Critical Issues In Marketing

A collection of Essays

Student ID: 200702737

200702737

Contents Page

Page 3-4: “Culture Jamming amounts to little more than Pranksterism”. Discuss

Page 6-7: Marketers who target children are no better than paedophiles. All marketing to children

should be banned. Discuss

Page 9-10: We would all be better off without supermarkets. Discuss this Statement

Page 12-13: “The counterculture movement is underpinned by a flawed logic”. Discuss this

statement

Page 15-16: The Self help Industry is a Sham discuss

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“Culture Jamming amounts to little more than Pranksterism”.Discuss

“We can change the World”- the clichéd yet commanding mantra of Kalle Lasn (2000), Founder of

“Adbusters” (p.8). Such an ideology seems to purport that brandishing “culture jamming” as mere

prankishness is ineffectually myopic, given the sleek and professional polish of recognised “culture

jamming” bodies and their potential to engender organisational fear and defensive reforms.

Reverend Billy’s charismatic attack on Starbucks, saw legal action and employee-training

intervention (Hindley, 2010) and movements like “Occupy” create large-scale destructive hijacks,

patenting the Rebel’s capacity to distinctly debunk and degrade the machine.

Beyond reputational damage infiltrated on companies through sardonic interventions ( Soloman,

2003, p.209) the “culture jammer” transcends as a transformational figurehead with legitimate

spiritual authority. Grounded in the pioneering ideals of Guy Debord (1967 ), rejecting the “society

of the spectacle” through mockery or “detournement”, enables emancipation from repression into

truth and “playful” living (Lasn,2000). Supporting this idea, McClish (2009) asserts that Reverend

Billy is a “spiritual leader in his own right” (p.3), born from a legitimate dedication to combating the

consumerist failings of modern society (p.5). Activist’s often distinguish themselves via some

“epiphany” of character, creating an unyielding embodiment of the cause beyond seeming

buffoonery (Kozinets and Handelman, 2004. p. 698).

Despite the revolutionary ideas of culture jammers and their forthright mission to free individuals

from the “mind polluters” (Solomon, 2003), Bruner (2005) underlines how such impassioned yet

unrecognized societal disgust, often irrepressibly translates into hysteria and “carnivalesque

protests” (p.136). The Biotic Baking Brigade, an organisation that publicly “pies” capitalist figures

attempted to symbolically reject globalisation by “pieing” Milton Friedman at a global conference,

cunningly exploiting the machine through inexorable media attention, whilst rejected by many as

blatant physical assault (Harold, 2004). Though such prankish protest aims to subvert symbols of

bureaucracy, Hindley(2010) cautions that radical and unrestrained Activists are easy to dismiss as

lunatics, steered by engrained societal norms (p.122). Therefore, whilst provocative behaviour

seems necessary to “jolt” audience expectation within a bureaucratic media climate (Warner, 2007,

p.6), act insignificance or misinterpretation means Activists paradoxically become media co-

constructors, substantiating their own menial, pranksterish demonization and intellectual demise.

The situationist’s exploited “art” as a medium of “detournement”, insightfully and subtly subverting

the class system (Haiven, 2007. p.93). This approach rejects seemingly senseless pranks, valorising

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less aggressive culture jamming vehicles such as “billboard liberation” or “subvertisements” (Sandlin

and Milam, 2008. p.325) Lasn, however rejects this “pure activism” as futile to modern rebellion

presenting culture jamming as a “hyper-masculinized” bureaucracy killing machine (Haiven, 2007.

p.100). Whilst arguably necessary, boorish pranksterism reflects ignorance to the fundamental

prophecies of jamming and a commodification of resistance, promoting “rebel sell”, whereby any

apparent antiestablishment tendencies are perceived as revolutionary, regardless of authentic

substance or direction (Heath and Potter, 2005, p.141).

The London riots embodied this monotonous idolisation of the mutineer, through Youth’s inane

ravaging of communities and incapacity to articulate valid justification, subsequently illegitimating

genuine political grievances via untargeted, yobbish destruction. This hysteria facilitated portrayal of

rioters as desperados, hungry for some 15 minutes of fame, via a scapegoat of working-class

revolution, contradicted by looting symbols of their own helpless oppression for counter-

revolutionary material gain (Henwood, 2011). That said, the metamorphosis of revolution into

hooliganism may provide a synecdoche of modern culture inasmuch as voiceless and media

redundant individuals are forced to boorishness, in desperation for acknowledgement and salvation.

