Consumer Culture

Why I Thrift (and How I Got Started) by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Last weekend, I went to a store and came home with one cotton sundress, four lightweight sweaters, two pairs of pants,... more Last weekend, I went to a store and came home with one cotton sundress, four lightweight sweaters, two pairs of pants, one beaded necklace, and three khakis for my preschooler. I paid $26.31 for the entire haul. That feat was only possible because I bought all of those items second-hand at a thrift store. 

While I have always been a value-conscious shopper, for the majority of my life “scoring a bargain” almost always meant buying something new on sale at a deep discount. I only started buying used clothes a few years ago after my firstborn son moved up into the toddler room at his daycare. In short, the more artwork he did at school, the more consistently he came home with paint splattered all over his hair, body, and clothes. Though his teachers always told us that it was “just” finger paint and that it would wash out, his clothes would almost invariably remain stained (whether or not I pretreated the stains, or vigorously attempted to scrub them out by hand before and/or after the wash).

That permanently-ruined-though-barely-worn clothes routine quickly drove me bonkers. Worst still was my growing realization that even if I had been successful in removing the stains, my rapidly growing son would soon outgrow his clothes anyway. When I shared these frustrations with my “working moms” support group at Virginia Tech, it was then when I learned of this amazing store featuring gently used children’s clothes and toys that I hadn’t realized even existed–Once Upon a Child.

Popular Culture and Consumerism: Mediocre, (Schein-)Heilig and Pseudo-Therapeutic

by Roman Meinhold

(2009) In: Yusuf, Imtiyaz and Atilgan, Canan (ed.) Religion, Politics and Globalization. Implications for Thailand and Asia. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Bangkok. 51-65. ISBN 978-616-90475-0-6

Meta-Goods in Fashion Myths. Philosophic-Anthropological Implications of Fashion Myths.

by Roman Meinhold

In: Prajna Vihara. Journal of Philosophy and Religion. Bangkok, Assumption University. Vol.8., No.2, July-December 2007. 1-17. ISSN 1513-6442

This paper tries to investigate which aspects of human nature are responsible for the recurrence of new fashions. It... more This paper tries to investigate which aspects of human nature are responsible for the recurrence of new fashions. It is divided into five sections: the first explains the multidisciplinary approach used in the research on this phenomenon, the second provides a – very brief and stroboscopic – historical overview of the issue in question, the third distinguishes different notions of fashion, the fourth introduces the term meta-goods as indicators of values and symbols for philosophic-anthropological features in fashion
advertisements and the last section elucidates the myths narrated by fashion advertisements, which are based on philosophic-anthropological implications.

Taste Regimes and Market-Mediated Practice

by Zeynep Arsel

Co-authored with Jonathan Bean. Forthcoming in Feb 2013.

Taste has been conceptualized as a boundary making mechanism, yet there is limited theory on how it enters into daily... more Taste has been conceptualized as a boundary making mechanism, yet there is limited theory on how it enters into daily practice. In this paper, we develop a practice-based framework of taste through qualitative and quantitative analysis of a popular home design blog, interviews with blog participants, and participant observation. First, we define a taste regime as a discursively constructed normative system that orchestrates practice in an aesthetically oriented culture of consumption. Taste regimes are perpetuated by marketplace institutions such as magazines, web sites and transmedia brands. Second, we show how a taste regime regulates practice through continuous engagement. By integrating three dispersed practices—problematization, ritualization, and instrumentalization—a taste regime shapes preferences for objects, the doings performed with objects, and what meanings are associated with objects. This study demonstrates how aesthetics is linked to practical knowledge and becomes materialized through everyday consumption.

Consumer Goods as Dialogue About Development

by Richard Wilk

Published first in 1990, Culture & History, 7: 79-100.
also published in 1995 as Consumer Goods as Dialogue about Development: Colonial Time and Television Time in Belize." in Consumption and Identity, J. Friedman, ed., Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic. pp. 97-118.

