Participatory culture, according to Fuchs (2014), refers to the “involvement of users, audiences, consumers and fans in the creation of culture and content” (p.52). This runs counter to the typical mass media and broadcasting model, which involves a sole sender and many recipients. Jenkins (2008) offers another definition of participatory culture, defining it as “culture […]
In his book Media Virus, Rushkoff (1994) introduces the concept of media viruses. He argues that media events are viruses, and they are essentially Trojan horses that carry hidden messages and agendas. He theorizes that media viruses aim to infiltrate the minds and lives of consumers, as well as popular culture. The “protein shell” of […]
In The Study of Persuasion, Simons (2001) defines persuasion as “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgments and actions of others” (p.7). Persuasion is a type of attempted influence that does not force, but rather, predisposes people to think, feel or act a certain way. As a form of communication practice, persuasion may or […]
According to Marchand (1985), the 1920s and 1930s marked a shift in the advertising landscape – advertisements were increasingly focused on the consumer rather than the product. This was also characteristic of television commercials of the 1950s and 1960s, which catered to the average American consumer’s anxieties and satisfactions. Machin (2007) provides a semiotic approach […]
In line with the Foucauldian perspective, discourse analysis II focuses on understanding visual images that are embedded in the practices of institutions and their exercise of power. In other words, according to Rose (2001), it pays attention to the articulation of discourses through institutional apparatuses and institutional technologies which produces certain human subjects (p.164). Discourse […]
In her introduction to the notion of discourse, Rose (2001) highlights that it forms the bedrock of the work of French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, particularly of his theoretical arguments and methodology. According to Rose, discourse refers to “groups of statements which structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act […]
In his book “How Brands Become Icons”, Douglas Holt (2004) introduces a new branding model – known as cultural branding – to uncover how brands become cultural icons. He argues that icons form the bedrock of society’s “compass points” (Holt, 2004, p.1) – in other words, the iconic person or object is widely considered as […]
Semiotics, otherwise known as ‘the science of signs’, is an approach to studying language as a system of signs. Having emerged from the works of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914) and Barthes (1950-1980), it seeks to uncover how signs have the ability to imbue various things with meanings, and how they produce […]