Branding the white nation

Platform capitalism and the semiotics of far-right organizing

Bibliographic Data

ID2878802
AuthorsC Tebaldi (0000-0002-6144-6853, University of Luxembourg, corresponding author), Alfonso Del Percio (0000-0003-4986-9009, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland)
Year2024
Volume55
Issue1
Pages1-27
Publication date2024-12-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404524001040
OpenAlexW4405308436
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited31

This article focuses on the branding of Patriotic Alternative (PA), a British fascist organization and business, in three analytic steps: (i) branding as circulating ideologies as commodities; (ii) branding as creating-and selling-community, and (iii) branding as regimenting meaning. Building on work on the communicability of evil and language, nationalism, and political economy, we explore how PA uses the affordances of platform capitalism in a project that goes beyond ideological normalization: not just rebranding a message as acceptable but selling a product which builds a community aligned with this ideology. Looking at both brand and political websites, YouTube, as well as Telegram channels, we show how PA's branding functions to invest a wide range of mundane practices with racist meaning; they are imagined to forestall the great replacement. Rebranding racism as white community, every cup of tea sold brings back the world of your grandma, each bar of soap protects white skin. (Far-right semiosis, branding, platform capitalism

Business · Capitalism · Commercialism · Ideology · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Rebranding · Semiotics · Sociology · White (mutation) · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Marketing · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access