An early effort to think about why middle class consumers in Belize are so deeply interested in buying and owning... more An early effort to think about why middle class consumers in Belize are so deeply interested in buying and owning foreign goods. I argue that rather than being a form of copying or emulation, consumption acts in an almost magical way to try to call a particular future into being.

Consuming Morality

by Richard Wilk

Published as Wilk, Richard 2001 “”Consuming Morality.” Journal of Consumer Culture 1(2): 245-260.

This essay began as a set of exasperated notes while reading books about consumption, such as Lasch’s (1979) The... more This essay began as a set of exasperated notes while reading books about consumption, such as Lasch’s (1979) The Culture of Narcissism, a complaint about the shallowness of modern consumerism. Reading an early version of Miller’s piece, ‘The Poverty of Morality’ (this issue), prompted me to revise that essay. The result is neither a critical response to Miller’s work nor
a completely separate and distinctive essay.We share literatures and critical reactions,many field experiences and have exchanged many drafts, ideas and conversations about consumption. Despite, or maybe because of, this relationship, we do not agree about everything. Part of the difference is no doubt due to my American perspective. I live in a state where more than 40 percent of adults are clinically obese and the roads are crowded with mammoth sport-utility vehicles. On this side of the Atlantic it is easier to take concepts like ‘overconsumption’ and ‘affluenza’ seriously. I have also
been deeply engaged for several years with the issue of global climate change and I believe that consumption is the most urgent and fundamental environmental issue that we face (Wilk, 1998).

Covert distinction: how hipsters practice food-based resistance strategies in the production of identity

by James M. Cronin

Co-authored with PhD supervisors Dr. Mary McCarthy & Dr. Alan Collins, published in Consumption, Markets & Culture

This paper reveals the processes by which food is used to express resistance to the mainstream and perform identity... more This paper reveals the processes by which food is used to express resistance to the mainstream and perform identity work within the hipster community of consumption. Based on the findings of a qualitative investigation, several resistance strategies involving food emerged: Vegetarian choices; Brand choices and avoidances; and Decommodification practices. We discuss how these strategies are framed by hipsters' discursive distaste for the commercial food marketing system but are, in practice, operationalised as subtle ways to achieve proper representation of their collective identity within the marketplace. Mundane consumption emerges as motor-force in allowing these consumers to surreptitiously maintain distinction and to protect their within-group identity from mainstream co-optation. We conclude by suggesting that the inconspicuous nature of mundane consumables such as food and alcohol products allows for idiosyncratic shared community performances that are covert and difficult for broader social currents to detect and co-opt.

Por uma teoria da publicização: transformações no processo publicitário

by Vander Casaqui

This article focuses on the analysis of changes in the advertising process, influenced by the current scenario, which... more This article focuses on the analysis of changes in the advertising process, influenced by the current scenario, which combines new technicities, sociabilities, ritualities and institucionalities — configured in meeting points between consumers, producers, goods and communication flows. The structure of our thinking is based on the map of mediations proposed by Martín-Barbero: we start from the discussion about the cultural matrices of advertising to reach the issues of communication contracts updated by contemporary forms of communication linked to consumption. This theoretical approach aims to delimit the focus of interest in studies of publicization — a concept that covers the mutations of the strategies involving persuasive communication of the corporations, brands and goods.

Producing Crisis: Green Consumerism as an Ecopedagogical Issue

by Richard Kahn

In Jenny Sandlin and Peter McLaren (Eds.), Critical Pedagogies of Consumption (Routledge), 2009

The Consumption Chronicles: Tales From Suburban Canadian Tweens In the 1980s

by Natalie Coulter

Experiencias memorables en la era de la música instantánea

by Hector Fouce

2012. Anàlisi, Monogràfic: Audiovisual 2.0 (Febrer 2012)

La digitalización de la música ha hecho que los soportes dejen de tener valor y ha entronizado la canción como unidad... more La digitalización de la música ha hecho que los soportes dejen de tener valor y ha entronizado la canción como unidad de escucha (breve, inmediata, aislada), hasta el punto de que muchos consideran que la ingente cantidad de música disponible devalúa la calidad de la escucha. Pero, al tiempo, ha revalorizado la experiencia presencial del directo, la lógica del estar juntos en un lugar y un momento concreto, rasgos que comparte con el arte aurático descrito por Walter Benjamin. Este artículo describe algunas de las continuidades entre las nuevas formas de producción y consumo en la música digital y en el mundo presencial, explorando sus conexiones con otros fenómenos que marcan nuestra época contemporánea.


