Frontiers in Marketing and Consumption 23 E 08000

Frontiers in Marketing and Consumption 23 E 08000 Course Introduction Sammy Toyoki, Assistant Professor

Today’s Agenda • • • Revisiting Consumer Culture Theory (very briefly ; ) Course Motif Learning Objectives General Format Course Program Course Schedule Workload Course Policies Grading Assignments Q & A’s

Consumer Culture Theory Revisited The genealogy of the field of consumer culture: Arnould and Thompson 2005: Seminal beginning with four key streams established Arnould and Thompson 2007: Redressing these themes based on criticisms and misunderstandings by general marketing and consumer research public (further elaboration, expansion and linking of research streams) Arnould and Thompson 2018: Revisiting and revising these interlinked themes with new theoretical, methodological and topical developments

CCT Research Themes - Arnould and Thompson 2005 Socio-historic patterning of consumption Shaping of consumption by class, ethnicity, gender and other habituated social categories; consumption under conditions of attentuated cukltural resources; the insitutionalization and reporduction of power relationships through socio-economic hierarchies Consumer identity projects Marketplace culture Identity play, body image & self-presentation, gender performativities, symbolic distinctions; extended self; negotiating cultural contradictions; experiential dimensions of consumption Socio-cultural dynamics embedded in brand communities, fan communities, consumer microcultures, consumption subcultures, consumer tribes; marketplace as mediator of social linkages and social relationships Mass-mediated marletplace ideologies and consumers interpretive strategies Discursive, imaginistic, and material representations of consumerist ideologies in the marketplace; consumers’ active use of media and critical counter readings of hegemonic codes; the dynamics of corporate cooptation; influences of globalizing mediascapes and consumptionscapes

CCT in 2007 ”To avoid the error of reification, we stress that these research programs form a holistic research tradition” (Arnould & Thompson 2005) (Arnould & Thompson 2007)

CCT in 2018 Introducing new phenomena and methodological practices sinc 2007 (Arnould & Thompson 2018)

Course Motif: Exploring Frontiers What is a Frontier? • Something unexplored, beyond familiar terrain, to be charted, appropriated and mastered • Frontiers are the ‘unknown’ (ambiguity, uncertainty, danger, possibility) • Thus, the motif of this course is to de-naturalize what is taken-for-granted in marketing (e. g. concepts as markets, consumption and consumers)

Why such a Motif? • The disciplines of marketing and consumer research usually dwell in the comfortable core (’mainstream’) – and is sustained, arguably, by at least four ’myths’ (i. e. taken-for-granted beliefs): • The Myth of Control • The Myth of Coherence • The Myth of the Ableist Manager • The Myth of Consumer Fulfilment One of our aims is to interrogate these myths through a cultural perspective

The Myth of Control The modus operandi of marketing as a practice is establishing absolute control - strategic control of markets and consumers, e. g. : • strategies to wring out maximum organizational efficiency (optimal marketing management; lean production; prioritizing ‘bottom-line’) • strategies to predict and harness consumer behavior and trends (how to capture more demand, induce more repeat purchase)

The Myth of Control The myth of control promises that everything has a solution; every question has an answer, that everything makes sense… and even if people appreciate that such answers are not available right away, they still believe that they will emerge over time • This PROBLEM boils down to the perception that there are one or more objective ‘truths’ out there for any given problematic… • A cultural perspective tends to challenge this kind of thinking as any given issue on the social and cultural realm is open to a wide range of interpretations (and some issues are indeed unresolvable; there are ‘grey areas’ etc. ) •

The Myth of Consistency As managers confront the various managerial problems they are duty bound to tackle – they seek to make meaningful decisions… often struggling with incompatible choices or commitments, conflicting feelings or discrepancies between their values and actions = in other words, they seek consistency The myth of consistency has been canonized in managerial, mainstream marketing scholarship “seeing the world through neat and discrete boxes, categories, process models, lists of ’key steps’ and other formalized ”textbook” templates”

