Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


stephens final.pdf (1.66 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism

Stephens, David F., II
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1595005696822323

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
This project is concerned with the forms of play that modern restaurant companies engage in online and the implications of them. I evaluate the strategies of corporate social media accounts through 3 critical lenses--postmodern theory, affect theory, and critical race theory. Using a combination of methods, including textual and discourse analysis, as well as grounded theory, I deconstruct the various strategies utilized by corporate social media accounts to connect with their consumers. My argument rests on the notion that these interactions represent a larger dialectic between consumers and producers of culture. Social media has impacted this relationship by increasing consumer freedom and agency. As a result, companies have found ways to adjust to this consumer freedom in different ways—through mocking and dismissal, or perhaps a viral social challenge as well as racialized performances. While on a spectrum, these strategies represent the anxiety of modern corporate representation in late capitalism.  
Radhika Gajjala, Dr. (Advisor)
Thomas Mowen, Dr. (Other)
Lisa Hanasono, Dr. (Committee Member)
Timothy Messer-Kruse, Dr. (Committee Member)
166 p.
Mass Communications; Mass Media
social media; popular culture; branding; critical theory; blacktwitter

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Stephens, II, D. F. (2020). Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1595005696822323

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Stephens, II, David. Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism. 2020. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1595005696822323.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Stephens, II, David. "Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1595005696822323

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1595005696822323
803
© 2020, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism by David F. Stephens II is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.