Luis Miguel Romero Rodriguez
@romero-rodriguez.com
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Sociology
Rey Juan Carlos University
Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez es Profesor Titular de Comunicación Estratégica en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, España), y desde mayo de 2022 está acreditado al cuerpo docente de Catedráticos de Universidad por la Agencia Nacional de evaluación del profesorado (ANECA). En la actualidad es profesor responsable del Máster Universitario en Comunicación de la Salud de la URJC y profesor de su programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas, en la línea de investigación Comunicación. Asimismo, es profesor invitado en varios programas de postgrado en la Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo (Ecuador), la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, y la Universidad Nebrija (España), siendo colaborador externo de su programa de Doctorado en Comunicación Digital y Medios.
EDUCATION
Doctor en Comunicación por las universidades de Huelva, Sevilla, Málaga y Cádiz (2014), premio extraordinario de Doctorado por la Universidad de Huelva (2015) y Máster en Comunicación Social por la Universidad de Almería (España). Ha realizado postgrados en Derecho y Políticas Internacionales por la Universidad Central de Venezuela y en Docencia Universitaria por la Universidad Nueva Esparta (Venezuela). Me licencié en Comunicación Social, mención Comunicaciones Corporativas y en Derecho por la Universidad Santa María (Venezuela).
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Communication, General Social Sciences, Health (social science), Cultural Studies
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Tomás Fontaines-Ruiz, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Antonio Ponce Rojo, and David Paúl Rosales Herrera
Ediciones Profesionales de la Informacion SL
YouTube está transformando la mediación informativa sobre dolor lumbar al facilitar la transición de fuentes científicas e institucionales hacia modelos descentralizados de conocimiento. A través de canales con millones de visualizaciones, los usuarios generan interacciones que fomentan el compromiso, el cambio comportamental y la apomediación, aunque con potenciales riesgos de desinformación. Este estudio analiza las interacciones en videos de YouTube sobre dolor lumbar para identificar los temas y sentimientos predominantes, revelar las dinámicas apomediarias y comprender su contribución en la transición de la información sanitaria hacia la apomediación. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo-evaluativo con un corpus de 30.720 comentarios extraídos de 100 videos, analizados mediante técnicas estadísticas de procesamiento de datos textuales para detectar sentimientos latentes y dinámicas de desintermediación médica. Los hallazgos muestran que los usuarios de YouTube son participantes activos en la construcción del conocimiento, resignificando la información a partir de experiencias individuales y colectivas. Las emociones desempeñan un papel clave en la validación y la formación de redes de apoyo, donde la gratitud fortalece la resiliencia y el miedo impulsa reflexiones críticas. Se concluye que la transición de la información a la apomediación se consolida mediante la interacción, reinterpretación y validación emocional, promoviendo redes de apoyo para el aprendizaje y afrontamiento del dolor lumbar.
Javier Gil Quintana, José Javier Hueso Romero, and Luis Miguel Romero Rodríguez
MDPI AG
This study examines the scientific output on older adults’ use of social media by examining 2695 documents from the Web of Science database. These publications cover various areas, such as behavioral sciences, psychology, healthcare sciences, and computer sciences, and highlight institutions such as the University of Seville and the University of Michigan. The analysis was extended from 1995 to 2023, identifying 2012 as the year with the most significant increase. The United States led with 757 documents, followed by Spain with 511. Prominent authors include Jia Wu, Howard Giles, and Itai Himelboim. The study also highlighted frequent keywords such as “social networks, communication, and media”. A total of 41 countries were mentioned, and journals such as Profesional de la Información and Comunicar were analyzed. The historical perspective reveals theoretical connections between health, communication, and social networks in the elderly. Despite various challenges, such as the digital divide, the positive impact of social networks on the elderly stands out, providing a training demand for media education as an essential for all.