The pranksterish danger of culture jamming lies in blindness to underpinning ideologies , offset by

mere gratuitous criminality. By attacking the machine so thoughtlessly the revolutionary capacity of

culture jamming transmits merely as no more than some empty search for kudos as a rebel,

contradicting the entire anti-conformist premise of the movement.

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References

Bruner, M (2005), 'Carnivalesque Protest and the Humorless State', Text & Performance Quarterly, Volume.25,Issue: 2, pp. 136-155.

Harold, C (2004), 'Pranking rhetoric: "culture jamming" as media activism', Critical Studies In Media Communication, Volume.21,Issue: 3, pp. 189-211.

Haiven, M (2007), 'Privatized Resistance: AdBusters and the Culture of Neoliberalism', Review Of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, Volume.29, Issue: 1, pp. 85-110.

Heath, J & Potter. A (2005). ‘The Rebel Sell”, Sussex: Capstone Publishing

Henwood. N(2011) “Do the rioting mobs see themselves as the latest celebrities?”. Guardian, 11th August 2011

Hindley, J (2010), 'Breaking the Consumerist Trance: The Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping', Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, Volume. 21, Issue: 4, pp. 118-126.

Kalle, L. (2000), “Culture Jamming” in Juliet B. Schor and Douglas B.Holt (eds) The Consumer Society Reader, New York: The New Press.

Kozinets, R, & Handelman. J (2004), 'Adversaries of Consumption: Consumer Movements Activism, and Ideology', Journal Of Consumer Research, Volume. 31,Issue: 3, pp. 691-704.

McClish (2009) ‘Activism based in Embarrassment: The Anti-consumption spirituality of the Reverand Billy’. Liminalities: a Journal of Performance Studies. Volume. 5, Issue:2.

Sandlin, J, & Milam,J (2008), '“Mixing Pop (Culture) and Politics”: Cultural Resistance, Culture Jamming, and Anti-Consumption Activism as Critical Public Pedagogy', Curriculum Inquiry, Volume.8, Issue: 3, pp. 323-350

Solomon, M. (2003), “Trouble in Paradise: Culture Jamming in Consumerspace” in: Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies For A Branded World, Chapter 9, New York: AMACOM, pp207-227

Warner, J (2007), 'Political Culture Jamming: The Dissident Humor of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"', Popular Communication, Volume.5, Issue: 1, pp. 17-36.

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Marketers who target children are no better than paedophiles.

All marketing to children should be banned. Discuss

The insidious cannibalisation of youth, infiltrated through increasingly disconcerting and invasive

child marketing practises has been, controversially yet ineludibly condemned as paedophilic, by child

expert Michael Brody (Lancet, 2002. P.959). This disdainful representation is perpetuated by

Young’s(1990) vernacular, portraying the merciless media molestation of the “innocents”, dubiously

attained through the “seducers” (Marketers) persuasive domination (cited in Gunter et al, 2005).

Gale (n.d) moreover, asserts that children are “bombarded” with adult images, proving parental

avoidance strategies destitute to marketing’s inexhaustible saturation of the public landscape (p.22).

This predatory metaphor corresponds with Linn’s (2004) contention of injustice, concerning child

marketer’s flagrant “exploitation” of adolescent vulnerability, despite multiple child protection

sanctions in other areas (p.145). Despite the argument that commercial exposure is fundamental in

empowering children (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2001, p.113), specific developments involving ever

more inventive means of manipulation and bribery have emerged, for instance using children as

brand advocates, despite oblivion to their promotional utilization (Wells, 2004). More extremely,

interactive expansions have enabled companies to shrewdly collect personalised data from children

as young as 4, often without parental consent (Beder, 1998). Such illusory tactics portray child

marketers somewhat ominously, substantiating Brody’s extremist position. Perhaps most

distastefully obtrusive are new ethnographic market research methods which seek to gain access to

the “most private recesses” such as children’s bedrooms and even bathroom activity(Schor,2004.

