Ronald A. Fullerton

Repercussions of promoting an ideology of consumption: consumer misbehavior

Abstract While the impact of marketing activities on promoting an attitude of consumption has attracted considerable research attention, their unforeseen repercussions have not. Among these consequences are consumers misbehaving themselves in exchange settings. The phenomena include much more than common forms of consumer fraud, and has important implications for understanding the totality of the consumption experience. Consumer misbehavior is widespread: many consumers misbehave, all are inevitably affected materially and/or psychologically. Given its pervasiveness and importance, we need a theory to stimulate research inquiry. The theory presented here argues that negative consumer behavior is unintentionally stimulated by the same marketing factors, which promote an ideology of consumption.

Advertising and Society

This comparative and cross-disciplinary study examines the origins and consequences of pre-1930 beliefs that advertising harms society. These surprisingly well-developed beliefs stimulated enduring regulatory restraint upon advertising and formed the foundations of present critical thought. They have important implications for current macromarketing.

Shoplifting as Moral Insanity: Historical Perspectives on Kleptomania:

Kleptomania has long concerned retailers. First described in 1816, it has been a controversial topic among psychiatrists, legal authorities, retail store managers—and the opinionated public—ever since. Kleptomania is a good case illustration of the development of thought in marketing-related areas. The article presents an intellectual history of thought on kleptomania, critically examining why ideas about it developed, were challenged, and were in some cases modified over two centuries. Skeptics have decried kleptomania as an invalid psychiatric concept exploited in legal defenses of wealthy lady shoplifters. At the turn of the twentieth century, kleptomania was strongly linked with the rapidly blossoming department stores, and “department store kleptomaniacs” were a widely held social stereotype that had political implications. Organized thought on kleptomania has, over nearly two centuries, reflected and changed with dominant approaches to psychiatry in specific and social thought in general. Yet real progress has been made.

Understanding institutional innovation and system evolution in distribution. The contribution of Robert Nieschlag

Abstract Neglected in the English-language marketing literature, the German scholar Robert Nieschlags theory of institutional innovation and system change in distribution is the most sophisticated work yet to appear on these topics. This paper explicates and evaluates Nieschlags contribution.

Research Directions in Macromarketing: A New England Perspective

A group of New England macromarketers met at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, in July 1984 to explore research directions in macromarketing. At issue was the perceived need to accelerate empirical and applied work in macromarketing and to augment the intellectual base for the field. This article reports on the research directions that evolved from the Kingston meeting and subsequent interactions.