Crossing wires: Short-circuiting marketing theory

Jack Coffin, Christian Eichert, Shona Bettany, Andrew Lindridge, Gillian Oakenfull, Jacob Östberg, Lisa Peñaloza, Diego Rinallo, David Rowe, Jannsen Santana, Luca M. Visconti and Luciana Walther
Additional contact information
Jack Coffin: University of Manchester [Manchester]
Christian Eichert: University of London [London]
Shona Bettany: Business School, University of Huddersfield
Andrew Lindridge: Newcastle University Business School
Gillian Oakenfull: MU - Miami University [Ohio]
Jacob Östberg: Stockholm University
Lisa Peñaloza: Kedge BS - Kedge Business School
Diego Rinallo: EM - EMLyon Business School
David Rowe: University of Leeds
Jannsen Santana: EM - EMLyon Business School
Luca M. Visconti: USI - Università della Svizzera italiana = University of Italian Switzerland
Luciana Walther: UFSJ - Federal University of São João del Rei

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Abstract: In the popular imagination sex sells. Yet, marketing theory has relatively little to say about sexuality per se. Drawing on Žižek's metaphor of critical theory as ‘short-circuiting' the dominant discourse, we conceptualise marketing as a field that theorises sexuality only in a series of ‘closed circuits'. Knowledge becomes hierarchical when some topics, such as sexuality, are denied the theoretical freedom to roam in wider open circuits alongside other ‘mainstream' marketing topics. We identify four ways in which certain topics are enclosed: theoretical, empirical, institutional and neo-colonial. We then seek to short-circuit this state of affairs by bringing together a heterogeneous group of scholars interested in sexuality. By crossing their critical insights like unexpected connections in a circuit, we create sparks of inspiration that challenge the contents, contexts and concepts that relate to marketing theories of sexuality. Our paper makes a specific theoretical contribution in arguing for sexuality to be treated as a phenomenon worth studying and theorising in its own right. However, it also makes a wider methodological and epistemological contribution in showing how various topics within marketing theory might be short-circuited to help flatten the hierarchies of knowledge created by closed and open circuits.

Keywords: Sexuality; Hypertext; Hierarchies; Knowledge; subculture; Gender; Psychoanalysis; epistemology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04325542
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Published in Marketing Theory, 2022, 22 (2), 275-292 p. ⟨10.1177/14705931221074722⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04325542

DOI: 10.1177/14705931221074722

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