Promotional Cultures

Transcription

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3 Promotional Cultures

4 For Hannah, Miriam and Kezia

5 Promotional Cultures The Rise and Spread of Advertising, Public Relations, Marketing and Branding Aeron Davis polity

6 Copyright Aeron Davis 2013 The right of Aeron Davis to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published in 2013 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: ISBN-13: (pb) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Plantin by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Group Limited, Bodmin, Cornwall The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website:

7 Contents Detailed Contents Preface and Acknowledgements vi x 1 Introduction 1 Part I: Producers, Consumers and Texts 2 Production: Industry and its Critics 15 3 Audiences and Consumers 34 4 Texts: Situating the Text in Promotional Culture 51 Part II: Commodities, Media and Celebrity 5 Commodities: Promotional Influences on the Creation of Stuff 73 6 News Media and Popular Culture: Promotion and Creative Autonomy 92 7 Celebrity Culture and Symbolic Power 112 Part III: Politics, Markets and Society 8 Politics and Political Representation Conflict and Pluralism in Civil Society Economies, Speculative Markets and Value Conclusions 191 References 203 Index 237

8 Detailed Contents Preface and Acknowledgements x 1 Introduction 1 Defining promotional culture and promotional intermediaries 1 The book s core argument and approach 3 Chapter outline and wider themes 8 Part I: Producers, Consumers and Texts 2 Production: Industry and its Critics 15 Introduction 15 The rise of promotional culture: an industry perspective 16 A history of professional development 16 The professions in history: markets, democracies and media 19 The rise of promotional culture: critical perspectives 23 Alternative professional histories 24 Professions and the reshaping of markets, democracies and media 27 Conclusion 32 3 Audiences and Consumers 34 Introduction 34 Countering the productionist thesis and relocating the consumeraudience 35 Promotional culture as co- created culture 37 Consumer reappropriation and uses of material and promotional culture 40 Reappraising the consumer- audience position 44 Conclusion 50

9 Detailed Contents vii 4 Texts: Situating the Text in Promotional Culture 51 Introduction 51 Methodological differences in analysing promotional texts 52 Texts as autonomous reflections 56 Critical analyses of texts and power 58 Audiences and open and writerly texts 62 Poststructuralism, postmodernism and sign- saturated texts 64 Texts and a return to the material, power and the ideological? 67 Conclusion 68 Part II: Commodities, Media and Celebrity 5 Commodities: Promotional Influences on the Creation of Stuff 73 Introduction 73 Top- down and bottom- up perspectives on the creation and promotion of stuff 74 Promotional culture and the reshaping of commodity uses, firms and markets 77 Promotional influences on the construction of commodities and the retail experience 77 Promotional influences on the firm 79 Promotion and the shaping of markets 81 Promotion, clothes and fashion: from haute couture to the high street 83 Promotion and hi- tech goods: from the printing press to the Microsoft Apple computer wars 87 Conclusion 91 6 News Media and Popular Culture: Promotion and Creative Autonomy 92 Introduction 92 Promotional culture and independent news journalism 93 Promotion and entertainment media: music and television 98 Promotional constraints on creative autonomy and cultural outputs 98 Creativity and autonomy retained 103 Promotional culture and creative autonomy in the Hollywood film industry 105 Conclusion 111

10 viii Detailed Contents 7 Celebrity Culture and Symbolic Power 112 Introduction 112 The growth of celebrity culture and the celebrity industry 113 Celebrities as a powerless elite 116 Celebrities, accumulating symbolic capital and forms of power 119 Celebrity, symbolic capital and political capital: the case of David Cameron 123 Celebrity, symbolic capital and ideological power: the case of Jennifer J. Lo Lopez 126 Celebrity, symbolic capital and economic capital: the case of Tiger Woods 129 Part III: Politics, Markets and Society 8 Politics and Political Representation 135 Introduction 135 Democracies, promotional politics and the crisis of representation 136 A crisis of representation in democracies 136 The rise of promotional culture in politics 138 Promotional politics, managed media and citizenship 140 US party politics, political marketing and representation 143 UK politics, promotional professionalization and the mediatization of parties and politicians 148 Conclusion Conflict and Pluralism in Civil Society 154 Introduction 154 The rise and spread of professional campaigning in promotional civil society 155 The plurality issue in political sociology debates 156 The plurality issue in media sociology debates 159 Trade unions and the promotional battle against Post Office privatization in the UK 163 Interest groups and the challenge to global poverty: the Make Poverty History campaign 165 Taking on the power of global finance and the 1 per cent: the Occupy movement 168 Conclusion 171

