Pub Date : 2023-01-31DOI: 10.1177/14705931231154947
Diego Rinallo, Jannsen Santana, M. Zanette, S. Appau, Jack Coffin, Giana M. Eckhardt, C. Eichert, Katharina C. Husemann, Richard Kedzior, Mona Moufahim, Victoria L. Rodner, Lorna Stevens
During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing in religiosity and spiritual consumption, using examples from their own fieldwork, reflected on how (i) researchers’ subject positioning—including their gender and sexuality—shape fieldwork in multifaceted manners; (ii) investigations of religious/spiritual fields would benefit from a heightened sensitivity to issues of gender and sexuality; and (iii) greater sensitivity to aspects of religion and/or spirituality can help gender and sexuality scholars better understand consumers and markets. Based on the above, in this commentary paper, we call for intersectional reflexivity, attention to vulnerability and discomfort during fieldwork, and critical sensitivity to the religious “context of context” during theorization. Furthermore, we argue that specific spiritual/religious imaginaries can foster new research approaches that can contribute to more nuanced fieldwork and theorization in marketing and consumer research.
{"title":"Where spirituality and religion meet gender and sexuality: Toward a research agenda for intersectional marketing theory","authors":"Diego Rinallo, Jannsen Santana, M. Zanette, S. Appau, Jack Coffin, Giana M. Eckhardt, C. Eichert, Katharina C. Husemann, Richard Kedzior, Mona Moufahim, Victoria L. Rodner, Lorna Stevens","doi":"10.1177/14705931231154947","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231154947","url":null,"abstract":"During a roundtable discussion at the 2022 GENMAC Conference, a group of researchers specializing in religiosity and spiritual consumption, using examples from their own fieldwork, reflected on how (i) researchers’ subject positioning—including their gender and sexuality—shape fieldwork in multifaceted manners; (ii) investigations of religious/spiritual fields would benefit from a heightened sensitivity to issues of gender and sexuality; and (iii) greater sensitivity to aspects of religion and/or spirituality can help gender and sexuality scholars better understand consumers and markets. Based on the above, in this commentary paper, we call for intersectional reflexivity, attention to vulnerability and discomfort during fieldwork, and critical sensitivity to the religious “context of context” during theorization. Furthermore, we argue that specific spiritual/religious imaginaries can foster new research approaches that can contribute to more nuanced fieldwork and theorization in marketing and consumer research.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43104043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-31DOI: 10.1177/14705931231153193
Q. Hoang, J. Cronin, Alexandros Skandalis
In this paper, we challenge the prevalent idea that anti-consumption functions as an ideological act of antagonism. We enlist the work of the late cultural theorist Mark Fisher to account for the reflexively impotent (anti-)consumer, a politically hollowed-out and knowingly helpless subject endemic to the futureless vicissitudes of semiocapitalist consumer culture. Drawing on netnographic data and interviews with ‘digital detoxers’, we explore how gestural – rather than transformational – anti-consumption emerges through individuals’ reflexive awareness of their political inertia, the lack of collective spirit to bring about improved conditions, and their perpetual attachment to market-based comforts and conveniences. Our analyses reveal three features that underpin the reflexively impotent (anti-)consumer’s resigned acceptance of the reigning political-ideological status quo: magical voluntarism, pragmatism and self-indulgence. In the absence of any unifying and politically-centred solidarity projects, mere gestures of resistance are undertaken towards managing personal dissatisfactions with – instead of collectively transforming – their structural conditions.
