Gig workers, critical visuality and humour in a digital context: The graphic representation of riders as a form of social criticism

Abstract

This article studies social perceptions of gig work and its conditions through the lenses of visual humour created and shared in digital environments. Food delivery services have thrived in cities, and riders – gig workers associated with such services – have become popular urban figures, easily recognisable through light means of transport and backpacks. These iconic elements have spread to forms of visual humour like memes and cartoons in social media. We aim to analyse the depiction of food delivery services and riders through graphic humour in digital environments, and its role as critical stances of gig work conditions. We draw from the literature on gig work, as well as critical humour in the workplace, approaching the phenomenon from the perspective of critical visualities and the memetic qualities of digital visual humour. Thus, we have conducted an analysis of rider memes, and carried out a focus group with Spanish cartoonists to better understand each form. From our analysis, we have observed that a) memes showcase less explicit critical stances but reflect a shared understanding of the hurdles associated to rider work; b) cartoons place riders in a contextualised, wider critique of platform economy and capitalism; c) while most graphic humour on riders takes an external, observational position, there is also an ‘inner look’ to the rider work, emphasising the promises and deceptions associated with the gig economy.

Social media and platform work: Stories, practices, and workers’ organisation

“…Similarly, the contribution of Roig and Martorell (2023) points out that a critical consideration of platform work goes beyond discursive forms based purely on verbal communication and can be found also through images, such as memes and editorial cartoons (comic strips). Therefore, the authors have used a combination of qualitative methodologies (manual searches on social media and image collection – memes and editorial cartoons – categorisation and interviews with Spanish cartoonists) to understand the use of visual and humorous material that discuss the rider work in Spain.…”