Cultural Mediations of Brands

1Legitimacy and Foundations of Authority Through Media Appropriation

The media are the legitimate means of expression in the social space. We then understand the interest of brand managers in appropriating media discourse to communicate in a different way. While the discursive struggle to position oneself in the market involves affirmations to assert one’s existence and offering, it consists also of trying to master their voice. The media influence for brands is becoming a major issue in this context. In light of the interconnectivity – of day-to-day systems – of corporate marketing departments and of media companies, the balance of relationships incorporates pressure and the search for control.

1.1. Speaking out: power

Being an author means you have found your authority or you are at least creating it. In the example of the great figures of centuries past, we can identify the fundamentals, but we risk taking a long, meandering path. Here, I prefer to borrow from a literature specialist and then apply the concepts he illuminates, to my field of observation.

Antoine Compagnon, when expressing himself on the specificities of the author, takes up the etymological origin of authority:

The true meaning of augeo would be to promote, and auctor still testifies to that meaning: the auctor is the one who promotes, who takes an initiative, who is the first to produce some activity, the founder, the guarantor and finally the author. The notion then diversifies, but it is related to ...