Author: Jingwen Wu

2022 marks the 90th anniversary of LEGO. Originally conceptualized in 1932 as a toy for kids, LEGO has grown to become loved by people of all ages, including adults with more spending power—inspiring a culture of imagination and a movement of play. Today, its products are present in multiple avenues such as communication, fashion, and even art.

Although LEGO has many competitors in the form of toy corporations (eg. Hasbro, Mattel, Bandai Namco), toy brick brands (eg. Kre-O, MEGA, Sluban, Gundam), and collectibles (Funko Pop, Medicom Toy Be@rbricks), arguably none comes close in terms of cult following, especially with the older demographic.

This comes as no surprise as its recent products (eg. LEGO Collector Series and LEGO movie franchise) and campaigns have been targeted to adults, challenging the notion that play is just for kids. One realization we had was that unlike most adult collectibles that stay in the box just to be displayed on the shelf, LEGO begs assembly, and thus, tactile play.

In creating our films, we were inspired by the insight that as we grow older, rules and responsibilities become so much of a necessity that we tend to forget how to have fun. But as they say, age is just a number, and play knows no limit. Sometimes all we need is a reminder that inside every adult is an inner child—and to let it out is to live.

Our campaign is divided into four chapters: FUN, PLAY, ART, and CELEBRATION. Each 15-second ad was crafted to bring the culture and spirit of LEGO to life (innovation, freedom, and self-identity)—through stories that show viewers that the best way through adulthood is to stay kids-at-heart.

The big idea that grounded all films is THE WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND, words that serve as both tagline and battle cry. So go ahead and “leg godt”—or in english, play well!

As a second screen, the mobile phone is embedded in most people’s daily lives and has become the norm in how we consume entertainment. With so much of people’s time and energy being spent on mobile phones, especially on some social media platforms, the concept of “audience commodity” is constantly being mentioned.

So I keep track of my social media usage on a random day and do some reflecting.

• The platforms I have used: Xiaohongshu(Red), Instagram and YouTube.
• My acts of use can be divided into viewing and actual participation.

I have browsed for information on all three platforms. When I opened Red, I saw the opening screen ad and clearly marked “sponsored” ad space within the platform. More often than not, a specific post by a particular creator has either obvious or hidden advertising content. The situation on Instagram was better because I mainly followed close friends. There was less ad content than RED, except for a few ad posts that appeared every few posts I read. The case of YouTube is also different from others. I had to watch a few seconds of ads first to skip to the video I wanted to watch. Under the situation of browsing the information on the platform and viewing the various advertisements, I paid double ‘labour’ as a platform user. Browsing behaviour is not only sold to advertisers as a commodity by the platform but also adds value to the platform and is a ‘bargaining chip’ for the medium to negotiate with advertisers. The concept of ‘double commodification’ is involved here.

I also posted once when using Red, so the labour involved here differs. I did a Christmas-themed daily life journal in December, and the post on the 2nd was about that. I used photos to record the little things that happened to me that day and hit the hashtag #Plogmas to seek more views. According to the detailed categories, the labour I posted photos contains labouring activities and work of self-branding. I need to post pictures with some explanatory text so that viewers can better understand the story behind the photos.

I also need to focus on the aesthetics of the images and text layout, which is essential as more ornamental content will get more views and likes. I will also promote my posts based on the mechanics of pushing traffic to the platform. And I published such innovative posts to increase the variety of content on my account and present more possibilities in my personal life.

Having documented and reflected on my actions, I seem to have gained a new understanding of the profit-making mechanisms of these platforms, especially after reading AUDIENCE COMMODITY.

Whenever an individual like me clicks on a social media platform, the platform is able to learn about our personal preferences and summarise basic information based on an algorithm. Based on this information, which is already in the hands of the platform, countless individuals are classified into different groups. Then, different groups are packaged and sold to advertisers, which is the main source of profit for the platform. Advertisers generally pay different prices for the target groups corresponding to different products. Research shows that advertisers pay higher prices for men, whites and upper class young people.

The fact is that individuals like me who browse and post on social media are a fairly large group. Not many people follow our accounts, so the share of advertising on the platform is almost negligible for us, while the time and effort we put in is real. I do not think labour like this is proportional to the reward.

As life becomes more important, so does the city as the space in which we live. The growing prominence of cities and life has brought Numbeo to more people’s attention.

Numbeo is a crowd-sourced global database and the world’s largest cost-of-living database. Its range of data includes housing indicators, perceived crime rates, healthcare quality, transport quality and other statistics for every country and region.

On the Numbeo homepage, you can find the three main types of data it offers: cost of living, property prices and quality of life. The three figures are not only presented most straightforwardly, but you can also compare and calculate the statistics through the options on the page and even see the ranking of the figures. For example, you can compare the cost of living for a family of four in London and New York in a month. You can also see the 2022 Health Care Index ranking so far and find that the current data shows Glasgow is the city with the highest Health Care Index in the UK.