Palabras clave: Música digital, música en directo, crisis de la industria discográfica, experiencia aurática, discos

There grows the neighbourhood’: Green citizenship, creativity and life politics on eco-TV

by Tania Lewis

Published in International Journal of Cultural Studies May 2012 vol. 15 no. 3

Morals and Metaphors: The Meaning of Consumption

by Richard Wilk

Published as Wilk, Richard 2004 “Morals and Metaphors: The Meaning of Consumption.” In Elusive Consumption, edited by Karin Ekström and Helene Brembeck. Berg Publishers. Pp. 11-26.

My application of George Lakoff's metaphor theory to sustainability and consumer culture. Most studies of consumption... more My application of George Lakoff's metaphor theory to sustainability and consumer culture. Most studies of consumption have two things in common; they do not define consumption in any concise way, and they incorporate, consciously or unconsciously, moral values about consumption. Are these two phenomena related to each other? The very meaning and content of the term “consumption” is elusive, despite many attempts at definition and specification. Recent research in cognitive linguistics provides the tools to show why consumption is such a fuzzy category, and why consumption and moral issues are closely related to each other.  By exploring the structure of the concept of consumption, and the central metaphors that link its meanings together, we can better grasp our elusive topic. More importantly, we can also avoid some of the pitfalls that so often occur in the social sciences when we use folk-categories as if they were empirical and universal.

The trouble with creatives: Negotiating creative identity in advertising agencies. Hackley, C., Kover, A.

by Chris Hackley

Hackley, C., Kover, A. (2007) The trouble with creatives: Negotiating creative identity in advertising agencies.International Journal of Advertising 26(1), pp. 63–78

Advertising creatives are often characterised in terms of stereotypes such as genius or maverick. Relatively few... more Advertising creatives are often characterised in terms of stereotypes such as genius or maverick. Relatively few studies have focused on the complexities and contradictions
that face creatives in their professional role. In this paper we draw on depth interviews conducted with a small sample of senior-level creatives working in a cross-section of New
York agency settings to explore the ways in which they negotiate and resolve their senses of personal and professional identity. We find that ad agencies are a site of conflict and
insecurity for these creatives, yet also of potential fulfilment. We suggest that these creatives may be complicit in the conflict because their sense of professional identity has a
substantial investment in it. We suggest that the advertising industry has not evolved working practices that fully assimilate those creatives who experience such dilemmas of
identity.

Divergent representational practices in advertising and consumer research: some thoughts on integration

by Chris Hackley

Hackley, C. (2003) Divergent representational practices in advertising and consumer research: some thoughts on integration Qualitative Market Research- An International Journal 6,3 pp175-183.

This essay refers to working practices in advertising agency research as a source of reflection on representational... more This essay refers to working practices in advertising agency research as a source of reflection on representational practices in the wider world of consumer research.

Entertainment marketing and experiential consumption

by Chris Hackley

Hackley, C. and Tiwsakul, R.A. (2006) Entertainment marketing and experiential consumption Journal of Marketing Communications Vol. 12, No. 1, 63–75, March 2006

ABSTRACT The placement of brand references within mainstream entertainment (called here ‘entertainment marketing’) is... more ABSTRACT The placement of brand references within mainstream entertainment (called here ‘entertainment marketing’) is a rapidly evolving marketing communications field in its scale and sophistication. Much previous research in the field has conceptualized entertainment marketing as promotion and focused on measuring consumer attitudes, purchase intentions and brand recall in response to brand exposure. This conceptual paper suggests that there is also a need for
understanding the quality of consumer engagement with brands in the context of mediated entertainment. The paper draws on phenomenological/existential research traditions in order to
begin to theorize the role that entertainment marketing techniques may play in facilitating consumer self-concepts and identity formation through brand exposure within dramatic
portrayals of characters and lifestyles.

