Benét DeBerry-Spence

Ludic Agency and Retail Spectacle

Spectacular, themed environments have been theorized as places where play is limited and consumer agency is overpowered. In a multiperspectival ethnographic engagement with ESPN Zone Chicago, we find consumers resisting the rules, but only to a limited degree. Spectacular consumption possesses a do‐it‐yourself quality unrecognized in prior theory. Technology and screens are important to this form of play, which exhibits a transcendent character built of liminoid elements and consumer fantasy. Yet, even in ostensibly overpowering spectacular consumption environments, consumption still is negotiated dialectically; consumer and producer interests are embedded in one another in a process of “interagency.”

The discourses of marketing and development: towards 'critical transformative marketing research'

Abstract In order to understand the connection between development, marketing and transformative consumer research (TCR), with its attendant interest in promoting human well-being, this article begins by charting the links between US ‘exceptionalism’, ‘Manifest Destiny’ and modernisation theory, demonstrating the confluence of US perspectives and experiences in articulations and understandings of the contributions of marketing practice and consumer research to society. Our narrative subsequently engages with the rise of social marketing (1960s-) and finally TCR (2006-). We move beyond calls for an appreciation of paradigm plurality to encourage TCR scholars to adopt a multiple paradigmatic approach as part of a three-pronged strategy that encompasses an initial ‘provisional moral agnosticism’. As part of this stance, we argue that scholars should value the insights provided by multiple paradigms, turning each paradigmatic lens sequentially on to the issue of the relationship between marketing, development and consumer well-being. After having scrutinised these issues using multiple perspectives, scholars can then decide whether to pursue TCR-led activism. The final strategy that we identify is termed ‘critical intolerance’.

Consuming the Dead: Identity and Community Building Practices in Death Rituals

In this article, we examine processes of identity and community building in Asante death rituals where participants metaphorically consume the dead. “Consuming the Dead” refers to how the living makes meaning of death and its associated rituals toward self identification. Our data were derived primarily from participant observations of death rituals and in-depth interviews with informants in Asante, Ghana. We identify “consuming-for-community” and “consuming-for-security” as key death-ritual consumption practices that contribute to cultural reproduction. We conclude by considering some implications of these consuming practices in the production of self, community, and culture.

Developing Markets? Understanding the Role of Markets and Development at the Intersection of Macromarketing and Transformative Consumer Research (TCR)

Situated at the intersection of markets and development, this commentary aims to promote a cross-fertilization of macromarketing and Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) that directs attention to the sociocultural context and situational embeddedness of consumer experience and well-being, while acknowledging complex, systemic interdependencies between markets, marketing, and society. Based on a critical review of the meaning of development and an interrogation of various developmental discourses, the authors develop a conceptual framework that brings together issues of development, well-being, and social inequalities. We suggest that these issues are better understood and addressed when examined via grounded investigations of the role of markets in shaping the management of resources, consumer agency, power inequalities and ethics. The use of markets as units of analysis may lead to further cross-fertilizations of TCR and macromarketing and to more comprehensive theorizing and transformational impact. Two empirical cases are provided to illustrate our framework.

Toward Marketplace Diversity: A Multimeasure, Multidimensional Study of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

To reflect greater marketplace diversity and inclusion, journals must publish research that engages a broader repertoire of intellectual resources and approaches. The authors examine how Journal of Public Policy & Marketing (JPPM) contributes to this area from a multimeasure, multidimensional perspective. This research illustrates how JPPMs composition of diversity has changed over time and provides insight into how JPPM successfully fulfills its mission.

Third‐space scholars: bridging the marketing academy and emerging markets

Purpose – This paper seeks to begin a meaningful dialogue on the concept of third space, or “in‐between space”, within the marketing discipline. In the context of scholarly research, third space exists between the academy and places of research, and applies to research agendas involving businesses and consumers in emerging and/or subsistence markets, where study findings often carry significant implications for both theory development and social action. The paper therefore aims to facilitate discussion of defining third space in the context of marketing and to explore its implications for scholars and the academy as a whole.Design/methodology/approach – By reviewing literature from diverse disciplines, the paper explores how occupying a third space may not always be momentary or short‐lived, as it is most often characterized. Instead, marketing scholars with enduring obligations both to the social action of their work in emerging markets and to the theoretical contributions of their work may enact a third...