Elizabeth Crosby

The Stigma Turbine: A Theoretical Framework for Conceptualizing and Contextualizing Marketplace Stigma

Stigmas, or discredited personal attributes, emanate from social perceptions of physical characteristics, aspects of character, and “tribal” associations (e.g., race; Goffman 1963). Extant research has emphasized the perspective of the stigma target, with some scholars exploring how social institutions shape stigma. Yet the ways stakeholders within the sociocommercial sphere create, perpetuate, or resist stigma remain overlooked. The authors introduce and define marketplace stigma as the labeling, stereotyping, and devaluation by and of commercial stakeholders (consumers, companies and their employees, stockholders, and institutions) and their offerings (products, services, and experiences). The authors offer the Stigma Turbine as a unifying conceptual framework that locates marketplace stigma within the broader sociocultural context and illuminates its relationship to forces that exacerbate or blunt stigma. In unpacking the Stigma Turbine, the authors reveal the critical role that market stakeholders can play in (de)stigmatization, explore implications for marketing practice and public policy, and offer a research agenda to further understanding of marketplace stigma and stakeholder welfare.

Tinsel, Trimmings, and Tensions: Consumer Negotiations of a Focal Christmas Artifact

Introduction, Explorations in Consumer Culture Theory: What Are We Exploring Now?, Eileen Fischer, and John F. Sherry, Jr., Section One: Forming and Framing, From CCT to CCC: Building Consumer Culture Community, Johanna Moisander, Lisa Penaloza and Anu Valtonen, Theoretical Realism: Culture and Politics in Commercial Imagery, Linda M. Scott, Section Two: Time and Space, Banking on History: Reflections in the Archive Mirror, Barbara Olsen, Dwelling in Mobility: Homemaking Among Mobile Professionals, Fleura Bardhi and Soren Askegaard, Section Three: Setting and Self, Are We There Yet? Coproducing Success and Failure in Personal Training, Eileen Fischer, Cele C. Otnes, Brynn Winegard, Eric Li and Sarah Scarbrough-Wilner, Designer Genes: DNA Testing Services and Consumer Identity, Elizabeth C. Hirschman and Donald Panther-Yates, Section Four: Brands and Images, Allomother as Image and Essence: Animating the American Girl Brand, John F. Sherry, Jr., Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, Albert Muniz, Nina Diamond and Robert V. Kozinets, Engineering a Mainstream Market for Sustainable Practices, Diane M. Martin and John W. Schouten, Section Five: Rites and Games, Tinsel, Trimmings and Tensions: Negotiating a Focal Artifact, Cele C. Otnes, Elizabeth Crosby, Robert Kreuzbauer and Jennifer Ho, Stacking the Deck Gambling in Film and the Diffusion of Casino Gambling, Ashlee Humphreys, Section Six: Poetry, Living Things, Small Things, John W. Schouten, Heading Home, Consumption Kaddish in Four Koans, John F. Sherry, Jr., Haiku for EATNIKS, Eugene Halton, Imagined (Musical) Experiences: Across Four Centuries, George Zinkhan, Conclusion, Reflections and Revanche, John F. Sherry, Jr. and Eileen Fischer.Our specific purpose in this paper is to explore households’ negotiation practices as they co-create a key ritual artifact of the holiday—the Christmas tree. We find that four distinct pairs of tensions can shape consumers’ co-creation of the Christmas tree: aesthetics vs. tradition, inclusiveness vs. risk, family fantasy vs. family reality, and authenticity vs. convenience. We identify and interpret the negotiation strategies that emerge as consumers seek to resolve these sets of tensions.

Product-agency benefits: Consumer perspectives and strategic implications

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the product-agency benefits that emerge as consumers interact with products, and how these benefits shape consumer experiences and marketing-related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Sixty-one depth interviews were conducted, and 78 written narratives were collected from informants, which explored how products had changed consumers’ lives. The authors applied the tenets of grounded theory in the analysis of their text, creating abstract categories or tropes that reflected consistent patterns in their consumers’ experiences. Findings – The findings support that the conceptualization of agentic benefits should be broadened. The research identifies five salient product-agency benefits: regulation, clarification, transcendence, discovery and growth. Research limitations/implications – Prior conceptualizations of agency in marketing focus almost solely on control, yet the authors find that multiple product-agency benefits emerge, supporting the need fo...

Living in a Gender-Binary World: Implications for a Revised Model of Consumer Vulnerability

Baker, Gentry, and Rittenburg’s (2005) model of consumer vulnerability outlines the personal, social, and structural characteristics that frame consumers’ experiences of vulnerability in the marketplace. Later applications and enhancements have expanded consumer vulnerability theory. While the theory has been applied in numerous settings, to date it has not been used to examine the ways that gender identity may intersect with market factors to produce vulnerability. Application in this setting also allows for the integration of various model enhancements, and the examination of vulnerability using a more complete formulation of the theory. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews and collages, along with examples from current marketing practice, our research shows consumer vulnerability to be a useful lens for understanding gender variant consumers’ experiences and the ways in which marketing systems can be engaged to reshape those experiences.