Tribes constitute a research focus for postmodern consumer research and an alternative way of targeting marketing action. Consumers are supposed to value the goods and services which, through their linking value, permit and support social interaction of the communal type, products or services that support AB and not the fact of being A or B. This paper seeks to explore current developments in postmodern consumer research in terms of methods used to identify tribes and in terms of approaches used to elaborate an offer which is capable of supporting tribal rites and to capitalise, at a brand image level, on these tribal phenomena.

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This paper presents an alternative, “Latin” vision of our societies. Here the urgent societal issue is not to celebrate freedom from social constraints, but to re‐establish communal embeddedness. The citizen of 2002 is less interested in the objects of consumption than in the social links and identities that come with them. This Latin view holds that people like to gather together in tribes and that such social, proximate communities are more affective and influential on people’s behaviour than either marketing institutions or other “formal” cultural authorities. There is also an element of resistance and re‐appropriation in the acts of being, gathering and experiencing together. This view of the shared experience of tribes sets it apart from both Northern notions of segmented markets and one‐to‐one relationships. In this Latin view, the effective marketing of 2002 and beyond is not to accept and exploit consumers in their contemporary individualisation, as Northern approaches might. Rather the future of marketing is in offering and supporting a renewed sense of community. Marketing becomes tribal marketing. In a marketing profession challenged by the Internet phenomenon, tribal marketing is by no means just another passing fad but a Trojan horse to induce companies to take on board the re‐emergence of the quest for community.

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of luxury counterfeit consumption by using the theories of luxury. This study is an interpretative qualitative research in which the social and personal meanings of luxury counterfeit consumption are explored. Both luxury and counterfeit provide a successful meaning transference. A good counterfeit can be regarded as the substitute good of luxury, which provides social meanings (conformity/status seeking/face saving), whereas it may also operate on a personal level (brand experience/fashion/adventure). The process of purchasing and consumption is fun and enjoyable due to the illegal nature of counterfeit. The research aspires to shed light on the essence of counterfeit in a brand perspective.

This paper is less concerned with discussing the reality of the new consumer than in discovering how researchers and consultants construct this through their marketing discourses. A genealogical approach uncovers the three major faces of the new consumer that have emerged over the past twenty years: individualistic consumers in the early 1990s; hedonistic consumers at the turn of the millennium; and creative consumers in the mid-2000s. The paper then shows how these faces interact within a consumer competency structure in which individualistic dialogue competencies combine with hedonistic play competencies and creative resource integration competencies. The conclusion focuses on the existence within these different marketing discourses of a governmental process pressuring today's citizens to see and think of themselves first and foremost as consumers.

Cet article s'intéresse moins à la réalité du nouveau consommateur qu'à la construction de ce nouveau consommateur par les discours marketing produits par les chercheurs et les consultants. Par une approche généalogique, il met d'abord en évidence les trois figures majeures du nouveau consommateur qui ont émergé ces vingt dernières années (consommateur individualiste pour le début années 90; consommateur hédoniste pour le tournant du millénaire; consommateur créatif pour la moitié des années 2000). Puis il montre comment ces figures se sédimentent pour structurer les compétences du consommateur: aux compétences de dialogue du consommateur individualiste, s'ajoutent les compétences ludiques et esthétiques du consommateur hédoniste puis celles d'intégration de ressources du consommateur créatif. Il conclut sur le processus de gouvernementalité du consommateur inhérent à ces discours qui poussent nos contemporains à se déterminer d'abord comme consommateurs.

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We explore the effects of sex-related, value-expressive and functional image perceptions on satisfaction through a study of audience members at two theatres. Results suggest that satisfaction is higher for men when they perceive an elevated level of functional service quality and for women when they perceive that the theatre possesses pro-social values. Satisfaction overlap exists when either men or women perceive market or artistic values. Existing literature has suggested that women begin elaboration of message cues at a lower threshold than men; however, it appears that a zone exists where both sexes elaborate on some image attributes, while women further elaborate on communal attributes and men focus on agentic attributes. Contrary to prevailing evidence in the services management literature, no direct link surfaced between perceived quality of the core service and customer satisfaction. Post hoc tests for mediation indicate that tangible quality of the core service is important to both men and women, driving their engagement in elaboration of image attributes, but it is not important enough to directly stimulate satisfaction when other factors of the consumption experience are taken into account in complex encounters.