Memes as Shortcut to Consumer Culture: A Methodological Approach to Covert Collective Ideologies

• Autor(a) principal: Deus,Elisa Priori de
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Campos,Roberta Dias, Rocha,Ana Raquel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: RAC. Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-65552022000401201
• topic: memes; cultural text; consumer ideology; culture and consumption; qualitative research

ABSTRACT Objective: the paper proposes the methodological use of memes as a shortcut to explore consumer culture. Memes as cultural texts can reveal collective circulating ideologies that may not be accessed through regular interviews. Context: memes are cultural texts that convey easy-to-understand messages, gaining strength within social networks. Cultural texts playfully present the social context and beliefs of societies. We analyzed circulating memes during the COVID-19 pandemic about elderly consumers in Brazil to outline a methodological protocol. Method: we analyzed memes adopting the discourse model to conduct qualitative research of memes as a shortcut to cultural discourses. We collected memes during March and May 2020 using social media networks. They were classified following thematic analysis. Result: the proposal is a methodological procedure for analyzing memes as a cultural text. The process starts with the outline of a data collection protocol, followed by data analysis guidelines, illustrated by the context of elderly consumers. Conclusion: the analysis of memes as cultural texts contributed to understanding of consumer behavior through current cultural content, revealing contrasting ideologies that emerge from consumers, as covert value-systems, circulating alongside institutional mass-mediated ideologies.