11 Detailed Contents ix 10 Economies, Speculative Markets and Value 173 Introduction 173 Markets, actors and value: economic rationality, sociological irrationality and promotional markets 174 Neo- classical, orthodox economics 174 Heterodox economics, social and cultural perspectives 177 Promotion and markets 179 The promotion of financial products, financial markets and financialization 181 Selling financial markets, free markets and financialization to governments 181 The over- promotion of companies and stock markets to outside investors: the 2000 dot.com boom 185 The over- promotion of credit, debt and financial products to financiers: the 2008 financial crisis 186 Conclusion Conclusions 191 Individualism as a dominant discourse 193 Trust, certainty and values 195 Media logic, mediation and mediatization 196 Marketization, neo- liberalism and Anglo- American promotional capitalism 197 Risk, creativity and innovation 199 Democracy, politics, information and power 200 Final thoughts? What now? 202 References 203 Index 237

12 Preface and Acknowledgements Promotional Cultures has been many years in the making and has had multiple inspirations and sources of advice. My early research focused on public relations, news media and political communication. Since then I have looked at promotional practices and mediated consumption in several settings, including the trade union movement, the corporate and financial sectors, and party politics. At the same time, my teaching and interests have wandered across popular culture, the cultural industries, literary theory, social and industrial history, anthropology, and economic and political sociology. In 2003 I began putting these varied interests together in a course called Promotional Culture (taking the title from Andrew Wernick s 1991 book). My knowledge of advertising, marketing and branding was extended, as was my reading around promotion in media, culture, consumption and everyday commodities markets. The course, like this book, offers only brief introductions to the actual practices of these professions. Its main aim is to try and observe and think about them historically and socially. How have they grown and come to influence people, media, culture, organizations, occupational fields and social networks? These are the core concerns driving this book. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the rise of promotional culture. It should also draw in anyone interested in seeing how promotional imperatives and practices influence social relations professionally and personally. Promotion is always there, working visibly or invisibly, whether one is drawn to celebrities and fashion, popular music and film, politics and campaigning, or goods markets and high finance (and many other things besides). The book is written for advanced students and scholars in departments of media and culture, sociology, politics, anthropology and social history. Although not

13 Preface and Acknowledgements xi designed specifically for practitioners and business school- style courses, it should still have much to offer them. It is full of industry histories and sources, statistical information, and case studies. I have many people to thank. The first of these are Andrea Drugan, Lauren Mulholland and everyone at Polity. As well as offering useful advice and encouragement, Andrea persevered with me over several years of delayed delivery. The many friends, colleagues and external advisors who have offered advice, assistance and/or moral support along the way include Peter van Aelst, Olivier Baisnee, Rod Benson, Lisa Blackman, Andy Chadwick, Nick Couldry, Rosemary Crompton, James Curran, Will Dinan, Lee Edwards, Natalie Fenton, Bob Franklin, Des Freedman, Julie Froud, Jonathan Hardy, David Hesmondhalgh, Sukhdev Johal, Anu Kantola, Mike Kaye, Gholam Khiabany, Adam Leaver, Bong- hyun Lee, Jacqui L Etang, Colin Leys, Celia Lury, Liz McFall, Angela McRobbie, David Miller, Pat Moloney, Liz Moor, Mick Moran, Angela Phillips, Michael Pickering, Mike Savage, Emily Seymour, Nick Sireau, Gerry Sussman, Grahame Thompson, Peter Thompson, Daya Thussu, Catherine Walsh, Karel Williams and Dwayne Winseck. Last of all I must, of course, mention my family, who have had to compete more than they would have liked with this book: Anne, Hannah, Miriam, Kezia, Kelly, Helen and Neville. Aeron Davis October 2012

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15 1 Introduction This book investigates the rise of what Andrew Wernick (1991) first termed promotional culture. It begins by tracing the twentiethcentury history of the promotional professions of public relations, lobbying, advertising, marketing and branding. Other early chapters look at promotional texts and consumer interactions with promotional culture. The book then goes on to observe how the professions and practices of promotion have spread and come to influence society more generally. Throughout, the book asks what part promotion has played in historical transformations and in evolving social relations. Promotional practice was once fairly ad hoc and driven primarily by the selling of goods and services. Now it is professional and systematic. It is also about selling organizations, professions, ideas and people. For industry practitioners, everything is promotable: big or small, public or private, complex or simple, exclusive or common, solid or intangible, present or future. For individuals, too, promotion is part of everyday practices, both in work and in leisure. Over time, promotional imperatives have come to influence the behaviours of whole organizations, professions and institutions. Industry, politics, civil society, media, culture, markets and finance have all accommodated promotional developments, just as they have evolving new technologies or demographic shifts. In so doing, they have changed. The question is how? Defining promotional culture and promotional intermediaries To start, some clarification of the terms promotional culture and promotional intermediaries is needed. My definitions relate to active practices.