P.99). Such neurotic and prying research tactics, represent a transgression from wide-reaching

colourful exploitation of adolescent inexperience through transparent promotional embellishment

into somewhat unwarranted and discrete observation, deceptively scrutinizing consumption

behaviours to somewhat perverted degree.

Whilst these evasive research techniques seem excessive, the broader condemnation of youth

marketing entirely, may merely typify societies absurdly romanticised preoccupation with the

“golden age of childhood”, exacerbating parent’s perceived inadequacies, regarding incapacity to

function as constant chaperones (Lynott and Logue,1993). This obsession has arguably manifested

into an age dictated by a succession of sensationalised fads, enforcing new desecrations of

innocence, guilt-induced parental overprotection and a subsequent diminishment of children’s

psychological development (Ungar, 2009. P.262). Schor (2004) contends that whilst the protective

duty of caregivers is irrefutable this is repeatedly exploited by corporations as a scapegoat for

patently negligent and unethical targeting and positioning (p.183). Perhaps increased advertising

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regulation, a compromise to total eradication would effectively alleviate developing parental

pressures to flawlessly balance parallel duties to “instill socially acceptable behaviours” whilst

facilitating autonomy and formation of ideals (Hanley, 2000. P.8), recommended as an upshot of

“commercial world” exposure (Buckingham et al, 2009 p.79).

The evident despoilment of child purity however, extends beyond youth targeted marketing, given

adolescent’s daily contact with eroticised themes and consequent conditioning, amidst a society

consumed by “Raunch culture” (Levy, 2005). George (2007) discussed the “eroticization of

girlhood”, and society’s thwarting fascination with the “Lolita” and sexual purity as a vehicle of

allurement in adult marketing. This perverse aspiration, endorsed by infantile yet lascivious

celebrities such as Paris Hilton, has inadvertently transmitted to youth culture, wielding a society of

prematurely promiscuous girls, mimicking the media and flaunting their sexual naivety as a means of

risqué enticement. In sum, children innately imitate their elders, meaning that within a

nymphomaniatic societal milieu, prepubescent purity is invariably perforated and infected.

The outrageously sexualised saturation of marketing entirely and of societal norms suggests that

banning child targeted marketing would prove insignificant in the battle to salvage innocence,

moreover generating mass economic damage (Sherwin, 2011). Since corporations show no sign of

experiencing a sudden ethical awakening, early exposure to the politics of consumption, breeding

familiarity with the manipulations inherent to modernity may provide the only glimmer of hope in

engendering scepticism and media literacy in adulthood beyond self-indulgent credulity.

References

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Bandyopadhyay. S, Kindra. G & Sharp. L (2001). ‘Is Television Advertising Good for Children?Areas of Concern and Policy Implications’. International Journal of Advertising. Volume. 20, Issue: 1.

Beder. S (1998).'A Community View', Caring for Children in the Media Age, Papers from a national conference, edited by John Squires and Tracy Newlands, New College Institute for Values Research, Sydney, pp. 101-111.

Buckingham, D et al. (2009). ‘The Impact of the Commercial World on Children’s Wellbeing: Report of an Independent Assessment’. Department of Children, Schools & Families and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport. [Online]. Available from www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DCSF-00669-2009 (Accessed 15/02/2012).

Gale. J (n.d). 'Sexualisation of Children and Young Teens', Educating Young Children: Learning And Teaching In The Early Childhood Years, Volume.17, Issue: 2, p. 21

George. L (2007), 'Why are we dressing our daughters like this? (Cover story)', Maclean's, Volume.119, Issue: 52/53, pp. 37-40

Gunter. B, Oates. C & Blades. M (2005). ‘Advertising to Children: Content, Impact and Regulation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associate publishers. London.

Hanley. P (2000). ‘Copycat kids? The Influence of Television Advertising on Children and Teenagers’ [Online] Available from: www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/uploads/Copycat_Kids.pdf (Accessed 17/02/2012)

Levy. A (2005). ‘Ariel Levy on Raunch Culture’ The Independent. 4 December .

Linn. S (2004). ‘ Consuming kids: Protecting our children from the onslaught of marketing and advertising.’ First Anchor Books, New York.