{"title":"Futureless vicissitudes: Gestural anti-consumption and the reflexively impotent (anti-)consumer","authors":"Q. Hoang, J. Cronin, Alexandros Skandalis","doi":"10.1177/14705931231153193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231153193","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we challenge the prevalent idea that anti-consumption functions as an ideological act of antagonism. We enlist the work of the late cultural theorist Mark Fisher to account for the reflexively impotent (anti-)consumer, a politically hollowed-out and knowingly helpless subject endemic to the futureless vicissitudes of semiocapitalist consumer culture. Drawing on netnographic data and interviews with ‘digital detoxers’, we explore how gestural – rather than transformational – anti-consumption emerges through individuals’ reflexive awareness of their political inertia, the lack of collective spirit to bring about improved conditions, and their perpetual attachment to market-based comforts and conveniences. Our analyses reveal three features that underpin the reflexively impotent (anti-)consumer’s resigned acceptance of the reigning political-ideological status quo: magical voluntarism, pragmatism and self-indulgence. In the absence of any unifying and politically-centred solidarity projects, mere gestures of resistance are undertaken towards managing personal dissatisfactions with – instead of collectively transforming – their structural conditions.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42267353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-30DOI: 10.1177/14705931231154944
Anuja Pradhan, Carly Drake
In this study, we conceptualise the phenomenon of cringe watching in order to understand why and how consumers engage with media that make them uncomfortable. We mobilise de-Western feminist thought to analyse our reactions to the Netflix series Indian Matchmaking. We find that ‘cringe’ is a bundle of consumers’ ‘ugly feelings’ belying complicated affect and biases that are often rooted in Western values. By leveraging collaborative autoethnography as our method, we allow space for both ‘visceral’ and ‘rational’ experiences, challenging the role of researchers as subjects by positioning ourselves, additionally, as objects. Our findings reveal that engaging with media artefacts is a recursive process wherein consumers may encounter ‘cringe’, which when subject to introspection reveals unexpected socio-affective states like self-compassion, empathy for others, and understanding their own limitations as well as their place in the world. These findings have implications for marketing and consumer research on media, representation, and affect.
{"title":"Netflix and cringe – affectively watching ‘uncomfortable’ TV","authors":"Anuja Pradhan, Carly Drake","doi":"10.1177/14705931231154944","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231154944","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we conceptualise the phenomenon of cringe watching in order to understand why and how consumers engage with media that make them uncomfortable. We mobilise de-Western feminist thought to analyse our reactions to the Netflix series Indian Matchmaking. We find that ‘cringe’ is a bundle of consumers’ ‘ugly feelings’ belying complicated affect and biases that are often rooted in Western values. By leveraging collaborative autoethnography as our method, we allow space for both ‘visceral’ and ‘rational’ experiences, challenging the role of researchers as subjects by positioning ourselves, additionally, as objects. Our findings reveal that engaging with media artefacts is a recursive process wherein consumers may encounter ‘cringe’, which when subject to introspection reveals unexpected socio-affective states like self-compassion, empathy for others, and understanding their own limitations as well as their place in the world. These findings have implications for marketing and consumer research on media, representation, and affect.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48934718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-30DOI: 10.1177/14705931231153119
Jack Coffin, B. Cova, Avi Shankar
This article introduces the special section, “Tribal Marketing After Covid: Consuming Together in an Age of Social Distance.” The authors trace the history of tribal marketing theory up until the present, ‘post-Covid' era, outlining each wave and some trajectories for future research.
{"title":"Introduction to the special section: Tribal marketing after Covid","authors":"Jack Coffin, B. Cova, Avi Shankar","doi":"10.1177/14705931231153119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231153119","url":null,"abstract":"This article introduces the special section, “Tribal Marketing After Covid: Consuming Together in an Age of Social Distance.” The authors trace the history of tribal marketing theory up until the present, ‘post-Covid' era, outlining each wave and some trajectories for future research.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"267 - 273"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46114864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-23DOI: 10.1177/14705931231153192
A. Jafari, Mona Moufahim, Diego Rinallo, S. Appau
This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine economic system’, an article in which he explores religious exchanges in the context of a Pentecostal Church in Ghana and proposes ‘the divine economy’ as an alternative economic system to interrogate and extend scholarship on the relationship between the market and religion. In a thought-provoking conversation, four commentators (including Appau) engage in a critical discussion aimed at generating new ideas on theorizing the complex relationship between the market, consumption, and religion.