The Myth of Consistency • The myth of control and the myth of consistency overlap…Together – these myths tell us that there is always an answer out there and that these do not contradict one another • The PROBLEM with the need for consistency, just as with control, is that they are inherent to human nature… (and not just managers!) • A cultural perspective tackles these myths by emphasising the importance of ’denaturalizing’ the taken-for-granted… Hence, a cultural approach is by default critical of mainstream reductions of reality

The Myth of the Ableist Manager Unshakeable belief in the superhuman capability of the manager: the unquestionable power of the reflexive and rational enterprising minds of marketers who have the ability to predict, persuade and control consumers through marketing ‘techniques & tactics’

The Myth of the Ableist Manager is simply an aggregate of the myths of control and consistence – all packaged in the classical role of The Manager This PROBLEM can be tackled from a cultural perspective by embracing and sensitizing to the inherent complexity and ambiguity that the cultural spheres of business life and markets presents us with (the principle reasoning of this course!!!!)

The Myth of Consumer Fulfilment Consumers’ enduring belief that engagement with the marketplace will result in positive, desirable states that are substantial improvements over present circumstances. • For consumers this myth involves feeling good on a regular basis. • From a managerial perspective, this myth underscores almost the entirety of marketing practice, crystallized in the classic concept ‘marketing orientation’ (i. e. identifying customer needs or wants and meeting them)

The Myth of Consumer Fulfilment Marketers have drawn from this myth from the get-go… whole industries are based on notions of eternal undying love, enduring well-being, positive body images, happiness ever after and so on… This PROBLEM is tackled from a cultural perspective by critically studying and becoming sensitized to these mythic dimensions of consumer experience … i. e. by paying attention to the so far largely underexplored backgrounds of significance that make such disillusioned consumerist states intelligible

Learning Objectives • To be able to identify and reflect on the opportunities and challenges cultural perspectives pose in rethinking areas of marketing, consumption, business, and consumer society at macro/meso/ micro levels. • Wanting to embrace the complexity and interelational nature of the human world, rather than atomizing and blackboxing it for ends of corporate and managerial ontological security • Ultimately – becoming exposed to and sensitive towards the various practices, formations and power-relations that constitute consumer society, the marketplace, and consumers’ everyday lives

General Format An opportunity for members of the marketing department to share their research: • Focus on boundary pushing work, particularly within the field of cultural consumer research • Similar to ‘traditional’ university working style: learning based on independent, proactive and intensive studying supported by close instructing

Course program The course is structured around 9 seminar-based sessions • 3 compulsory readings per session and several supplementary readings. • Readings supported by some lecturing Different lecturers so exact format may vary • Emphasis on classroom discussion based on articles and your own thoughts or questions about the topic of the day

Course Schedule Monday 1615 -1745 Room T 03 Tuesday 1615 -1745 Room T 03 13. 1. Introduction – Sammy Toyoki 15. 01. Embodiment - Jack Tillotson 20. 01. The Rise of Criticality in Marketing and Consumer Research - Joel Hietanen 22. 01 The Dark and The Deviant -Ilona Mikkonen 27. 01. Digital Architectures of Consumer Sovereignty - Kushagra Bhatnagar 29. 01. Emerging Forms of Consumer Sociality - Henri Weijo 03. 02. Cultural Intermediaries and Cultural Production - Hedon Blakaj 05. 02. Consumer Vulnerability - Alexei Gloukhovtsev 10. 02. Customer Experience - Eric Arnould 12. 02. Time and Consumption - Sammy Toyoki

Mapping out the sessions Temporality The Sammy The Myth of Control Myth of Consistency Criticality Joel Cultural Intermediaries Hedon The Myth of the Abliest Manager Embodiment Jack Sovereignty Kush Customer Experience Eric Sociality Henri Dark & Deviant Ilona The Myth of the Fulfilled Consumer Vulnerability Alexei

Workload (6 cr = 160 h) Activity Time Spent Total Seminars 10 x 1, 5 h 15 h Reading 27 x 3 h 81 h AQC 27 x 30 min 13, 5 h Learning Diary 10 x 1 h 10 h Final Essay 40, 5 h Total 160 h

Course Policies General prerequisite: MSc level BIZ studies (not for Undergraduates) Course prerequisite: 23 E 28000 Consumer Culture or equivalent advanced, culturally oriented research course (may also be from fields of cultural sociology; cultural anthropology; material culture; human geography; critical communication studies)

