Maurice Patterson

Negotiating Masculinities: Advertising and the Inversion of the Male Gaze

This paper seeks to underline the negotiated character of male identities by demonstrating the means by which lifestyle magazine advertising has caused men to gaze upon images of their own bodies and by outlining the implications of this inversion of the male gaze. The paper begins by delineating the unfinished nature of our bodies and their role in identity projects. It then charts the emergence of mens lifestyle magazines in the UK and their position in the representation of male bodies. Next, the paper outlines the traditional understanding of the male gaze and identifies how that gaze is being inverted by the advertising images contained in mens lifestyle magazines. The paper then explains how men can adopt multiple subject positions in their consumption of such advertising and what the implications of this are for the negotiation of male identities. Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations made for further research.

Mapping the re‐engagement of CRM with relationship marketing

Purpose – This paper aims to reframe and enhance the relationship marketing literature through advocating an emphasis on process and a renewed commitment to social and informational exchanges.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual. It takes as its starting‐point the recognition that customers exist in complex dynamic systems in which they enact multiple roles. However, current implementations of customer relationship management (CRM) typically only view customers through a single lens (as customers) that denies firms a holistic view of those with whom they interact. Moreover, CRM systems typically embed and script actions (i.e. call centre options, offers driven by cross‐selling and segmentation) rather than enabling rich communication and facilitating appropriate responses that emerge from that communication. It is argued here that, as a consequence, both parties to a relationship need to negotiate the nature of systems that connect them, because those systems, in part, determine the conte...

Intimacy or intrusion? The privacy dilemma for relationship marketing in consumer markets

The relationship marketing paradigm is gaining increasing credence in consumer markets. Marketers need to get close to their customers to establish exchange relationships, and this “intimacy” is achieved using database technology and direct marketing communications. However, in implementing relationship marketing in this way, the potential exists for the use of technology to result in invasions of individual consumer privacy. The literature on relationship marketing and privacy are reviewed, and the findings of six exploratory focus group discussions, conducted in the UK, are presented. The study suggests that what some consumers define as “intrusion” is similar to what has been called “intimacy” by marketers. Nine propositions are presented which reflect the implications of current approaches to relationship marketing in consumer markets. In particular, the integral elements of meaningful relationships are absent or inhibited as a result of consumer concerns over intrusions of their privacy. Thus, market...

Hidden Mountain: The Social Avoidance of Waste

This article considers the neglected area of disposition, the nature of our relationship with waste. Marketing tactics are complicit in a throwaway culture, so how can we better theorize our relationship to waste? The authors submit that to maintain control, we are encouraged to keep waste in its place—out of sight and out of mind. This is achieved through systemic smoothing mechanisms such as our socialization against waste, the role of trash cans, and the work of garbage collectors. By exposing the detritus of consumption, the “waste mountain,” a macromarketing analysis helps us confront the systemic avoidance of waste. As such, this constitutes an initial contribution to marketing as social engagement and also to future policy development. We connect the rendering invisible or hidden aspect of waste to what Bauman has termed the economics of deception prevalent within consumer society.

Interpreting the Past, Writing the Future

Using the metaphor of Homers Odyssey, this paper provides a characterization of the development of interpretive consumer research. Initially this development is shown to have been circumscribed by the machinations of positivism. However, following the disruptive influences of postmodernism/post-structuralism, issues such as methodological pluralism, reflexivity and representation are considered to signify the way forward to an interpretive consumer research with confidence in its axioms.

Place-product or place narrative(s)? Perspectives in the Marketing of Tourism Destinations

This paper utilises a narrative approach to appraise critically the challenges and paradoxes faced by tourism destination marketing, and the inherent weaknesses of the traditional marketing management framework to adequately address them. In so doing, the treatment of place as a set of attributes is contrasted with its conceptualisation as a set of meanings. In perceiving place as a set of meanings, the focus of attention shifts to a number of different issues, such as the role of culture and symbolic meanings in the construction and experience of place and the contested ‘realities’ involved in the making of a tourism destination.

Borderlines: Skin, tattoos and consumer culture theory:

In addressing skin this paper seeks to illuminate current research within consumer culture theory. Framing our discussion within a consideration of tattoo culture, we explore the double-sidedness of skin, its ambiguity and ambivalence. In this way, we examine the relationship between identity and consumption and throw into question many of the received ideas concerning embodied identity within consumer research. Utilizing three skin metaphors (skin as container, projection surface, and cover to be modified), we generate a series of insights into intercorporeality, embodiment, and body projects.

Direct marketing in postmodernity: neo‐tribes and direct communications

This paper argues for the consideration by managers of postmodern phenomena and how they might impact on the field of direct marketing communications. It begins by outlining the conditions of postmodernism and then discusses the decline of individualism and the emergence of neo‐tribes (Cova, 1997). The paper then progresses by identifying the role which direct marketing might have to play within a postmodern world and argues for a focus on direct response television advertising.

Retailer use of geodemographic and other data sources: an empirical investigation

The competitive nature of the UK retail environment in the 1990s places ever increasing importance on information as a vital resource. The need for pertinent information is not confined to decisions regarding location and catchment analysis, but also encompasses issues such as category management, merchandising, marketing communications and relationship marketing. This need for information, it might be presumed, could be met through the utilization of marketing databases, but there is an apparent lack of evidence relating to the extent of database utilization in this context. Explores the development of database and geographic information systems (GIS) as an aid to strategic retail decision making and reports on an empirical research programme exploring the extent of such applications. Although the findings suggest widespread employment of databases by UK multiples, there is clear evidence of a lack of integration at a strategic level.

Retailing applications of geodemographics

The term geodemographics is derived from the combination of both geographic and demographic information on populations. The concept of geo‐demographic data is relatively new, and much confusion exists as to the extent to which such information is actually being used by both the public and private sector in the UK. One industry for which geodemographic information is particularly important is retailing. This is because retail location decisions are extremely capital‐intensive and locations themselves, once chosen, are (in the short term at least) fixed. Given the current economic climate and increased competition, it is becoming ever more important for retailers to monitor their trade areas, assess the impact of competition, and choose new store locations strategically. Discusses the use of geodemographics by retailers in their site modelling and trade area decision making and use is made of exploratory interviews in this respect.