Monogami är ute, det är nya tider nu: En fallstudie av dejtingsajten Victoria Milan

Sammanfattning: The company Victoria Milan provides an online dating service aimed at persons who are already within a committed relationship. Their marketing campaign and their slogan make your life more living, have an affair! has led to a record in amount of complaints from the public to the Swedish advertising ombudsman. Our purpose was to explore how the rhetorical construction of infidelity is characterized in their marketing and to connect it with theories about love and relationships in a consumer society. To do this we completed a qualitative text analysis of their TV commercial, of their outdoor poster and of their homepage, using a combined rhetorical and semiotic analysis as method to unveil the meanings behind the text. Supported by Anthony Giddens (2001) and Zygmunt Baumans (2003, 2004) theories we found a rhetorical construction of infidelity as quick fix for a relationship that did not live up to the fantasy of love or marriage. Victoria Milan presents a picture where infidelity is an adventure, celebrating the free individual and their quest for the dream of a fulfilled life in never ending happiness. Their message make us as consumers, always looking for happiness, question the social norm of monogamy, if Victoria Milan have potential to influence that norm is yet to see.