Talk s About Disproportionate Intelligence of Generation Y As Antidote of Sleeping Media and Brands: The Case of Gezi Park Resistance Burcu Kaya Erdem Istanbul University, TURKEY. Contact: burcu.erdem@istanbul.edu.tr
The biggest civil uprising in the history of Turkish republic began on 28 May 2013 as a a wave of demonstrations to contest the urban development plan for Taksim Gezi Park near by the Taksim Square- Istanbul. With the humorous form of protests and disproportionate intelligence by Generation Y
The tension of protests were inflamed by outrage at the violent eviction of the protesters. Police raided and burned down protesters tents. The form of the supporting protests and their objectives changed after the Turkish police s violent response and agitator discourses of
Protests spread cross more than 60 cities. The way things turned out because of Turkish police who fired tear gas, pepper gas, water cannons and plastic bullets into peaceful protests.
Thousands of people took to the streets across the country not only to protest urban development projects but also apprehension concerning government s increasingly authoritarian controls -encroachment on democratic rights and freedom of assembly, expression, media, pluralism, etc-.
Clearly, the Gezi events were about more than trees. Instead of dispersing the demonstrators, disproportionate use of force made a big thing of it. 3.5 million people (from a population of 80 million) had taken part in almost five thousand demonstrations across Turkey, five had lost their lives, and more than eight thousand had been injured.
Sometimes a place, sometimes an event and sometimes a person comes to represent the spirit of the times with its characteristics
As the main actor of Park Resistance, Generation Y comes to represent the spirit of the times in Turkish Republic
According to all reports, the dominant actors of the Gezi Park Resistance were Generation Y who was born between 1978-2000. Its every stage and should be approached from this perspective in all academic studies.
According to the findings of the research Gezi Report of KONDA were collected via the Gezi Park survey conducted in Gezi Park on June 6-8, 2013, with 4411 participants, the average age of the respondents was 28. 30.8 percent of the protesters were between the ages of 21-25, and 20.3 percent were between the ages of 26-30. In short, one out of every two people in the park was between the ages of 21-30 or Generation Y.
They are different from other generations. Their characteristics mark all the actions and discourses in which Generation Y take the center stage both in Turkey and around the world. Main Characteristics of Generation Y: -professional consumers. -the tech-savvy -well educated have characteristics that can shape the future of societies. -They are urban. -They were raised as individuals -They dislike hierarchy or authority -They know the difference between loyalty and dependency. -They struggle against anything they find authoritarian or unjust
-they can transform this struggle into a festivity rather than to violence. - They have very high self-confidence. -They do not want to do anything without first questioning it. - This generation is inclined to open communication -their main source of information is interactive (social) media -they can access information very quickly -more open-minded when compared to other generations - they like to make a difference and be noticed.
Six basic characteristics of the Generation Y that make them strong: 1. They do not want conflict but they have the courage to persistently defend what they believe in; 2. They are coolheaded; 3. They trust themselves the most; 4. They do not only know about technology but also have a good enough command of technology to play with it; 5. They are creative; 6. They communicate with humor.
Much of the Turkish mainstream media downplayed or ignored the protests; therefore social media played a key role during the period. The protesters made significant use of humour online; they also used the city s walls to disseminate humorious messages in their graffiti.
Turkish media, brands and the government, which have not met with such a form of resistance before, managed the situation very badly. They couldn t accommodate to new humorous communication form. It was proved that neither state authorities nor brands have the skills to deal with this disproportionate wit and humor today.
While CNN International broadcast live the protest demonstrations on 31 May 2013 as the events were enfolding, CNN Türk broadcast a documentary on penguins. Another TV channel NTV also did not air the demonstrations, auto-censoring itself.
Finally, on the seventh day of the protests 2000 protesters convened in front of NTV, shouting We do not want media for sale. They attached lira bills to a cardboard saying How much does it cost to be on air? We can pay.
According to the telephone survey conducted by ERA Research & Consultancy on 12-13 June 2013, The most unreliable institution during the Gezi Resistance was media and television with a rate of 11%. The corporation that received the most points from the supporters was social media.
Park resistance, demonstrators tried to take refuge in the shops in the neighborhood. Starbucks took down its shutters in order to prevent demonstrators from entering the store. This drew a huge reaction especially on the social media. Its main target group, young people, stopped going to Starbucks.
Furthermore, a domestic coffee shop was given highlight against Starbucks in a rather humorous way with the slogan Viva la fully independent Kurukahveci Mehmet
According to a study that surveyed 713 people on how Gezi Park Resistance, Starbucks, lost both reputation and customers. 85% of those who participated in the poll said that they used to go to Starbucks before the Gezi Park protests while only 16.8% of them said they would go to Starbucks again after the protests.
Influential Generation or Professional Consumers For marketers and researchers, there is no demographic data that is as important as age among the factors that play a role in identifying consumer behavior. Generation Y are the first generation opening the door to the world of consumption. All organization that refuse to acknowledge the differences, expectations, and the power for change of this generation are doomed to disreputation, and are especially doomed to fail in managing the processes that are considered as crises by the Generation Y.
Being situated as both employees and consumers in today's business world, Generation Y are at the center of all actions of communication strategies, including branding, reputation and crisis management. The company or brand reputation and crisis management processes should be managed with respect to social movements such as Gezi Park Resistance by considering the consumer characteristic of Generation Y.
To review companies s communication strategies the things that have to be paid attention in the context of the lessons taken from the Gezi Park Resistance period: -Management of social crises includes areas of threats as well as opportunities on the part of strategic communication. -Crisis communication cannot be delegated: it is managed at the highest level. It should not be extended over time, it should not be postponed. Time is the critical primary factor. -In crisis and reputation management, the response that will be given to the event and the style of management are regulated according to the damage ratio. -
To review companies s communication strategies the things that have to be paid attention in the context of the lessons taken from the Gezi Park Resistance period: -Social media as well as the disproportionate wit and humorous communication forms of Generation Y are resources that should definitely be taken seriously, and the skills of managing these should be improved. -During social events and with regard to political choices, individuals can act saying whatever happens, yet companies cannot halt communication and let things slide. Just as politicians take the pulse of public opinion and public conscience through weekly polls, companies too should monitor the perception about themselves with a similar reflex.
To review companies s communication strategies the things that have to be paid attention in the context of the lessons taken from the Gezi Park Resistance period: -All these suggestions become even more important when the subject matter is a media brand. Because of media's field of impact and responsibility, media should be much more sensitive, attentive, responsible and unbiased in its strategic communication management.