"When people take action ...":mainstreaming malcontent and the role of the celebrity institutional entrepreneur

As the challenges of sustainability intensify at a global level, it is becoming increasingly more important to encourage, support and promote the mainstream adoption of mindful and ecologically-viable consumption. Drawing on institutional theory and an interpretive investigation of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Fish Fight, we explore a relatively widespread phenomenon, the celebrity campaign. We consider how such campaigns galvanise mainstream malcontent by creating mythic plots; personalising adversaries; and framing issues to encourage articulation of malcontent. Though malcontent may be fleeting, we argue that this can set in motion institutional change towards sustainable production and consumption. Celebrity campaigns demonstrate the dynamic and interrelated character of consumer and industry groups in a way that might inform other change efforts

Women entrepreneurs:how power operates in bottom of the pyramid-marketing discourse

The paper explores hegemony in bottom of the pyramid (BOP) marketing, specifically rural distribution schemes operated through women. Using Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of discourse the paper considers the joint articulation of ‘women entrepreneurs’ through analysis of the Unilever Shakti system. It argues the discourse shapes subject positions, prescribes conduct and defines actors and the relationships between them. Discursive construction of entrepreneurs and empowered mothers obscures, to an extent, economic aspects of the arrangement. It also imposes new forms of conduct without unsettling traditional hierarchies. Further research is needed in relating such schemes both to western forms of distribution and to other forms of market and models of distribution in BOP locations

Engaging retailers: giving them voice or controlling their voice, a supplier's perspective

This full paper from the Marketing and Retail track of BAM 2013 investigates the relationships between suppliers and retailers in the UK convenience store sector in terms of Hirschman's model whereby members of a group can influence it by either expressing their opinions (voice) or leaving it in protest (exit). Suppliers may create loyalty among retailers by raising exit costs and/or allowing them to express their voices. The investigation was carried out using the recorded turnover of the top thirty wholesalers and the major store chains/franchises in 2005-12, publications by the main trade organisation, in the trade press and online, and interviews. The results of the research suggest that the wholesalers do not use cost of exit or enabling retailer voice exclusively; instead they now tend to combine both within their retailer relationship strategies

Battle of narratives in a changing FMCG distribution channel

This paper presents analysis of power relationships between different groups in Pakistan’s FMCG distribution channels through narrative inquiry approach. Different groups in a channel deploy group narratives on which battle for power is waged. A focus on narrative is valuable for academics as well as practitioners, as it provides an alternative and insightful method for analysis of power relationships between different groups and organizations in a channel

The power and politics of narratives in Business to Business (B2B) communities: a case of evolving Pakistan Retail Channel

This paper enhances the understanding the concept of 'power' in marketing channels by bringing the broader social sciences debates on power to the field of Industrial Marketing. Through presentation and analysis of three community narratives in the context of Pakistan's evolving Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) distribution channel, this paper aims to elaborate the role of narrative in 'power in marketing channels' by showing its implications on both theory and practice

Micro-political processes in a multinational corporation subsidiary:a postcolonial reading of restructuring in a sales department

What shapes micro-political contest in the subsidiary of a multinational corporation? We use observational and interview data from a Pakistani subsidiary of a global company to address this question. We trace debate surrounding the entry of modern (self-service) retail through multiple voices. Following postcolonial theory, we show how top management create a narrative that combines the progressiveness of modern retail with the locally salient discourse of izzat/honour. This hybrid narrative defines the terrain and terms of micro-political contest for all others in the subsidiary. Our analysis shows how some workers adapt this hybrid story to support their interests, whilst the attachment of izzat to the modern restricts the possibility of resistance for others. We examine how the narrative enables the establishment of an elite and a dominated group. The postcolonial approach allows us to argue that the subsidiary is a specific site of micro-political struggle where both geo-political factors and relationships with other parts of the multinational corporation shape micro-political processes

Bodysnatching in the marketplace:Market-focused health activism and compelling narratives of dys-appearance

This article theorizes how market-focused health activism catalyses market change through revealing the ill-effects that consumers’ conformity with market-shaped expectations and ideals has on their bodies and embodied lives. An understanding of this activism is developed by analysing a vicarious form of ‘bodily dys-appearance’ which is used in Jamie Oliver’s televised documentary, Sugar Rush (2015), to narratively provoke corporeal anxieties among audiences. In our analysis, we borrow tropes from the science fiction film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, to interpret themes centred on a threat, a victim and a hero. We argue that market-focused health activism problematizes the neo-liberal logic of personal responsibility and promotes market intervention as the only means to insulate and safeguard the body from harm. Where extant theorization of consumers’ antagonism towards the market hinges mostly on politically or intellectually motivated resistance, this article demonstrates how somatically oriented concerns operate alternatively to invoke activism

Dead metaphors and responsibilised bodies-in-transition:The implications of medical metaphors for understanding the consumption of preventative healthcare

This paper argues that metaphorical formulations around genetic categories have important implications for individuals’ experiences of their at-genetic-risk bodies vis-à-vis the market for prevention. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concept of usure, our findings unpack three central biomedical metaphors that shape the ways in which ‘previvor’ women with the BRCA gene mutation manage and experience their (risky) body-in-transition against the market for prevention. These are the metaphors of: the container, the omnipresent danger, and battle and journey. Our discussion unravels the processes of de/re-stabilisation of the (risky) body-in-transition, as well as the reconfiguration of their rights and duties in the market for prevention to become a good genetic citizen. Moving beyond a discussion of ‘consumer sovereignty’, we contribute to developing a contextually nuanced understanding of the complex relations between the lived experiences of ‘losing control’ and the consumption of prevention

Intercultural household food tensions:a relational dialectics analysis

Purpose: Recent global migration trends have led to an increased prevalence, and new patterning, of intercultural family configurations. This paper is about intercultural couples and how they manage tensions associated with change as they settle in their new cultural context. The focus is specifically the role food plays in navigating these tensions, and the effects on the couples’ relational cultures. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative relational-dialectic approach is taken for studying Polish-Irish intercultural couples. Engagement with relevant communities provided multiple points of access to informants. Findings: Intercultural tensions arise as the couples jointly transition, and food consumption represents implicit tensions in the household’s relational culture. Such tensions are sometimes resolved, but sometimes not, leading to enduring tensions. Dialectical movement causes change, which has developmental consequences for the couples’ relational cultures. Research limitations/implications: This study shows how the ways that tensions are addressed are fundamental to the formation of a relational family identity. Practical implications: Recommendations emphasize the importance of understanding how the family relational culture develops in the creation of family food practices. Marketers can look to ways of supporting the intercultural couple retain tradition, while smoothly navigating their new cultural context. Social policy analysts may reflect on the ways that the couples develop an intercultural identity rooted in each other’s culture, and the range of strategies to demonstrate they can synthesize and successfully negotiate the challenges they face. Originality/value: Dealing simultaneously and separately with a variety of dialectical oppositions around food, intercultural couples weave together elements from each other’s cultures and simultaneously facilitate both relational and social change. Within the relationship, a stability-change dialectic is experienced and negotiated, while at the relationship’s nexus with the couple’s social ecology, negotiating a conventionality-uniqueness dialectic enables them reproduce or depart from societal conventions, and thus facilitate social change