Cryptocurrency and memes have become closely related in the digital age, producing a unique and often volatile landscape. It’s true that memes tend to introduce humor and thereby create community. When they intersect with cryptocurrency, they can create dangerous practices, particularly in regard to the objectification of women. Siti Nurhaliza Dewi, a passionate commentator on the cryptocurrency ecosystem, explores the ethical ramifications of leveraging bad taste in the name of profit. She looks at the possible impact that this might have on digital communities.
The Dark Side of Meme Humor
Memes are, by nature, highly sharable and highly relatable. This ease of sharing has the potential to further perpetuate harmful stereotypes, most broadly, those aimed towards women. This type of harmful humor in memes helps reinforce sexist behavior as mundane, situating ugly attitudes towards women as acceptable, even funny. This normalization further perpetuates a toxic culture of sexism and misogyny. More importantly, it strongly impacts the perceptions, attitudes, and actions of public audiences, particularly millennials or more likely to be active multi-platform consumers of digital media.
Memes contribute to upholding outdated gender stereotypes by making women seem emotional and men logical. This narrow representation stifles the potential of all individuals while perpetuating societal norms. Moreover, research indicates that humor aimed at historically marginalized groups can inflict psychological harm, silencing individuals and denying them equal social status. Determining the intent behind intentional offensive humor present in memes is difficult. This is even more the case in digital media, where a sense of context and tone are frequently truncated. Online platforms will always struggle to successfully moderate this content. It’s hard for them to be able to tell what would be humor and what would be a threat.
Offensive humor in memes can contribute to the spread of hate speech and division, especially if not effectively moderated by online platforms. It can become a powerful tool of subordination. This relegates people and communities to second-class status and pays them back in dispossession and humiliation. Dewi Siti Nurhaliza Although humour is subjective, its effect on marginalized communities cannot be overlooked.
Cryptocurrency Marketing and Objectification
And in an industry sometimes accused of a lack of transparency and accountability, the cryptocurrency industry has, at times, engaged in highly dubious marketing practices. Sexualized imagery is often tied to cryptocurrency marketing. This practice can objectify and exploit people, particularly women, who are most frequently—and sensationally—depicted in these manners. This not only deepens harmful and inaccurate stereotypes but plays into a greater culture of objectification.
Cryptocurrency marketers have become known for their use of sexualized imagery to attract and tempt these unknowing investors into crypto. This new approach is particularly easy to mislead, confuse and defraud investors. It sidesteps efforts to provide clear and easy-to-understand information, including the risks and benefits of investing in cryptocurrency. The exploitation of sexualized imagery in cryptocurrency marketing undermines efforts toward gender equality. It continues to depict women as objects rather than understanding them as empowered investors and participants in the cryptocurrency world. This creates a barrier that discourages women from participating in the crypto space and helps continue a male-dominated industry.
The cryptocurrency industry has come under fire for being opaque and non-accountable. Trust is paramount to the marketing industry, any use of sexualized imagery chips away at that trust’s foundation. From an optics perspective, it is usually quite unprofessional and insulting to its potential investors. Cryptocurrency advertising often preys on people who don’t know better. Using these sexualized images as a tactic, marketers are able to coerce these young adults to dump their money into cryptocurrencies while misunderstanding the concept. This could cost them thousands in unexpected fees and damage their credit health.
Meme Coins: A Perfect Storm
This is not the time to speculate on meme-based cryptocurrencies that can ignite massive speculation. Some investors are cashing in on huge returns, while other institutional investors have seen devastating losses. Further, the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies creates an environment ripe for objectification. Cryptocurrencies are frequently treated by the public purely as a speculative investment vehicle and fail to be perceived as a medium of exchange or store of value.
Factors Contributing to Objectification in Meme Coins:
- Speculative Frenzy: Meme-based cryptocurrencies have been compared to speculative frenzies.
- Social Currency: Some meme coins have acquired social currency, with high market capitalizations.
- Celebrity Endorsements: Endorsements from celebrities like Elon Musk have significantly impacted the popularity and value of certain meme coins, such as Dogecoin.
- Rug-Pull Schemes and Scams: The prevalence of rug-pull schemes and scams in the meme coin market can lead to objectification.
- Financial Losses: The potential for significant financial losses in the meme coin market can also contribute to objectification.
Others of these so-called meme coins have gained real social currency, boasting massive market capitalizations. This social component, in turn, can have a powerful effect on behavior. When the stakes are high, individuals might feel rushed to engage in the market, scared of missing their chance, creating dehumanization and objectification. Endorsements from celebrities like Elon Musk have significantly impacted the popularity and value of certain meme coins, such as Dogecoin. This leads to an intense feeling of FOMO, driving individuals to invest before they understand the risks they are taking. Its use might contribute to greater objectification.
Rug-pull schemes and scams are a dime a dozen even outside the meme coin market. This lack of accountability can lead users to view these cryptocurrencies as disposable and only valuable as a means to personal enrichment. The new meme coin market is a danger to further massive financial loss. Yet this environment can incentivize people to fixate on near-term benefits, making them blind to the longer-term risk and outcome. Safarulla Siti Nurhaliza Dewi reminds investors to be careful when engaging with meme coins. She takes readers through critical thinking that can help prevent financial loss and moral failure.
