Author: Dila Cuhadar

Casio introduced the world’s first mass-produced digital watches; the Japanese multinational company was founded in 1947. It expanded from calculator production to watch production. Moreover, the vision of Casio is to be on the frontiers of addressing environmental issues. Some of Casio’s competitors include but are not limited to Swatch, Seiko, Timex and Armitron. The company stands for a combination of heritage and innovation, representing the culture behind their Vintage Collection. 

Casio’s new Vintage Collection targets a younger audience by recycling old designs under the “vintage” trend. They aim to retain a customer base that value nostalgia, affordability and simplicity.  

With these values in mind, the branded content film focused on the notion of time and its vitality for relationships. It focused on a young couple trying to make their long-distance relationship work but being in different time zones impedes them from connecting. At the end of the film, the couple manages to connect virtually for their anniversary meal with the help of the Casio watch. 

The film could be showcased on the company’s platform or other third-party platforms such as TV or social media. This campaign could be successful for Valentine’s Day as it has a heartwarming tone on romantic relationships. Conveniently, it relates to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, where many people have been affected by self-isolation and quarantine. There is an emphasis on the hopeful feeling of togetherness and how time is precious, which audience members can easily relate to.

The film conveys the values of affordability and simplicity by focusing on a young couple and a simple lifestyle. In addition, the values of heritage and innovation are also communicated by placing a nostalgic watch design to a younger generation. The campaign moves the brand forward by linking the product to a problem that many young adults face in the twenty-first century. 

The Pirate Bay is an online platform that allows users to search, download and share digital content of entertainment media. From audio to games, registered users can upload their own content and download their desired files. The platform functions with the BitTorrent file distribution system, which allows users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner with peer-to-peer file sharing. The Pirate Bay faced several legal issues about copyright and civil liberties, and the founders of the website were sentenced to prison. Although access to the website has been blocked in some countries, proxy websites still provide access to it. 

This website is a good example of commons-based media resource for several reasons. Firstly, the exchange of information, in this case sharing of data and files, takes place outside of the market without payment taking place. Anyone can join the website for free by solely entering their email address and the website receives financing only through advertising and donations.

In addition, this platform is a resource created by ordinary people as a counter drive to capitalist commodification. The Pirate Bay was founded by three Swedish computer specialists, who are part of the anti-copyright movement against the established intellectual property laws. The website’s founders believe that the cultural resources would be better off if they were open for a broader range of people to use, share and explore. The companies that filed lawsuits against The Pirate Bay, including Disney, Columbia and NBC, are large corporations that primarily oversee their own economic interests through an obsession with copyrights.

Lastly, the distribution and circulation of the shared resources on this platform is democratic and horizontal, which is another important feature of the commons. The resources on The Pirate Bay are shared by the community of users and there is no hierarchy in the form of governance.

The platform also exemplifies the four core governance conditions for a successful commons, identified by Elinor Ostrom. First of all, all individuals entitled to use the resource should have a say in its running. There is no hierarchy when it comes to accessing resources on The Pirate Bay and anyone on the platform can comment on the files freely. The resources are distributed and circulated democratically without favoring any user or content. However, it should be noted that the decisions about the platform are made by the creators of the website and the users don’t have a say in technical details.

Secondly, she argues that there should be clear boundaries against those who are not entitled to the resource. The website uses a highly secure hosting service to protect user information from hackers and the site’s usage policy outlines the boundaries of usage.

Ostrom’s third rule is that there should be trusted monitors, which refers to the founders of the website in this case. As mentioned before, the creators of The Pirate Bay are the ones making technical decisions and monitoring the site’s usage.

Lastly, there should be a straightforward mechanism to resolve conflict. The site’s usage policy indicates that it reserves the right to charge commercial policy violators a basic fee. For example, the co-founder Peter Sunde accused Swedish book publishers for scraping the site for information on copyrighted books, which violated the usage policy and the website charged the violators €5,000. This example illustrates that there is a clear structure in place to stop people abusing the resources presented by The Pirate Bay, which makes this platform a successful commons rather than a ‘tragedy’. 

On 22nd of December, my interaction with social media started in the morning as I checked my Instagram feed. In the afternoon, I watched some YouTube videos, posted a story on Instagram and used Pinterest to get some inspiration as I was painting. Lastly, I used Facebook to check whether one of my friends’ birthday was actually today or tomorrow. I also used WhatsApp and Snapchat throughout the day to communicate with my friends and family. 

The first kind of labour I have performed through my social media usage was generating value for Instagram with the picture I have posted. I performed the labor of creating the substance of social media, which is what makes these outlets attractive in the first place.

The second type of labour I have performed was related to my exposure to adverts. On Instagram, I have seen 3 sponsored content until I finished my news feed. One of these ads was for an exhibition that I have searched on the internet. The other two were for two different tattoo artists’ profile, which is related to my recent activity on Instagram. Solely being exposed to these sponsored ads is a type of labor, but in addition, I have visited some of the suggested pages. I am paying for my ‘free’ social media access in terms of my attention and time.

