Vol 39, No 2 (2020)

This article, informed by framing theory, uses qualitative content analysis to analyse the Economic
Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) discourses on race and social inequalities through social media and live
parliamentary debates in South Africa. The article reveals that protest and provocative political
statements by EFF members attract audience and media attention, and reinforce their political
agenda. Political personalities communicate their message effectively on social media and influence
audiences’ perception through protestation. The well-known framing theory by the traditional
mass media has been exceeded by that of social media where politicians radically engage their
audiences. This paper reveals that the populist political style has much impact on social media,
where political actors interact directly with audiences.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to ascertain the relationship between corporate storytelling
for branding and internal stakeholders’ perceptions of the corporate brand. The paucity of existing
knowledge found in reviewing a variety of literature sources relating to corporate brand storytelling
spurred the authors into carry out the research. The link between themes and elements of corporate
stories for branding and strategies for impression management indicates that these elements
relate to audiences’ perceptions of the corporate brand. From the literature review, there is a link
between elements of corporate stories for branding (such as corporate personalities, corporate
activities, corporate values, and corporate associations) and internal stakeholders’ perceptions
and emotional attachment to a corporate brand. Corporate management needs to actively involve
internal stakeholders in developing corporate stories for branding as this is crucial in creating
positive corporate brand perceptions. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by allowing
listed corporates to maximise the effectiveness of their corporate stories for branding in shaping
the internal stakeholders’ corporate brand perceptions. The paper suggests a conceptual model
for depicting the relationship between corporate storytelling for branding and internal stakeholders’
corporate brand perceptions.

Small business branding is a relatively nascent field of research, and incontrovertible evidence
exists that little information on the subject has come from developing regions like Africa. Informed by
the knowledge gap, this study explored entrepreneur brand orientation and consumers’ perceptions
of their brand positioning. The research was conducted in Mafikeng, North West Province of
South Africa. Using qualitative methodology, three entrepreneurs were interviewed and their brand
orientation – in terms of understanding and disposition towards branding including positioning
strategy they adopt – was explored. Also, two focus group sessions were held with consumers to
probe their perceptions of participating SMEs’ brand positioning. As per value for the scholarship, it
emerged that the entrepreneurs’ brand orientation was low, resulting in low brand distinctiveness.
The focus group sessions corroborated the low brand orientation finding because discussants’
familiarity with and knowledge of the SMEs was almost non-existent, a situation discussants
attributed to poor branding and communication. This finding prompted recommendations for
entrepreneurs, policymakers and scholarship.

New media technologies and social networks have not only opened up spaces for civic engagement
and democratic participation, but have also offered alternative sites for the proliferation and
circulation of racist, homophobic and xenophobic sentiment. This article draws on Ahmed’s idea
of “affective economies” and Ekman’s (2019) notion of “affective publics” to investigate how white
supremacist groups in South Africa have used social media to express racist views, attitudes and
sentiments. The internet in general and social networks in particular are based on a libertarian
logic that emphasises freedom of speech at the expense of the rights of minorities whose views
may not meet the required algorithmic thresholds of specific social media sites. While governments
around the world have put in place laws to deal with overt racism and hate speech, online platforms
remain new battlegrounds for the articulation of racist views and sentiments. The findings of the
study show that white supremacist groups in South Africa use social media as a platform to recontextualise
and re-mediate topical issues in South African society and ramp up group solidarity
by circulating racist views that undermine and de-legitimise the ruling party (the African National
Congress) and its policies.