#percieved as cool with the kids these days‚ its all about and for money! the corporation is not your friend!

[hauntswitch]

I'm including my original tags here because although they were more light-hearted (which is why they were in the tags), I think there's some interesting stuff perhaps

I think I would correct myself on the bit where I blame tiktok for everything, while marketing has definitely changed due to tiktok, the format of weird ironic memes that are made to deliberately imitate shitposts also happens on here and Reddit too, where the text based image is still more prominent than the video format, with Tumblr and Reddit being much older than tiktok. These are two that I scrolled past like 5 minutes ago:

What I'm actually getting at is the blurring between "work and play" I suppose- the constant and ever increasing bombardment of advertisements that is utterly and completely inescapable in the current digital climate, that aim to blend in with the other content in the digital environment. They are banking on people engaging, either accidentally or intentionally based on the humour of the post. The aim is, most likely, for these posts to be indistinguishable from user posts, to assimilate with the users, and ultimately to create 'brand loyalty' through the perceived connection between brand and consumer. This is what can be seen most clearly with companies that have successfully harnessed meme marketing, such as Duolingo and Wendy's.

In a digital prosumer society where anyone can make content, the lines between creation and consumption can become increasingly blurred through the act of trying to relate to an audience though calculated 'realness' and a knowledge of popular culture. This allows people to be able to more easily conceal advertising in their social media posts, and the success of this type of advertising will only ensure its continuation

Can't believe I'm saying this but I think society should bring back some marketing standards. If I have to see one more brand or company trying to be cool making an unfunny advert in the style of a shitty tiktok trend I'm going to fucking lose it. Go back to being obviously fake and annoying!! Go back to creators having a bit of text on screen saying #ad with free use music playing in the background! Stop with the blurring between entertainment and extortion! Aghhh!!