Journal of Creative Communications

Social media plays a vital role in enhancing tourist satisfaction due to its ability to create pre- and post-travel experiences. As tourist destinations in Southeast Asia become more competitive, Thai tourism stakeholders mainly depend on various social media platforms to promote different destinations within the country. As destination attributes also play a role in tourist satisfaction, the attributes of a destination as a mediator between social media and tourism satisfaction have not been extensively studied in the Thai context; therefore, this study aims to examine the causal relationship between social media and tourist satisfaction. Through purposive sampling, a total of 418 tourists who had spent more than 3 days in Bangkok were selected for the study. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the suitability of the measurement model, and the latent variables were tested using the structural equation modelling (SEM) in order to identify the relationship. The ANOVA technique was used to compare between the genders, and the SEM technique was used to test the hypothesis. The study found that social media, destination attributes, and tourist satisfaction did not differ among different gender groups (male, female, LGBTQ+, not specific). The findings also showed that social media had an effect on tourist satisfaction (β = 0.34) and destination attributes (β = 0.31); moreover, destination attributes had an effect on tourist satisfaction (β = 0.34), and finally, social media had an effect on tourist satisfaction mediated by destination attributes (IE = 0.11). These findings underscore the importance of each dimension in capturing and representing various facets effectively.

Individuals are increasingly turning to health influencers on social media for advice about nutrition, exercise, wellness, and more. This study addressed the impacts of two mechanisms of social influence—source credibility and parasocial interaction—on intent to follow health influencers. An online experiment of 202 participants was conducted to compare a celebrity health influencer and a micro-celebrity health influencer on Instagram. Results showed the micro-influencer had higher source credibility and parasocial interaction. A mediation model detected an indirect relationship between influencer and intent to follow, with parasocial interaction as the mediator. This implies that health communicators who want to increase their social media followers feature down-to-earth influencers who inspire familiarity and desire to learn more about the influencer.

The media portrayal of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community may impact public understanding and attitudes towards this community, which has not been extensively studied. This article explores the media representation of gay men in commercials by presenting a visual discourse analysis of three Thai Boy Love commercials. Combining the visual representation framework of social actors and genre and functionality analysis, it examines (a) how the male protagonists are visually represented in relation to the audience from three symbolic dimensions and (b) how the salient patterns of presenting boy love commercials are integrated with the story’s narrative stages and genre functions. The findings suggest that the boys are primarily portrayed positively as inclusive, close, agentive and ordinary social members who feature soft masculinity. Nevertheless, such a generic and idealised representation romanticises gay relationships, diminishes the individuality of gay people and obscures the diversity within the gay community. The portrayal also prioritises the female gaze to cater to the core audience of heterosexual young women consumers. This article provides insights into the reciprocal relationship between public receptivity towards the LGBTQ community and their favourable visual representations in commercials.

This study examined the influence of brand personality on consumer–brand relationships, specifically brand love (BL) and brand hate (BH), and their subsequent impact on purchase intention, drawing from the balance theory of attitude change. It also investigated whether negative communication associated with a low-cost airline brand moderates these relationships, potentially increasing or decreasing purchase intention. Structural equation modelling and Hayes’s PROCESS macro were employed for analysis based on data from a survey of 200 Portuguese consumers. Results indicate that the selected dimensions of brand personality positively influence BL and negatively influence BH, while both BL and BH impact purchase intention. Additionally, ‘Bad’ communication was found to moderate the relationship between BL/BH and purchase intention. This research contributes to the branding literature by exploring these relationships within the airline service sector and underscores the significance of considering the impact of negative brand information on emotional consumer–brand relationships in this context.

This study evaluates responses from Facebook and X users in Australia concerning the attack of Mr Paul Dowsley, a 7News reporter, during the 2021 anti-lockdown and vaccine protests in Melbourne, Australia. Data for this study were taken from a mix of quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Facebook and X posts, comments and replies (N = 22,389) by Facebook and X users in Australia who responded to the attack of the 7News reporter. The qualitative content analysis categorised the responses into the following types: Validators, Invalidators, Intimidators and Accusers. Results from this study show that unlike Validators, Intimidators and Accusers, the Invalidators defended and supported the journalist as they criticised both the attackers and their supporters online. The Invalidators are those whose responses were contrite, supported the journalists in Australia and criticised the actions of the attackers who assaulted the 7News reporter as ‘vile behaviour’. The study shows that many Facebook and X users in Australia who responded to the violent attack invalidated the attack and discouraged threats and violence against journalists in Australia. Finally, implications of the results are discussed.

The article explores the sensemaking/sensegiving dimensions of emotion, temporality and materiality and their relevance in shaping individual and collective behaviour. The impact of COVID-19 with its multitude of conflicting messages relating to ‘considerate behaviour’, provides a backdrop to explore how sensemaking and persuasion in relation to sensegiving are critical components of public communication efforts. A case study interpretivist approach is used, drawing on the UK-focused regional ‘Thank You North East’ campaign. This is underpinned by semi-structured interviews with the planning and creative teams responsible for the campaign.

Evidence suggests that by recognising the human significance of these three dimensions of sensemaking, Aristotelian modes of persuasion (Pathos, Ethos, Logos and Kairos) can be made more meaningful. By focusing on ‘meaning-making’ as a form of persuasion, belonging and identification are encouraged, improving the perception of empathy within public health communication campaigns. The article provides a new interdisciplinary framework that synthesises scholarship from behaviour sciences, organisational studies and promotional communications and, as such, fills a literary gap where sensemaking in social marketing and communication is currently under-explored. It has further practical value, utilising insights from industry professionals to frame this new sensemaking model against creative execution.

This article examines the impact of visual complexity (V-complexity) (high/low) on consumer pleasure, arousal and purchase intention when exposed to food advertisements on Instagram. Initially, a manipulation check was performed by getting several Instagram food advertisements rated by 100 Instagram users based on V-complexity. Later, an online questionnaire link was sent to the respondents with pictures of advertisements with high and low V-complexity. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used on 215 usable responses with the use of the SMART-PLS software. The findings revealed that high levels of V-complexity generate arousal and pleasure and influence purchase intention. In contrast, low V-complexity doesn’t influence arousal and pleasure but affects purchase intention. This is the first study that explores the role of V-complexity in Instagram food advertising performed in a developing economy. This research also contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the V-complexity of social media food marketing.

Social media is an effective communication and information-sharing tool for tourism enterprises and organisations. Tourism marketing shall tap the growing popularity of social media and internet users, embracing a technological shift by optimising the potential of social media. This research study evaluates the academic journal articles related to social media in the tourism industry published on EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar academic databases from 2005 to 2022. The article adopts a content analysis approach to review the articles and to evaluate the present state of knowledge of social media marketing in academic literature. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is used for reporting and screening the review papers. The articles were coded and categorised under six major themes: Marketing, Destination experience/image, Tourism recovery, Smart tourism, Communication and Promotion. The research analysis has identified two major areas: (a) Travellers’/tourists’ Perspective which has a focus on their behavioural attitude and (b) Tourism Agencies’ Perspective which has a functional approach. Based on the review of the literature to give direction for further research, an improvised version of the definition for the term ‘social media’ with the inclusion of more specific terms in it has been proposed with theoretical and practical implications.