Branding and mediatization of consumption

Znamčenje in mediatizacija potrošnje

Course credits:

6.00 ECTS / 45 (0 hours of lectures, 0 hours of exercises, 45 hours of seminars, 0 hours other forms of work)

Course holder:

prof. dr. Breda Luthar

Lecturers:

• Asst. Prof. Dr. Andreja Trdina

Type:

Elective expert

Language:

Slovenian

Semester:

First semester

Study degree

2. level

Course execution:

• Postgraduate Programme of Media and communication studies

Short content

One of the significant shifts in today's consumer society is the transition from producing and consuming products or services to production and consumption of experiences associated with these products and services. Branding is just one aspect of this transformation. In the first part of the course, we deal with interpretations of these changes in the context of the contemporary neoliberal economy and the so-called "communicative capitalism" or "aesthetic capitalism" considering brands as media objects and their social role. We will conclude this section with examination of case studies which can change yearly, that illustrate these changes. In the second part, we focus on the context of tourist consumption and lifestyle mobilities. Through seminar activities or various forms of work, we critically approach the branding of space and the commodification of immaterial culture, the mythologies of commercial discourse, the curated travel in social media as markets of visibility, and the economic colonization of countercultural movements and discourses as a form of commodification of resistance (e.g. colonization of the discourse of slowing down or digital disconnection in slow travel or digital detox products).