This study examines Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visual transformation on the social media platform Instagram after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the populist style often involves politicians artificially triggering perceptions of crises to underscore their unique leadership qualities, the crisis Zelensky faced was undeniably real. Therefore, I argue the existential threat to Ukraine that Russia’s invasion posed provided the context for Zelensky to present a more authentic version of himself on Instagram than before. Nevertheless, features of Zelensky’s Instagram strategy after Russia’s invasion can be traced back to the populist style he employed on the platform beforehand.

中文翻译：

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战争民粹主义？俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后 Volodymyr Zelensky 在 Instagram 上的视觉转变


本研究考察了乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基 （Volodymyr Zelensky） 在俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后在社交媒体平台 Instagram 上的视觉转变。虽然民粹主义风格经常涉及政客人为地引发对危机的看法，以强调他们独特的领导才能，但不可否认，泽连斯基面临的危机是真实的。因此，我认为俄罗斯入侵对乌克兰构成的生存威胁为泽伦斯基在 Instagram 上展示比以前更真实的自己提供了背景。尽管如此，泽伦斯基在俄罗斯入侵后 Instagram 策略的特点可以追溯到他之前在该平台上采用的民粹主义风格。