Design and the populist agenda: The mediation of design under the influence of national populist discourse in Türkiye

Abstract

This study is an early attempt to explore the emerging relationship between design and populism by focusing on the reflections and influences of national populist discourses in and through design mediation, not solely for commercial ends but rather for political, social, and cultural ones, either accompanying or shadowing them. Aiming to illustrate the national populist influences on design mediation, this study focuses on the discursive features of design mediations embedded in commercial endeavors, through its main research question: "How has the national populist discourse, along with the political and sociocultural climates it has fostered, been reflected in, influenced, or transformed design mediation in Türkiye—as represented in media, advertising, and political discourses—during the hegemonic period of the "domestic and national discourse" spanning from 2015 to the early 2020s?" To explore this relationship and the characteristics of design mediation under national populist influence, three chosen and representative cases are analyzed. These cases both mediate aspects of design and are either influenced by or echo the "domestic and national discourse" that gained prominence and a hegemonic character in the Turkish political landscape starting in late 2015, in varying degrees. Although the very discourse is grounded in the still lively cultural and sociopolitical tensions largely inherited from Türkiye's unique modernization journey, it also stands as an early representative of the global populist wave and carries its most typical characteristics. The materials subjected to discourse analysis belong to three distinct cases, the "Proudly Local" advertising campaign of the Vestel Venus smartphone, an advertising (relaunch) campaign of Kelebek Mobilya, and certain communication practices of Togg. All of the selected cases directly engage in design mediation firsthand, featuring explicit, comprehensive, and strategic references to diverse aspects of design (including the design object, designers and their creative labor, design authorship, design process, and design awards) within their unique and revealing contexts. Moreover, although to varying degrees, these discourses are also produced under the influence of national populism, meaning they either directly engage with or echo the "domestic and national discourse" or reflect the populist zeitgeist it fostered, again each in their own distinct ways. The analytical framework and procedures adopted in the study are grounded in the Discourse-Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis and followed four distinct phases: (i) an overview of the historical context was outlined to reveal its shared historical and contextual background; (ii) the general discourse topics and contents within each discourse were identified; (iii) the relevant discursive strategies (i.e., nomination and referential, predication, argumentation, perspectivization, mitigation, or intensification) employed in each discourse were identified; and (iv) the linguistic data were interpreted and discussed within the broader sociopolitical contexts in which they are embedded. The study uncovered notable insights into how design is strategically instrumentalized to promote, reinforce, legitimize, or echo the nationalist and populist rhetoric and/or sentiments in the Turkish national context. Its original contributions primarily lie in revealing how populism influences the mediation of design, transforming its role from a neutral creative practice to one that reflects hegemonic political discourses and/or the zeitgeist. Its key conclusions may be summarized as follows: First, the study demonstrated that design mediation is deeply intertwined with cultural and political messaging, and design is strategically instrumentalized to evoke a sense of national identity and pride, and as a marker of national capability and progress. Second, the study demonstrated how design authorship and ownership are negotiated and potentially overshadowed in the context of national populism, as they are attributed either to the entire nation, or the general populace. Third, the study identified a new, culturally and politically legitimate designer profile discursively constructed under the national populist influence, who are primarily portrayed as real, relatable, unassuming individuals, sharing either the same or similar cultural codes with the general populace, and are therefore labelled as "children of these lands" or "one of us". Fifth, the study identified the limited presence of design (the physical product including its qualitative or functional design features) and a robust design discourse, leading to a contribution that design is not mediated as an end in itself under the national populist influence, but rather as a means to broader commercial and/or sociopolitical discourses. Further, the analysis highlighted the significant role of populism's marked opposition toward foreigners and "local foreigners" while mediating design, which is discursively realized by addressing and utilizing us-versus-them, people-versus-elites, and local-versus-global antagonisms. Finally, the study argued that the national populist influence and the "domestic and national discourse" not only transform design into a political subject and tool but also challenge some of its historical or traditional associations and assumptions derived from its Modernist roots and contemporary universalist and democratic agendas that tend to be global, denationalized, pluralist, and inclusive in nature.