A diamond in the rough: Inauthenticity and Gems TV

Canavan, Brendan

Abstract

This paper explores inauthenticity in the context of the Gems TV shopping channel using existential phenomenology. Objectively, subjectively, and performatively Gems TV fails to convincingly stage a sense of authenticity. This is a televisual format featuring clearcut commercialism, obscure gemstones, and opaque verification. Yet, these and insincere screen performances are not only entertaining, but shoddiness and unpredictability of programming provides backstage glimpses that paradoxically stimulate fantasies of authenticity. Moments of intrapersonal and interpersonal connection arise around viewing. Accordingly, research into the neglected side of the authenticity-inauthenticity dialectic demonstrates that the latter may be, counterintuitively, a source of existential meaning. As such, and troubling established assumptions, inauthenticity might be valued and sought out by consumers.

Citation

Canavan, B. (2022). A diamond in the rough: Inauthenticity and Gems TV. Marketing Theory, 23(3), 367–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221137375

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 26, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 20, 2022
• Journal: Marketing Theory
• Print ISSN: 1470-5931
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-301X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 367–384
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221137375
• Keywords: Authenticity; Inauthenticity; Staged Authenticity; Existentialism; Shopping Channel 2
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/15159792
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14705931221137375