{"title":"Theorizing consumption and markets in the context of religion: A commentary section on Appau’s (2021) ‘divine economic system’","authors":"A. Jafari, Mona Moufahim, Diego Rinallo, S. Appau","doi":"10.1177/14705931231153192","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231153192","url":null,"abstract":"This commentary section presents a dialogical discussion on Appau’s (2021) ‘Toward a divine economic system’, an article in which he explores religious exchanges in the context of a Pentecostal Church in Ghana and proposes ‘the divine economy’ as an alternative economic system to interrogate and extend scholarship on the relationship between the market and religion. In a thought-provoking conversation, four commentators (including Appau) engage in a critical discussion aimed at generating new ideas on theorizing the complex relationship between the market, consumption, and religion.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"533 - 553"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44260324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1177/14705931221148514
Ladipo Fagbola, M. McEachern, Effi Raftopoulou
This article combines the theoretical lenses of bridal identity and liminal consumption to illustrate the processes of problem-solving, negotiation and reconciliation through which the bride creates her bridal identity, in the Global South context of Nigeria. Most wedding ritual studies typically emphasise the processes of creating and negotiating a successful bridal identity, but few acknowledge the possibilities of failure and its effect upon the liminars. In addition, within liminal consumption studies, the role of liminars’ mentors is often under-theorised. Thus, we contribute to the field by expanding on the concept of ‘liminal gatekeepers’ as the individuals and institutions who control and enforce certain norms associated with the liminal experience. Following an interpretivist approach, the article also advances our understanding of the ways in which the demands of liminal gatekeepers affect the liminars’ experiences and identifies three novel bridal identity outcomes, namely, (i) Embedded Bridal Identity; (ii) Synthesised Bridal Identity; and (iii) Marginalisation. In this way, we advance marketing research around how a liminal consumer identity such as bridal identity is co-constructed between liminars and gatekeepers.
{"title":"Liminal consumption within Nigerian wedding rituals: The interplay between bridal identity and liminal gatekeepers","authors":"Ladipo Fagbola, M. McEachern, Effi Raftopoulou","doi":"10.1177/14705931221148514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221148514","url":null,"abstract":"This article combines the theoretical lenses of bridal identity and liminal consumption to illustrate the processes of problem-solving, negotiation and reconciliation through which the bride creates her bridal identity, in the Global South context of Nigeria. Most wedding ritual studies typically emphasise the processes of creating and negotiating a successful bridal identity, but few acknowledge the possibilities of failure and its effect upon the liminars. In addition, within liminal consumption studies, the role of liminars’ mentors is often under-theorised. Thus, we contribute to the field by expanding on the concept of ‘liminal gatekeepers’ as the individuals and institutions who control and enforce certain norms associated with the liminal experience. Following an interpretivist approach, the article also advances our understanding of the ways in which the demands of liminal gatekeepers affect the liminars’ experiences and identifies three novel bridal identity outcomes, namely, (i) Embedded Bridal Identity; (ii) Synthesised Bridal Identity; and (iii) Marginalisation. In this way, we advance marketing research around how a liminal consumer identity such as bridal identity is co-constructed between liminars and gatekeepers.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"437 - 462"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41704927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-26DOI: 10.1177/14705931221146304
I. Kleppe, Marylouise Caldwell, I. Stensaker
Drawing on an ethnographic study of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we explore how ordinary people make extraordinary efforts to convince others to comply with health authorities’ advice to change their behaviour. Theories of heroism and embodied health movements inform our typology consisting of four distinct types of everyday heroes. Everyday heroes adopt a variety of actions, uniquely drawing on their embodiment of the illness and embeddedness in the local context. The ‘national role model’ builds a personal brand promoting beauty with a purpose, while the ‘national entrepreneur’ assembles resources and builds support networks and institutions. The ‘local caregiver’ offers face-to-face support to the diseased and afflicted, while the ‘local entrepreneur’ creates non-risky health practices to replace risky ones. A significant finding is the heroes’ courage and creative self-educational work, through which they find their own ways to translate medical knowledge into the local vernacular and practice.
