Advertising is increasingly recognized as a cultural practice that extends beyond persuasion to reflect collective values, identity, and social belonging (Hall, 1973; Arnould & Thompson, 2005). This study investigates the effectiveness of cultural advertising in Lebanon, focusing on Almaza’s social media campaigns during 2022–2023. By analyzing engagement data (likes, comments, shares), the research shows that ads embedding cultural symbols generate significantly higher interaction than non-cultural campaigns. Guided by encoding/decoding theory, consumer culture theory, and reception theory, the findings underscore how cultural resonance strengthens audience engagement and brand identity. The originality of this study lies in situating Lebanon—a context marked by collectivism and resilience—within global advertising scholarship. Its implications align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), by demonstrating how culturally rooted marketing can foster sustainable business practices and community cohesion.

ABSTRACT Three observations anchor the argument developed in this paper. (1) Major tech corporations increasingly act as the ‘peers’ of nation-states, as they rule their digital ‘fiefs’ through policies and codes. (2) Historically, nation-states have used heritage as one of their nation-building policies, and (3) the Critical Heritage Studies movement interprets any use of heritage as inherently political. Building on these ideas, this article analyses the online platform Google Arts & Culture – ‘GAC’ – to establish if and how the uses of heritage by Big Tech might be understood as variants of nation-building policies. Following a critical multimodal digital discourse analysis, this article finds that GAC promotes a type of easily consumable heritage that is rooted in quantified popularity, data colonisation, disneyfication and neoliberal individualism. This yields a new variant of the Authorised Heritage Discourse: the Algorithmically Authorised Heritage Discourse – ‘AAHD’. This emergent discourse transforms heritage into networked fragments of consumer culture, consequently producing a global ‘undifferentiated community’ that understands heritage as a ‘universal’ commodity that can serve individual desires. The resulting apparent apoliticalness of the AAHD is in fact deeply political, as it induces a type of political banality that discourages critical engagements with both heritage and Big Tech.

Western capitalism asserts that knowledge is power, a political tool, something created by entrepreneurs, or a prize acquired and owned by the marketplace through predation. Gaining control of knowledge through cultural appropriation and co-optation enables the marketplace to commodify meaningful symbols and claim that its brands provide an authentic identity. Consequently, Marxist theories of co-optation suggest division and exacerbated imbalanced power dynamics between them versus us, which leads to value co-destruction (VCD) and the creation of parallel marketplaces by the dispossessed. The purpose of this article is to reframe the anti-logic inherent in existing formal and Marxist co-optation theories to further develop assertions of interdependent relationships, value co-creation (VCC), and authenticity in contemporary consumer culture by replacing Western concepts of extracting information with the sharing of knowledge founded on notions of Indigenous relational power. In doing so, the article argues for a paradigm shift in how brands choose to involve consumers in co-optation processes. Deeply rooted in its situation, a history of surf culture is interwoven with findings from a 20-year ethnography of cold-water surfing to explain how the cycle of boom-and-bust VCD power dynamics caused by formal and Marxist co-optation can be averted if Indigenous relational power is used to share knowledge with collective accountability for co-creating authentic representations. The significance of the relational co-optation theory introduced in this article is its capacity for the marketplace and its consumers to escape the power dynamics at play in persistent discussions of deliberate and inadvertent cultural appropriation and destructive co-optation.

Bagh print is a traditional hand-block printing art practiced in Bagh village of Madhya Pradesh. Known for natural dyes, geometric arrangements, and unique red–black color palette, this craft is a representation of cultural memory and artisanal knowledge passed across generations. However, modern consumer culture, fast fashion, and digital buying patterns have reduced public understanding of handmade textiles. On the other hand, Generation Z is emerging as a consumer group that values authenticity, sustainability, personal identity, and visual storytelling. This research explores how Bagh print can become a bridge between heritage and youth culture. It studies the complete printing process, analyses the challenges faced by artisans, and explains how storytelling, documentation, and modern design innovations can attract Gen Z. The research concludes that the survival of Bagh print depends on combining tradition with contemporary communication—especially digital media, designer collaborations, and transparency in production.

