Malene Gram

Family Holidays. A Qualitative Analysis of Family Holiday Experiences

Family holidays are seen as breaks away from busy everyday lives. They are supposed to be a relief from stress and chores, giving time for recovery and rest in the pleasant companionship of the family, but it sometimes may turn out to be a challenge to combine needs and desires of the different members of the family: parents and children, mothers and fathers, young children and older children. Family holidays are not always all harmony and may generate stress and conflicts at times. But families also experience good moments. Some family holidays – or at least some situations in family holidays – are perceived as successful and just the way they were supposed to be. But what are these “good experiences” and “good moments” like? This article is about the special context of family holidays and the successful moments in the family holiday from the perspective of parents and children, based on an empirical analysis of 26 extensive interviews with German and Danish families and a literature review on family holidays. The good moments are perceived to be moments where all family members are content and happy, with no nagging or sulking, and in situations where the children are absorbed by activities, not necessarily with their parents.

Children as co‐decision makers in the family? The case of family holidays

Purpose – The aim of the article is to examine childrens role in family purchase decision making with a particular focus on how much impact children are perceived to have and in what ways children impact family decision making concerning holidays.Design/methodology/approach – Information was gathered from 26 in‐depth interviews with parents and children, telephone interviews with 800 Danish and 1,200 Germans, and questionnaires from 200 Danish and 200 German children.Findings – Results show that parents perceive children to have moderate impact on decision making. Children, on the contrary, think they have quite a high level of impact. Parents perceive themselves to have the decisive vote, but in this “decisive vote” parents take childrens manifestations and prior experiences with the children into account. Children do have significant impact in various ways through a broad array of techniques, directly and indirectly, consciously and unconsciously. Children vocalise their wishes, and parents are often ...

Buying Food for the Family: Negotiations in Parent/Child Supermarket Shopping An Observational Study from Denmark and the United States

Children play a part in family food shopping, but their roles are often underestimated. In contrast to earlier studies focusing on “who wins” in parent/child negotiations, in this study I focus on emotional and cooperative ways of negotiating food in the supermarket. Through unobtrusive observation of Danish and American parent/child groups, I found that children—even from a very young age—also appear interested in and knowledgeable about healthy eating. Just as importantly, I observed parents not only being sensible and focused on healthy eating but also immersed in habits and desire, at times bending their own rules and using their notion of health arbitrarily. The concepts of “healthy” and “unhealthy” were used to decipher food in collaborative ways, and health was a core concept that parents tended to use negatively and children positively. Both children and parents must be considered as competent and incompetent consumers to understand family food negotiations.

Branding Europe – Between Nations, Regions and Continents

Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore a common European tourism marketing initiative orchestrated by the organisation European Travel Commission (ETC) and communicated via www.visiteurope.com. Particular focus is given to the position of the Nordic countries – how they are depicted and which imagery is used to represent these countries. The paper raises the question whether it makes sense to name the initiative a “Brand Europe” as suggested by the president of ETC and whether common denominators are sought thereby facilitating the creation of a European brand profile, or whether the website is just a collection of links to national websites thereby functioning as a medium for national tourism destination promotion. Theoretically the point of departure is taken in place‐branding theory, and scrutinising this literature it appears that attention has centred on branding the city and the nation whereas little attention has been paid to branding supra‐national entities. In this article focus is on stakeholder interests and consumer images and their implications on communicative choices in place‐branding efforts. The analysis shows that www.visiteurope.com, on the one hand, is a shared European platform which thematically sketches experiences to be had in Europe, and which constitutes more than just the marketing from national destinations in Europe. On the other hand, it is hardly possible to term this initiative “a brand” as it lacks a holistic approach not only to promotion but also product development. Keywords in the shared profile are diversity, history, culture and nature that, taken together, stand out as quite a generic catch‐all presentation of Europe, however, there seems to be potential in the place‐branding concept that can be exploited more extensively in future, also at the supra‐national level of Europe as a destination. The Nordic countries appear as a region “in the far corner of Europe” presented as primarily a location with extreme nature conditions and exotic cultural habits combined with peaceful, sunny café environments which only links up marginally with the overall European profile. Still, for a relatively unknown region in the global tourist market, it is deemed relevant for the Nordic countries to be part of a European brand in future, but the integration of a regional profile into a future European brand needs substantial development.

