Browsing by Subject "Restaurant day"

This study deals with the carnivalistic consumer revolt and the urban event of Restaurand Day. Restaurant Day represents a case of a new kind of consumer movement in Finland. My research method is qualitative and I approach the phenomenon through Finnish media articles. The basis of my research lays on consumer culture theories and their contributions. As research material I use online versions of Finnish newspapers and magazines as well as online discussions connected to these media articles. Here and there, social media completes my research material too. Theoretical framework of this study consists mainly of experience consumption, carnivalism, activism, consumer movements, leisure, food culture and urban culture studies. This is a case study, which aims to a deeper understanding of phenomenon by analysing and interpreting the data. The unifying theme of this thesis is the concurrent role of consumers as pleasure seekers, rebels and consumer-producers. Other clear themes are transience, do-it-yourself, pop-up, copying ideas from around the world and comparisons between Finland and other countries. On Restaurant Day, consumers are looking for thrills and experiences. Restaurant Day is also connected to a concept of urban community. Working, doing and arranging things together is an important aspect and authentication of the individually perceived experientiality. Consumers also throw themselves into the role of producers by inventing imaginative restaurant concepts and by producing restaurant services to others. Restaurant Day’s main idea does not consist only of serving food and cooking, but rather deals with all matters achieved through food. The concept of medieval carnivalism and laughter by Mihail Bahtin seems to create great backgrounds for the modern phenomenon of nowadays consumer culture. This phenomenon can be described as carnivalistic consumer revolt that is expressed in a carnivalistic urban event. One basic idea of carnivalistic urban event is to criticise the unnecessary formality and rules in funny and enjoyable ways. This is the main idea of carnivals all over the world. In Restaurant Day, consumers appear as urban culture animators, rebels, consumer-producers and eventually, even social innovators. My research data contain a lot of descriptive words such as carnival, enjoyment, fun, revitalization, cheerfulness, creativity, imagination, enthusiasm and joy. These expressions represent the complex yet optimistic nature of the phenomenon. As the popularity and reputation of Restaurdant Days grows, its carnival spirit and consumer-producer ideas are being put to use in official contexts too. In the end, various actors and experts from different fields have been interested in adopting Restaurant Day spirit to their own innovations. One idea is to introduce Restaurant Day to the world as Finnish innovation: it’s an unique manifestation of the power of Finnish civil and consumer society.