Luis M. Romero-Rodriguez and Bárbara Castillo-Abdul
SAGE Publications
Objective: This conceptual paper explores the transition from apomediation to AIMediation, allowing patients or users to independently seek and access health information on their own, often using the internet and social networks, rather than relying exclusively on the intermediation of health professionals. It examines how generative artificial intelligence (GAI) reconfigures the dynamics of informational authority, access, and user autonomy in digital health environments in light of the increasing use of generative AI tools in healthcare contexts. Method: This study examined how mediation models in health information have changed over time. It uses Eysenbach’s framework and new developments in large language models (LLMs). A new model was created to compare intermediation, apomediation, and AImediation. Results: AImediation emerges as a new paradigm in which patients or users interact directly with AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini to access compiled multi-source health information. While this model retains the user autonomy characteristic of apomediation, it centralizes information flows and removes peer-based social layers. Key challenges include algorithmic opacity, prompt dependence, and the risk of misinformation due to hallucinations or biased outputs. Conclusion: AImediation redefines how individuals access and evaluate health information, requiring critical engagement from users and responsible development by technology providers. This framework calls for more research to determine how it affects patient actions, the roles of professionals, and the ethical use of AI in healthcare.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Elio Quiroga Rodríguez, and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez
Informa UK Limited
Carmen Herrero, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and Francisco José García-Peñalvo
Routledge
Tomas Fontaines-Ruiz, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Amelia Sanchez-Bracho, and Luis Reyes-Pérez
Informa UK Limited
Santiago Tejedor, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Jesús Martínez-Fernández, and David Rull-Ribó
Escuela Militar de Cadetes Jose Maria Cordova
Esta investigación determina cuáles son las principales estrategias de contenido editorial, redes sociales y visibilidad para mejorar el rendimiento y alcance de las publicaciones científicas de ciencias sociales de Iberoamérica. A partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas con los responsables de redes sociales y editores de las revistas con mayor perspectiva de crecimiento, ponderado por el índice h del Scimago Journal Rank (SJR), el trabajo identifica la preeminencia de temas que conectan con cuestiones actuales. La escasez de personal y la limitación presupuestaria condicionan el desarrollo de estrategias de divulgación y visibilidad de sus contenidos, que, por lo general, se perciben como excesivamente técnicos. La inteligencia artificial, por su parte, emerge como una herramienta de gran potencial, pero que todavía no ha sido incorporada a los procesos editoriales y divulgativos.
Santiago Tejedor, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Jesús Martínez, and David Rull Ribó
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
La cobertura informativa sobre el suicidio debe tener especial tratamiento por parte de periodistas y medios de comunicación. Estudios previos confirman que la narrativa puede desencadenar imitadores e incluso pensamientos suicidas en personas con trastornos de salud mental. En este sentido, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) han brindado varias directrices para la cobertura de este tema. Esta investigación analiza la cobertura del suicidio en los principales medios de comunicación de 20 países iberoamericanos a partir de un análisis de contenido y de encuadre informativo de diseño cuanti-cualitativo. Los resultados arrojan que la explicación al suicidio más común es multicausal seguida por la ambiental o de contexto. En línea con las recomendaciones de la OMS-OPS, la mayoría de informaciones intentan educar al público, aunque todavía sigue siendo una materia pendiente indicar en las notas sobre cómo y dónde buscar ayuda. Se observó que en general la mayoría de las informaciones utilizan fuentes mixtas, tanto de expertos como familiares/amigos de las víctimas. Sin embargo, del análisis cualitativo se extrae que algunos encuadres están salpicados de tópicos y lugares comunes, recayendo en coberturas que se alejan de las directrices, informando sobre detalles del hecho o estableciendo relaciones causa-efecto imposibles de verificar. En los casos que se evidenciaron enfoques constructivos pesó más el tono narrativo explicativo, aportando datos con los que hacerse una idea clara de la complejidad del tema.
Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez and Bárbara Castillo-Abdul
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Santiago Tejedor, Laura Cervi, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and Stephanie Vick
MDPI AG
Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data have impacted different professional sectors in our society. Communication and journalism are clearly among them. From the automatic generation of content to the identification of topics of interest or monitoring of users’ usage habits, AI introduces important training challenges for professionals in the field of communication. Meanwhile, big data analytics enables data journalists to handle large amounts of information in an automated manner, allowing them to perform in-depth analysis of disorganized data. This study analyzes the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in the curricula of journalism degrees offered by Spanish universities. The research employs quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the typology, syllabus, and distribution of subjects directly or indirectly addressing AI and big data topics, based on indicators such as structure, credit system, objectives, competencies, and professional profiles. The results reveal a scarce integration of AI and Big Data subjects in journalism curricula in Spain. Among the analyzed courses, only seven addressed data journalism as a complete course, while 19 introduced AI and Big Data as part of more general content. The study highlights the need for journalism education to adapt to the disruptive impact of AI and big data on the profession. It discusses the debate between focusing on teaching technological skills versus providing critical and ethical values. The research aims to contribute to the discussion on the readiness of journalism curricula to cope with technological advancements by analyzing the Spanish case.
Santiago Tejedor and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez
MDPI AG
The Hospital Web Quality Multicriteria Analysis Model (HWQ) is constructed, designed, and validated in this research. For this purpose, we examined the web quality analysis models specialized in hospitals and health centers through a literature review and the most current taxonomies to analyze digital media. Based on the benchmarking and walkthrough methods, the analysis model was built and validated by a panel of experts (X = 3.54, CVI = 0.88, Score Σ = 45.58). To test its applicability and reliability, the model was pilot-tested on the websites of the ten public and private hospitals with the best reputation in Spain in 2022, according to the Merco Sanitario ranking. The results showed very similar web structures divided by specific proposals or sections of some centers. In this regard, this study identifies a general communication proposal in hospitals that does not adapt to the guidelines of screen-mediated communication, as well as a lack of personalization and disruptive storytelling ideation. In addition, the work concludes that Spanish hospitals, for the moment, have not opted for formats and technological developments derived from the possibilities of gamified content, 360° immersion, Virtual Reality (V.R), or Augmented Reality (A.R).
, Santiago Tejedor Calvo, Laura Cervi, , Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and
University of La Laguna
Religious tourism is an important economic and cultural driver for many destinations and is one of the fastest-growing sectors within the global tourism market. Based on a meta-analysis and review of emerging literature from the period 2019-2023 in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) of the Web of Science (WoS), this study analyses, from a quantitative-qualitative approach, the state-of-the-art research on this sub-category of tourism from a corpus of 500 documents. The most relevant results show that the COVID- 19 pandemic affected scientific production, with China, the United States, and Spain being the three countries that have published the most on the subject. Research on tourism to Christian and Islamic destinations appears most frequently. However, destinations linked to Hinduism tend to be over-represented with respect to numbers of people of this creed, which may be due to tourism specialising in meditation and wellness.
Santiago Tejedor-Calvo, David Rull-Ribo, Jesús Martínez, and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez
Escuela Militar de Cadetes Jose Maria Cordova
Diferentes ejércitos del mundo han apostado por convertir sus sitios web en el centro de su estrategia comunicativa digital. Este trabajo examina y compara los sitios web de 14 unidades militares de élite de los cinco continentes para elaborar una taxonomía a partir de dimensiones e indicadores estructurados de usabilidad, contenidos, interactividad y accesibilidad. Para ello, a través de un análisis de contenido cuanti-cualitativo, que consta de 14 dimensiones temáticas, 36 indicadores y 69 variables, se ha desarrollado una etnografía digital cualitativa. El estudio identifica, entre otros aspectos, la importancia del componente dialógico y multiformato en el ciberespacio. Además, concluye que, en general, los ejércitos analizados apenas han incorporado tipologías de contenidos derivados de la gamificación, la inmersión y la virtualidad, entre otros.
