Meme Marketing to Fellow Kids

Sammanfattning: Corporations attempting to enter the realm of memetic media often find themselves lost and embarrassed; the chaotic nature of meme culture as a global way of expression on the internet has proven difficult, and communities like Reddits r/FellowKids enact vernacular criticism on corporations who attempt to use memes in order to reach their target audience. This study aims to reach higher knowledge of successful corporate engagement in memetic media through a text analysis of discussions between users on Reddit and the interplay on Twitter where users engage in vernacular ways with the Wendy’s Twitter account. Drawing on branding theory and Goffman’s dramaturgical model, the study draws conclusions on how users of a vernacular community engages the Wendy’s Twitter account in different ways. It shows how an authentic identity is ascribed to the corporation through vernacular means, and how the prevalence of vernacular play forces the corporation to surrender message control in order to gain authenticity. It further suggests that an authentic corporate identity in vernacular communities requires the corporation not to act like one; preferring fast, playful communication rather than slow, institutional responses. Implying that the correct plan of action is not to have one, the study further understands the paradox of crafting a marketing strategy not based on controlled communication, and suggests further research into vernacular communities and citizen creative control in memetic media.