra, 2014). According to the functional theory of values, values guide actions and express needs. Marketing campaigns and values are explored because both marketing and values seek to guide actions and express needs. Exploring this calls for a qualitative study using content analysis. This research conducts two content analysis studies to verify accuracy. The first uses an open coding method, and the second uses a qualitative deductive analysis approach. The results retrieved throughout both studies use different word codes, but when listed together indicate that insightfulness, knowledge, and social support show the highest frequency and co-occurrence. Both studies also show that digitoral marketing campaigns rely much more on thriving needs than survival needs. Both studies confirmed, however, that survival needs are mostly expressed through displays of power, obedience, personal stability, and survival.