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311 Postmodernism, marketing and the consumer A. Fuat Frat u, John F. Sherry,Jr. b and Alladi Venkatesh" o Arizona State lJniuersity West,Phoenix,AZ 55069-/100, USA b Northwestern {Jniuersity,Euanston,n AOZOI,USA 'IJniuersity of Califurnia-Iruine, Iruine, CA 62717,USA 3H The timing of these two specialissueson Postmodernism, Marketing and the Consumer (Vol. 10,No. 3 and Vol. 11,No. 4) is, indeed, curious.On the one hand, postmodernismis just becominga recognizeddiscoursewithin businessdisciplines,and these specialissues represent the first concerted effort within the consumerresearchand marketing disciplines to treat the subject. On the other hand, postmodernism,as a term and concept, is alreadybeginningto encountereither oppositionor indifferencebecausecriticsfeel that it representstoo much, thus losing the ability to have a clear message, or that it has takenon the characterof a faddish,overused, over-abusedsignifier.Thus, they feel it can no longer exciteor provoke meaningfuland insightful discourse regarding the human condition. Clearly, debates and discussions regarding postmodernism,postmodern culture, and postmodernityhave created some of the most prolific, heatedand excitingpublications and productionsin, especially,the last decade.This is true for practically all humanitiesand social sciencedisciplines.A simplecount of bookspublishedon the topic will providesufficientevidenceof the fact, as Correspondence ro.' A. Fuat Frrat, Business Programs, Arizona State University West, 4701 W. Thunberbird Road, P.O. Box 37100, Phoenix, AZ 85069-7100, USA. Intern. J. of Researchin Marketing11 (1994)311-316 North-Holland will the proportion of articles published in journals. The successof the subject,and the many meaningswith which it has been freighted, has produced a paradoxical result: critics proclaim postmodernisma non-subject.The term postmodern is so polyvalent that it is non-distinctand non-descript.The very wide ranging interest in the phenomenonand its incredible popularity contributes to its demise,sinceit is no longer "distinguished" to talk about it. Consequently,we have a growing number of people talking, writing, performing,inquiring about it and studyingit without mentioning"that word." Then come thesetwo specialissues! We feel that thesespecialissuesare, nevertheless,timely becausepostmodernismis a phenomenonthat can no longer be escaped, even if almosteveryonewants to avoid it. As postmodernists inform us that paradoxis omnipresent,postmodernism,itself, presentsus with one of the major paradoxesof our time. Despiteall thesedrawbacksand the self-consciousness, which all the anti-postmodernist forcesmay induce amongthosewho wish to studythis pervasivephenomenon,it is important to continuethe effort because,by whatever name you call it, it is here. As the articles in these two special issuesdemonstrate,studyingthe phenomenonmay be especially important for the lives of the consumersand for marketing practice - which may be, in itself, the epitome of postmodernity. Postmodernism,recognizingthat all contemporary social human conditions are hyperreal or constructedon the basesof powerful simulationsthat are alluring and, thus, 0167-81,16/94/$07.00 O 1994- ElsevierScienceB.V. All rightsreserved s s D l 0 16 7 - 8 11 6 ( 4 ) 0 0 0 0 9 - D J IL A. Fuat Ftrat / Postmodernbm, marketing and the consumer upon others, or that have characteristics marketable,allows for different simulations, which do impose indirectly (for example,a different "regimes of truth," and the conway of life that heavilypollutes the Earth's struction and living of different myths. popularity environment)should be addressed,beyond may havebeendue to Modernity's the call for vigilancein identiffing the alterits promotion of the idea that human beings native mythsawaitingdiscovery. have (had) control over their own fates, and In the end, there may arise two clearly to its promiseof emancipation.The modern project promiseda future where,indeed,the different, maybe even opposed,orientations to life. One may haveno concernsof control human beings would be emancipatedfrom over or participation in the conditions one the impositions of a fate designedby any lives - that is, issuessuch as freedom or being other than the human being, but also huself-determinationmay be non-issues- and from impositionsof nature or by other the other may highly value freedom and man beings.For this future to be realized, self-determination.For those to whom fairmodern societyrequired commitmentto the project from its members,as well as to an ness,freedom, equality,and self-determination are important componentsof leading a achievement. allow its order that would meaningful(dignified,happy) life, the quesMaybe ironically, postmodernismalso asks tion remains:What kind of societywill profor additional emancipation:emancipation mote suchlife and how can it be created?To from commitment to projects of emancipapostmodmany who have this desire,thanks