Marketing and the cultural production of celebrity in the era of media convergence

Celebrity endorsement research in the marketing literature has been over-reliant on an exogenous notion of celebrity as something produced outside of the marketing system, from which meanings can be transferred to brands within the marketing system. In fact, marketing has been deeply implicated in the constitution of celebrity since the dawn of Western consumer culture in the early part of the twentieth century. In the era of media convergence, there is a pressing need for researchers in marketing to re-evaluate the meta-assumptions around celebrity and its relation to marketing in the light of marketing’s culturally constitutive role

Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses

Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production

Hit-and-run transcriptional control by bZIP1 mediates rapid nutrient signaling in Arabidopsis

The dynamic nature of gene regulatory networks allows cells to rapidly respond to environmental change. However, the underlying temporal connections are missed, even in kinetic studies, as transcription factor (TF) binding within at least one time point is required to identify primary targets. The TF-regulated but unbound genes are dismissed as secondary targets. Instead, we report that these genes comprise transient TF-target interactions most relevant to rapid signal transduction. We temporally perturbed a master TF (Basic Leucine Zipper 1, bZIP1) and the nitrogen (N) signal it transduces and integrated TF regulation and binding data from the same cell samples. Our enabling approach could identify primary TF targets based solely on gene regulation, in the absence of TF binding. We uncovered three classes of primary TF targets: (i) poised (TF-bound but not TF-regulated), (ii) stable (TF-bound and TF-regulated), and (iii) transient (TF-regulated but not TF-bound), the largest class. Unexpectedly, the transient bZIP1 targets are uniquely relevant to rapid N signaling in planta, enriched in dynamic N-responsive genes, and regulated by TF and N signal interactions. These transient targets include early N responders nitrate transporter 2.1 and NIN-like protein 3, bound by bZIP1 at 1-5 min, but not at later time points following TF perturbation. Moreover, promoters of these transient targets are uniquely enriched with cis-regulatory motifs coinherited with bZIP1 binding sites, suggesting a recruitment role for bZIP1. This transient mode of TF action supports a classic, but forgotten, "hit-and-run" transcription model, which enables a "catalyst TF" to activate a large set of targets within minutes of signal perturbation

Communicating Auditory Impairments Using Electroacoustic Composition

Changes in human sensory perception can occur for a variety of reasons. In the case of distortions or transformations in the human auditory system, the aetiology may include factors such as medical conditions affecting cognition or physiology, interaction of the ears with mechanical waves, or stem from chemically induced sources, such the consumption of alcohol. These changes may be permanent, intermittent, or temporary. In order to communicate such effects to an audience in an accessible, and easily understood manner, a series of electroacoustic compositions were produced. This concept follows on from previous work on the theme of representing auditory hallucinations. Specifically, these compositions relate to auditory impairments that humans can experience due to tinnitus or through the consumption of alcohol. In the case of tinnitus, whilst much is known about the causes and symptoms, the experience of what it is like to live with tinnitus is less explored and those who have acquired the condition may often feel frustration when trying to convey the experience of ‘what it is like’ for them. In terms of impairment from alcohol consumption, whilst there is much hearsay, little research exists on the immediate and short-term effects of alcohol consumption on the human auditory system, despite over half of the UK population reported as consuming alcohol in 2017. The methodology employed to design these compositions draws upon scientific research findings, including experimental and explorative studies involving human participants, coupled with electroacoustic composition techniques. The pieces are typically constructed by mixing field recordings with synthesised materials and incorporating a range of temporal and frequency domain manipulations to the elements therein. In this way, the listener is able to experience the phenomenon in a recognisable context, where distortions of reality can be emulated to varying degrees. It is intended that these compositions can serve as easily accessible and understood examples of auditory impairments and that they might find utility in the communication of symptoms to those who have never experienced the underlying causes or conditions. This presents opportunities for pieces like these to be used in scenarios such as education and public health awareness campaigns

Contextualizing students' alcohol use perceptions and practices within French culture: an analysis of gender and drinking among sport-science college students

Although research has examined alcohol consumption and sport in a variety of contexts, there is a paucity of research on gender and gender dynamics among French college students. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining alcohol use practices by men and women among a non-probability sample of French sport science students from five different universities in Northern France. We utilized both survey data (N = 534) and in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 16) to provide empirical and theoretical insight into a relatively ubiquitous health concern: the culture of intoxication. Qualitative data were based on students’ perceptions of their own alcohol use; analysis were framed by theoretical conceptions of gender. Survey results indicate gender differences in alcohol consumption wherein men reported a substantially higher frequency and quantity of alcohol use compared to their female peers. Qualitative findings confirm that male privilege and women’s concern for safety, masculine embodiment via alcohol use, gendering of alcohol type, and gender conformity pressures shape gender disparities in alcohol use behavior. Our findings also suggest that health education policy and educational programs focused on alcohol-related health risks need to be designed to take into account gender category and gender orientation

Marketing (as) Rhetoric: paradigms, provocations, and perspectives

In this collection of short, invited essays on the topic of marketing (as) rhetoric we deal with a variety of issues that demonstrate the centrality of rhetoric and rhetorical considerations to the pursuit of marketing scholarship, research and practice. Stephen Brown examines the enduring rhetorical power of the 4Ps; Chris Hackley argues for the critical power of rhetorical orientations in marketing scholarship but cautions us on the need to work harder in conceptually connecting rhetorical theory and modern marketing frameworks; Shelby Hunt explains how rhetorical processes are incorporated in his inductive realist model of theory generation, using one of his most successful publications as an illustration; Charles Marsh demonstrates what Isocrates’ broad rhetorical project has to teach us about the importance of reputation cultivation in modern marketing; Nicholas O’Shaughnessy uses an analysis of Trump’s discourse to argue that political marketing as it is currently conceived is ill-equipped to engage effectively with the rhetorical force of Trump’s ‘unmarketing’; Barbara Phillips uses Vygotsky’s work on imagination to investigate the important of pleasure and play in advertising rhetoric; and finally, David Tonks, who in many ways started it all, reiterates the need for marketers to recognise the strength of the relationship between marketing and persuasion

Microscopical characterization of carbon materials derived from coal and petroleum and their interaction phenomena in making steel electrodes, anodes and cathode blocks for the microscopy of Carbon Materials Working Group of the ICCP

This paper describes the evaluation of petrographic textures representing the structural organization of the organic matter derived from coal and petroleum and their interaction phenomena in the making of steel electrodes, anodes and cathode blocks.This work represents the results of the Microscopy of Carbon Materials Working Group in Commission III of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology between the years 2009 and 2013. The round robin exercises were run on photomicrograph samples. For textural characterization of carbon materials the existing ASTM classification system for metallurgical coke was applied.These round robin exercises involved 15 active participants from 12 laboratories who were asked to assess the coal and petroleum based carbons and to identify the morphological differences, as optical texture (isotropic/anisotropic), optical type (punctiform, mosaic, fibre, ribbon, domain), and size. Four sets of digital black and white microphotographs comprising 151 photos containing 372 fields of different types of organic matter were examined. Based on the unique ability of carbon to form a wide range of textures, the results showed an increased number of carbon occurrences which have crucial role in the chosen industrial applications.The statistical method used to evaluate the results was based on the "raw agreement indices". It gave a new and original view on the analysts' opinion by not only counting the correct answers, but also all of the knowledge and experience of the participants. Comparative analyses of the average values of the level of overall agreement performed by each analyst in the exercises during 2009-2013 showed a great homogeneity in the results, the mean value being 90.36%, with a minimum value of 83% and a maximum value of 95%