{"title":"Embodied, embedded and educated: How everyday heroes strive to save lives during a pandemic","authors":"I. Kleppe, Marylouise Caldwell, I. Stensaker","doi":"10.1177/14705931221146304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221146304","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on an ethnographic study of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we explore how ordinary people make extraordinary efforts to convince others to comply with health authorities’ advice to change their behaviour. Theories of heroism and embodied health movements inform our typology consisting of four distinct types of everyday heroes. Everyday heroes adopt a variety of actions, uniquely drawing on their embodiment of the illness and embeddedness in the local context. The ‘national role model’ builds a personal brand promoting beauty with a purpose, while the ‘national entrepreneur’ assembles resources and builds support networks and institutions. The ‘local caregiver’ offers face-to-face support to the diseased and afflicted, while the ‘local entrepreneur’ creates non-risky health practices to replace risky ones. A significant finding is the heroes’ courage and creative self-educational work, through which they find their own ways to translate medical knowledge into the local vernacular and practice.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"59 - 79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48769534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1177/14705931221141732
D. Kelsey, N. Yannopoulou, A. Whittle, T. Heath, Artyom Golossenko, A. Soares
This manuscript theorises the use of heroism in marketing by analysing selected representations of the army hero in contemporary advertising. Adopting the discourse-mythological approach to analyse Jungian archetypes, we focus on three US advertising campaigns that depict the army hero. Our analysis reveals that representations of the army hero combine traits, symbols, and images of the Magician, Warrior and King archetypes. ‘Archetypal blending’ is theorised in order to understand the mythological complexities of modern heroism, which expands the individually centred Hero’s Journey through references to a collective journey and collective responsibility. This study advances theoretical insights into how advertising blends narratives of heroism and other mythical archetypes to remain meaningful to multiple audiences - balancing the reproduction of conventional views of military heroism with representations that reflect changing societal values.
{"title":"The (army) hero with a thousand faces: A discourse-mythological approach to theorising archetypal blending in contemporary advertising","authors":"D. Kelsey, N. Yannopoulou, A. Whittle, T. Heath, Artyom Golossenko, A. Soares","doi":"10.1177/14705931221141732","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221141732","url":null,"abstract":"This manuscript theorises the use of heroism in marketing by analysing selected representations of the army hero in contemporary advertising. Adopting the discourse-mythological approach to analyse Jungian archetypes, we focus on three US advertising campaigns that depict the army hero. Our analysis reveals that representations of the army hero combine traits, symbols, and images of the Magician, Warrior and King archetypes. ‘Archetypal blending’ is theorised in order to understand the mythological complexities of modern heroism, which expands the individually centred Hero’s Journey through references to a collective journey and collective responsibility. This study advances theoretical insights into how advertising blends narratives of heroism and other mythical archetypes to remain meaningful to multiple audiences - balancing the reproduction of conventional views of military heroism with representations that reflect changing societal values.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"141 - 162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48292252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-18DOI: 10.1177/14705931221139317
W. Onyas
This article tackles an underexplored topic in the Market Studies literature—the enactment of exchange practices in overlapping markets. Based on an ethnographic study, the article examines a contested market space in which sustainable and conventional coffee buyers compete to enact exchanges with farmers. At the center of this competition are farmers, whose subsistence challenges heavily influence the choice of market(s) they operate in. An Exchange Entanglements framework for analyzing overlapping exchanges is developed, which accounts for market concerns, calculative power asymmetries, and the (re)configuration of market entities. The article builds our understanding of how exchanges are enacted to account for concerns in overlapping markets, and develops a characterization of overlapping market exchanges. It questions the extent to which dominant market actors can address farmers’ subsistence challenges, and highlights the problematic challenge of enacting concerned markets that serve marginalized market actors.
{"title":"Enacting overlapping exchanges to address market concerns: Evidence on sustainable and conventional coffee markets in Uganda","authors":"W. Onyas","doi":"10.1177/14705931221139317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221139317","url":null,"abstract":"This article tackles an underexplored topic in the Market Studies literature—the enactment of exchange practices in overlapping markets. Based on an ethnographic study, the article examines a contested market space in which sustainable and conventional coffee buyers compete to enact exchanges with farmers. At the center of this competition are farmers, whose subsistence challenges heavily influence the choice of market(s) they operate in. An Exchange Entanglements framework for analyzing overlapping exchanges is developed, which accounts for market concerns, calculative power asymmetries, and the (re)configuration of market entities. The article builds our understanding of how exchanges are enacted to account for concerns in overlapping markets, and develops a characterization of overlapping market exchanges. It questions the extent to which dominant market actors can address farmers’ subsistence challenges, and highlights the problematic challenge of enacting concerned markets that serve marginalized market actors.","PeriodicalId":48020,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Theory","volume":"23 1","pages":"411 - 435"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49504573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}