Course Policies Attendance • Due to the challenging nature of the course material, attendance during the seminarbased contact sessions is crucial. You can be absent max. 1 contact session. • Missing additional contact sessions will result in a reduction of 10 course points per session • Missing more than 5 sessions will result in failing the course • Absences may be made up by writing a Reflection Essay (instructions in the Syllabus) - Graded on a scale of 0 -10 - Due a week from the date of absence

Course Policies Please take proper referencing practices seriously – we certainly will • General guidelines are described in section 8 of the Syllabus • If you are uncertain about your work, please reach out to us before the assignment is due • You can check the originality of your own work at http: //turnitin. aalto. fi/

Grading 50% Ongoing course work: 25% ACQ 25% Learning Diary 50% Final Essay due after the course Points Grade 91 -100 5 Excellent 81 -90 4 Very Good 71 -80 3 Good 61 -70 2 Satisfactory 51 -60 1 Poor 0 -50 0 Fail

ACQ Notes (25%) Academic discussion on the assigned readings through class participation is a central learning tool for the course. In order to provide the necessary foundation for them, everyone is expected to have read the compulsory papers related to a specific workshop session beforehand. Based on your reading, write ACQ Notes of each of the compulsory articles. Quality definitely trumps quantity here – first and foremost show us that you’ve made an effort to make the reading your own. 200 -300 words per article is generally plenty.

ACQ Notes Argument: Write a brief paragraph summarizing the main argument of the paper in your own words. Connection: Describe how the focal article relates to other articles in the same session or the prior session of the week. Alternatively/in addition, you may describe how the article relates to some contemporary marketplace phenomenon, . No more than a few sentences. Question: Pose a question that you would like to discuss in the classroom. Submission: These notes are to be submitted before each session to My. Courses. You can add your notes into the same text-based submission box throughout the course. Keep a second print for yourself for reference during discussions.

Learning Diary (25%) After each session, write an entry for a learning diary. The learning diary should reflect both the overall learning experience, as well as the key takeaways from the pre-readings, class discussions, and your work on preparing a Final Essay. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you take notes on your learning, new ideas and questions raised throughout the course.

Learning Diary Guidance on writing a learning diary – some questions to consider • What did you learn? What was new? What assumptions did you question? Was there something that changed your views? Why? Which themes resonated with you? • What did you not understand? Which ideas did you resist? Why? What are you still puzzled about? • What is likely to be relevant in future? How can you apply the knowledge and skills developed on the course in the short, medium and long term? • Could there be an interesting MSc thesis topic here? • Reflections on reflection – engage with reflective practice literature. Submission: Submit to My. Courses by Friday 15. 2. at 23: 55.

Final Essay (50%) Choose a topic from one session and apply it to a theme of your choosing, writing a Final Essay demonstrating a holistic understanding of Consumer Culture and its role in society. An opportunity to apply what you’ve learned during the course to a context that interests YOU, so have fun with it… • A piece of media (e. g. a movie or a book) • A contemporary phenomenon (e. g. slow fashion, AI, fear of missing out) • An area of society (e. g. higher education, healthcare) • A political question (e. g. elections, universal basic income) • A theoretical topic (e. g. structure-agency, governmentality, fear of death) • Your own experience (e. g. ? you know best)

Final Essay Craft an argument around your topic using the material covered across the various sessions in the course. The Final Essay is meant to be an original piece of work, and is not meant to be a repetition of the ACQ-assignment, so do not spend time or space copy-pasting or re-iterating the articles – focus on their key theoretical dimensions and your own understanding of them. If you cut corners by using prior assignment writings, your grade will be reduced significantly, and in severe cases, you will fail the assignment and thus very possibly the entire course. Submission: To My. Courses by Saturday 22. 2. at 23: 55.

Summary of Assignments and Deadlines • ACQ Notes before sessions (2 -9) • Learning Diary – 14. 2. at 23: 55 • Final Essay – 21. 2. at 23. 55 (a week after the last session)

Time for some Q & A’s