Qualitative study uncovers how internet meme culture disrupts traditional luxury brand communication, suggesting a major shift in symbolic authority toward online creators.
This study explores how internet memes, as participatory cultural artifacts, disrupt and redefine luxury brand communication. Drawing on in-depth interviews and visual analysis of memes, we examine how meme culture reconfigures Gurzki, Schlatter, and Woisetschläger’s (Citation2019) principles of enrichment, distancing, and abstraction. Findings reveal three interlinked shifts: a symbolic shift, reframing luxury meanings through parody and depletion of symbolic complexity; a social shift, positioning meme creators as new cultural intermediaries; and a commercial shift, in which brands cautiously engage with meme culture. This research advances understanding of digital cultural production and its impact on symbolic capital in the luxury field.
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Pueschel et al. (2026) studied this question.
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