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This study aims to investigate how the open discussion of infertility-related topics on public social media platforms contributes to the well-being of individuals affected by infertility.

For this study, the authors used a netnographic approach to analyze 69 YouTube videos (>21 h of raw data) produced by infertility vloggers and more than 40,000 user comments.

The authors identify two ways in which infertility patients benefit from public discussions of the topic on social media: through watching videos and engaging in discussions, patients satisfy their infertility-related needs (i.e. the need for information, emotional support and experience sharing); and through reaching people who are not affected by infertility, vloggers help to de-taboo the issue as well as sensitize and educate society.

To providers of tabooed services, this study’s findings emphasize the potential of incorporating social media in the consumer support strategy.

This research highlights the value of the public discussion of infertility-related topics on social media platforms for consumers affected by the issue.

In this study, the public discussion of infertility-related topics through video blogs is presented as a valuable tool to enhance the well-being of individuals confronted with infertility as these vlogs satisfy related needs of the consumers and contribute to de-tabooing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of advertising variation and repetition strategies in the context of communicating about social issues in least developed countries (LDCs).

Study 1 used a between-subjects experimental study using 106 students which were exposed to either the varied advertising condition (a negative appeal followed by a positive appeal or vice versa) or repetition condition (two negative appeals). In Study 2, a total of 111 students from Tilburg University and 95 students from Addis Ababa University participated in the study. A random ordering of experimental envelopes assigned the students to one of the following message order conditions (negative appeal–positive appeal, negative appeal–negative appeal, positive appeal–positive appeal and positive appeal–negative appeal).

Study 1 shows that for many social issues, an advertising variation strategy (a negative appeal followed by a positive appeal) is more effective than an advertising repetition strategy (two negative appeals) in terms of recall. Study 2 builds on these findings by differentiating between taboo and non-taboo issues. This distinction is important because many social issues, such as HIV, domestic violence and child abuse, for instance, are taboo in LDCs. Interestingly, the findings of Study 1 are reproduced for non-taboo issues but not for taboo issues. If an issue is a conversational taboo in a certain culture, then an advertising repetition strategy that only uses positive appeals is more effective than an advertising variation strategy.

The use of students as participants may be a limitation of both studies. Because the reactions of students to specific message appeals may be age-related, concerns regarding the generalizability of the findings are justified.

Overall, the results of this paper provide useful information to social advertisers on when and how to use different types of advertising strategies in LDCs.

This paper aims to investigate the experience of darkness on people’s evaluation of humorous taboo-themed ads and their willingness to share these ads digitally with others.

Multiple studies are conducted to demonstrate the connection between darkness and humor. Another experiment was conducted to investigate people’s willingness to share taboo-themed ads.

The results demonstrate that people in dark settings (vs light) found controversial, taboo-themed ads to be more humorous. Three studies demonstrate that people in the dark (vs light) condition found taboo-themed ads to be more humorous. More importantly, despite finding taboo-themed ads to be more humorous, people in dark settings (vs light) were less inclined to share these ads on social media platforms.

When using humorous taboo-themed ads, advertisers are encouraged to show these ads in dark settings. If the physical environment is uncontrollable, marketers may still benefit by cueing consumers about darkness (e.g. through their products) or reminding them of nightly activities which may also yield similar effects. However, the cautionary tale is that, although people in the dark may enjoy these ads, they may not be willing to share it with others.

Marketers utilize taboo-themed ads to increase consumer interest. Despite its controversial content, darkness enhances people’s evaluation toward these taboo-themed ads. However, if one of the goals of advertisers is to create an ad that is amenable to sharing, developing a humorous taboo-themed ad may not be the most rewarding strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature of taboo imagery in advertising by drawing on cognate disciplines to build a conceptual framework and identify the characteristics of taboo‐challenging advertisements and the audiences who react to them.

Data collected by 22 in‐depth individual qualitative interviews in Morocco and France were subjected to two‐stage formal content analysis.

This study reveals the importance of normative social influence, the properties of the taboo, contagion from the content of the ad to the brand and to customers, and ambivalent emotional reactions. The valence and the intensity of the responses to such advertising depend on personal, interpersonal and situational factors.

The conclusions are based on findings from a relatively small number of respondents reacting to one type of taboo only, but they offer a useful theoretical framework and an empirical basis for future research on the communication effects and effectiveness of taboo in advertising.