The panoptic role of advertising agencies in the production of consumer culture

by Chris Hackley

Hackley, C. (2002) The panoptic role of advertising agencies in the production of consumer cultureConsumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 5 (3), pp. 211–229

Advertising’s role in promoting an ideology of marketed consumption has been widely commented upon by critical more Advertising’s role in promoting an ideology of marketed consumption has been widely commented upon by critical
theorists yet the mechanisms through which this influence becomes manifest remain relatively under-examined. In
particular there has been no explicit examination of the mediating role of cultural knowledge in the production of
ideologically driven advertising. This paper invokes the panoptic metaphor to position the knowledge gathered by and on behalf of advertising agencies as a major dynamic in the production of consumer culture. The consumer of advertising is a known entity for advertising agencies: the subject is watched, filmed, questioned, recorded, and tracked. Indeed, consumer biography and subjectivity itself has become material that is both produced and consumed by advertising agencies in order to produce culturally constitutive advertising. The paper integrates disparate
literatures to situate knowledge of consumer culture at the hub of advertising’s constitutive ideological influence.

Consumer Workers as Immaterial Labor in the Converging Media Markets: Three Value Creation Practices

by Johanna Moisander

co authored with Saara Könkkölä and Pikka-Maaria Laine; forthcoming in International Journal of Consumer Studies

This paper takes a practice-based approach to consumer studies and focuses on the strategic and productive roles that... more This paper takes a practice-based approach to consumer studies and focuses on the strategic and productive roles that consumers play as immaterial labor or consumer workers in the converging media markets. Based on a case study of a print media organization and its customers, the aim is to discuss the collaborative practices through which value is created in the market. By means of a textual analysis of online and interview data, three value-creation practices are abstracted and illustrated: constructing a sense of belonging and collective identity, mutual helping and peer support, and building pride and self-respect. Overall, the paper suggests that in global media environments, consumer-customers are playing increasingly significant strategic roles in the practices and processes through which value is co-created in the market. It is therefore concluded that the idea of consumers, and media audiences in particular, as recipients of communication and targets of marketing activities needs to be problematized and the dynamic strategic roles that consumers currently play in the market need to be acknowledged and actively incorporated into the business praxis of media corporations.

For-consumption images of the automotive industry: the world of work through the lens of advertising communication

by Vander Casaqui

This paper analyzes advertising communication strategies of the automotive industry in the early 21st century, mainly... more This paper analyzes advertising communication strategies of the automotive industry in the early 21st century, mainly from the standpoint of the representations of its productive processes and meanings of consumption. The theoretical framework discusses McLuhan’s theory on cultural aspects of automobiles, production trends and new roles to be assumed by consumers, in the transformations promoted by modern marketing. The theoretical-methodological approach of the French line of Discourse Analysis was adopted in the reflection on the corpus.

CONSUMO SIMBÓLICO DA ESFERA PRODUTIVA DAS MERCADORIAS: Significações de tradição, de memória e de história social

by Vander Casaqui

This article discusses the contemporary advertising strategies of representation work´s world and productive sphere of... more This article discusses the contemporary advertising strategies of representation work´s world and productive sphere of goods, as elements of construction in the symbolic universe of brands. Using the analyses of three spots recently showed in Brazilian Television of brands Bauducco, Mitsubishi and Johnnie Walker, we intend to think over the mythification process, the forgetfulness, the re-semantization of signs related to the production to compound the work´s visibility trough consumption logics. The discursive ethos´ analyses methodology organizes the interpretation of advertisement films that are part of this study.