Laurie A. Meamber

Arts and aesthetics: Marketing and cultural production

Cultural production concerns the creation, diffusion, and consumption of cultural products. In this article, we discuss cultural production as related to the marketing and consumption of aesthetics. The article addresses the following topics: the nature of cultural production, including the roles that producers, cultural intermediaries and consumers play in the process; emerging perspectives and ideas on cultural production; aesthetics and art in cultural production; new epistemologies concerning postmodernism and posthumanism as related to cultural production; and the implications of the cultural production processes for the marketing aspects of cultural industries. This article sets forth marketing as the context and framework for the functioning of the cultural production system.

The aesthetics of consumption and the consumer as an aesthetic subject

This paper examines aesthetics in everyday consumption practices and patterns. Combining aesthetic theory with prior work of consumer scholars to support our theoretical framework, we investigate empirically the following issues: the integration of aesthetics into everyday consumption, the distinction between everyday aesthetics and of the arts, and the relationship between aestheti cs and the construction of meaning and identity. In addition, we introduce the idea of the consumer as an aesthetic subject. The data also shed light on the following aspects of aesthetic consumption: intrinsic value versus instrumental value, emotions, sensory pleasure, beauty, context, and taste formation.

Partial Employees and Consumers A Postmodern, Meta-Theoretical Perspective for services Marketing

This analysis aims to highlight the impact of both ‘partial employees’ and ‘partial consumers’ on the service delivery process. Effective service delivery often requires the participation of the customer. Accordingly, the customer may be conceptualized as a partial employee. Further, service employees may ‘consume’ their roles and duties as providers of service. Although the services literature has developed the notion of the partial employee to some extent, the concept is not developed within a comprehensive, theoretical framework. And, the portrayal of service employees as consumers (i.e. partial consumers) is largely undeveloped. As an emergent cultural philosophy, postmodernism offers a basis for developing a framework incorporating the notion of the partial employee, as well as an understanding of the effects and contributions of other service participants (i.e. service providers) as partial consumers. The implications of treating the consumer as partial employee and the employee as partial consumer in the delivery of the service experience are many. For instance, this notion inspires an expanded view of service exchange as a productive (consumptive) moment, which, in turn, requires a shift in orientation from an emphasis that considers only managing the functional benefits that the service provides to managing both employees and consumer alike.

Consuming the “world”: reflexivity, aesthetics, and authenticity at Disney World’s EPCOT Center

The postmodern marketplace has been marked by the increasing popularity of the past and a contemporary quest for history that are celebrated through consumption. This trend points to the recurring motivational theme of escape from the perceived fragmentation, instability, and inauthenticity of postmodern life. This theme of escape subsequently leads to a search for an “authentic” world of the past. In the process of constructing this “authentic” past, producers of themed attractions, as well as scholars of tourism and consumer research, have begun to recognize the important role of aesthetics. However, much of our understanding about aesthetics and authenticity as they relate to each other, as well as the role their relationship plays in the consumption of themed attractions, remains unexplored. It is also true that there is a relative paucity of consumer research that examines the specific role of aesthetics as it impacts and shapes experiential forms of consumption. Through a reflexive account, the authors explore the role and importance of aesthetics, broadly defined, in the social construction of an “authentic” past at Disney World’s EPCOT World Showcase. The authors find that the aesthetic details found in the historicized and sanitized hyperreality of the experience are central to the construction of an “authentic” world of the past.

Improving e-business customer relationship management systems with multilevel secure data models

Customer relationship management (CRM) leverages technology to coordinate business-customer interactions with the objective of building long-term loyalty. Multilevel secure (MLS) data models were originally developed as database models for the management of information in environments with a strict hierarchy of security levels, such as military institutions and government security agencies. The paper demonstrates how an MLS model can be used to address the issue of sharing and managing customer-related information in e-businesses with diverse constituencies. The potential for exploiting the advantages offered by the MLS models in the e-business CRM context is examined. Several examples are used to show how organizing a database management system based on MLS principles can be used to help e-businesses to provide consistent and appropriate content to various customers and partners in a more efficient manner.

Disney and the presentation of colonial America

This paper uses the concepts of Disneyfication and Disneyization to discuss the (re)presentation of history at Disney’s American Adventure, Mount Vernon, Monticello, and Colonial Williamsburg. It is argued that these historical properties to varying degrees have adopted Disney principles. While the discussion focuses upon the Disney‐like experiences of colonial America at these sites, the piece concludes with a comment on the Disneyesque nature of everyday life in contemporary consumer culture.

