Ethics of the word and the language of negotiations

The article discusses the language of negotiations, which as a rule is expected to convey distorted information, conceal the speaker’s true agenda, and let him or her exploit the weaknesses of the interlocutor. Such communication behaviours are praised as negotiating skills, even if in regular contexts they are considered unethical. The only  justification for the so-called negotiating lies can be provided by viewing negotiations as a process that partly takes place in the world of fiction. In the article, negotiations are thus compared to a game and to a theatrical play. In neither instance is the analogy complete but – remembering that negotiators purposely act the roles assigned to them in the script and given the high importance placed on the acting skills – it is more warranted to refer to negotiations as a theatrical play rather than a game.

More than thousand words. Persuasive function of iconic elements

The article is dealing with the problem of multimodal messages with persuasive function. It is concentrated on the role of iconic elements, and more specifically – photographs, in persuasion. The weekly „Polityka” was the source of examples. The analysis of the four examples shows that photographs not only attract attention and affect emotions but co-create and strengthen argumentation as well.

What the costume says? Idea, ethics, fashion – chosen Hamlet’s images in Polish Contemporary Theatre

The analysis presents a few selected important Polish theatre interpretations of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, realized during last twenty years by Krzysztof Warlikowski, Jan Klata, Radosław Rychcik and Krzysztof Garbaczewski. The main issue is to show how director’s interpretation and ideas are manifested in the costumes and creation of Hamlet’s character in each performance. And the other way around – how visual part of presenting each Hamlet expresses main trends in interpreting classics in Polish contemporary theatre in general.

The “identity media” narrative and the attitudes towards the Other. The social dilemma and the research problem

The concept of the so-called identity media does change the role and obligations of the journalism in democracy, and proposes the closed-off version of patriotism as the opposition to the multicultural world. It also imposes the defensive, distrustful attitude towards the Other. Different iterations of this concept make it the dangerous social phenomenon, but also constitute the interesting research problem. The role of this short article is the introduction to ensuing three bigger publications, dealing with the issue from different points of view.

Ideological identity narratives in the media – informative dimension and economic consequences

The growing number of media, not only in Poland, depart from the traditional ways of functioning, leaving the positions of guardians for democratic values and becoming more engaged into ideological identity positions. Roles related to providing information and „translating the world” for the recipients in an honest and detailed way change into building a community of users who agree with one vision of reality. This leads to media radicalization and ideologisation of truth and negatively affects the position of the media as a source of objective information. As a result, even those recipients who try to get their opinions on specific issuesusing different sources are unable to build a rational view over a particular problem, because media narratives are mutually exclusive. Over time, such situation has also gained a specific economic dimension.

Wojciech Tochman – refugee’s social spokesman. Netnographic analysis

The article is about refugees in the Polish Internet media. The first part is about refugee crisis in Europe. Further, the author presents the results of new media analysis focused on the refugee image in information. This is an explanation of three narrations – two dominating(dehumanization and demonization) and one marginal. The second part is about Polish journalist Wojciech Tochman who represents the marginal narration. He uses his Facebook profile as a tool for supporting refugees’ case. The reporter plays a role of refugees’ social spokesman. This article presents netnographic analysis of his activities on Facebook.

Outfit patriotism or how to love the fatherland living in the global village

In the age of mediatisation and commercialization, contemporary social memory is composed not of dates and historical facts but of visual identification, slogans and beams of values, so the components of popular brands which stimulate our consumable attitudes. As a result, the symbols of Polish Resistance Movement during World War II move  from historical and commemorative sphere to the sphere of pop culture. They appear on T-shirts, tattoos, murals, social media profiles and political banners and are used to clarify the present day through the prism of the past, to articulate citizens’ ideas, concerns and affinities. Some publicists call this phenomenon ’the outfit patriotism’ but in the meantime the academics keep the distance to the new memory techniques and forms explaining that common manifestation of national symbols and real interest in history are disconnected. They anxiously observe appropriating Polish symbols by nationalistic groups and recognize on T-shirts etc. not fashion, just tribal expression, the return to blinkered, stereotypical communication. The author of this article focuses on the grounds of outfit patriotism phenomenon and wonders whether it may become an instrument of social exclusion.

„Political Review” in the years 1989–2000. Part 2. Liberal revolution

The article describes the liberal concepts presented in the „Political Review” against the background of political changes at the turn of the 80s and 90s. It discusses how the magazine patronized the liberal revolution in Poland, promoted and developed the concepts of ordo liberalism, tried to create its own catalogue of liberal values. The text attempts to answer the question as to how much the „Review” was a party organ, and how much it was an independent magazine and a place of liberal debate. The text also describes the process of building a political environment by Gdansk liberals, starting from the integration of all political and economic initiatives, the organization of the Liberal Congress, and ending with the creation of the Liberal Democratic Congress, and then the Freedom Union.

‛And sometimes laughter may be science too’. Polish interwar politics in ‛Mucha’ satirical magazine

From the very beginning of its literary form, satire was strongly associated with politics. In a stormy interwar period the genre became extraordinarily popular in Poland, and the most popular way to propagate it were humour and satire magazines. The one most recognizable in the eyes of the public was the Warsaw periodical ‘Mucha’ that eagerly commented the reality with unparalleled wit and literary zeal.

In the twenty-first century, competition on the sales market is as high as never before. Advertising messages reach us through almost every communication channel – newspapers, TV, or of course the largest one – the Internet. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that the largest brands are looking for new, unprecedented ways to reach their customers’ minds. Due to the fact that competition is increasing and thus the requirements of consumers are becoming higher, corporation owners often use unusual solutions for building not only advertising messages, but also for creating the vision of their brands.

One of such solutions, referred to in the following article, is the concept of the existence of so-called „Love Mark”, or brands, whose marketing activities are based on building an emotional connection with their recipients. It is extremely important that the communication of the largest corporations very often responds not to the needs of consumers but  to their deeply hidden desires. „The needs are relatively easy to satisfy. (...) Desires, on the other hand, are bottomless. The more awakened, the bigger they are and the more we are able to pay for their satisfaction. „ The following article highlights a series of emotions that have a direct impact on the formation of deep feelings. On the other hand, feelings are responsible for adhering to specific brands and building specific relations between the company and its recipient. As it comes from researches, very often consumers under the influence of these feelings personify brands, giving them human character traits. It is a matter of fact that these emotional ties become even more real.

Using as an example brands such as Starbucks or Cola Cola, we can notice the differences that separate a traditional company from „Love Mark” and we are able to see how brands create their vision in the recipients’ minds. All of the marketing activities depend on customers. The best marketers on the market know very well that „in 87% of  urchases, emotions influence the cognitive and decision-making processes undertaken by consumers” and they use it in a skilful manner.

The use of ambient marketing in the promotion of films and series

The film industry does not exist today without extensive marketing activities based on non-standard solutions. The article presents the ways in which the film industry uses activities from the borderline of art and marketing activities, based mainly on the shock of recipients, to the promotion of films and series from the horror genre. The article presents relationships between various art forms (e.g. site-specific) and phenomena from the field of marketing communication (e.g. guerrilla marketing, ambient marketing). The basis for the conclusions is the analysis of information about the subject of the study (the so-called desk research method) and the review of the literature related to the studied issues.