Chapter 3: Selling Extremism: Food, Fashion, and Far-Right Markets
Summary
This chapter discusses the ways in which the far-right has reached into consumer and cultural spaces and the ways in which white supremacist products support far-right extremist movements financially and culturally. The focus in this chapter are the ways in which food and fashion are two examples of markets where the far-right provide a combination of consumer products and ideological teachings to further their outreach.
Food is an important facet of culture and identity, and the far-right uses food and food preparation in a variety of ways to further their message. This has been framed in a variety of ways. Food can be a message of nationalist belonging, and also can be manipulated for exclusionary purposes. Food preparation videos are a mix of wellness, identity, and social image. Food preparation is also part of a larger movement for those who are attempting to live off the grid or prepare for apocalyptic scenarios. Food, cooking, and nurturing are also used to introduce far-right perceptions about appropriate gender roles.
Fashion is a second mode where the far-right has dramatically expanded its reach. Clothing has long been a way of publicly displaying beliefs, interests, affiliations. The far-right has seen a dramatic increase in brands that deliberately market to them, both brands that specialize in far-right merchandise, but also brands that are just adding this new market to their existing product lines. Incorporating messaging or symbols that appeal to the far-right can also overlap or co-mingle with other messaging, for instance, pro-Second Amendment language and symbolism, all with direct or indirect appeals to nationalism as well as support for violence in defense of beliefs, group, or nation.
This chapter discusses the ways in which incorporating far-right messaging in food and fashion help mainstream these beliefs. Introducing far-right ideas, norms, behaviors into commercial markets “blur the lines between insiders and outsiders in ways that help far-right recruitment” (p.83). This can be beneficial to the far right in three ways, through “recruitment, radicalization, and mobilization to violent action” (p.83).
The chapter concludes with a discussion about the difficulties of recognizing far-right messaging in the new aesthetic, and what can be done to interrupt this dynamic. The chapter discusses the costs and benefits of legal bans and/or censorship options. The chapter also discusses other steps that are options for disrupting the far-right merchandising. One such option is having journalists, citizens, and watchdog groups monitor and d try to discourage companies to not sell these items. A second and perhaps more difficult step that must be taken is dramatically increasing media literacy and improving individuals’ ability to recognize extremist content.
Comprehension Questions
1. How do food and identity connect, and how are cooking shows also lifestyle brands?
2. What are some of the crossover groups that can connect with far-right cooking shows, guides, and other tips on ways to live “off the grid?”
3. How can the increasing sales in far-right products help normalize and mainstream far-right ideologies?
4. How does mainstreaming the aesthetic of the far-right help with recruitment?
5. How does hate clothing contribute to radicalization?
6. How do clothing and merchandise help mobilize the far-right?
7. How do fashion, consumption, and style potentially fund and/or support the far-right?
Discussion Questions
1. What information is new to you?
2. Discuss different ways that you have heard food and identity linked, particularly any food “stereotypes” you can think of that may seem inconsequential to some, but exclusionary or dehumanizing to others.
3. One of the difficulties of the increasing commercial mainstreaming of the far-right is its intersection with other niche markets, such as veterans, homeschoolers, etc. Discuss the ways in which you can differentiate between these types of messaging.
4. A difficulty with the increasing mainstreaming of far-right extremism is their frequent use of coded references, humor, and/or iconography – discuss the different ways in which people can learn to identify far-right content without increasing their exposure to that content.
5. Questioning or challenging clothing choices, particularly of youth, can be fraught with difficulties. Discuss some ways that food/fashion/personal choices can be discussed or probed.