{"id":3970,"date":"2014-07-24T01:22:32","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T01:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bme2.flywheelsites.com\/blog\/pop-culture-trend-selfie-marketing\/"},"modified":"2020-01-16T22:07:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T22:07:52","slug":"pop-culture-trend-selfie-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/pop-culture-trend-selfie-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop Culture Trend: Selfie Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

As grown adults, we might be a little more than tired of the endless slush of \u201cselfies.\u201d Self-taken pictures, or \u201cselfies\u201d, mushroomed into existence alongside Smartphones, which made it easy to reverse the camera back onto yourself and snap a photo (or ten) in your best pose. Seen as annoying and egotistical by plenty of us, selfies have also been seen as a method of self-exploration by Psychology Today<\/i>. NCB News<\/i> went further, claiming to have discovered the science of selfies as a way to claim our identity.<\/p>\n

Interestingly though, selfies aren\u2019t a completely new concept. Artists<\/a> have been painting selfies for centuries. The first documented selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius<\/a> in 1839. It\u2019s quite striking and has been followed by a handful of indulgent self-portraits, culminating to today where even politicians and celebrities indulge in clicking a group selfie. If we look at those self-portraits, we don\u2019t see the narcissism the way we see it in self-portraits today. Could it be that our perspective of selfies then differs from how we see it now, or could it be that the photographer approaches the subject differently today \u2013 perhaps with less curiosity?<\/p>\n

Arguably the best understanding of selfies in a modern context is written by Martyn Jones. In a Patheos<\/i> article titled \u201cSelfie Obsession: Our Ongoing Attempts to Picture Our True Selves,\u201d Jones writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cherish the possibility that someone, anyone, might see us. If photographs possess reality in their pixels, then selfies allow us to possess ourselves: to stage identities and personas. There is the sense that getting the self-portrait just right will right our own identity: if I appear happy, then I must be happy; if I appear intellectual, then I must be an intellectual; if I appear beautiful, then I must be beautiful. Staging the right image becomes the mechanism for achieving that desired identity. The right self-portrait directs others to see us the way we desire to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter pop-culture marketing. Those genius marketers who\u2019ve recognized the power of a selfie and its value in creating associations, have rolled out creative marketing campaigns centered on a trend that every-single-person with a Smartphone has indulged in. This isn\u2019t just your run of the mill pop culture marketing. This is genius.<\/p>\n

Where normally pop-culture marketing appeals to the masses in a relatable way, selfie marketing draws on pop-culture to appeal to everyone. Here\u2019s how some companies have carried out this selfie strategy:<\/p>\n