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"They are not like Us": The Populism of Italian Fuffagurus on Instagram

Trovò, Marco LU (2025) SIMZ11 20251
Graduate School
Abstract
Fuffagurus are a newly emerging phenomenon that has become popular on Social Media, especially in the Italian Case, in recent years. These self-proclaimed financial and business experts became a relevant figure among those of Influencers.
Advertising an infallible Method to generate an unimaginable amount of money, they attracted thousands of followers interested in their alternative way to make a living.
Representing a novelty for Academia and not only, Fuffagurus will be the target of this study by employing a Multi-Modal Analysis on their Instagram contents. A sample of 30 Reels and still Images will be analysed through a Visual and Social Semiotic lens, accounting for Populism, Emotions and Othering.
In this regard, the theories at... (More)
Fuffagurus are a newly emerging phenomenon that has become popular on Social Media, especially in the Italian Case, in recent years. These self-proclaimed financial and business experts became a relevant figure among those of Influencers.
Advertising an infallible Method to generate an unimaginable amount of money, they attracted thousands of followers interested in their alternative way to make a living.
Representing a novelty for Academia and not only, Fuffagurus will be the target of this study by employing a Multi-Modal Analysis on their Instagram contents. A sample of 30 Reels and still Images will be analysed through a Visual and Social Semiotic lens, accounting for Populism, Emotions and Othering.
In this regard, the theories at stake in this study suggest that populism can also be seen as a non-political online phenomenon, rather than just a politically bounded ideology. The techniques of Populism that relate the populist actors to the People have been applied to the case of Fuffagurus, intertwining also the Ekman’s Basic Emotions conveyed by them, with the concept of Online Othering. By doing so, the purpose of this study is to make sense of Fuffagurus communication practices, by applying a non-political populist lens.
The findings suggest that Fuffagurus are indeed Populist in their communication, pivoting their advertisements to an in-group characterized by Positive Emotions such as Happiness and Excitement. However, an Exclusionary process that othered their audience to the out-group, is also carried out frequently. (Less)
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author
Trovò, Marco LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMZ11 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Fuffagurus, Instagram, Populism, Emotion, Othering
language
English
id
9199519
date added to LUP
2025-06-27 12:44:17
date last changed
2025-06-27 12:44:17
@misc{9199519,
  abstract     = {{Fuffagurus are a newly emerging phenomenon that has become popular on Social Media, especially in the Italian Case, in recent years. These self-proclaimed financial and business experts became a relevant figure among those of Influencers.
Advertising an infallible Method to generate an unimaginable amount of money, they attracted thousands of followers interested in their alternative way to make a living.
Representing a novelty for Academia and not only, Fuffagurus will be the target of this study by employing a Multi-Modal Analysis on their Instagram contents. A sample of 30 Reels and still Images will be analysed through a Visual and Social Semiotic lens, accounting for Populism, Emotions and Othering.
In this regard, the theories at stake in this study suggest that populism can also be seen as a non-political online phenomenon, rather than just a politically bounded ideology. The techniques of Populism that relate the populist actors to the People have been applied to the case of Fuffagurus, intertwining also the Ekman’s Basic Emotions conveyed by them, with the concept of Online Othering. By doing so, the purpose of this study is to make sense of Fuffagurus communication practices, by applying a non-political populist lens.
The findings suggest that Fuffagurus are indeed Populist in their communication, pivoting their advertisements to an in-group characterized by Positive Emotions such as Happiness and Excitement. However, an Exclusionary process that othered their audience to the out-group, is also carried out frequently.}},
  author       = {{Trovò, Marco}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"They are not like Us": The Populism of Italian Fuffagurus on Instagram}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}