This example illustrates the success of personalized and niche adverts. My online activity functions as feedback generating value as a new commodity, which is called “double commodification” by Nicole Cohen. In addition, the information I have provided with my demographics is commodified as well. I performed the labour of generating data, which is sold by social media platforms to marketers.

Another interesting point about my example is that two of the ads that I encountered connected me to other social media users instead of bigger brands or companies. Both of the suggested pages of tattoo artists had only a handful of images showcasing the artist’s work and some contact information. Certainly, the artists have these public profiles in order to create a brand for their work and gain commercial revenue. But this shows that even the basic user can become an advertiser by paying a certain amount to the social media platform. This adds another layer to the audience’s shifting role in advertising. Although the audience can be rewarded for their ‘labour’ in terms of being able to advertise their own services and goods, the media industry still functions productively for capitalism by generating revenue for that ad. 

Overall, I don’t think the users are adequately rewarded for the labour that they perform. Yes, I got rewarded by entertaining myself with YouTube videos, keeping up with my friends’ life updates on Instagram, communicating with my friends via WhatsApp and accessing information on my friends’ birthday on Facebook. But I was the one (or people like me) who created that content in the first place, so in a way I already paid for this service.

In addition, something is constantly tried to be sold to me with the advertisements that I face. Moreover, again, I am the one providing information about which ads would work better to sell something to me. The financial profit that bigger companies and platforms make is disproportionately more significant than the rewards that users receive. Although some creators on social media receive financial rewards, the platforms win in any case.

The cosmetics brand L’Oréal Paris has teamed up with the advertising group McCann for an ad campaign focusing on gender representation in the corporate sector. Their research indicates that although men dominate the executive hierarchy in numbers, female leaders perform better in terms of profitability, innovation, and employee satisfaction. The campaign combines these statistics with make-up products and uses the headline of “This is an ad for men. Hire more women in leadership roles. We are all worth it.” This ad is an example of popular feminism, which aims to use feminism and women empowerment as marketing tools to seem more relevant to their consumers. 

According to Sarah Banet-Weiser, feminism is “popular” in three senses. First of all, it circulates in popular commercial media, which applies for L’Oréal’s ad campaign since it exists on social media platforms and broadcast media.

Secondly, feminism is popular because it is being admired by like-minded groups and it is structured around the dynamic of inclusion and exclusion. In our specific example, the ad focuses on women in leadership roles, which excludes working class women.

Lastly, competing power relations allow some forms of feminism to be more visible than others. For example, celebrity feminism and corporate feminism achieve more visibility compared to critiques of patriarchal structures. The L’Oréal ad is an example of corporate feminism, because it focuses on the fact that women are a minority group in the corporate setting. However, this type of feminism doesn’t challenge the structures that force us to demand men to ‘hire more women’ in the first place. Feminist scholar Joan Scott calls this type of feminism as “add women and stir kind of liberal feminism”. Simply including women does not solve the structural gender problems or challenge the dominant ideology that supports them. In other words, “hiring more women in leadership roles” will not necessarily solve the challenges that women face in the workplace, such as unequal pay, sexual harassment, or glass ceilings. 

There is also a strong connection between corporate feminism and capitalism. Popular feminism advocates tend to focus on individual women by inviting them to make changes to their own lives to overcome the struggles that they face regarding gender related inequalities. There is a tendency to use feminism to empower women through consumerism in order to create economically independent subjects who will become potential customers. The L’Oréal campaign differentiates itself by addressing the campaign to men instead of women, which suggests a more structural critique that women might not be able to fix with their individual decisions. However, it still feeds into the same ideologies by emphasizing capitalist success. 

It is also worth noting that McCann Worldgroup stated that they directed the ad at men instead of women in order to “add a dose of humor”, which refers to the fact that popular feminism cannot originate from negative feelings. The following statement of Rosalind Gill gives a better context to this phenomenon: “[popular] feminism is encumbered by its desire not to be angry, not to be ‘difficult’, not to be ‘humorless’”. The potential power of this ad as a campaign drawing men into the conversation about gender inequalities is demolished by the statement of the creators. Including men into this conversation should not be considered as ‘humorous’.

In addition, although L’Oréal indicated that the ads were reflecting the company’s core beliefs, ironically, all the members of the McCann team that worked on this campaign were men. All these points highlight how the commercial interests of the company override the will to represent the values of feminism.  

PepsiCo’s campaign “Do Us a Flavor” for their potato chips brand, Lay’s, was a successful example of branding through user generated content. The participants were encouraged to submit a flavor idea for the brand through Facebook. Upon their submission, they would receive an image of a customized Lay’s bag, which they were encouraged to share on social media. Top three flavors were distributed as samples in the stores for public voting. The prize was $1 million for the winning flavor. The company’s goal was to receive 1.2 million submissions and increase sales by 3%. In contrast, they received 3.8 million submissions and the sales increased by 12%, which shows how successful this campaign was in generating interest for the brand.

