An Examination of Trendyol’s Legendary-Days Youtube Ads Through Comments

Abstract

The internet, where people spend a big chunk of their time, has become an indispensable part of life. Thanks to online e-commerce websites, being able to choose from different categories and products and procure everything needed, from clothes to technology, from major appliances to groceries, is one of the most important conveniences of our age. As the interest of consumers increased, so did the number of e-commerce websites. These websites started to make numerous special offers and marketing campaigns to differentiate themselves from their competitors. One of these campaigns, the Black Friday, has taken the shopping habits within the context of consumption culture to a whole new level the moment it was introduced in Turkey. This discount tradition that went beyond the borders of the US with globalization, has spread around the world. An example to the fact that traditional shopping has given its place to e-commerce applications thanks to the rapid development of digitalization, one of Turkey’s pioneer e-commerce applications, Trendyol has transformed Black Friday and started the “Legendary Days” campaign. The frequency of the promotion work within the process of this campaign has caused the emergence of a different range of perceptions in the target audience. Encountering Trendyol’s “Legendary Days” advertising campaign too often has created both positive and negative perception, especially during COVID-19 lockdowns where people spend most of their time watching TV, browsing the internet, or playing online games. In this study, 429 YouTube comments on Trendyol’s four commercial films on YouTube for Trendyol’s “Legendary Days” campaign that took place on 25th, 26th, and 27th of November 2020, have been examined through a content analysis of 13 items. Additionally, a text analysis was conducted on comments. According to the results of the study, it was found that being exposed to YouTube advertisements on a frequent basis, especially during a pandemic where people cannot leave their homes, had created a negative reputation for Trendyol’s “Legendary Days” campaign among YouTube users. This case causes a discrepancy between the positive reputation works Trendyol has conducted during the pandemic period.