Showing papers by "Alan Bradshaw published in 2008"

Must we have Muzak wherever we go? A critical consideration of the consumer culture

Abstract: This essay probes the critical dimensions of consumer‐culture theory (CCT) by investigating managerial tendencies toward integrating consumers from above or even imposing culture from on high, rather than viewing consumer culture as something that arises from the consumers themselves. Illustrations based on the use of background music or Muzak support concerns that culture is degraded by marketers as a means of social control. Attempts of an organization such as Pipedown to resist background music present an impression of futility in the face of hegemony. Hence we draw attention to the apparently predominant commercial thrust toward and mass susceptibility to manipulation, as born out by the ubiquity of background music and by the apparent lack of meaningful counter‐play by consumers. Noting the lacunae in our critical understanding of consumption, markets, and culture from the CCT perspective, we consider the ideological consequences.

The Production and Consumption of Music

Abstract: Music is the water of life, whiskey of passion, it uplifts us, releases us, marks our joy and sadness, it is to live for and to die for, it caries the spirit of truth and freedom, it demands to be ...

Scholars who stare at goats: The collaborative circle cycle in creative consumer research

Abstract: Purpose – Collaboration is the norm in marketing and consumer research, yet the dynamics of academic cooperation are poorly understood. The aim of this paper is to probe the sociology of collaboration within marketing scholarship by means of a detailed case study of the seminal consumer odyssey.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a history of the consumer odyssey based on a range of secondary sources.Findings – The consumer odyssey, one of many collaborate circles in marketing thought, was a seminal moment in the development of marketing research.Practical implications – This paper encourages reflection on the dynamics of collaboration and the collegial character of marketing scholarship. Also, the paper has implications for institutional policy, for example the RAE, which measures research as an individual endeavour.Originality/value – This paper presents a rare reflection on the social dynamics of marketing scholarship. Although it focuses on the interpretive research tradition within consu...

`Don't forget the fruit gums, chum': marketing under erasure and renewal

Abstract: The world's best marketers are blessed with a peculiar inventiveness that stems from experiencing the world as a novelty, which is why the marketing discipline in general has a good memory for forgetting. In this paper then, we contend that amnesia in marketing academia is perfectly healthy, and indeed functions as a key component of our creative, ideas-laden discipline. We argue that the marketer's natu- ral inclination towards erasure and renewal, towards always wiping the slate clean, should be encouraged, not cured. In marshalling the evidence in favour of forgetting, we pull apart the dialectic of remembering and forgetting, demonstrate how forgetting is integral to the academic sensibility, and question how much of the marketing liter- ature is worth remembering in the first place. Key Wordsamnesiaforgetting • marketing historymemoryremembering

Brand Community as Co-Creation Value in the Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing

Abstract: In this paper, we present the conceptual paper to adapt a new dominant logic of marketing for understanding the consumer behaviour in the globalization. To compete in the globalisation or localisation, companies need the potential marketing strategy in order to sustain their market position; therefore, they have to find the effective way to understand how consumers consume in the dynamic world which consumers seek the value and symbolic meaning from their consumption beyond functional utilities. This leaded to call for the new dominant logic of marketing. Vargo and Lusch (2004a) respond to this call by proposing the "Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing" or "S-D logic", a marketing paradigm evolution which shifts from the firm-centric or good-centred view to the consumer-centric or service-centred view. The idea is presented by resource-based theory to explain firms' and consumers' operant and operand resources (figure 1). In figure 2, we synthesise the S-D logic with the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) by integrating theories of firms' resources and consumers' resources and adding the social dynamics within a group of consumers to understand the value co-creation process. This conceptual paper has several contributions to the consumer behaviour. First, it moves the level of consumer behaviour and consumption analysis from individuals to social dynamics. Second, because consumers in brand communities are an integral part of the co-creation value, the importance of consumer power to co-create value during their consumption has relevance to firms, as their control over the brand may be diminished. It advances the S-D logic in the value co-creation process between consumers and firms to emphasise co-creation among consumers who can jointly pressure firms to apply their core competencies to capture this value and process in order to create and deliver an effective value proposition. Finally, brand communities create value between consumers and consumers, and between consumers and marketers or brands in different forms and activities. Many researchers have been interested in the value from brand community which emerge from consumer interaction with brands or specific products, but very few researchers have concerned themselves with the co-creation value of consumers. Consequently, the question of "How do members of brand community co-create value", and "How do firms engage themselves with consumers' co-creation process" are asked. The response to this question provides a new perspective to the concept of brand community through linking the S-D logic of marketing, and CCT which suggests the idea of consumer co-creating values by the field.