In the modern era, young generations face complex financial management challenges due to technological advancements and the widespread consumerist culture. Financial literacy has become a crucial aspect to support rational and sustainable financial decision-making. This study examines the role of financial attitude as a mediator in the relationship between financial literacy and financial decision-making, as well as investigates the influence of consumerist culture as a moderating variable. Using a causal quantitative approach and purposive sampling of 110 respondents, data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed with PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3.0. The results show that financial literacy positively affects financial attitude and financial decision-making, with financial attitude mediating this relationship. Although consumerist culture has not yet shown a strong moderating effect, it remains an important factor in the financial behavior of young generations. These findings emphasize the importance of developing financial education programs that not only enhance knowledge but also foster positive attitudes and critical awareness of consumerist culture to support wiser and more sustainable financial decision-making. Furthermore, this study enriches financial literacy scholarship by highlighting the contextual influence of consumerist culture on young generations, thereby advancing the discourse on sustainable financial behavior.

Film and television play a crucial role in shaping gender imagery and disseminating social norms. However, existing research often over-relies on Mulvey's male gaze or is limited to a single cultural context, lacking a more comprehensive comparison. This article combines gaze theory with cross-cultural analysis, using close textual reading to analyze four case studies: Stranger Things (2016) and Sex Education (2019) focus on narrative control, visual framing, and the negotiation of different gazes; Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and Barbie (2023) explore how China's patriarchal family order and Hollywood's postfeminist consumer culture shape gender representations and influence audience interpretations in different contexts. This research finds that gender differences are not fixed but are constantly rewritten through the mechanism of the gaze, receiving diverse interpretations across cultures. Narrative and visual strategies determine how women's agency is constrained or liberated, while cultural context further influences how audiences interpret these images. In other words, the meaning of gender representation is always shaped by the interweaving of gaze and context. These findings suggest that gender representation in narrative cinema is a product of both textual mechanisms and cultural context. This study not only addresses research gaps that have overly relied on the male gaze or neglected cross-cultural comparisons, but also offers a new perspective on how film and television rewrite gender differences in global communication.

Introduction . The purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of absorption of anti-consumer discourse by capitalist policy. Contemporary consumer culture demonstrates the ability to absorb anti-consumer discourse and to transform it into something “of its own”. Similarly, capitalist politics finds ways to integrate anti-capitalist discursive practices. Methodology and sources . The article uses various data from research works of domestic and foreign authors. The sources include both classical works and texts of modern authors. By means of the neo-Marxist approach, it was possible to explicate the models of absorption of anti-consumer discourse by capital. Through a philosophical and cultural approach, we examined this problem as related to the peculiarities of the functioning of consumer culture. The philosophical and political approach identifies the political aspects of capital's appropriation of anti-capitalist sentiments among the masses. The philosophical and historical approach traces the absorption of socialist ideas in a historical context, with fascism as a case study. The methodological basis was provided by the philosophical concepts of H. Marcuse, the theory of the “society of the spectacle” by G. Debord, and the ideas of G. Lukács. The work uses a number of studies by G. Debord, K. Korsch, G. Lukács, H. Marcuse, and I. Therborn that remain untranslated into Russian. Results and disc ussion. The article shows various strategems through which capitalism integrates anti-consumer discourse, depriving it of integrity, completeness and content. By adapting anti-capitalist discourse to its needs, capitalism continues its development and partly mitigates the severity of its characteristic crises. Capital also finds new means of increasing profits through the absorption of phenomena that are opposed to it. Scientific achievements are put to the service of manipulating consciousness. Irrationality is created, verified, and given its most effective form of manipulation through scientific rationality. Protest against capitalism becomes capitalized, and rebellion against consumerism becomes consumerized. Even fascism successfully appropriated oppositional, anti-bourgeois discourse for its own benefit. Conclusion . The study concludes that the boundaries between capitalist (consumer) and anti capitalist (anti-consumerist) discourses are becoming very vague. A certain form of cultural imperialism occurs, when the dominant ideology and commercialization attack the “foreign field”. What was once alien or different is reformatted, distorted and becomes one's own. This process effectively works for the expansive capture of a new field by capital, for the neutralization of the ideological (and class) opponent, for the expansion of opportunities for profit

Jelly Cat is a British plush-toy brand popular among youth for their unique branding strategies worldwide. This paper aims to understand how they use social media promotion on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) to turn common merchandise into emotional companions. By comparative thematic analysis of videos from the brands official, physical-store, and user-generated accounts, this study discerns two complementary narrative modes. The official account uses fantasy-based storytelling to anthropomorphize the toys in order to generate intimacy and affection, while store and user accounts use realism to stress the authenticity of the real products, quality, and rational consumption. Combined, this collective story creates a marketing chain that incites desire, trust, and purchasing decisions. The results show that Jelly Cat effectively synthesizes both emotional and functional appeals on Douyin, and how narrative and affective labour can be deployed to localize global brands in Chinas digital consumer culture.

