Abstract

It is a sad truth that despite all the social and technological advancements in our world today, child slave labor still exists in the chocolate industry. In this study I selected the social entrepreneurship organization Tony’s Chocolonely, whose mission is both to raise awareness about the issue of child slave labor in the chocolate industry and to sell their chocolate. The purpose of this study was to analyze three news messages on Tony’s website through the lens of the four identificational appeals in order determine which were most utilized. Of the four identificational appeals, I found the antithetical appeal was most present, as slave labor was presented as the enemy time and time again throughout each news message. The explicit appeal was the second most utilized as it created the opportunity of an overt interest for readers regarding the mission of working together to end slave labor. Importantly, the appeals implicit and corporate logos were not as utilized in each of the three news messages as the first two appeals. Along with the analysis of the four identificational appeals in order to determine how Tony’s appeals to their readers, I also examine the elements of font, color selection and word choice in each of the news messages.

Advisor

Bostdorff, Denise

Department

Communication Studies

Disciplines

Rhetoric

Keywords

social entrepreneurship, B corporation, slave labor, identification, identity

Publication Date

2023

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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