Utilitarianism And Hedonism: A Qualitative Study on the Dominance of Hedonism in Digital Food Communication

Abstract

This qualitative investigation examines how hedonism overpowers utilitarianism in digital food communication based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) as a lens. Targeting YouTube food videos in Tamil Nadu, the research compares 500 viewer comments in 10 picked videos, five with utilitarian content and five with hedonistic content. The results show that although utilitarian content serves functional purposes like information-seeking and health awareness, hedonistic content provokes greater emotional arousal, visual pleasure, and social interaction. Hedonistic videos not only garnered more views and likes but also drew emotionally expressive and affectively motivated comments. The analysis illustrates a strong bias towards enjoyable, visually appealing, and emotionally engaging food content, emphasizing the increasing power of hedonic satisfaction in digital food media. This research contributes to further insight into changing audience behaviour in digital food culture and offers insights for content producers and communicators seeking to engage with modern audiences.