This paper examines the evolution of fear as both an aesthetic and social phenomenon in modern and contemporary art. Tracing its transformation from inner psychological experience to collective trauma, the study analyzes how artists have visualized fear across different historical momentsfrom Francisco Goyas critique of social irrationality, to Edvard Munchs existential anxiety, to Francis Bacons depiction of human fragility. It further explores how Damien Hirst, Louise Bourgeois, and Anselm Kiefer expanded fear into the realms of consumer culture, gender relations, and historical memory. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from Kierkegaard, Freud, Kristeva, and Foucault, the paper argues that fear functions as a critical lens through which art exposes the instability of human existence and the contradictions of modern civilization. In its socialized form, fear becomes not merely an emotion but an ethical and philosophical practicean artistic means of confronting violence, mortality, and collective memory in an age of globalization and spectacle.

With the development of information technology and the transformation of consumer culture, the live streaming economy has been integrated into China's digital economic system, driving urban economic growth. However, it has also brought about regulatory issues such as information asymmetry, false advertising, difficulty in ensuring quality, and high costs of rights protection. This new economic form of virtualization, real-time, and cross-domain is facing enormous challenges. Traditional methods, such as manual sampling, reporting, and post-event tracing, are unable to meet the complex and ever-changing live streaming economic ecology. The powerful perception, recognition, and understanding capabilities of artificial intelligence provide new possibilities for building a scientific regulatory system in real-time, accurately, and efficiently. This article uses the theory of technological empowerment to explore the operational mechanism of artificial intelligence in regulating the live streaming economy, with a focus on the role of artificial intelligence in empowering live streaming economy regulation in four aspects: data intelligence, behavior recognition, risk warning, and intelligent decision-making. In addition, this article proposes a feasible path for building a smart regulatory system from three aspects: technology integration, institutional collaboration, and talent cultivation, providing relevant inspiration and reference for exploring the construction of a government platform collaborative governance mechanism and achieving modernization of platform economic governance in practice.

With the rapid development of China's economy, consumer culture has increasingly become a significant marker of social progress. However, the rise of consumer culture has also brought numerous problems, among which the issue of consumer alienation is particularly prominent. This phenomenon not only reflects the distortion of individual values but also exposes deep-seated contradictions in social development, further becoming an important factor affecting social harmony and individual well-being. This paper aims to analyze the problem of consumer alienation in contemporary society from the perspective of Marx's theory of alienation, encompassing various manifestations such as conspicuous consumption, luxury consumption, and virtual consumption. Based on Marxist theory, the paper proposes suggestions and recommendations for resolving the issue of consumer alienation, thereby promoting the comprehensive and healthy development of individuals and fostering healthy consumption in society.

Halal consumption has emerged as a central mode of identity performance among Jakarta’s urban millennial Muslims, intertwining religious obligation with consumer culture. This study examines how young Muslims navigate their religious identity, ethical values, and digital presence through the everyday practices of halal consumption. Moving beyond theological and market-centered frameworks, the research employs a qualitative design combining semi-structured interviews and digital ethnography to examine how halal is performed, curated, and contested in daily life. The findings show that halal is not merely a set of dietary or consumer rules but a performative and relational identity articulated through four key dynamics: the curation of the “Halal Self” on social media; the deployment of halal as moral distinction and cultural resistance; the negotiation of structural constraints on religious agency; and the formation of a Digital Ummah as a space for soft advocacy and peer-based religious knowledge. The study argues that halal consumption represents a multifaceted ethical practice, embedded in the complex interpit’apakalay of affective, technological, and sociopolitical aspects of contemporary Muslim life.