Lynott. P, & Logue. B (1993) 'The "Hurried Child": The Myth of Lost Childhood in Contemporary American Society', Sociological Forum, Volume. 8, Issue: 3, pp. 471-491

Schor. J (2004). ‘Born to Buy’. Scribner. New York.

'Selling to-and selling out-children' (2002), Lancet, Volume.360, p. 959, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 February 2012

Sherwin. A (2011) ‘Advertising ban wont stop brand bullying says child expert’ The Independent. 15 September.

Ungar. M (2009), 'Overprotective parenting: helping parents provide children the right amount of risk and responsibility', American Journal Of Family Therapy, Volume.37, Issue:3, pp. 258-271,

Wells. M (2004), 'Kid Nabbing', Forbes, Volume. 173, Issue: 2, pp. 84-88, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 February 2012.

We would all be better off without supermarkets

Discuss this Statement

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Blythman (2005) laments the demise of the humble close-community town, an antiquated idealism,

subsumed by an epidemic of artificial grandeur, of capitalistic vulgarity desecrating distinctive civic

symbols in surrender to supermarket majesty. The result, “Clonetown”, a place removed from all

previous connotations and defined merely by the big box superstores that communities become so

hopelessly compelled to patronise (p.10). The existence of bus routes merely bearing supermarket

names exemplifies this cultural transition, however whether this justifies obliteration of the

undeniable modern practicality of the supermarket is questionable.

Lawrence (2004) presents a transfixing argument against the superstore’s unyielding tactics to

dominate the retail landscape, of an environment destroyed through pollution, of suppliers cheated

of fair payments, an eradication of local businesses, a seizure of local job prospects, all achieved

through inanely unethical practises, mercilessly disenabling public rebellion. Fishman’s (2006)

“Walmart effect” boldly demonstrates the supermarkets limitless quest for global domination, of the

public as unquestioning victims to the machine, forced to submit and refuel the power sources

through loss of all alternatives (p.6). Much of the concern surrounding supermarkets possessive

mechanisms lies in their extensive relationship marketing practises, used to engender trust and

loyalty, a concept cautioned as manipulative “abuse of power”(Welch and Zolkiweski, 2004; cited in

Hingley,2005. P.66). Take the Tesco club card system which arguably surpasses “convenience”,

becoming increasingly akin to consumer “surveillance” (Simms, 2007. P.94), and exacerbating public

concerns of an intensifying “surveillance society” (Peel, 2007).

On the other hand, however comes the chicken and egg scenario, i.e. have supermarkets created

these extensive practicality needs or have they merely responded to the increasingly demanding

desires of modern society? (Spade, 2004). Despite societal vilification, people continue to religiously

patronise supermarkets, undermining calls for a renewed traditionalising of shopping structures

(Majumdar, 2009 ). On the other hand, this loyalty may be interpreted as an inevitable response to

supermarkets unavoidable seizure of the shopping landscape and subsequent “deprogramming” of

“creative” shopping, enabling consumption dictatorship (Blythman, 2005. P. 43).

Contrary to this view of Supermarkets as demonic leaches, sucking the hopes and dreams of the

consumer, this may derive from some arguably naive and misguided perception that traditional

retailers followed “Robin Hood” philosophies despite, albeit to a lesser extent, their undeniable

pursuit towards profit (Bindel, 2009). Simms (2007) acknowledges that from one angle all that Tesco

is, in fact doing is responding to the deficiencies of the marketplace, extrapolating power where the

“system” allows it, a tactic that would surely be followed by local retailers if they too had reached

these levels of logistical prestige (p.15).

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Moreover, the unquestioning anti-supermarket stance adopted by critics like Felicity Lawrence

(2004), may, to some extent represent blinkered middle-class snobbery in its seeming irreverence to

the supermarkets assistance in enabling the dual-worker family’s survival; allowing a more realistic,

time-efficient experience, complimentary where one income simply would not suffice (Rayner,

2008). Furthermore, Shank purported that socialist removal from capitalist supermarkets entirely is

a contradiction in itself since these institutions, however menially, have provided the dual demands

of quality and value that socialism so unyieldingly fought for (Blake, 2000. P.87). Therefore, despite

the patent malpractices of supermarkets, anti-supermarketization is commodified as those that

would traditionally seek emancipation from capitalistic manipulation are replaced by largely middle-

class individuals infatuated by grossly overpriced natural independent retailers and achieving some

paradoxical bohemian prestige, stigmatising working class shopping choice limitations (Bindel,2009).

