Caroline Moraes

Living production-engaged alternatives: An examination of new consumption communities

In this study we draw on varied theoretical perspectives to explore and gain an alternative understanding of consumption at New Consumption Communities (NCCs). Intrinsic to the notion of NCCs is a sense of community between production‐engaged consumers who question market practices deemed inadequate or unfair. Reported findings are part of a three‐year ethnographic research project and suggest that such communities have been overly perceived as presenting radical resistance to prevailing ideologies of consumer society. Collectively, they are more interested in entrepreneurial positive discourses, practices and choices, than in acting against consumer culture or markets. This view is buttressed by their varied production‐engaged practices, which in turn are problematized in relation to (perhaps outdated) notions of consumers, producers and their interrelationships. Finally, this paper attempts a fluid classification of the NCCs (Committed, Engaged Alternatives, Apprentices and Visionaries), and offers a view of alternative consumer behaviour that goes beyond the current “anti” discourses in the extant literature.

Do Marketers Use Visual Representations of Destinations That Tourists Value? Comparing Visitors’ Image of a Destination with Marketer-Controlled Images Online

The study explores visitors’ image of a destination using online visitor-generated photography and compares the findings with images of the same destination that marketers create and control on the Internet. The two studies are conducted with Taiwan as the context-destination. Online visitor-generated photography yielded more than 100 photographs from visitors to Taiwan, and indicates that visitors’ holistic image encompasses notions of Taiwanese uniqueness, ancientness, and authenticity through their perceptions of the natural landscapes, traditional local cuisine, and culture. The second study yielded 1,526 visual image representations of Taiwan collected from a variety of website sources, and findings highlight the disparities between the holistic image construed by visitors to Taiwan and the image created by marketers on the Internet. The findings yield important implications for the effective positioning and promotion of tourism destinations as managers should consider visitors’ holistic images in their attempt to create destination images through online visual representations.

From conspicuous to considered consumption : a harm chain approach to the responsibilities of luxury fashion brands

Abstract Throughout the marketing literature, little attention has been paid to the responsibilities of luxury-fashion businesses. Harnessing Polonsky, Carlson, and Fry’s harm chain, the extended harm chain, and the theoretical lens of institutional theory, this conceptual paper explores a systematic way to examine the potential for value co-creation, the harmful outcomes linked to luxury-fashion marketing activities, and how those harms might be addressed. Our analysis identifies a number of harms occurring throughout the luxury-fashion supply chain. The paper concludes by urging luxury-fashion businesses to sustain their success through ‘deep’ corporate social responsibility (CSR), adding voice to the developing conversation that seeks to change the scope of the critique of marketing practice beyond the economic and competitive advantages that CSR delivers.

From conspicuous to considered fashion: A harm-chain approach to the responsibilities of luxury-fashion businesses

Abstract Throughout the marketing literature, little attention has been paid to the responsibilities of luxury-fashion businesses. Harnessing Polonsky, Carlson, and Fry’s harm chain, the extended harm chain, and the theoretical lens of institutional theory, this conceptual paper explores a systematic way to examine the potential for value co-creation, the harmful outcomes linked to luxury-fashion marketing activities, and how those harms might be addressed. Our analysis identifies a number of harms occurring throughout the luxury-fashion supply chain. The paper concludes by urging luxury-fashion businesses to sustain their success through ‘deep’ corporate social responsibility (CSR), adding voice to the developing conversation that seeks to change the scope of the critique of marketing practice beyond the economic and competitive advantages that CSR delivers.

The use of Facebook to promote drinking among young consumers

Abstract New media platforms including social networking sites (SNS) have changed the media landscape and enabled many-to-many communication practices that have increased youth exposure to pro-alcohol consumption messages exponentially, blurring the lines between content generated by alcohol brands, nightclubs and consumers. This study uses qualitative methods to explore the use of Facebook to promote drinking among young consumers. Focus groups with a sample of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, and a netnographic study investigating alcohol brands, alcohol groups and nightclubs on Facebook were conducted. Findings indicate that alcohol brands and nightclubs use Facebook as a tool to communicate, co-produce and generate alcohol-related content with young adults, which encourages drinking. Findings suggest that SNS such as Facebook are changing the roles of, and inter-relationships between, advertisers and how consumers process media content, including drinking-related marketing communications.