Tomás Fontaines-Ruiz, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Luis F. Reyes-Pérez, and Samuel Reyes-Hernández
Hipatia Press
El consumo de información en redes sociales se ha convertido en un comportamiento prevalente entre personas con enfermedades ortopédicas, que aprovechan el efecto de apomediación de plataformas para satisfacer sus necesidades informativas, descuidando los riesgos asociados. En este contexto, el objetivo de esta investigación es evaluar la calidad y el valor educativo del contenido relacionado con el dolor lumbar en español, difundido en YouTube. Esta evaluación emplea una metodología de análisis de contenido codificada a través de tres instrumentos ad hoc previamente validados. Se llevó a cabo un estudio descriptivo-evaluativo en una muestra final de 70 videos. Los resultados indican que la información examinada presenta un bajo valor educativo, muestra deficiencias en el diseño educativo técnico, carece de precisión científica y claridad en el mensaje, y revela una autoridad epistemológica disminuida entre los creadores de contenido. Estos factores contribuyen a la generación potencial de confusión, interpretación errónea y difusión de información inapropiada relacionada con el manejo del dolor lumbar.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez
Intellect
Nowadays, the spectator lives surrounded by television series in which increasingly complex, depressing and denouncing themes proliferate. About this, the Netflix hit Squid Game (2021) is a clear representation of a mass culture increasingly virtuous in staging, as well as more horrifying, preachy and sensationalist. Based on the observation of the phenomenon that the series has meant, narrative content analysis has been carried out in which we have sought to find evidence of how mainstream culture continues to popularize and stylize audio-visual abjection in the context of the third golden age of television and the fascination with the plots of torture porn or postmodern cinema of cruelty. The results show that Squid Game is a faithful product of its time: as a current prestige series, it is dark, depressing, pessimistic and has an artistic aura without neglecting entertainment and explores human complexity in themes such as suicide, genocide and violence.
Santiago Tejedor, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and Mónica Gracia-Villar
Bastas Publications
The current media ecosystem, marked by immediacy and social networks dynamics, has created a fertile field for disinformation. Faced with its exponential growth, since 2014, research has focused on combating false content in the media. From a descriptive approach, this study has analyzed 200 documents on fact-checking and fake news published between 2014 and 2022 in scientific journals indexed in Scopus. This study has found that Europe and the United States are leading the way in the number of journals and authors publishing on the subject. The United States universities are the ones that host the most significant number of authors working on fact-checking, while the methodologies used, mostly <i>ad hoc</i> due to the novelty of the topic, allow to reflect on the need to promote work focused on the design, testing, and evaluation of prototypes or real experiences within the field. The most common contributions analyzed include typologies of false content and media manipulation mechanisms, models for evaluating and detecting disinformation, proposals to combat false content and strengthen verification mechanisms, studies on the role of social media in the spread of disinformation, efforts to develop media literacy among the public and journalists, case studies of fact-checkers, identification of factors that influence the belief in fake news, and analysis of the relationship between disinformation, verification, politics, and democracy. It is concluded that it is essential to develop research that connects the academy with the industry to raise awareness of the need to address these issues among the different actors in the media scenario.
Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, Eglée Ortega Fernandez, and Luis M. Romero-Rodriguez
Emerald
PurposeThis study aims to analyze the content on corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Gucci, Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna on the social networks Instagram, Facebook and TikTok in order to examine the focus of the publications of these luxury brands, what type of content is more frequent and which ones generate more interaction and engagement.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretive content analysis of a sample of 92 posts on CSR published between December 2021 and June 2022 is used. For this purpose, an analysis sheet validated through theoretical constructs and pilot testing is used.FindingsMost of the social responsibility content of the fashion brands analyzed is linked to the use of sustainable materials, the protection of natural spaces and, in the particular case of Prada, the protection of the oceans. The posts that achieve the highest interactions are videos and photo reels. Although the strategies that significantly increase brands' reach on social networks are collaborations and joint posts with other fashion brands, as is the case of Gucci with NorthFace and Prada with Adidas. Also, one of the main findings of this research has been to identify that brands may be using TikTok – perhaps experimentally – to reach stakeholders in Asian countries, especially China, where other platforms such as Instagram or Facebook may have a more limited reach.Originality/valueThis research shows that the social responsibility activities of luxury fashion brands leverage the content marketing strategy in social networks. It also demonstrates the importance of the Asian market (mainly Chinese) in the outreach strategies of brands, as is the case of Gucci and Prada, which bet on CSR activities for the protection of the Asian tiger in the framework of the year of the tiger in the Chinese horoscope, as well as the publication of certain content on TikTok.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and Bárbara Castillo-Abdul
Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico
Esta investigación examina el grado de alienación política que los espectadores consideran tener respecto a las producciones audiovisuales. Para ello, se aplicó una encuesta a 998 millennials y centennials en España y México, los dos países hispanohablantes que más OTT[1] consumen. Los resultados muestran que los jóvenes consideran legítimo quejarse en redes sociales a una productora audiovisual cuando una serie o película refleja una visión que no les gusta, lo que posiblemente fomenta un escenario de "dictadura de la audiencia" sobre los creadores de contenidos audiovisuales, que afecta a la libertad creativa y a la libertad de expresión. En este sentido, parece que los jóvenes que tienen el poder discursivo en las redes sociales para cambiar y censurar producciones ven plausible utilizar este canal como denuncia o queja. [1] The acronym OTT stands for "Over The Top". In the world of technology and communication, this term is used to refer to "free transmission", i.e., content that does not require an operator for its distribution. The way in which this content is distributed is through the Internet via applications (AIMC, 2021).
Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, Luis Miguel Romero-Rodríguez, and Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez
University of Minho
This research examines the main common characteristics among the contents of five eco-influencer accounts from different Western countries. A quantitative content analysis was performed on 187 Instagram posts published by eco-influencers from the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Spain, and Peru. The topics that eco-influencers deal with the most are promoting veganism, spirituality, environmental and political claims, product advertising (their own and third-party), and personal life, generating the most interactions in the accounts. Carousels win on engagement for eco-influencers on Instagram despite videos being sponsors’ favorite format. Both sponsored content and sponsors themselves are well-received, with over half of all posts featuring them. It seems evident that the social capital of influencers encourages environmental commitment, although there is a particular bias to appreciate the person more than their activist message. In light of the results, this research contributes to the social capital theory of influencers by demonstrating that influencers show personal content and emotional appeals, such as activities with their families, personal reflections, and political statements that give them a high sense of authenticity, but which, blurs the barriers between the public and private spheres.
José Daniel Barquero Cabrero, Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, Juan Andrés Talamás-Carvajal, and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractIn the current era of the attention economy, users find themselves in social networks over-saturated with advertising that tends not to catch the public’s attention or have great credibility. In this sense, brands are trying to get closer to their audiences by using non-invasive, user-generated storytelling strategies with a more natural and experience-focused message. This research aims to compare which narrative elements used by the official accounts of 5 Ibero-American nation brands on Instagram and by the users (UGC) of hashtags promoted from those official accounts generate greater organic interaction on that social network (likes and comments). With a correlational view, we seek to compare whether the promotion of countries generates greater interaction between those generated by owned media and by users (UGC). For this purpose, two analysis sheets were designed and validated to perform quantitative, descriptive, and correlational content analysis and were applied, on the one hand, to 5 official profiles of Ibero-American countries (Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela) and on the other hand, using the hashtags promoted from these official accounts, the 100 posts of user-generated content (UGC) with greater relevance according to the platform were chosen. The main results show that Reels reach almost five times higher than any other type of posts in UGC accounts, while on the contrary, in corporate accounts, they are the types of content with the least interactions. Unlike what one might think, contests (giveaways) on official accounts generated fewer likes and social responsibility content, and posts featuring influencers and celebrities also failed to achieve significant interactions. Overall, official accounts generate the same amount of likes as UGC but significantly fewer comments. Brands only outperform UGC in likes in individual Photographs or Photo Rolls, while UCG outperforms brands in Reels for both metrics.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Luis Miguel Romero-Rodríguez, and Belén Puebla-Martínez
