Cultural consumers’ gatekeeping in cosplay: cynical truths established through fans’ practice

PurposeCultural consumer gatekeeping shapes interactions with the marketplace, indicating that participatory culture and fans' practices – such as cosplay – can establish truth games in fan culture. Thus, this study aims to examine how cultural consumers’ gatekeeping establishes truth games in fan practice.Design/methodology/approachThe methodological approach integrates Foucault’s analytical framework with the netnographic data collection, which considered cosplayer interactions over five years.FindingsTwo power diagrams structure cosplayers’ resistance. Disillusion reflects opposition to perceived distortions, such as external appropriations and the politicization of cosplay. Depravity captures the tensions surrounding hypersexualized performance, balancing artistic expression and community norms. By navigating these conflicts, they enact the consumer truths that regulate participation in a gatekeeping process, where community members assert authority over acceptable practices and reinforce participatory culture through internal governance and exclusionary mechanisms.Social implicationsThis study reveals how consumer communities self-regulate through internal truth production, shaping participatory cultures. Practically, it provides insights for marketing researchers to navigate cultural sensitivities, helping them engage with fandom while respecting governance and authenticity.Originality/valueThis study contributes and conceptualizes cultural gatekeeping as a disposition of cynical consumer resistance and expanding knowledge on how consumer truths shape inclusion, exclusion and power structures in digital fandoms.