The discourse on halal in Indonesia has shifted from a purely religious domain to an integral part of the economy, consumer culture, and social identity. Following the enactment of Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Guarantee, the state has strengthened its control through an authoritative approach emphasizing certification and regulation. At the grassroots level, however, communities—especially MSME actors and online networks—have developed halal literacy through participatory and contextual interactions. This study explores the tension between authoritative and allocative social interactions in shaping halal knowledge and practices, and their implications for power relations and the democratization of halal meaning. Using a qualitative approach grounded in Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory, data were collected through policy document analysis, social media observation, and MSME case studies in Yogyakarta. The analysis employed Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis framework covering text, discursive, and social practices. The findings reveal that state and religious institutions dominate halal literacy through regulatory and technocratic narratives, yet communities actively reinterpret halal through social media, peer exchange, and experiential learning. The study concludes that halal literacy should move beyond top-down regulation toward a participatory, community-based model responsive to socio-cultural and business realities in Indonesia.

This article explores Rednote, a popular Chinese platform for female users, analyzing the construction of its "ideal life", the influence of consumer culture, and the shaping of users' self-identity. Rednote was founded in 2013 and has evolved from an overseas shopping sharing platform to a comprehensive platform that integrates e-commerce, social interaction, and lifestyle services. The "Ideal Life" on Rednote is constructed by a combination of technical tools (editing functions, tags), influencers (KOLs setting life templates), and algorithms (interest based recommendations). Its consumer culture is driven by the "grass planting" mechanism, which combines content browsing with shopping through links and soft advertising, turning products into lifestyle/identity symbols. However, it faces a contradiction: the boundary between true sharing and commercial marketing is blurred, weakening the initial trust. It critically analyzes that how Rednote integrates the consumption logic, platform ecology and personal self-identity in the digital era, and reveals the impact of mobile platforms on modern lifestyle.

This study investigates how international brands can effectively implement foreign consumer culture positioning (FCCP) through digital branding by using Florasis, a Chinese cosmetics brand, as a case study. Employing a mixed-method approach, including computational, quantitative, and qualitative analyses, the research explores how Florasis strategically leverages Instagram to communicate both functional product value and symbolic cultural meaning to U.S. consumers. The findings reveal that Florasis blended practical appeals with culturally rich narratives rooted in Chinese esthetics and philosophy. Over time, the brand evolved from using overt cultural markers to adopting more subtle, aestheticized expressions, reflecting a strategic effort to balance authenticity with global accessibility. Sentiment analysis shows that this approach resonated positively with international audiences, eliciting positive emotions such as admiration and joy. Beyond these findings, the study develops a set of propositions and a conceptual model that theorize the mechanisms underlying FCCP effectiveness, including brand concept integration, authenticity–accessibility balance, contextual factors, and product categories. Theoretically, the research extends consumer culture positioning by providing testable avenues for future cross-brand and cross-market studies. Methodologically, it refines a multimodal framework for analyzing brand communication. Practically, it offers insights for global marketers seeking to implement FCCP through culturally immersive yet accessible storytelling and interactive engagement.

This research examines the substantial importance of female influencers in forming social and political movements, especially among the youth. Female influencers utilise social media platforms to contest conventional societal conventions and promote gender equality, human rights, and political engagement. By integrating personal narratives with activism, they produce compelling content that highlights themes such as harassment, consent, gender-based violence, and political empowerment. Their capacity to establish emotional connections with followers cultivates inclusive communities that engage actively in discourse and opposition. This study analyses the manner in which female influencers' online presence legitimises feminist discourse, galvanises support for initiatives such as #MeToo, and fosters youth participation in political activities. The study emphasises the convergence of consumer culture and activism, illustrating how influencers leverage personal branding to promote social issues. The results emphasise the significant importance of female influencers on political environments, both online and offline.

