Words and Actions

We recorded this episode in September 2019, when Britain was still part of the European Union and the Brexit debate was in full swing. At the beginning of the episode, we talk about a contribution to a debate in the British House of Commons that started with a story. The transcript can be found on our website: wordsandactions.blog.  We then discuss how people relate life events, such as a divorce,...

Please visit our website at wordsandactions.blog where you can find more data analysis, glossary and the complete transcript. In the first part of this episode, we introduce different types of crisis as well as communication strategies to deal with them. Two central readings here are: Benoit, W. L. (1997). Image repair discourse and crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 23(2), 177-187.  C...

In the first part of the episode, we introduce the topic of customers talking back, starting with the Stop Funding Hate campaign, which lobbies companies not to place advertisements in divisive British newspapers. Information about the campaign is available on their website https://stopfundinghate.info/ . We also mention the example of fake reviews of gendered Bic pens on Amazon as a form of custo...

In this episode we bring in the know-how of a politeness expert, we get practical insights from a seasoned consultant and we get an interesting visit from a kangaroo on a unicycle. Each in their own way, these guests show the importance of different aspects of language in sustaining healthy customer relationships, ranging from language choice, over politeness issues to bonding through creativity,...

Why is it that many commercial spots on fragrances and cosmetics resort to French words or French accents? How come that 'The Gates of Mordor' sounds more frightening than 'The Gates of Mirdir' and why is that a New York-based ice-cream maker decided to go for a Scandinavian sounding brand name? Find out more about the impact and use of language in and on branding and advertising in our third epis...

In this episode the hosts talk about  how communication and language actually create our social realities; how they influence or even determine how we perceive what we think is true, and how language is used by others to mould or even manipulate our perceptions of reality. They demonstrate the power of language in psychology experiments, inflated job titles and the wording of business letters. Our...

  In this first episode, the three hosts discuss how language matters in business and show how communication, far from just passing on information, is used for many different functions in organisations. Their guest is Michael Handford,who has taught communication skills to and developed training materials for professionals in a variety of industries. They talk about communication textbooks and the...

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