CORPORATIONS AS ENVIRONMENTALISTS - LEADING THE ECOLOGICAL DISCOURSE IN JAPAN THROUGH GREEN ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

The thesis argues that companies are striving to lead the environmental communication in Japan. Based on the argument, the study has been conducted to explore the content of corporate environmental communication in Japan with the objective of comprehending how a communication is manipulated to pursue leadership role. Two approaches were applied in the study namely the quantitative analysis and case studies analysis. In both approaches, the empirical evidence from the content analysis then underwent interpretation process that included the industrial and company perspectives. The discussion of the content is complemented with the perspectives of the producer of the content itself. The findings support the argument and the conclusion of the thesis elaborated in details how companies strategically use their environmental communication to demonstrate their competence in the subject matter and eventually secured their position as a leader in environmental discourse in Japan.