much to since tion. This is understandable modern ideologies,this, in fact, is the priernistsdisplayan extremeskepticismof any mary issue and quest. Modern ideologies grand scheme,project or narrative.A postprovided answersfor this quest, in capitalmodern political stance,if this is possible,is ism, communism,etc.,yet eachclearlylacked myths or stories their own to allow all to live (narratives)insteadof otherwiseenforcedor much, since the quest remains still greatly unachieved,maybe even further aggravated imposedones. In that sense,even the modand frustrated.After all. do not the seemernist myths are acceptablefor the postmodingly unsolvableregional, ethnic and other myths other tolerate long as they ernist as of somemedstrifes,and, despitethe success and do not try to imposethemselvesas uni"truths." ical breakthroughs,the many miserableconThis scenariois not free of versal ditions in contemporarytimesbeginto tell us paradox.The postmodernstancedoes,after that our modernist projects have taken us or agreed accepted all, call for a universally upon principle; that of tolerance,acceptance into deeper dead-endsthan ever before? Have we not createdenmities,seeminglyunof difference as difference without interbreakablehatreds and conflicts of interests paradigmvaluationsof superiority/inferiorand dreams,with greater forces of destrucideas, in of marketplace ity. The irony of a proliferation tion availableto all? How is all this to be of an era of globalizationand resolved?Is expectinga resolution,in itself, particlemarkets,is the pluralizationof myths. a dream doomedto failure? The personal narratives or multiphrenic Modernism was the effort to make sure within or across may not cohere may or selves profailure did not happen.Towardsthis end it groups. This ambiguity individuals or designedthe grand projects.Postmodernism duces conditions that may liberate thinkers is the recognitionthat these projects,themto identifu new problems,as attackold problems with fresh approaches.Postmodernism selves,are failures.Consequently,it callsfor an end to commitment to such grand(iose) does not offer a single proposal as to how those myths that wish to imposethemselves designsand for turning our sightsunto the I ) I a A. Fuat Frat / Postmodernism, marketing and the consumer present rather than the future. Modernism insisted that the modern project equipped with reason could accomplishthe future it promised.Yet, at the sametime that modern discourseinsisted on the necessityof using reason,modern practiceskept trying to circumventreasonby creatingmeansof reaching and affecting emotions directly to influence human behavior.Each time education providedthe means(tools) of reading(making senseof) communicativemedia, modern technologiesproducednew mediaand means to transmit unreadablebfi deeply/e/r signals (messages). Modernists may blame the postmodern trendsof noncommitmentand fragmentation as the culprits for many regional and national wars, crime, and other ills that worry many of us today. They will and do argue that the break-downof the authority of all ideas,valuesand reasonwhich provideorder and common goals can only lead to chaos While postmodernistsmay and lawlessness. blame the long repressionof social groups and alternativeimaginariesby modern metanarratives for the current ailments. modernists will be adamant in arguing for the necessityof commonideals,valuesand reason for the existenceof an orderly society. Is there anythingthat marketingand consumer researchdisciplinescan contribute to such debatesand questions?Where in the frame of current debates,discourseand developmentsare our disciplinespositioned? This secondspecialissueon Postmodernism, Marketing and the Consumer is a continuation of the presentationof perspectivesthat may guide us in finding our bearingsin this respect.It also continuesthe tradition of the first specialissue in including contributions other than papers. In this issue there is an essayon New York by Morris Holbrook, a professor at Columbia University in New York. In this essay,he exploresthe paradoxicalemotions and thoughtsto be experiencedin living in 3r3 New York. Clearly,it is a love-hate relationship for Holbrook. There is a pictorial essay by Richard Mead, a British scholarand artist living in Thailand.He exploresthe paradoxical aspectsof consumerculture in Thailand, especiallywhen looked at from a westerner's point of view, in his written essayas well as paintings.There are exin his accompanying cerpts from a poem by George Zinkhan, a marketing professor at the University of Georgia, exploring the paradoxicalfeelings one has in "returning to nature" on hiking trails and camping grounds, as well as the paradoxicalconditions one observesothers and oneselfliving during such excursions.It exploresthe commodificationof the natwe/ culture dialectic. The theme seems to be paradox when one explores the conditions one is immersedin rather than when one is making detached,academicobservationson researched topics. The body