The Dark Side of Marketing Communications: Critical Marketing Perspectives

135 Pages·2020·3.658 MB·English

by  Tim Hill, Pierre McDonagh

“This book could not be more timely, or more necessary, for our times.”
— Eileen Fischer, Professor of Marketing and Anne & Max
Tanenbaum Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise
at Schulich School of Business, Canada
“This is a must read for anyone who wants to be informed about all of the im-
plications of marketing communications, not just the positive contributions of
marketing to society otherwise espoused, as well as understand the actions of
corporations in and the character and potential future of ‘globalized capitalism’.
My congratulations to the authors for providing insightful analyses!”
— Fuat Firat, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, USA
“Marketing Communications should be among the most interesting, captivating
and intriguing topics of the marketing syllabus but students and scholars alike
are often forced to turn to the wider social sciences, media studies and cultural
theory to develop thorough and worthwhile insights. In The Dark Side of Mar-
keting Communications Hill and McDonagh set out an ambitious and engaging
agenda that shows how marketers can engage with some of the most important
and topical questions of our times. Despite the critical and at times pessimistic
evaluation of the current practices and processes of marketing communications
the book suggests that while the Dark Side is certainly powerful and seductive it
is also full of contradictions and crisis. This is where we should look for progres-
sive opportunities to develop more sustainable, collective, collaborative and less
boringly distracting forms of both marketing and communication.”
— James Fitchett, Professor of Marketing and Consumption,
University of Leicester School of Business, UK
“McDonagh is the master of dark marketing. Hill’s a rising star of the same. Indi-
vidually brilliant, together they’re bedazzling. Bright, breezy and bundles of fun,
this is the book for you. Especially if you’re afraid of the dark.”
— Stephen Brown, Professor of Marketing Research,
Ulster University, UK

THE DARK SIDE OF MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS
What fuels capitalism and what stops it from collapsing? Does marketing com-
munications support and sustain the economic and political status quo?
This book is not about describing the ways in which businesses can optimize
the messages they put across or about adding to the marketing communicator’s
toolkit. It argues that marketing communications plays an increasingly impor-
tant role in bolstering contemporary capitalism. Drawing on conceptualizations
of the ‘market’ from political economy and sociology, it focusses on five logics
that underpin and sustain the form of capitalism in which we live: the logic of
competition, the logic of sustainability, the logic of individualism, the logic of
objectivity, and the logic of distraction. It does this by exploring those arenas that
are increasingly dominated by the communicative activities of business: sport,
corporate social responsibility, social media, statistics, and entertainment.
Bringing theories from marketing and consumer research, sociology, cultural
studies, and media studies to bear on marketing communications, this book is
necessary reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics
who wish to understand the broader role of marketing communications in the
reproduction of contemporary capitalism.
Tim Hill is Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bath, UK.
Pierre McDonagh is Professor of Critical Marketing and Society at the University
of Bath, UK.
Routledge Studies in Critical Marketing
Edited by Mark Tadajewski and Pauline Maclaran
Marketing has been widely criticised as being probably the least self-critical of
all the business disciplines and has never really been able to escape the charge
that it is socially, ethically, and morally barren in certain respects. Marketers
may talk about satisfying the customer, about building close relationships with
their clientele, about their ethical and corporate social responsibility initiatives,
but increasingly these claims are subjected to critical scrutiny and been found
wanting. In a social, economic, and political environment in which big business
and frequently some of the most marketing adept companies’ practices are being
questioned, there has emerged a very active community of scholars, practitioners
and students interested in Critical Marketing Studies.
Using the types of critical social theory characteristic of Critical Marketing
Studies, this series will drive the debate on Critical Marketing into the future.
It offers scholars the space to articulate their arguments at the level of sophisti-
cation required to underscore the contribution of this domain to other scholars,
students, practitioners and public-policy groups interested in the influence of
marketing in the structuring of the public sphere and society. It is a forum for rig-
orously theorised, conceptually and empirically rich studies dealing with some
element of marketing theory, thought, pedagogy and practice.
Inclusive Place Branding
Critical Perspectives on Theory in Practice
Edited by Mihalis Kavaratzis, Massimo Giovanardi and Maria Lichrou
The Dark Side of Marketing Communications
Critical Marketing Perspectives
Tim Hill and Pierre McDonagh
For more information about the series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Critical-Marketing/book-series/RSICM
THE DARK SIDE
OF MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS
Critical Marketing Perspectives
Tim Hill and Pierre McDonagh
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Tim Hill and Pierre McDonagh
The right of Tim Hill and Pierre McDonagh to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hill, Tim, 1988- author. | McDonagh, Pierre, author.
Title: The dark side of marketing communications : critical marketing
perspectives / Tim Hill, Pierre McDonagh.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Routledge
studies in critical marketing | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020022688 (print) | LCCN 2020022689 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138587120 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138587137 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429504150 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Capitalism—History—21st century. | Economic
policy—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HB501.H5173 2020 (print) | LCC HB501 (ebook) |
DDC 658.8/02—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022688
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022689
ISBN: 978-1-138-58712-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-58713-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-50415-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction: where are we now? 1
2 Decoding the market logic 13
3 Sport: winners, losers, and the logic of competition 29
4 Corporate social responsibility: corporate utopias, wishful
thinking, and the logic of sustainability 45
5 Success, status, and the logic of individualism 62
6 Social progress, economic decline, and the
logic of objectivity 79
7 Boredom: digitized ‘24/7’ connectivity and
the logic of distraction 93
8 Afterword: how does this end? 109
Index 119

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Routledge’s Jacqueline Curthoys for initially commis-
sioning this work as well as all of her team who worked on it, especially Emmie
Shand. We are beholden to Pauline Maclaran and Mark Tadajewski for their
support and encouragement as editors of the Critical Marketing Series as well as
our colleagues in the School of Management at the University of Bath.
Pierre thanks his three sons Ethan, Cal, and Dylan Luca for their tolerance
as I bored them silly as well as Andy Prothero for her ongoing encouragement
and the presence that is Nyko cat. This book is dedicated to my Mum Eileen and
Dad, ‘Grandad, Desmond, Desie or Des’ depending on who is talking to him,
I’m proud to be your son and I hope you enjoy the read.
Tim has been sustained by Charlotte, Jo, Les, Arthur the cat, and Marley the
dog. Some of these have experienced this book as a collection of bad moods;
Marley has experienced the book as a series of long walks.