The historical approach to marketing and consumption: Contributions and research programmes

Abstract

The historical approach is too rarely used in our discipline, while it offers many advantages for marketing and consumer research. In particular, the historical approach offers the following contributions: (1) to grasp the density and discontinuities of consumption phenomena, which is necessary for the mobilisation of certain theoretical perspectives; (2) to challenge new theoretical proposals and instituted chronologies and (3) to feed managerial thought through the historicising of marketing and consumption issues and strategies. Based on these reflections and a review of the work in our discipline, we propose research programmes that deserve to be developed and enriched by the historical approach.

The role of the state in consumer culture: the case of “Operation Vin” in Sweden

“…To reconstruct the memory of the strategic action Operation Vin and uncover structures of the Swedish alcohol market, we apply historical organizational memory as one of the modes of inquiry of historiographical reflexivity suggested by Decker et al (2021). Following this approach, we contrast historical data from multiple sources with market-oriented ethnographical data and contextualize them in the specific social momentum in which Operation Vin took place (Kipping et al , 2014; Lubinski, 2018; Gorge and Galluzzo, 2022). While an official end point for Operation Vin has not been established, available records suggest that its activities gradually diminished after 1971, when wine sales surpassed those of strong alcoholic beverages and overall alcohol consumption in Sweden declined for the first time since 1960 (Ragnarsson, 2001, p. 42).…”

Le shockvertising : trajectoire historique d’une technique publicitaire controversée

“…Les apports potentiels de l'approche historique dans le champ de la recherche en Marketing sont nombreux et bien connus. Gorge et Galluzzo (2021), notamment, en ont souligné plusieurs. D'abord, l'approche historique permet de saisir la « densité » sociale et technique des phénomènes qui relèvent de la consommation et des marchés en éclairant les « encastrements » culturels, juridiques ou encore scientifiques qui les caractérisent.…”

“…Enfin, l'approche historique a la capacité de mettre à l'épreuve tout à la fois des chronologies établies et des propositions nouvelles (Gorge et Galluzzo, 2021). Au-delà de l'approche longitudinale ou de la méta-analyse de la littérature, la démarche historique peut contribuer à déconstruire des suppositions et des idées communément répandues en Marketing.…”

Shockvertising: Trajectory of a controversial advertising technique

“…The potential contributions of the historical approach to Marketing research are numerous and well known. Gorge and Galluzzo (2021) have highlighted several of these contributions. First, the historical approach allows for comprehending the social and technical "density" of phenomena related to consumption and markets by shedding light on the cultural, legal, or scientific "embeddings" that characterize them.…”

“…Finally, an additional interest in the historical approach lies in its capacity to both established chronologies and new ideas (Gorge and Galluzzo, 2021). Beyond longitudinal approaches or literature meta-analysis, the historical method can contribute to deconstructing assumptions and commonly held ideas in Marketing.…”