Purchase power: An examination of consumption as voting

Abstract There has been a reported increase in political activity through the marketplace in the form of ‘consumer votes’. The use of marketplace votes by consumers to address their concerns about societal issues is a phenomenon that has growing relevance for firms, since they are often affected by such consumer citizenship. Therefore, this paper aims to enhance our conceptual understanding of the consumer voting phenomenon. It explores marketplace power relations and the constraints and enabling mechanisms they may pose to consumers seeking change through consumer voting. Consumer voting practices, consumer sovereignty discourses, and power tensions in marketplace encounters are examined in relation to Foucaults notions of power, technologies of the self, and governmentality. Foucault provides a critical lens to illuminate the potential for consumer resistance, an approach that so far has been somewhat neglected by the extant marketing and consumer research literature.

Social media advertising: Factors Influencing Consumer Ad Avoidance

Social media has become a key field for expansion of advertising. However, despite the enthusiasm of both advertisers and technology providers, intense advertising on social media may result in companies’ messages being lost amongst the ‘noise’. This has led advertisers to create more daring adverts in order to stand out. However, such ‘controversial’ adverts may, subsequently, turn consumers off, leading consumers to avoid ads. This study examines potential factors influencing consumers’ decisions to avoid controversial ads on social media. Using data on social media usage from 273 consumers, a conceptual model of social media ad avoidance antecedents was tested via structural equation modelling. The results show that perceptions of adverts as controversial result in ad avoidance, but this effect is moderated by individual factors, such as ethical judgement. These results reveal noteworthy insights that have significant theoretical and practical implications for researchers in the area, and social media marketers alike.

A Scale for Measuring Consumers’ Ethical Perceptions of Social Media Research

Social media have become increasingly seductive as means to collect consumer data without necessarily making consumers fully aware of such data collection practices (Pettit 2011; Poynter 2011). This can raise ethical concerns. Online qualitative methodologies that rely on observations through social media have become increasingly popular among marketing academics (Braunsberger and Buckler 2011; Cova and Pace 2006; Kozinets 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010). But so have various online quantitative data collection methods that use tracking technologies such as cookies (Palmer 2005), and other forms of marketing dataveillance (Ashworth and Free 2006). Despite current academic and practitioner-led debates regarding the morality of online research, to date scant research has been published on consumers’ ethical perceptions regarding how they are currently researched on social media, which is a knowledge gap this research seeks to address. To this end, our research attempts to develop a quantitative instrument that captures consumers’ ethical perceptions of social media research. The following sections present the background, methodology, analysis performed and results.

Responsible Waste Disposal: An Exploratory Study of British and Brazilian Consumers

This paper explores how British and Brazilian consumers dispose of their unwanted or no longer used goods. Post-consumption environmental impact has become a global issue, and the need for consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle is paramount. A study of seven participants with recycling experience was undertaken. Divergent concerns in relation to waste, and distinct symbolic roles for disposal reflected the economically distinct contexts of the participants. Insights from this study can inform future consumer and policy research, and provide a more holistic view of the consumer behavior cycle.

An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective on Physical Exercise Motives: Implications for Social Marketing

This study uses the theoretical framework of evolutionary psychology to examine the motives driving physical exercise behavior, as evolutionary psychology is still under-explored in the social marketing literature. The study employs a survey that draws on a sample of 220 participants. Independent sample t-tests and analysis of variance are conducted, and findings show significant sex and marital status differences in terms of motivations to exercise. Research findings have original implications for social marketing interventions that seek to understand physical exercise motivations and to encourage increased levels of physical exercise. Further, findings contribute to the extant literature by establishing the importance of sex-based segmentation strategies and message appeals that resonate with specific segments’ innate physical exercise motives.