of this second special issue is constitutedof six articles.In the first article, Fischerand Bristor provide insightsinto the fact that marketers' perspectivesregarding the consumer-marketer relationships are largelyconstructedby the languagethat the marketing profession,including the marketing academy,uses.Using a poststructuralist feminist reading of this language,they deconstructsomeof the underlyingideological themes in marketing literature, specifically, how the notionsof partriarchyand seduction are integral to frameworksof exchange. The article by Joy and Venkateshexplores the various discourseson the body, and by taking a feminist perspectiveinformed by postmodernism, examinesthe productionand consumptionof gender significations.This article by Joy and Venkatesh demonstrates that especiallythe female body becomesa medium through which cultural rituals and meaningsattached to production and consumption are played out in contemporary society. Pefraloza'sarticle examines the border 3t4 A. Fuat Frat / Postmodernism, marketing and the consumer crossingsacross gender boundaries which seemto be accelerating.Such border crossings tend to violate and dissolvegenderpositions establishedin modern society.On the other hand, as Pefralozaindicates,modern gendersignificationsare sustainedin marketing and consumerresearch.This results in masculinebisasesas well as an increasing loss of touch with consumers'experiencesin suchresearch. The analysisof the conceptof authenticity in advertisingin the articleby Stern is, again, informed by postmoderntheory.Such a perspectiveenablesthe articulationof the paradoxes that are present in the construction and representationof the advertiser'spersona.Stern investigatesthe interestingquestions raised by these paradoxesabout authenticity in advertisingas well as about the waysthat consumerscopewith suchparadox. This second special issue ends with trwo articleswhich provide philosophicalperspectives on recent postmodern developments. The Bouchet article presents perspectives into understandingsomeof the major differencesbetweenmodernityand postmodernity. Bouchet agreeswith most of the insightsof postmodernistobserversregardingthe conditions of postmodernity,and providesfurther insightsto identify that which is postmodern. Yet, he is not happy with these conditions, sincehe seesthem as departuresfrom critical, responsibleand sociallyconsciousways of being. He calls for the recognitionof the liberatingaspectsof postmodernculture,but alsofor a more critical and sociallyresponsible orientation. Bouchet is presentinga critique of postmodernityfrom, as he writes, "within the modernistpoint of view." On the other hand, in Siierdem'sarticle we encountera thoroughlypostmodernistinterpretation of consumersociety.He is unwilling to subscribeto any singleperspective on critique or responsibility.He is relentless in his perspectiveof seeingthe consumeras a player in the systemof symbolsand the symbolic.He will not acceptany attempt of differentiatingthe abilities of individualsin "reading" and "interpreting" the signs, in "weaving their own stories." Power is no longer, only seductionexists,and seduction is an affair betweenthe object and the one who interactswith it; together they "write" their own storiesand play their own myths. It is important for us in marketing and consumerresearchfields to exposeourselves to this impassionedand, at times, poetic postmodernistperspective.Even for thoseof us to whom the interpretationdoes not ring very "true," it may provide a most valid insight into the vision of the postmodern consumer. The discrepancybetween this thoroughly celebratory postmodernistposition and the critical, skepticalor ambivalent positionstoward postmodernismmay well be due to the transitionalcharacterof our time, wheremodernideologiesandwaysstill linger, and in some casesprevail, while constantly losing ground to the postmodern culture. Under the circumstances, while certain baspower tions of still seemto operate and all membersof societyfeel their weight, it may be difficult to come to terms with the idea that power has (or alwayswas) dissipated into the handsof individual consumerswho construct their own myths with the objects they interact. Even when one may agree,in principle, that such bastionsof power exist only in and throughthe mythsallowedby the membersof society,our contemporarycultural experiencesmay be indicating to us that the constructionof myths may not be completelyindependentbut interdependent, that for any current myth to have its own sovereigntyit may haveto possess a "market" allure. This may be how the fact that we are in a transitionalera has its greatestimpact. The market is left as,practically,the sole arbitrator and the sole locusof legitimationin society as all other forms of attendingto society's affairs, such as, politics and socialrelations, A. Fuat Ftrat / Postmodernbm, marketing and the consumer have waned - at least partially due to the successof postmodernist discourse.However,the