This document provides an overview of Bessie Chu's presentation on marketing via fandom and participatory culture. It begins with Chu's agenda and theoretical framework, which draws from literature on hierarchies of taste, waves of fandom, web practices as culture, and power struggles in web 2.0. Chu then discusses recent scholarship around topics like intentional activations of commercial fan practices, comparisons of fan interactions for different TV shows, and the mainstreaming of fan practices. The document aims to bring awareness to how marketing mimics fan practices and their growing impact in web 2.0 and society.

1. Marketing Via Fandom
use
of
taste
hierarchies
in
participatory
culture
Prepared By Bessie Chu
Fandom, Participatory Culture, and Web 2.0

2. Agenda
-­‐What
I’m
doing
and
Why
-­‐Theoretical
Framework
to
Approach
-­‐Recent
Scholarship
-­‐Initial
Observations
-­‐Initial
Conclusions
-­‐Would
love
feedback!

3. Intentional Activations
Normalization of
“Commercial Fan Practices”
Awareness
of
using
fan
practices
vis
a
vis
Web
2.0
capabilities
Deliberate
use
of
taste
hierarchies
in
marketing
shows
and
fan
interactions

4. Mad Men versus Scandal

5. Why Does it Matter
Further
fan
studies
awareness
of
marketing
mimicry
of
fan
practices
and
its
impact
in
Web
2.0
and
larger
societal
rhetoric

6. But First a Theoretical
Framework…

7. Hierarchy of Legitimate Tastes
Bourgeois
distance
“legitimate
consumption
of
legitimate
works”
Taste
cultures
relating
to
demarcations
of
identity
classifying
people
and
things
“Discriminating
taste
above
fandom”
Bourdieu (1980)

8. Third Phase of Fandom
Conceptualizing
three
distinct
“waves”
of
fandom
since
1980s
• “Guerilla
style
tactics
“
in
first
phase
• 1990s
proliferation
of
new
media
and
fan
communities
• Third
phase
of
examining
the
role
of
fan
objects
and
fans
as
active
producers
because
of
digital
media
Gray (2007)

9. Web Practices as a Culture
Looking
at
the
Web
Commons
as
a
“mind-­‐set,
not
a
specific
form
of
technology.”
“Just
as
there
is
a
change
in
the
interconnected
nature
of
contemporary
media,
so
too
is
there
are
revolution
in
the
way
media
technologies
are
used.
We
can
see
it
in
the
collective
communal
nature
of
the
web,
in
the
self-­‐conscious
nature
of
the
use
of
the
web,
and
in
the
assertiveness
of
fans”
(p.
23).
Booth (2010)

10. Power Struggles in Web 2.0
Themes
of
how
does
fandom
cope
with
new
power
in
the
Web
2.0
age.
“The
blurring
of
the
borders
between
consumers
and
producers,
as
well
as
growing
awareness
of
the
added
value
of
fan
labor
(Ross,
2008;
Baym
&
BurneD,
2009),
have
led
to
a
percepGon
of
unprecedented
power
held
by
audiences
over
producGon
companies.”
Hadas & Shifman (2013)

11. Race and Ethnicity in Fandom
Gatson (2011)
Over
time,
we
have
come
to
focus
particularly
on
the
racialized
flow
of
cultures,
historical
marginalizations
of
specific
populations
based
on
race/ethnicity,
class,
and
gender/sexuality
in
media,
education,
and
scholarship,
and
the
implications
of
how
particular
forms
of
culture
flow
more
easily
than
others.
Cultural
forms
originated
and
produced
by
minority
groups
are
co-­‐
opted,
whitewashed
(and,
conversely,
hyperracialized),
and
historically
monetized
for
the
benefit
of
white
producers
and
consumers.
Simultaneously,
cultural
forms
produced
in
racial/ethnic
spaces
and
communities
for
local
racial/ethnic
audiences
exist
in
and
of
themselves,
for
their
respective
communities.

