Existential Isolation…Press Play to Escape

Abstract

While consumer research has frequently visited the fantastical search for escape from everyday life, this story (part autoethnographic, part fiction – all the characters and incidents are the author’s creation) documents a solo consumer’s spirited desire to escape from beyond what quotidian life affords, and society’s sometimes unwelcome gaze, in a more sombre and hermit form than has previously been explored. The story plays on immersion, narrative transportation and parasocial imaginings around a prolonged binge-watch marathon and coping with the existential isolation, a resource in constant need of replenishment.

Introduction to the special section: Tribal marketing after Covid

“…Marketing Theory has long been the home of critical tribal studies, publishing papers that challenge scholars to keep tribal thinking fresh rather than succumb to the ossification of orthodoxy (e.g. Cova, 2005; O’Reilly, 2012; Jones, 2020), as well as papers that explore the shadowy sides of tribal phenomena (e.g. Cova and Dalli, 2009; Cova et al, 2011; Sinclair and Dolan, 2015; Wickstrom et al, 2020).…”

Stayin’ alive? Reflections on navigating digital dependency

“…And unfortunately, such psychic ramifications are often overlooked by marketing theorists intent on describing consumption acts, rather than critically appraising their real, and often depressing, effects on daily life (Ahlberg et al, 2022). Our introspective accounts reflect two different life stages and unique individual experiences, but our commitments to social media are singular: enabling a refuge from ‘real life’ (Jones, 2020). We filter lived experiences, posture our children, and compulsively seek external differentiation and affirmation.…”

The r/wallstreetbets ‘war machine’: Explicating dynamics of consumer resistance and capture

“…Thus, while a subsection of the literature revolves around escaping the marketplace itself (Dobscha and Ozanne, 2001; Firat and Venkatesh, 1995), this is increasingly seen as impossible and undesirable (Arnould, 2007) or at best partial, temporary, and local (Hietanen and Sihvonen, 2020; Kozinets 2002). Even in the dedicated work on ‘escapism’ (Jones, 2020; Jones et al, 2020) which sometimes proposes a more radical urge to escape one’s own conscious identity (Cova et al, 2018), escape is depicted primarily as a temporary deviant negotiation of market offerings.…”