Bastas Publications
The current audiovisual landscape via streaming is characterized by images loaded with aesthetics and violence. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to decipher the audience’s feelings about the violent and dystopian plots that saturate the current panorama of audiovisual entertainment through a survey aimed at millennials and centennials in Spain and Mexico, who are the viewers who consume the most streaming platforms of the two countries. The results show that viewers do not feel that these series, contrary to what it might seem, cause them sadness or low spirits, and, likewise, these viewers consume these products without having a specific idea of whether the audiovisual should show cruelty, historical accuracy or the vicissitudes of the world. In conclusion, this research provides a current map of the feelings of the OTT audience about the shocking, bloody, and visceral images that are so present in the routine of young audiences.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Luis Miguel Romero-Rodríguez, and Belén Puebla-Martínez
Universidad de Piura
Millennials y centennials son dos generaciones muy implicadas con las cuestiones sociales a nivel político y tecnológico. Este interés ha suscitado en muchos de estos individuos, algunos miembros de comunidades "woke", una búsqueda del lenguaje políticamente correcto tanto en las redes como en la ficción audiovisual contemporánea consumida habitualmente en plataformas de streaming. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar el sentimiento psicosocial de eficacia política que tienen los millennials y centennials como usuarios de plataformas de streaming en España y México para determinar su predisposición y justificación para priorizar sus puntos de vista ante la censura y cancelación de contenidos. Los resultados revelan que los centennials tienen un mayor sentimiento de eficacia que los millennials, siendo estos últimos los más preocupados por la censura y la libertad de expresión a la hora de recibir una noticia.
Luis M. Romero-Rodriguez and Bárbara Castillo-Abdul
Emerald
PurposeThis study examines the research that has been conducted on user-generated advertising content in the social marketing strategies of commercial brands to understand the phenomenon, explore academic interest in the topic and identify areas of limited thematic coverage.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of existing scientific literature in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus was carried out using the PRISMA protocol. A co-occurrence matrix was used to review emerging topics on user-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing, allowing the identification of articles (n = 59) related to the objective of this research.FindingsMost research has analyzed UGC in images or text, but only very few have addressed videos and other digital formats (such as reels, image carousels or podcasts), although there is sufficient work focused on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. There was no evidence of work exploring the effects, repercussions and possible dangers of uncontrolled brand exposure through Unofficial Brand Ambassadors.Originality/valueThe literature review has allowed finding important areas of future research that the scientific community has not sufficiently addressed. Likewise, this work shows structurally several classifications of UGC, which will facilitate future research to deepen and broaden these categories.
Carlos Fernández-Rodríguez, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, and Belén Puebla-Martínez
Royallite Global
Viewers are increasingly used to the link between entertainment and technology in the current media ecosystem. The success of consuming streaming platforms when watching movies and series shows how the audience is more involved in new forms of viewing, at any time, at any moment, and with any content. This research aimed to examine the perception of millennial and centennial audiences in Spain and Mexico, the two Spanish-speaking countries with the highest streaming consumption, about audiovisual content producers for entertainment. Three theories on public perception (spiral of silence, bandwagon effect, and third-person effect) were used as the basis of the research questions to unravel the extent to which younger audiences in these countries consider that production companies are, or are not, ethical in the representation of what may be labeled as "sensitive topics". The results show that centennials are more confident in their critical perceptions of controversial issues in movies and series, while, on the other hand, millennials approach their perceptions with more cautiousness and confusion.
Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, and Patricia Sánchez-Holgado
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
This study presents a taxonomy to analyze the Corporate Visual Identity (CVI) through the theoretical construction of iconographic variables. The instrument was validated by an expert panel and a pilot test that examined the CVI of the 50 leading pharmaceutical companies in Spain. The instrument was organized by graphic elements: iconographic sign, linguistic sign, and plastic sign, and helped to catalog the symbolic components of CVI. In the Spanish case, due to its cultural and social context, pharmaceutical brands prefer typographies with no strokes, simple lines, capital letters, and round and medium strokes.