Abstract
The article investigates non-linear dynamics of networked culture, emphasizing the entangled relations of power that transcend the dialectic of the vernacular and the institutional, along with its back and forth movement between subversion and co-optation. To that end, it focuses on a controversial digital marketing campaign for the Ministry of the Interior in Poland, analysing its initial reception, subsequent remakes and more enduring political effects. In particular, it demonstrates how the public outcry it generated interacted with other media events, proliferating connections in a non-dialectical manner. Consequently, the unfolding of the campaign involved a multiplicity of often incongruous potentials of expression that fluctuated around enduring cultural patterns, ultimately reinforcing attitudes and institutions that the backlash was supposed to challenge.
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