You are what you buy : A critical discourse analysis of IKEAs series Vad gafflar ni om?

Our modern society is based on a culture of consumption, where individuals are in an on- going search for self-realization through consumption. But in a society with buzz a of commercials and information, a society where media users are getting more critical towards commercialized messages it’s harder for companies to be heard. To be heard, companies need to create messages that their customers choose to listen to. Content marketing is a marketing strategy that aims to do just that. The purpose with this study is to get a deeper understanding of content marketing as a phenomenon within a consumption society by studying IKEAs series Vad gafflar ni om?. The study has a starting point in Bauman’s theories about consumption life, Giddens theories about the reflexive self, Jenkins theories about convergence culture and Faircloughs critical discourse analysis. The critical discourse analysis was made through Faircloughs three-dimensional conception of discourse, which is a model consisting a linguistic analysis of the text, the discourse practise and the social practice. To get a deeper insight in the reception of the text, qualitative interviews with text consumers where also made. The result of the analysis showed that different types of identities and norms where presented by IKEA in the series, which all could be achieved through consumption. The text consumer is most likely influenced by the ideology consumerism, which can be why they agree with how IKEA present different identities. IKEA presents a narrow image of the typical swede, where that are presumed to be middle class and own their own house. A distinct promotion discourse could not be identified, although a consumption discourse was identified throughout the series. The text consumers felt that the content was mostly entertaining and educating, which could be the result of the non-exiting promotional discourse but also the use of an entertaining-genre. The text consumers were also positively disposed by the content that can be, in comparison to Grusells study, because they choose to see it by themselves.