Marketing and the theatre of the absurd

Abstract

The scientific tradition in marketing research has alienated marketing practitioners from academics. As a counterpoint, we argue that theory from the humanities, especially theatre and drama studies, can provide meaningful insights into consumer culture. Inspired by the Theatre of the Absurd, we develop four absurd prompts present in consumer culture: menace, aphasia, parody, and frustration. Taken together, these prompts amount to an absurd condition, a hall of mirrors, in which consumers inevitably find themselves. While the market promises different ways out of this condition, through manners, speech, sincerity, and attainment, we argue that these promises remain empty, amounting only to absurd inversions leading to new halls of mirrors. Through the lens of the Theatre of the Absurd, we map such promises of inversions and their implications for marketing theory.