Comunicación comunitaria y cultura popular en el activismo animalista, estudio del colectivo Borrachos al Rescate

Abstract

Animal welfare in Bogotá continues to face institutional barriers that limit timely responses to cases of abandonment and mistreatment. In this context, citizens have turned to different forms of digital activism that help make these situations visible, organize rescues, and strengthen community support networks. One of these initiatives is Borrachos al Rescate, a collective that combines humor, emotional storytelling, and urban popular language to build a digital community committed to animal care. This research examines the collective’s communicative practices from the perspective of Cultural Studies, aiming to understand how their narratives, cultural codes, and relational dynamics encourage community mobilization. Using a qualitative approach that incorporates content analysis, digital observation, and interviews, the study explores the discursive and visual strategies that shape their influence. Findings indicate that the collective creates a hybrid communicative style —mixing digital culture, popular expressions, and affective elements— that strengthens audience identification and encourages active participation. The study also shows that their close, everyday tone helps build support networks that partially compensate for institutional shortcomings. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of urban animal activism and highlights the relevance of community-based communication in Bogotá’s social transformation processes.