12. Television and Fandom Framework

13. “No Network is an Island”
• Idea
of
a
show
enabling
fans
to
participate
in
“immersive
environment”
(p.211)
• “One
of
the
more
intriguing
relationships
I
found
across
the
earlier
and
later
years
of
my
audience
research
revolved
around
viewers’
sense
of
whether
or
not
they
were
watching
“acceptable”
or
mainstream
television,
and
whether
or
not
they
perceived
their
TV-­‐related
activities
to
be
“typical”
(p
12)
• “In
other
words,
many
of
the
activities
fans
of
this
show
engaged
in
resembled
those
of
cult
fans
-­‐
but
these
activities
were
not
likely
to
have
occurred
if
not
for
the
strategies
evident
within
the
text
and/or
on
the
website”
(p.15)
Ross (2008)

14. Mainstreaming of Fan Practices
Gillian (2011)
• Dawson’s
Desktop
created
as
an
extension
of
the
storyworld
because
producers
engaged
in
“viewing
practices
that
mirrored
those
of
dedicated
fans
of
the
series,
which,
in
term,
impacted
the
kind
of
content
she
provided”
(p.43)
• Grey’s
Anatomy
in
2000
public
broad
adoption
of
fan
practices
(p
.
233)
• Grey’s
Anatomy
flogs
(p.
224)

15. Mainstreaming of Fan Practices
Producers
and
stars
embedded
in
fan
conversations
as
“one
of
us”
“Shonda,
you
have
taken
care
of
us
for
so
long
that
now
it
is
time
for
us
to
take
care
of
you.
Trust
me,
we
all
got
your
back
and
will
be
planted
in
front
of
the
TV
watching”
(9/19/06)
p.
226
Gillian (2011)

16. Mainstreaming of Fan Practices
Historical
note
on
Twitter
initially
a
contested
medium
(p.
244,
p
p.234)
“Some
pointed
out
how
ill-­‐suited
a
TwiDer
feed
was
for
a
television
series
as
it
made
it
impossible
to
concentrate
on
the
acGon
and
took
up
far
too
much
screen
space”
(p.
234)
Gillian (2011)

17. Media
dependency
on
Participatory
Culture?
"Fans
are
the
most
active
segment
of
the
media
audience,
one
that
refuses
to
simply
accept
what
they
are
given,
but
rather
insists
on
the
right
to
become
full
participants"
(p.
131)
“The
media
industry
is
increasingly
dependent
on
active
and
committed
consumers
to
spread
the
world
about
valued
properties
in
the
overcrowded
media
marketplace,
in
some
cases
they
are
seeking
ways
to
channel
the
creative
output
of
media
fans
to
lower
their
production
costs”
at
the
same
time
"terrified
of
what
happens
if
this
consumer
power
gets
ouf
ot
control"
a
la
Napster
(p
.
134)
Media Dependency on Fans
Jenkins (2006)

18. Producer Relations Web 2.0
Producers
were/are
not
sure
what
to
do
with
fan
activity
and
it
became
a
haphazard
and
contested
space.
“If
AMC
evaluated
the
success
of
promoting
Mad
Men
only
by
easily
measurable
traffic
through
its
officials
channels,
then
discouraging
anything
that
might
distract
people
from
these
destinations
makes
sense.
From
that
mindset,
fan-­‐
created
material
off
official
Mad
Men
channels
is
in
competition
with
the
show,
and
any
traffic
from
those
outlets
receive
dilutes
the
reach
of
the
show’s
official
presence”
(p.
33)
Jenkins (2013)

19. Engagement Tactics via Fandom

20. Mad Men Official
Deliberate
distance
from
conversation
Elevating
the
show
to
artful
medium

21. Mad Men Fan Reactions

22. Mad Men Advertising Ties

23. Scandal Official
Mass
participation
from
cast
and
crew
Experiencing
the
drama
with
the
audience

24. Scandal Fan Participation

25. Scandal Tie-Ins

26. External Perceptions
of Show and Fans

27. Mad Men

28. Scandal

29. Conclusions
Policing
and
order
surrounding
fan
tastes
Shifts
in
producer
relations
both
on
part
of
technology
&
culture
surrounding
that
technology
Movement
toward
mainstreaming
of
practices
and
participatory
culture
as
modus
operandi?
Does any of this matter?

30. Thank You
Questions?