Critical and creative marketing pedagogies: confronting rhetoric, addressing inequality, inspiring change

Abstract

This special issue shines a light on critical scholarship in marketing education by curating both theorisations and innovative practices. Frustrated with the prevalence of standardised and self-serving representations of marketing, our intention is to amplify voices that problematise accepted wisdom in the field. Importantly, we move away from a critique of the marketing logic per se to celebrate novel approaches in its pedagogy built upon a broad understanding of our role as educators and of the transformative potential that this role holds. The manuscripts published here showcase impressive efforts to denaturalise (Fournier & Grey, 2000) marketing in the classroom, and bring attention to the fortitude and creativity that they evince. Creativity and critique are, at first glance, opposites. The first spins stories; the second picks them apart. In creating, we let our imaginations take flight. In critique we demand explanations for every step. When looked at more closely, however, the two processes are joined at the hip. Oft-repeated advice on writing, such as ‘write drunk; edit sober’ and ‘kill your darlings’ (attributed to Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner respectively, in each case apparently wrongly), speaks to the need to balance the creative imagination with a clear-headed and sometimes harsh critique of one’s own work. Likewise, creative vision in business, if uncoupled from a critical analysis of that vision’s weaknesses, can yield the harms inflicted by Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried in desperately trying to bend reality to fit their dreams. Reflexivity, a form of self-directed critique, is fundamental in the process of knowledge creation. Conversely, critique can barely get started without a significant amount of imaginative, and creative thought. To ask ‘Why is it this way?’ is always, in part, to imagine it could be different. Furthermore, explicitly telling a different story about the phenomenon under study can elevate criticism above merely complaining into something capable of creating transformation. Hence, the production of new understandings requires a dialectical relationship between creativity and criticality (as well as observation and existing knowledge). We move forward by critiquing what we see in the world, creating imaginative new possibilities and then critiquing those creations. This is equally true for researchers, teachers and learners. We believe that there are admirable examples of these elements in the projects presented in this special issue and are delighted to share these with the reader.