In this interview Melih Nadi Tutan discusses the research and findings of his recent article in Environmental Politics: Environmentally harmful discourses of modernity: a semiotic analysis of Turkish television car commercials.
Congratulations on your recent article! What is the key message that you hope people take from this research?
Thank you so much! With this research, I aimed to draw attention to the societal aspects of environmental issues, specifically focusing on cars and car culture in Turkiye. Cars worldwide contribute significantly to CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, which are major drivers of climate change. While some countries have implemented regulations to curb car use and advertising, consumers often resist changing their consumption habits.
I believe one reason for this reluctance is our multifaceted understanding of cars. They are not merely transportation vehicles but also symbols of identity, socioeconomic status, and even gender. These symbolic meanings, coupled with discourses of modernity like mobility, speed, and freedom, are often employed in car commercials to entice consumers. As a result, changing consumption habits and mitigating environmental degradation becomes increasingly challenging. In my study, I sought to demonstrate how these discourses are embedded within car commercials in Turkiye, conveying hidden messages that make people desire cars.
Broadly speaking, I demonstrate how modern institutions utilise discourses that can contribute to environmental degradation within specific cultural contexts. I explore how these cultural messages are embedded in everyday practices, such as car commercials. I believe that addressing environmental crises requires a multifaceted approach that extends beyond state-level regulations. We need to increase our awareness of the modern institutions we have built over the years and adopt a global perspective. It’s a challenging task, but I hope this study can contribute to a broader solution.
For this research, you looked at car advertisements in Turkiye. What is car culture like in this context?
I believe that a general pattern can be observed in car cultures across many societies. They often represent concepts like freedom, privacy, power, and strength. However, these concepts can be tailored to specific markets by embedding cultural messages into car commercials. In other words, car cultures influence marketing strategies.
In Turkiye, car culture is significantly shaped by social learning patterns. Cars often serve as toys for young boys. As they grow older, cars become a responsibility, requiring knowledge and care. Later, cars transform into tools for social attraction. Factors like top speed, acceleration, horsepower, appearance, and ergonomics become increasingly important in traffic and social settings. The themes of fun, attractiveness, speed, and strength, prevalent in the commercials I analysed, align with these social connotations.
Turkish car culture can be analysed through three social dimensions: identity, socioeconomic status, and gender. For example, one car model might signify a particular social class, ideology, or form of masculinity. As mentioned earlier, cars in Turkish culture, like in many others, are not merely transportation vehicles but also carry significant social meaning.
There’s some interesting gendered elements to your analysis – the use of heterosexuality and gender norms, but also the cars themselves are gendered?
Gender is one aspect that cars represent. For instance, commercials emphasising a car’s strength and durability against harsh conditions often employ masculine imagery. They feature attractive male performers and use language and visuals associated with masculinity. Not only can car brands and models be gendered, but even different engine options within the same model can be associated with specific gender codes. For example, higher horsepower engines might be linked to masculine traits like speed, excitement, and adrenaline, while smaller, safer, and “weaker” cars might be associated with feminine qualities such as motherhood, compassion, and fragility.
In this regard, marketers can target different customer profiles by arranging commercial themes to specific cultural contexts. If a society adheres to strong gender norms, then both the car and its advertising may be designed to reinforce these gender roles. However, this is not limited to gender alone, as other social factors such as identity, class, and ethnicity can also influence marketing strategies. My findings suggest that gender, socioeconomic status, and identity are three of the most prominent social dimensions shaping the discourse of car commercials in Turkiye.
How does all of this relate to modernity? What are the broader implications of your research?
Modernity can be defined in various ways, such as economic developments tied to industrialisation, social transformations including the rise of the bourgeoisie, and the emergence of mass media and mobility. In this study, I primarily combine Marxist and post-structuralist perspectives for the definition of modernity. Modernity necessitated a healthy, efficient, and mobile population capable of sustaining production. To achieve this, societies needed to maintain stable production and consumption patterns. This required a specific social structure with defined gender roles, stable social classes, and suppressed conflicts.
In essence, modern consumption habits negatively impact the environment. As the article suggests, factors like masculinity, wealth, and urban living often correlate with larger carbon footprints. Additionally, research indicates that greater societal inequality leads to increased environmental degradation. Therefore, policies aimed at reducing social and economic inequalities, promoting social justice, and ensuring equal opportunities are crucial for environmental well-being.
Finally, what’s next? Are you publishing more on this topic?
Recently, I’ve been working on another aspect of the intersection between environment and politics: political rhetoric during disaster situations. Politics and disasters are interconnected, with social inequalities exacerbating the vulnerability of disadvantaged groups. As we’ve discussed, gender, socioeconomic status, and identity play a significant role in shaping individuals’ experiences during such events.
Needless to say, there are still gaps in our understanding of the relationship between the environment and social structure. For instance, I am curious about how other car cultures have evolved globally or how Turkish car culture is reflected in present car commercials. These are just two potential areas for future research. Many other topics within environmental politics can deepen our understanding of the complex relationship between humanity and the planet.
Bio: Melih Nadi Tutan is a Research Assistant in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Nigde Omer Halisdemir University, Turkiye. He holds a Ph.D. from Marmara University, Turkiye, with a dissertation titled “Adversary image in the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye (1920-1980): historical prejudices, categorisations, and stereotypes.” His research primarily involves secondary data analysis of Turkish politics, utilising content and discourse analysis within a post-structuralist framework. His primary research interests include political psychology, democracy, political competition, environment, and disaster studies.
