Relationship advertising: How advertising can enhance social bonds

Social critics and scholars have disparaged advertising for its role in negatively influencing social relations in American society. This paper suggests the contrary. Advertising can potentially reflect positive social relations among people, enhance social bonds, and ideally, inspire positive value exchange between consumers and producers. To support this argument, the case study presented here offers qualitative research that investigated consumer home use of a prepared soup brand. Ethnographic research led to insights into the creative use of soup among women and the joyful connections it fostered among family members eating prepared meals together. The positive value of consumer–brand relationships discovered by qualitative research, ultimately helped produce a successful advertising campaign that reflected positive social bonds among consumers.