Honors Projects

Abstract

As social media platforms and subcommunities have driven massive sales for romance titles in the publishing industry, there has been an intense debate among literary communities, parents, and school administrators about whether the illustrated cover art style is appropriate. Some readers feel that these books are intentionally marketed towards a younger audience, and the sexually explicit nature of the content was not made clear, or labeled at all, before they read the book. This paper explores four likely marketing and labeling solutions that could be implemented to resolve this issue, and whether they are ethical by marketing and advertising standards, while also not further stigmatizing the romance genre and its readers. Taking in multiple different viewpoints from academic research, news articles, blogs, general sentiment towards these solutions on social media platforms, and opinions about the solutions from a survey sent to BGSU undergraduate and graduate students, the four likely solutions were then compared to three marketing and advertising ethical standards from marketing and advertising advocacy bodies and the definition of the word "stigma".

It was found that including trigger and content warnings in the front matter of romance novels was the most ethical solution of the four. While this conclusion is not currently in all romance novels, it is in some, which means it is also a practical solution that has a higher chance of realistically being implemented across the genre. This project provided a space for exploring ethically viable marketing and labeling solutions, which could resolve some of the issues that some parents and readers have, while also allowing designers to continue using this art style and readers and marketers to interact with the subject in a more informed manner.

Department

Honors Program

Major

Advertising

First Advisor

Abigail Cloud

First Advisor Department

English

Second Advisor

Lori Liggett

Second Advisor Department

Communication

Third Advisor

Shawna Babula

Third Advisor Department

Honors Program

Publication Date

Spring 4-29-2026

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