Is Selfie Moving Towards Popular Culture? - Application of Selfie Phenomenon and Extension of Digital Self in Television Ads

Falguni Vasavada Oza 1 *, Khyati Jagani 1
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1 Mudra Institute of Communication, India
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 118-131. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2613
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ABSTRACT

Up until the early 2000s the content from television had found space in the internet, especially on the social networking sites where content such as news, soap operas, dramas, and movies, traditionally viewed and consumed on television was now also being consumed online by the consumers. However, recently a reverse phenomenon has been observed, where an internet trend, more specifically a social networking phenomenon namely, selfie, has found a space in the television advertisements, promotional activities and soap operas on televisions. This phenomenon in the last few years has been used extensively for the purpose of advertising and promotions. For instance, in 2015 a soap opera show named, Master Chef India, had announced a contest where, the interested audience were asked to prepare a special dish cooked by them, take a selfie with the dish and send it through Whatsapp. This provides marketer a direct interaction platform with the consumers.
One of the factors that determine consumption is the affirmation of identity. Consumers seek to build some sort of congruity between themselves and brand so that the brand they use becomes meaningful to them. Therefore, it is essential for a consumer to select those brands that are in tune with their self-identity. An individual’s profile page on various social networking sites is like a reflection of them self and their self image. The digital self is created in the online communication with no intervention of feedback or external environmental factors. The digital self is more of the reflection of one’s inner world, which focuses on the thoughts, feelings, emotions and personalities of an individual. The digital self is often represented in a manner in which the negatively perceived physical attribute of a person could be changed into a positively perceived digital representation.
This paper aims to conceptualise how the marketer uses the concept of digital self through the selfie phenomenon in the offline context, and how this has become a part of the popular culture where the digital self is extended from the online sphere to the offline sphere.

CITATION

Oza, F. V., & Jagani, K. (2017). Is Selfie Moving Towards Popular Culture? - Application of Selfie Phenomenon and Extension of Digital Self in Television Ads. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 7(4), 118-131. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2613

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