Mascot as Government's KOL: A Case Study of Big Waster in Hong Kong

Bonnie Hor Yee Chen

Abstract

Recently, the Hong Kong government’s use of mascots is becoming popular. Through the case study of Big Waster, the mascot of the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, this research aims to reveal strategies of deploying mascots on social media communication and their limitations. Big Waster has been personified as a Key Opinion Leader (KOL), who is defined as somebody who is an expert on a certain topic and whose opinions are well-respected, to share its environmental tips. This qualitative research applied McCracken’s (1989) meaning transfer model (MTM) to find out how meanings borne by Big Waster transferred to policies and ultimately people. Ten posts with altogether 2340 comments were selected from Big Waster’s Facebook account for close analysis. The findings reveal a particular strategy at each of the three MTM stages, namely, emotional engagement with audience through anthropomorphism at the pre-endorsement stage; timely parody of popular culture at the endorsement stage; and tactical use of social media to drive actions at the post- endorsement stage. Using the findings of this case study, future research could work towards guidelines for the public sector’s deployment of mascots on social media.

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