Logo world without fossil ads Logo world without fossil ads
    • AD BANS
    • ORGANISATIONS
    • KNOWLEDGE
      • FAQS
      • Research
      • Toolkit
    • BLOG
    • CONTACT
      • Get in touch
      • About us
    Sign in or Register

    The 'black box' of cultural sponsorship: an investigation into the impact and meaning of corporate sponsorship by Shell at science museum NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam

    • About research
    • prev
    • next
    • prev
    • next
    Description

    By letting Shell contribute to exhibitions in the Dutch NEMO museum, an apparently neutral platform was created where Shell could legitimize its business story. (Student thesis, Hannah van der Plaat, June 2020, in Dutch)

     

    Abstract

    Science museum NEMO in Amsterdam has a long history of cultural sponsorship. Companies have been involved in setting up exhibitions at the museum since its foundation. A major sponsor is Shell. Between 1931 and 2005, Shell contributed to several exhibitions. In this thesis, I analyse which discourse was transmitted in the exhibitions sponsored by Shell. By contrasting the exhibitions with the historical context of exhibitions, the history of the museum and the history of Shell, the discourse emerges. This research shows that there is a similarity between the subjects of Shell-sponsored exhibitions and Shell's business at a particular time. With this, Shell's sponsorship of the science museum can be seen as a way to gain cultural legitimacy for innovations and investments made by the company. The museum thus provides a basis for Shell to bring out and normalise its image of society, energy and the importance of oil to society. The findings of this study thus complement the little literature on cultural sponsorship. In the studies that have been done, academics often argue that sponsorship is a way of improving a company's image. Here, they refer to symbolic capital that a museum gives to a company. However, this research shows that sponsorship goes beyond symbolic capital alone. Indeed, having Shell contribute to exhibitions at the museum created a seemingly neutral platform where Shell could legitimise its corporate narrative.

    Preview
    Van-der-Plaat-Hannah-6844030-Scriptie-MA-Cultuurgeschiedenis-De-_blackbox_-van-cultuursponsoring-1
    Downloads
    • Van-der-Plaat-Hannah-6844030-Scriptie-MA-Cultuurgeschiedenis-De-_blackbox_-van-cultuursponsoring.pdf View
    Related information

    https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/36479

    Author

    Hannah van der Plaat

    Organization

    Utrecht University

    Tags
    • Fossil fuel industry
    • Misleading advertising
    • Sponsorships, cultural

    You May Also Be Interested In

    An Experimental Study of the Impact of Greenwashing on Attitudes toward Fossil Fuel Corporations’ Sustainability Initiatives

    • State University op New York
    • Ronald S. Friedman & Dylan S. Campbell
    • Quick view

    Promoting the apocalypse? The legality of a ban on fossil fuel advertising under European law

    • VU Amsterdam
    • Clemens Kaupa
    • Quick view

    IPCC – sixth assessment report: mitigation of climate change

    • IPCC
    • WG 3
    • Quick view

    Privacy & Cookie protocol | Colophon | This website is funded by KR Foundation

    Cart

      Manage Cookie Consent
      To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
      Functional Always active
      The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
      Preferences
      The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
      Statistics
      The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
      Marketing
      The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
      Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
      View preferences
      {title} {title} {title}