Going Under the Needle for Your Brand: Tattooing as the New Market Medium

Abstract

This conceptual paper proposes Carnival as a relevant and useful theory with which academics and practitioners can better understand concepts such as consumer generated advertisement and how to better engage consumers in positive brand communications. We propose that the Internet can provide the necessary conditions for modern day Carnival to take place. Consumer generate advertising is becoming an increasingly popular form of caricature and ridicule. Individuals in society with traditionally low societal power have access to the Internet and are able to upload videos and caricatures mocking brands, politicians and individuals. Prior to the Internet, individuals would not have had access to the mass distribution capabilities of YouTube, Facebook, My Space and more. Russian philosopher and theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1976) explores themes related to communication and protest through the concept of carnival. In today’s society, similar themes are increasingly prevalent in modern communication channels, specifically the Internet. With the increasing popularity of consumer- generated content related to brands, consumers often engage in mass public dialogues like those originally developed and discussed by Bakhtin.