One of the biggest benefits of this campaign for the company is its ability to provide insight into consumer preferences. Since the brand is directly asking the customers about what kind of product they want, the company has the ability to collect data at a low cost. Extracting and using data is central in the twenty-first century capitalism, which makes this aspect of UGC highly valuable. Traditionally, research and development teams are paid significant amounts of money to understand consumer desires and create products according to their preferences. This type of UGC cuts down the costs associated with these processes by outsourcing these steps to the public. In addition, as the most popular social network worldwide, the data that Facebook provides is highly valuable with its ability to access large groups of consumers. 

Moreover, users can create unique content for the brand, both in terms of product ideas and also for marketing approaches. Rather than working solely with a team of creatives for new ideas, focusing on UGC and social media platforms provides accessibility to a larger pool of innovative ideas. Additionally, content created by real users might be perceived as being more relatable or authentic, which makes UGC as valuable as professionally produced branded material.

Lastly, PepsiCo increases its visibility as the participants share their authentic flavors in their social media platforms. These types of activities have a tendency to become trends on social media and users are encouraged to take part in order to not miss out. With this natural behavior of social media users, PepsiCo reaches a greater public and invites more people to buy the brand’s products.

From the perspective of the UGC creator, they get a chance to win the monetary prize and have their personalized flavor of chips get manufactured. They can also boost their social media metrics and gain recognition as the winner of the competition. For example, there are multiple social media posts and articles about the winner of 2017’s contest, Ellen Sarem, on the Internet. Although it is less likely to happen for this type of UGC, participants can gain recognition even if they are not the winner of the competition. Their creative work can attract other brands, which can lead to further collaborations and work opportunities. 

The consumers of the brand can also benefit from this campaign. Before the finalists of this UGC were announced, free samples of different submissions were being offered to the public. The consumers had the opportunity to taste different products and have their voices get heard with their votes. In addition, since the production development cycle is faster with UGC compared to the production model based on traditional market search, the consumers of the brand have access to newer products faster. 

Although all parties benefit from UGC to some degree, on balance the brand itself benefits from this framework the most. Not all UGC creators win the contest or gain recognition for their creative skills. Also, the benefits that the brand users receive in terms of free samples or influence on the newer products are not as significant as the economic values gained by the company in their marketing and production cycles. 

Economically speaking, the organization of media industries in Turkey is along capitalist structures, but it’s difficult to say that free market principles apply. There are a few private media groups that hold ownership of the majority of media content. In addition, censorship is a big issue, which only allows pro-government outlets to survive. Sadly, it is common to see journalists get arrested and media organizations get shut down after publishing critical articles. With such limited representation of views due to censorship and media oligopoly, it is difficult to talk about free market principles. 

McChesney argues that in order to ‘democratize’ societies, mechanisms that “make the rule of many possible” should be created, which means incorporating noncommercial and nonprofit elements to the media system. In the authoritarian political context of Turkey, it is difficult to identify examples of media democratization in relation to McChesney’s definition. In this media landscape, outlets that help diversify the political views on media channels could be considered as contributing to the “rule of many” mentioned by the author. Within this context, Gazete Duvar could be considered as an example of a media outlet that democratizes media in Turkey. 

Gazete Duvar is an online news portal, which mainly focuses on Turkish politics. Most of the journalists writing in this e-journal were formerly employed by bigger media companies in Turkey, but they were removed from their positions due to their articles criticizing the government. In the past, some of the articles on this website have been removed and access to certain pages were blocked by the government. The platform also has an English version, which was launched with the goal of providing unbiased information about the events in Turkey for the English-speaking audiences.

The company mostly makes money through advertisements, but also receives funding from Europe and U.S., which is an issue that has been brought up in relation to the impartiality of this outlet. In fact, the editor-in-chief of this publication has recently resigned and stated that the increased percentage of funding from other countries was creating problems with his editorial independence. Although the contributions of this platform to the “democratization of media” is limited with its financial dependance, it still diversifies the perspectives available for the reader. This could be considered as the first step that will eventually lead to a democratized media in McChesney’s conception. 

Although the financial contributions of different countries limit the editorial independence of Gazete Duvar, it should be noted that their support might be the sole reason for this platform’s survival. Financial support from powerful countries in Europe has political implications as well, which might function as a disincentive for Turkish government to shut down this media outlet completely. Considering the media landscape of Turkey, this might be the only solution for publications like Gazete Duvar to exist.

Turkey is the second-most media illiterate country in Europe, meaning that the public opinion can be heavily shaped by media.

The current government uses low education and low media literacy levels for its own advantage by only allowing positive representations of their governance to circulate, which explains the heavy censorship methods that they employ. Gazete Duvar tries to get around these restrictions by publishing electronically. Although the regulations over the Internet also increase in Turkey, the vast array of content and platforms makes it more difficult to control compared to traditional media channels. Until the freedom of press is established in Turkey, media outlets like Gazete Duvar will do most of the work of democratizing media by challenging authoritarianism.