Conventional brand-management literature tends to portray the production of brand meaning as a one-way communication process, where consumers decode preconceived sets of marketer-constructed brand identities into corresponding brand images. In contrast, interest in the cultural roles of brands understands brands as dialectically constructed through iterative processes between various actors. In this chapter we focus on researching the cultural role of brands, to capture the cultural richness of brand meanings in contemporary consumer culture. This approach implies appreciating brands as culturally constructed symbols created by various types of authors who furnish them with symbolic content that is highly bound to context and time.

This volume provides an in-depth examination of the role of sexuality in consumers’ life course and in the marketing of products and services.

Leading scholars in the field define the most up-to-date picture of theories of sexuality in marketing and consumer research, mapping the topic through diverse theoretical lenses, addressing queer and feminist research, and putting sexuality and consumption in context. The book brings together leading international marketing scholars to build on the growing interest in theories of sexuality, queer theory, and intersectionality, which are gaining more interest among institutions and researchers interested in equality and diversity. While this book builds on existing expertise in consumer culture scholarship, it is the first time a marketing book focuses on sexuality, adding value to the existing repertoire in gender and feminist literature. The chapters are organised into three key sections: Part 1 maps the marketing and consumer research field, discussing how sexuality can be studied through different lenses; Part 2 focuses on queer and feminist theorising, drawing on LGBTQIA+ theory, queer theory, and theories of intersectionality to analyse how overlapping social categories interact to influence consumer behaviour, identity, and experiences in the marketplace; and Part 3 explores the personal and social aspects of sexuality, offering a broad overview of issues of gender and sexuality, digitalisation, and the sexual body.

This text will be of direct interest to scholars and researchers within the fields of marketing, consumer research, sociology, and media studies. The aim of this book is to help scholars and students to develop a broader understanding about the interplay between sexuality, society, and the market.

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the market dynamics that led to a shift in Swedish consumers' alcohol preferences from schnapps to wine. Specifically, the study investigates how the Swedish state influenced consumers' alcohol habits and highlights the role of governance units in shaping consumer culture. Design/methodology/approach - The study reconstructs the historical memory of the Operation Vin, a strategic marketing campaign implemented by Systembolaget from 1957 to 1985, to conceptualize the past and to uncover the structures and change dynamics of the Swedish alcohol market system. Following this approach, the research contrasts historical data from multiple sources with market-oriented ethnographical data and traces the trajectory of how the consumption of alcohol has changed as a consequence of the Swedish state's initiatives. Findings - The study offers two contributions to the literature in marketing and consumption history. Firstly, it uncovers the lines of actions (framing and settlement) involved in creating marketing systems and shaping consumer culture. Secondly, it explores how the state strategically leveraged its social skills to promote a specific type of alcohol consumption (wine) and to induce the Swedish consumer to cooperate in the refashioning of the alcohol field. Social implications - The authors aspire for this paper to offer valuable insights into how a state, as a governance entity, can shape consumer culture through a strategic blend of various regulatory measures, both gentle and forceful. The authors emphasize the pivotal role of social skills in fostering cooperation during the implementation of a new alcohol policy. Originality/value - This paper provides valuable insights into the role of the Swedish state in shaping consumer culture and explores the strategic actions and marketing systems involved, contributing to marketing and consumption history literature.

How do brands change in environments defined by increasing consumer heterogeneity? Drawing on assemblage theory, this research develops the concepts of brand morphogenesis and consumer sub-assemblage to explain how heterogeneous consumer groups instigate, reinforce, and hinder the evolution of a brand. This longitudinal case study of a Swedish fashion brand delineates the role of heterogeneous consumer sub-assemblages in the continual process of emergence and transformation of a brand assemblage through space and time—a process defined as brand morphogenesis. The findings detail brand morphogenesis in the sub-assemblage dynamics of exploration, actualization, and habituation of value, as heterogeneous consumer groups form consumer sub-assemblages in interaction with other brand components and interact in patterns of coexisting with, coopting, and contesting other sub-assemblages. By charting consumers’ value negotiations as they play out within and among consumer sub-assemblages, this research contributes to understanding continuity and change for brands that face increasing consumer heterogeneity.