The study offers advertisers a better understanding of the factors and processes likely to influence consumers' reactions to the strategy of invoking taboo themes in advertising campaigns, with positive implications in terms of audience segmentation and media selection.

Despite the prevalence of “taboo advertising”, little research‐based analysis has so far been available to academics or practitioners.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

This paper aims to extend social entrepreneurship theory by investigating the darker sides of innovation and enterprise. Entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship theories regarding shifting equilibriums are considered alongside other traditions. This research presents how individuals see enterprises as dark and light and discusses how such perceptions are important to building emerging theories of light and dark social entrepreneurship.

The study uses a survey of public perceptions (n = 631) regarding the social and economic impact of a total of 15 different enterprises to create a map of the darker variations of enterprises. An 11-point scale was used to evaluate perceived impact.

The mapping of each enterprise on a coordinate plane resulted in four thematic areas: traditional enterprises (light social, light economic), taboo enterprises (dark social, light economic), dark enterprises (dark social, dark economic) and alternative enterprises (light social, dark economic). Some enterprises crossed between the thematic areas.

This study opens up new directions for research on dark social entrepreneurship and research on enterprises that influence social equilibriums.

This study provides guidance for practitioners and policymakers to better understand phenomena such as dark, taboo and alternative enterprises and their nuances.

This study allows for a broader look at social entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise to better understand dark and light nuances. Similarities between the lighter and darker forms of enterprises are noted.

This study builds on dark entrepreneurship and dark social entrepreneurship theories and concepts using empirical methods.

This chapter explores theory and local context of socially constructed pandemic fears during COVID-19; how material and non-material fear objects are construed, interpreted and understood by communities, and how fears disrupt social norms and influence pandemic behavioural responses. We aimed to understand the lived experiences of pandemic-induced fears in socioculturally diverse communities in eastern Indonesia in the context of onto-epistemological disjunctures between biomedically derived public health interventions, local world views and causal-remedial explanations for the crisis. Ethnographic research conducted among several communities in East Nusa Tenggara province in Indonesia provided the data and analyses presented in this chapter, delineating the extent to which fear played a decisive role in both internal, felt experience and social relations. Results illustrate how fear emotions are constructed and acted upon during times of crisis, arising from misinformation, rumour, socioreligious influence, long-standing tradition and community understandings of modernity, power and biomedicine. The chapter outlines several sociological theories on fear and emotion and interrogates a post-pandemic future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine two interventions toward women’s empowerment in Bangladesh – formal employment and microfinance, and to highlight two case studies supporting these interventions.

This interpretive-evaluative inquiry of the state of employment and microfinance as important interventions in women’s empowerment in Bangladesh is based on both primary and secondary sources. Theoretical insights and empirical evidence from previous research along with data from various sources inform the arguments.

Bangladeshi women are making steady progress toward empowerment through a gradual increase in female participation in the workforce, especially in the ready-made garment manufacturing sector. The expanding microfinance arena has also been providing a growing number of women the opportunity to undertake productive small-scale business ventures that also provide informal employment to unemployed women in rural areas. However, social and cultural constraints and overt conservatism has been a daunting challenge for enterprising women and those in formal employment continue to suffer from discrimination, harassment and unfavorable working conditions.

The paper will be of value to both researchers and policy makers in Bangladesh as it seeks to relate two specific interventions toward women’s empowerment from a broad conceptual perspective and interpretive analysis.

This chapter focuses on the challenges that the Malaysian AIDS council (MAC) have been facing in creating the social awareness. Moreover, this chapter briefly discusses the HIV epidemic in Malaysian context. The harm reduction and prevention campaigns as well as the intervention programs taken by MAC are then highlighted. Finally, the challenges associated with implementing such programs are also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how hidden organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) manages the dialectical tension between concealment and revelation. Despite research on AA’s successes and failures across disciplines, scholars have not thoroughly uncovered how AA communicates internally and externally to maintain the desired level of the organizational visibility. AA’s visibility management is critical in terms of achieving the organizational goals of AA.

To capture how AA communicatively manages the visibility of the organization, the author attended and observed the World Meeting of AA. As a participant-observer, the author did ethnographic fieldwork at the World Meeting.

During the convention, various types of communication strategies AA used to maintain the dialectical tension of concealment/revelation as well as celebrate its international convention became apparent. In particular, AA responded the tension strategically by choosing segmentation, denial and education at the World Meeting.

The author’s observation was suitable to describe AA’s anonymous communication practices. Its empirical finding was valuable for future research.