Numbeo was initially founded in 2009 by Mladen Adamovic, a former Google software engineer. All you need to do is provide your email address and your city to register on Numbeo, and then you can submit the most realistic data that happens to you. As a result, almost anyone can contribute to the site’s data. It is even possible to comment under the available data, point out errors or add information, all of which can be done anonymously. More than 700,000 people have contributed over 8 million pieces of price data for over 10,000 cities.

Although it is a crowdsourced data site, Numbeo still has its own operations team to manage the data and dictate how it is used. According to the terms published on the website, the data can be used free of charge for personal use. However, Numbeo also has premium services for Commercial License, Insights and API. The Commercial License is aimed primarily at companies, with prices corresponding to the three sizes of companies, small, medium and large, that can use the data for commercial purposes. Alternatively, Insights is a more detailed version of the cost of living data, providing additional precision in standard deviance, number of item contributors, data percentiles and scatter graphs. The API paid service is divided into three price points: Basic, Professional and Enterprise. This is for the convenience of those who need to use Numbeo data in their software applications.

Thus, the data resources on Numbeo are not entirely open but are being commodified. Such an outcome is predictable, as Numbeo is not a purely shared data site. The data transmitted by users was more fragmented, and the site developed the statistics, integration and functionality of this shared data to create what we now see as Numbeo. The site is free for everyday and academic use, which covers most people who use Numbeo. While additional services are available to a small number of users, depending on the category of access.

Numbeo can still be called a commons-based media due to its features and attributes. But it is not so pure, as it still has paid items present. And as a profitable web-based resource platform, Numbeo is also expected to provide a better service to address the criticism it has received about disinformation.

The home furnishing industry is booming as people strive for quality of life. As an American home furnishing e-commerce retailer, Wayfair has achieved consistent sales growth in recent years and is expanding its brand presence on social media.

Wayfair has run a fruitful marketing campaign based on user-generated content(UGC) on Instagram that continues to this day. Wayfair invites customers who have already purchased its products to share their home setups featuring Wayfair products on Instagram. These sharing posts are all asked to add the hashtag #WayfairAtHome. Then, Wayfair’s official account will republish some UGC with a link to make it easier for others to purchase the items in the pictures shared by consumers.

The advent of the Web 2.0 era has made it possible for UGC to be created and distributed. So in this technological context, it is wise for brands like Wayfair to use UGC marketing, which brings many benefits and opportunities for the brand itself.

Mira Mayrhofer and other scholars have conducted an experiment in which the result showed that UGC can lead to higher purchase intent and lower negative consumer sentiment towards ads compared to disclosed ads and brand posts. Combined with Wayfair’s ingenious product links, this directly increases the sales of its products. In addition, UGC is derived from the experiences and feelings of real consumers and is highly persuasive, thus helping to increase brand awareness and reputation on social media. The photos posted by consumers of their home layouts explain most realistically the scenarios in which Wayfair products are used, which allows Wayfair to collect 56,000 posts on only one hashtag, #WayfairAtHome.

It is also essential to focus on the fact that UGC allows brands to connect better with consumers. The connection between consumer and brand no longer ends when the consumer pays for the goods. UGC campaigns on social media platforms enable consumers to communicate and interact with brands, which is a great opportunity to develop brand loyalty. At the same time, brands can obtain a more accurate profile of their users through information on social media. The final point is that UGC can contribute to a brand’s search engine optimisation (SEO). When you search for the keyword Wayfair on search engines, many UGC posts beneficial to the brand will appear, saving Wayfair a considerable amount of money.

For the creators, creating UGC can also bring them some benefits. The posts shared by the creators are reposted by Wayfair’s official account, which somehow recognises their home design aesthetic and will offer creators a sense of inner satisfaction. Creators willing to actively share brand-related content must also be interested in the related information, and creating such content helps creators meet more people with similar interests. The final and most important benefit is that content promoted through brands’ channels helps to increase the followers of these creators’ accounts. It allows the creators to potentially become more professional bloggers and earn some material rewards with UGC or more vertical content, such as home improvement sharing.

For brand consumers, they may seem like the people least associated with such UGC activities, but they actually get what they want out of it. For example, #WayfairAtHome gives consumers the most direct reference to purchase because the images and text posted are from consumers who have already purchased, which is more authentic than the images and text provided by the brand. Consumers buy a brand’s products partly because they like the brand. Therefore, seeing their favourite brands doing interesting UGC activities can also make them feel identified.

Throughout the timeline of feminism, from the early days when women fought for basic rights, such as women’s civil, social, political and religious rights, to the issues we still discuss today, such as the right to clothing and equal pay for equal work. All of these rights have been continuously fought for by women before us and are the cornerstones of women’s quest for freedom today.