Chinese students making sense of problem-based learning and Western teaching – pitfalls and coping strategies

Culturally different imaginations of student and teacher roles, incongruent perceptions of academic standards, and diverging conceptualizations of learning may cause ‘difficult times’ for institutions and individual learners involved in international education. Universities practicing alternative approaches to teaching and learning, for example problem-based learning (PBL), may face even larger challenges because of the unfamiliarity of international students with such approaches. This study explores the difficult times experienced by Chinese students in a PBL setting at a Danish University. The main result of the study is an increased understanding of these students’ remarkable ‘survival’ skills, coping strategies, and learning outcomes gained from the challenging immersion in a Danish PBL environment.

Intergenerational relationships and food consumption: the stories of young adults leaving home

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the meaning of food consumption practices in maintaining intergenerational relationships between young university students and their parents. Design/methodology/approach – Student food consumption has been mainly studied through quantitative methods, treating students as a homogenous group, more or less living in a vacuum, and often with the focus on nutrition. This paper gives voice to young adults to unpack the significance of cooking and food consumption in relation to maintaining or changing family ties. The study is based on 12 qualitative interviews, five focus groups and a workshop, with Danish and international students in Denmark. Theoretically, the study draws on family, consumption and transition research. Findings – The authors identify four realms of intergenerational relationships in the context of food. The relationships range from a wish either to maintain the status quo in the relationship, or to change and rethink the relationship, and im...

The Future World Champions? Ideals for Upbringing Represented in Contemporary European Advertisements.

The general European discourse of childhood presents children as innocent and vulnerable, but within this discourse different images of ‘the perfect child’ exist. In this article ideals for upbringing are studied as they are represented in French, German and Dutch printed advertisements for children’s products. The sample consists of 290 advertisements collected in the period 1995-8 from women’s magazines, and the analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. Different interpretations of play, intellectual development and well-being are central in the ads. The differences found in the ads point to the fact that significant differences exist with regard to what ‘good’ childhood is.

Communication on food, health and nutrition: A cross-cultural analysis of the Danonino brand and nutri-tainment

The aim of this article is to explore how Danone intertwines the health discourse and the entertainment aspects when promoting their products to parents and children across cultures and in communicating to its global markets. In order to examine Danones communication strategy in the various cultural contexts, the following will be analysed: who talks about health; how healthy eating is presented; and finally how playful and entertaining aspects of health are enacted in Danones commercials. In the analysis, focus is on Danones ‘Danonino’ brand, how the global market is approached and how it draws on the concept of ‘nutri-tainment’ (nutrition and entertainment). The sample consists of 175 commercials from six markets (France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Poland, Denmark) aired from 2001 to 2007. The analysis involves a quantitative exploration and clustering analysis of which themes appear in which markets. This differentiates four groups of advertisements: ‘Utility’; ‘Adventure’; ‘Entertainment’; and ‘Activity’. It is complemented by a qualitative analysis of typical traits in commercials drawing on an analysis of the person or character that appears to be empowered to talk about health, how healthy eating is communicated and finally what is emphasised as being ‘healthy’ in the various national contexts.

There is Usually Just One Friday a Week

Abstract Parents’ knowledge of what constitutes a “healthy” diet does not always translate into action. This is often commented on as both worrying and paradoxical. This study explores how families categorize and make rules for “unhealthy” eating, particularly candy, and how these rules are sometimes bent. Drawing on the literature on family and food consumption, this study builds on interviews with 35 children and 13 families in Danish middle- and upper-middle-class areas and explores food categorization through the use of Greimas’ semiotic square. Findings show that while clear rules for consumption of unhealthy foods exist, these are sometimes bent, because children challenge the rules but also because parents themselves take the initiative to make exceptions and change the frames of the rules. Parents categorize their children’s food consumption as “not unhealthy” despite deviations from family food policies, and in the eyes of these parents, “healthy” food is not just about nutrition, but also about social and emotional health.

Communicating with the Family: Fun Park Websites

The family is a joint decision making unit when it comes to holidaying, particularly regarding decisions about what to do on holiday. Studies show that family members have different ideas about what a good holiday means. This paper is a content analysis of how German and Danish fun parks, which are typical content in family holidays, approach this multitude of receivers on their websites. Results show that fun park sites in the sample are at very different stages of technological development and interactivity, and that sites primarily aim at adults in an informational rather than an emotional way. In addition, few parks exploit the possibilities of the Internet as a communication media. A small number of parks stand out as exceptional in addressing the family as a whole. Two best practice sites, which cater for both adults and children, are analysed. Implications are discussed for creators of websites targeting the family as a whole in a tourism context.