From roots culture to sour fruit: the aesthetics of mobile branding cultures in Jamaica

• Published in: Visual studies (Abingdon, England) Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 191 - 200
• Main Author: Horst, Heather A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 04.05.2014
• Subjects: Advertising; Caribbean; Consumers; Consumption; Internet; Jamaica; Mass Media; Media; Programming (Broadcast); Telecommunications; Television
• ISSN: 1472-586X; 1472-5878
• DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2014.887272

From aggressive marketing campaigns in print, television and billboards to corporate sponsorship of sporting events and corporate social responsibility programmes in the community, the logos, jingles, billboards and other forms of advertising are part and parcel of branded landscapes in which we live. Over the past decade, online, mobile and social media have also emerged as part of these branded landscapes. How have social media changed the ways in which companies and agencies develop and sustain relationships with potential consumers? Tracing the changes in the branding of telecommunications in Jamaica from public billboards and television advertisements (2001-2007) to forms of online advertising through social network sites such as Facebook (2008-2013), this article draws upon ethnographic research about interpretation of local and national culture by global telecommunications companies in the Caribbean. Building upon recent work in the study of consumption, new media as well as visual and sensory studies, I highlight the visual and aesthetic play and intimacy made possible through social media. I conclude by suggesting that social media expands the spaces for the consumption and circulation of mobile product and services and enables the aesthetic management of these products and services with consumers in novel ways.