Pierre McDonagh

Sustainable Consumption and the Quality of Life: A Macromarketing Challenge to the Dominant Social Paradigm

This article argues that micromarketing cannot examine the relationship between sustainable consumption and the quality of life critically because the essence of the relationship lies in the dominant social paradigm. Only macromarketing can address this relationship effectively. It is within the intellectual purview of macromarketing to expand the domain of inquiry to include technological, political, and economic benefits and costs of consumption, thus challenging the paradigm itself

The European consumers’ understanding and perceptions of the “organic” food regime: The case of aquaculture

This paper explores consumer understanding and perception of organic food, with specific reference to the relatively new concept of organic farmed salmon. Key themes associated with the term “organic” and its meaning, as determined by consumers, are explored and the role of labelling and regulatory authorities considered. Focus groups in five countries (UK, Germany, Spain, Norway and France) consisting of 196 participants showed that most consumers are confused about the meaning of the term organic and are largely unaware of the organic certification and labelling process. Many consumers were unsure, even sceptical about the concept of organic farmed salmon and display a large amount of distrust in the regulatory process. The implications for the concept of organic food and salmon production and directions for further research are discussed.

Is Green the New Black? Reflections on a Green Commodity Discourse

This article examines the global sustainability movement through the lens of a green commodity discourse as introduced by Prothero and Fitchett. The current wave of sustainability efforts and initiatives is different from the previous incarnations in that it is more global and systems oriented. The authors submit that a green commodity discourse has begun to move the sustainability discourse away from the bonds of the dominant social paradigm (DSP) and toward a more holistic and global perspective. The authors conclude that a new typology that delineates consumption from citizenry will better encapsulate the values and behaviors of green consumers. This new typology allows for better representation of those consumers who are choosing to live a greener lifestyle on a grander scale. These new green citizens reflect more the sustainability ideas and efforts discussed here and seen worldwide.

Communicative campaigns to effect anti-slavery and fair trade: The cases of Rugmark and Cafédirect

This inquiry examines the challenge for marketers to foster both anti‐slavery and fair trade. Analyzes communicative work to enhance both. Describes underlying issues and public misunderstanding; draws on specific themes by illustrating the Anti‐Slavery International campaigns to end child labour via the Rugmark label, and the work of a fair trade coffee company, Cafedirect Ltd; and furnishes a link between societal marketing and the emergent theory of sustainable communication to effect anti‐slavery and global fair trade. Concludes with a discussion, implications for societal marketing and suggestions for further research.

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.

Sustainability marketing research: past, present and future

Abstract This paper provides a synthesis and critical assessment of the sustainability marketing literature, from the period 1998–2013, building on a previous assessment from 1971 to 1998. It details research within major marketing journals and critically assesses this research in relation to the on-going conversation which focuses on marketing’s relationship with the natural environment. Differences in the content and depth of sustainability coverage in marketing journals are considered. Potential avenues for future sustainability marketing research are proposed, with a particular call for theoretical and managerial reflections which tackle broader systemic and institutional issues within the discipline.

Producing Environmentally Acceptable Cosmetics? The Impact of Environmentalism on the United Kingdom Cosmetics and Toiletries Industry

The Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, is currently undertaking a research programme on the influence of environ‐mentalism upon the United Kingdom cosmetics and toiletries market. This paper examines four main areas in relation to the environment and the development of environmentally acceptable products. The survey considers products and their environmentally acceptable attributes; the research of companies into the production of environmentally acceptable products; the production processes of companies and the environmentally conscious activities of companies.

The Institutional Foundations of Materialism in Western Societies: A Conceptualization and Empirical Test

Studies of materialism have increased in recent years, and most of these studies examine various aspects of materialism including its individual or social consequences. However, understanding, and possibly shaping, a society’s materialistic tendencies requires a more complete study of the relationship between a society’s institutional patterns and the acceptance of materialism by its members. Consequently, the current study examines five of the institutional antecedents of materialism to understand better how and why it develops as a mode of consumption within a society. More specifically, a model relating materialism and a set of institutionalized patterns of social behavior referred to as the dominant social paradigm was developed and tested in a study of seven industrial, market-based countries. The results suggest that the economic, technological, political, anthropocentric, and competition institutions making up the dominant social paradigm are all positively related to materialism. The implications of the relationship are then discussed.

A citizen's critique of relationship marketing in risk society

Relationship marketing (RM) has come to dominate the (r)evolutionary imagination of marketing thought. This paper discuss the limitations and impotencies of RM in terms of two key dimensions which are of fundamental importance to the development of marketing ideas – namely the legitimate representation and empowerment of consumers and citizens, and the consideration of environmental welfare in risk society. It is proposed that current theories of RM, while promising a more appropriate and credible set of marketing principles, do in fact undermine these two crucial considerations to such an extent that the robustness and social relevance of RM as a meaningful discursive resource is seriously called into question.

Counter-culture and consumer society

This paper addresses a topic which has been relatively neglected in the marketing and consumer research literature. Our aim is to rejuvenate discussion of what constitutes counter‐culture and what it implies about culture and consumption. Drawing on Hegels lordbondsman tale, we present three different ways of framing this complex subject. These frames are entitled authentic counterculture, the mediation of counter‐culture and counter‐culture as difference. Through the frames we chart the transition from revolutionary to aesthetic counter‐culture and the central role played in this process by the developing commodity culture. Next we discuss the implications of the aestheticization of social space for counter‐cultural theory and practice, illustrating this with examples of various British and American counter‐cultural groupings and activities. In charting these changes we discuss how the ultimate aim of counter‐culture has shifted from transcendence to resistance, and ask whether the return to some more global theory might ever again be possible. Finally we evaluate the usefulness of Hegels tale in the light of the previous discussion and suggest issues which require further attention from researchers interested in culture and consumption.