Popular feminism in the context of neoliberal capitalism gradually expands its influence through networked digital media. On such a basis, advertisers have also applied feminist connotations to their advertising and marketing strategies.

This year, Michelob Ultra filmed a television commercial recreating the experience of Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon officially. This campaign promotes the running foundation set up by Michelob Ultra to support women and non-binary people runners.

As the film tells it, Kathrine registered for the Boston Marathon in 1967 under the name “K.V. Switzer” and subsequently became a target of the crowds during the race. taff and other runners rushed her, trying to stop her from running and ripping off her number 261, but she persevered and ran the whole race. Even in 1972, thanks to the constant persuasion of Kathrine and other women to the Athletic Association, the first Boston Marathon in which women could participate openly was held. After that, women’s participation in marathons began to become the norm.

Kathrine not only ran a challenging marathon back then but was physically involved in that difficult long run for women’s rights. However, Michelob Ultra will always be a faithful partner in this “feminist marathon”, which is what Michelob Ultra wants to express through its advertising.

Under the ideology of neoliberalism, brands wishing to profit from feminism, a hotly developing social issue, are looking to expand the influence of their brands on the free market.

The Running Foundation, established by Michelob Ultra, support female and non-binary runners with race training, sports equipment, marathon race fees and more. It closes the gender and resource gap in sporting events and promotes gender equality in sports.

This will enable Michelob Ultra to reach more female and non-binary consumers. What’s more, these consumers, in the age of networked digital media, recognise their increasing importance in influencing change. So their choices are becoming more significant, so they are beginning to choose brands that align with their values. Along with this, female empowerment ads like Michelob Ultra will raise the positive image of the ad and the brand among consumers, which will directly boost product sales. And brand loyalty will increase as a result, which helps the brand beat other competitors in the same market category.

Therefore, an important concept has emerged, namely brand activism. This also caters to the consumerism of neoliberal values.

“On the progressive activism side, we see more and more companies seeking to have an impact on the biggest societal problems. These companies have a larger purpose than simple profit-seeking, and are increasingly seen as leaders in their industries.”

It seems that Michelob Ultra also obey the statement.The foundation established by Michelob Ultra was not originally profit-oriented. It was created so that the brand could engage with feminism, particularly the issue of women and non-binary people in sports, to become a leader in the beer industry.

In the end, I find it interesting that there is some basis for Michelob Ultra’s choice of feminism as the social dimension of its concerns. Beer has long been a symbolic alcoholic drink for men, and its female consumers are not valued. In recent years, however, female consumers of beer have been on the rise. It is, therefore, on this premise that Michelob Ultra has seized the opportunity to make a breakthrough.

In April this year, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced plans to privatise Channel 4. If you are unfamiliar with Channel 4, it’s a British television broadcaster founded in 1982 that is currently government-owned.

This is how the government explains why a broadcaster with such a long-standing reputation in the UK, producing many well-known programmes, should be privatised.

An important point that critical political economy makes about media content is that differences in the organisational structure and funding of the media can have a different impact on media content, as reflected in the range and nature of the content produced by the media. Based on this theory, we can recognise that the privatisation of Channel 4 will also impact the channel’s content.

The current Channel 4, although publicly owned, is commercially funded, and the taxpayer does not pay for the broadcaster, which is unique in the UK. The broadcaster itself is separate from the companies that produce the programmes. Channel 4 commissions independent production companies within the UK to produce the programmes, and the channel’s commercial advertising revenue goes directly to programme production.

The situation will change following the privatisation of Channel 4. The ownership of Channel 4 will be vested in a commercial company, and the production of programmes will be directly linked to the channel. The entire company will aim to generate revenue and reward shareholders. It will continue to generate profits to obtain more outstanding capital to compete with existing streaming companies.

Such changes will also affect the changes in media content. The diversity of the programme will be impaired. The communal nature of the channel has led Channel 4 to think more about social issues when selecting material for the programmes, such as focusing on people with disabilities. Privatised broadcasters, on the other hand, consider the same issues from a commercial point of view and choose topics that are more likely to attract advertisers’ money. The attendant benefit of a commercial company taking over the operation of the channel will help Channel 4 to internationalise. To cater for a larger market, Channel 4’s media content will become more global, catering for all cultural habits.

The channel’s privatisation will also impact ace programmes like The Great British Bake Off(Bake Off).

The capital injection will give the Bake Off more money, and more celebrities and famous figures may be invited to participate, making it more watchable. But this could take away from the classic English village fête baking style that Bake Off is trying to create. After all, the privatised channel will have a new viewing audience, and not everyone will love the style of programming of the past. At the same time, it is impossible to determine whether Bake Off will work with certain kitchen or food brands for greater profit. Specified brands of ingredients and machines may appear in it, which may affect the contestants’ performance. On the upside, the format of Bake Off will probably be more watchable, with more highlights than ever before, as a commercial broadcaster won’t want a bland, ordinary season with no storytelling.