What is an advert? : a sociological perspective on marketing media

Cluley, Robert; Nixon, Elizabeth

Abstract

This paper draws on a conceptual vocabulary developed in science and technology studies to advance a sociological theory of objects in marketing. Analysing a single advertising medium, it shows that marketing objects can exist simultaneously in multiple forms as physical artefacts, political decisions, legal entities and economic values. Armed with this understanding, the paper explores the ability of actors to manipulate these realities in their favour and investigates how it is possible to turn public space on a city street into an advertising object. Using John Law's notion of fractional objects, the paper proposes an analytic framework to open up new objects for critical intervention and reflection.

Citation

Cluley, R., & Nixon, E. (2019). What is an advert? : a sociological perspective on marketing media. Marketing Theory, 19(4), 405-423. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593119856645

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jun 24, 2019
• Publication Date: Jun 24, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 29, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 29, 2019
• Journal: Marketing Theory
• Print ISSN: 1470-5931
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-301X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: 147059311985664
• Pages: 405-423
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593119856645
• Keywords: Advertising; fractional object; media; outdoor; science and technology studies; social studies of marketing; telephone box
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1848235
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1470593119856645
• Contract Date: Apr 29, 2019