Comments on “time of consumption and the time of consumption: Consumer society and the ‘end’ of history”

The essay expounds upon the “problem” of time and its relation to history within the context of consumer culture. Beginning with the premise that consumer culture can be regarded as both the time of image consumption and the image of time consumption (from Debord 1983), the author goes on at length to discuss the concept of time in its three dimensions and then to relate briefly, the implications for the study of history. What follows is a short summary of the authors argument and then a reaction to it based on the idea of liberation.

Commentary on learning to talk like an (urban) woodsman: an artistic intervention

Rebekah Modraks Learning to Talk like an (Urban) Woodsman: An Artistic Intervention project presents an artistic critique of the Best Made Co. lifestyle “axe” brand. The article and the Re Made Co. “plunger” art piece it describes engage directly with issues discussed by brand researchers and other scholars, such as the strategic use of appealing design and product aesthetics, the sign value of brands, and the creation of brand identity and cultural codes based upon the performance of an idealized, historicized and gendered mythology. The artwork itself, the reactions to the Re Made Co. project and the artists reflections, all add to the interdisciplinary exploration of brands, brand culture and meaning.

Book Review: Call of the Mall: On the Geography of Shopping

is the need for “capable, accountable, and democratic governments” (p. 173). These should be the universal goals for all societies, but they seem as far away from realization as they have ever been. The time it takes for these to develop in even small degrees may be well past the time that the environment can be saved. Although principled in his approach, Speth does not deal well with the imperfections not only in markets but also in individuals. The arguments remind me of a period in wage-driven inflation when a prominent economist said, “If only everyone would stop asking for more money, there would be no inflation!” There is no doubt that a different governance regime is called for, but it is not clear what incentives and rewards there are for those engaged in trying to develop such a system. With an unending belief that a market economy will solve all the world’s problems, there is no reason to suspect that individual economies will give up the way they do business now. I eagerly waited to learn how these transitions would come to fruition. Unfortunately, that never was realized. It is not that I wanted a detailed list of what to do and when, but I had hoped for more than what Speth provides. This is the one place where he seems to be writing to the convinced and converted rather than engage in the dramatic tasks of convincing and converting. There is great merit in recognizing the role of individual responsibility, but I am not certain he understands who the individuals are. I wonder what it is going to take to convince all of us not to purchase what we should not, what it will take to convince those in the developing world not to emulate what we have done, especially the Chinese who produce so much of what we might not really need, and what is required to change American values toward the environment. The great dilemmas are in the basic conflicts between the here and now and the future. In a period when instant gratification is easier to market than long-run environmental protection, when jobs versus the environment offer a strong political base, and when profits and market performance outweigh the values of sustainability, it is going to be very difficult to engage in Speth’s transitions. Perhaps I am too pessimistic, and if that is the case, it is significant that someone so close to the challenges has such optimism. All of this is brought to the reader in the Earth Charter that is included as part of the unfinished business of the Rio Earth Summit (pp. 193-194). In spite of reservations, this is an important book that needs study and whose recommendations need implementation. As with everything, education is needed, and this small volume might be the starting point to restructure what we teach about the interconnections and how to engage in that process. His early point may well be the answer: “Ensure that every student who emerges from school is environmentally literate, close the widening gap between science and the public, and train a new generation of environmental professionals” (p. 169). For certain, this is a noble goal but one that is always a moving target, given all the other forces in the world that require attention.

Multilevel Information Presentation Strategy and Customer Reaction: An Empirical Investigation in an Online Setting

This study investigates the use of polyinstantiated information in management of customer relationships. Polyinstantiation can be used to present different information to different customers who are segmented according to some criterion, such as prior purchase behavior. An empirical study shows that presentation of multilevel benefits information affects customer satisfaction with the offer and information quality which, in turn, affect the overall Web satisfaction. This effect is independent of and comparable in size to the effect of customer prior attitude toward the Web and the Internet. Although the present study employs a Web-based retail setting, the relationships between this information presentation approach and measures of user/consumer satisfaction need not be limited to retail scenarios or to online interactions. We discuss the applicability of this technique of information control to different types of interactions between organizations and their constituents.