This research paper examines the food purchasing behaviour of post-graduate Asian international students in England and the socio-cultural, emotional and economic influences that determine the food buying behaviour of these students. The study is based on the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and the Theory of Consumption Value (TCV) when the researcher discusses the effect of cultural background, adaptation, and perceptions of values on the choice of fast food versus traditional or home-country food that students make. A quantitative research design was used and a structured online survey was used to administer the questionnaire to 60 Asian postgraduate international students in different universities in England. The SPSS version 27 was used to analyse the data through the application of descriptive statistics and frequency distribution to determine the behavioural trends and preferences. The findings showed that most of the students favored in-store food over online foods and considered fast food as a convenient time-saving food that best fits their academic and work schedules. Nevertheless, home-country or traditional food was considered to be healthier, emotionally reassuring, and culturally important, which points to the impact of socio-cultural identity and emotional importance of food-related choices. The results prove that international students food buying behaviour is not a simple process as it is affected by functional factors only but also by cultural attachment and emotional needs. The research expands on theoretical knowledge by incorporating CCT and TCV to describe the cross-cultural consumption behaviour in the framework of international education. It also indicates implications to retailers, policymakers and institutions of higher learning to develop culturally inclusive food services and marketing programs that meet the needs of diverse students. Despite the constraints in the sample size and geographical fieldwork, the study offers a worthwhile basis of further research on the international consumer behaviour, cross-cultural adjustment, and food buying behaviour in globalized academic settings.

The concept of hubuddunya (love of the world) within the Akidah Akhlak subject holds a strategic role in shaping the moral and spiritual character of students, particularly in the midst of globalization, materialism, and consumerist culture that increasingly influence young generations. This study seeks to critically analyze the teaching materials of Akidah Akhlak for Grade X at MA YASPI Cicantayan, focusing on the hubuddunya topic. The main objective is to evaluate the relevance, depth, and effectiveness of these materials in fostering students’ awareness of moral values, as well as their ability to apply Islamic principles in daily life. This research employs a qualitative approach with a descriptive method, collecting data through documentation of learning resources, observation of lesson plans (RPP), and in-depth interviews with teachers. The data analysis process was conducted through reduction, classification, and interpretation of findings to obtain a comprehensive picture of the existing instructional practices. The results reveal that the current teaching materials tend to remain highly theoretical and emphasize the transfer of knowledge rather than transformative learning. Consequently, they do not adequately address contextual issues faced by students in their real-life environment. The affective and psychomotor aspects of students’ moral development are not optimally stimulated, leaving a gap between conceptual understanding and practical application. Furthermore, essential Islamic values such as zuhud (detachment from excessive worldliness), qanaah (contentment), and tawakal (trust in God) have not been integrated effectively as counterbalances to materialistic tendencies. The implications of this study underline the urgency of developing Akidah Akhlak teaching materials that are more contextual, student-centered, and relevant to contemporary challenges. Such materials should not only transmit religious knowledge but also foster reflective thinking, emotional maturity, and behavioral consistency, thereby preparing students to face globalization with strong faith, resilience, and anti-materialistic attitudes.

This article looks at the evolution of white civilian society in Rhodesia over the course of the Rhodesian War through the lens of its evolving consumer culture. By studying the advertisements in The Rhodesia Herald during the war this article tracks a deteriorating security situation alongside the products the newspaper sold on its pages. One storyline that emerges is how a white society that was largely defined by easy outdoor leisure became one that was gripped by the overriding security concerns of a population under siege – where pools and lawn bowling advertisements shared space with ads for Kommando submachine guns and Kudu armoured vehicles. This article explores how this paramilitarisation of its consumer culture affected Rhodesia’s national self-conception, and how representations of white Rhodesia during the war evoked disturbing, uncanny feelings among others in the Anglo-world, particularly in America.

Abstract This study examines how Goli Taraghi’s short stories, “The Grandma’s Home” and “The Flowers of Shiraz,” portray young female protagonists navigating mid-20th-century Tehran as flâneuses (female urban flâneurs). Applying Western theories of flânerie, spectatorship, and gendered space to Persian literature, this article argues that Taraghi’s characters leverage consumer culture, cinema outings, and sensory exploration to negotiate opportunities offered by a modernity structured by traditional gender norms. By repurposing socially sanctioned activities (shopping and ballet classes) for unsanctioned roaming, observation, and desire, these girls transform streets, shops, and cinemas into sites of negotiated feminine subjectivity. Their embodied flânerie—marked by defiant gazes, political engagement, and public self-fashioning—subtly challenges the Pahlavi state’s “modern woman” ideal, offering a nuanced perspective on theoretical understandings of the Iranian flâneuse. The article thus repositions Taraghi’s heroines as agents of everyday resistance to norms, definitions and expectations, recalibrating urban modernity through small, defiant acts in contested public spaces.