market still seemsto operatebased on the logic of modern capitalism;it has not yet been "postmodernized." That is, the workingcriteria of the market are still largely economicand its performanceis still judged on the basisof economicefficiency.The market has not yet adoptedthe multiplicity and the multidimensionaltolerance advisedand found in postmoderndiscourse.As modern ideologiesand systemsbreak down due to the popular disenchantmentwith their performance and to the successof postmodernism, the void created is filled by yet another, still modern institution: the market. The discoveryof how the plurality of the logic of the market is to be achievedmay be one of the most important tasks that await us. acrossthe two In this vein, the discussions need to study we issues suggest that special postmodernismfor different reasons: 1. To understand the constitution of the "consumer" in the present and in the future, 2. To have an inkling of what challenges marketingmay facein the future and what immediatechallengesit encountersnow, 3. To understandthe philosophical,social, cultural trends and issues we can encounternow and in the future, 4. To recognizethe way(s)that signification and representationprocesseswork or are constructed.if we havean interestin consciouscontribution to the conditionsfor humanity, in taking positions,in participating in the creation of (a) realit(y)ies that are attractive. But, then, when sensitivityto a postmodern orientationdevelops,one cannot help ask the questions: 1. Is an emphasison understanding,exploring, finding otfi (knowing) still very much a modernistquest?Shouldwe, to the contrary, concentrateon communicating,in 315 order to acknowledgeour preferencesfor life stylesand/or waysof being? 2. Do we, should we take positions, have projects or future goals anymore? Is it worthwhile?Is it possible? 3. Should anyone care about projects,betterment of the human condition (however this is defined),or is this just anothercall to conformity? 4. In whose interest is it to have projects, and whoseinterestis it not to have any? 5. Do distinctions,of class,interest groups, etc., make senseanymore?Are there new distinctionsdevelopingthat were not discovered(constructed)before? These questionsare, on the other hand, extremelyparadoxical,since if we do have hyperreality,anythingis possible- any social Conserealitycan potentiallybe constructed. quently,what type of life or orientationis worthwhile,is solelya matter of choice.Again, paradoxically, power ability to make choices,to control circumstances- becomes centrally meaningful.After all, it is nice to proclaim "Let's bring an end to conformity; let's allow choice." Yet, who will be able to afford (financially,intellectually,etc.) it? Marketing institutions are the grounds where conscioussignificationand representation processestake place, and given the postmodernconsciousness, it is these processesthat constructthe realit(y)ieswe live. Consequently,a sociallyresponsible,critical postmodernposition is to make these processesavailableand accessibleto all members of society.Our discoursesmay be pragmatic in the sensethat they may aid in liberating marketing from being the domain of only certain groups or organizations and make it the domain of all consumers;put marketingunder the control and in the service of all. In that sense,postmodernitymay be conceptualizedas the phasewhen everyone becomesa marketer. This is, indeed, a paradoxicalblessing,for it requiresa continuous vigilanceon everyone'spafi:. a contin- 316 A. Fuat Frrat / Postmodernism, marketing and the consumer ual need to be on one's toes,to be strategic, continuouslyplanning, etc. No time to just let go - unlessletting go is strategicallypositioned and signified as a marketable,alluring, seductivequality. Togetherthesetwo specialissuesserveto highlight the egocentric nature of inquiry into marketing. Scholarswho typically present their ideas in conventionalprose in the ritual mode of preferenceof management journals - the academic "article" - have employedmore humanisticformats in these pages. Differences in language use, both stylistic and strategic, are apparent even among the North American and European contributors who have employed the article format. An appreciation of the evocative power of languagein animating an under- standing of marketers' and consumers'behaviors is long overdue in our field. The wisdom of re-integratingthe humanitiesand businessdisciplinesin our questfor interdisciplinary knowledge seems apparent. We hope that thesespecialissueswill contribute to the ongoingblurring of genresthat is the postmodernenterprise. Finally, we wish to repeat our thanks to the editorial group of IIRM, to our reviewers, and to the publishing staff at Elsevier/ North-Holland. Mostly, we thank all of our contributingauthors,without whosecommitment to this project it could not have been completed.We hopethat the readersof these two issues will find as much meaning and excitementin them aswe did in helpingtheir birth.