Thus, the “Tesco-bashing” obsession of a supermarket-free cityscape seems alluring until we realise

the undeniable economic implications such a resurgence would have upon working class families

(Economist, 2011) especially in an exploitative era where more natural retail alternatives come at a

heavy price.

References

Bindel. J (2009). “Enough of this supermarket snobbery”. The Guardian. 14 August

Blake, C (2000), 'All Lost in the Supermarket', Radical History Review, 76, pp. 80-89,

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Blythman, Joanna (2005), “Shopped: The Shocking Power of the British Supermarkets”,

London,Harper Perennial.

Economist (2011) “Bashing Supermarkets: A nation of shoppers”. Bagehot’s Notebook, British

politics, May 19. Available from

http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/05/bashing_supermarkets [Accessed 14

March, 2012]

Fishman. C (2006) “The Walmart Effect”. Penguin Books, London.

Hingley. M (2005), “Power Imbalance in UK Agri-Food Supply Channels: Learning to Live with the

Supermarkets?”, Journal Of Marketing Management, 21, 1/2, pp. 63-88

Lawrence. F (2004), “Ghost-town Britain”, Ecologist, 34, 7, pp. 60-67

Majumdar. S (2009). “Don't like supermarkets? You're off your trolley”. Guardian, 11 August. Word

of Mouth blog. Available from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/aug/11/supermarket-shopping

[Accessed 14 March, 2012]

Peel. M (2007). “Surveillance society: warning on data sharing”. Financial Times, August 6.

Simms. A (2007). “Tescopoly. How one shop came out on top and why it matters”. Constable and

Robinson Ltd, London.

Spade. L (2004). “Convenient enough?”, Food Manufacture, 79, 9, p. 27,

Rayner. J (2008). “Be honest - supermarkets have made our lives better”. The Observer, 17 February

“The counterculture movement is underpinned by a flawed logic”.

Discuss this statement

Underpinned by an idealistic amalgamation of Marx’s “utopian” anti-bourgeoisie societal aspirations

and Freud’s grave interpretation of a civilization condemned by inescapable conformity, the

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counterculture movement emerged as the antidote to archaic repression of instinctual emotions, as

a blowing of the lidded “pressure cooker”, if you will (Heath and Potter, 2004. P.37). Unfortunately,

this premise of emancipation from the breaches of self-repression through countercultural rebellion

may be paradoxically tarnished, considering Kowalski’s (1978) contention that “society’s ripeness for

revolution” may ultimately represent mere “bourgeois deceit” (Ford, 2008, p.146). Marshall

McLuhan himself, regarded since the 1960s as a pioneer of the countercultural position is often

misinterpreted as some bohemian radical, despite his largely conservative theoretical basis (Strate,

2011).

Frank ( 1997) purported that the subconscious and irrepressible obsession with consumer

sovereignty, through conscious removal from media-controlled prototype consumption ambitions,

has inadvertently manifested into the strategy of corporations themselves. This deceit or “co-

optation” apparently facilitates synthetic simulation of countercultural ideologies, prompting

hopeless consumer loyalty through a veneer of rebellion despite capitalistic motivations (p.7-9).

Take the development of Apple, founded upon Job’s apparent countercultural autonomy, his

“Buddhist” connections, his hedonistic history of adolescent LSD use, permeating in a corporate

culture of unadulterated innovation (Teitel, 2011).

This Apple phenomenon seems to represent a contradiction in its own delivery, however. How can

innovation be slickly marketed and packaged to mass audiences and retain integrity? Smith (2011)

contends that Apple may have become an enemy of its own invention, inasmuch as it can no longer

claim to personify the rebel depicted in its “1984” commercial, symbolically destroying the mindless

mechanisation of consumer society. Apple now, is better epitomized by the “Big Brother” ruler,

cultivating devout following from its resistance-tranquilized clergy of worshippers. Since consumers

allow themselves to be manipulated by the revolutionary promise such organisations project

through lustrous marketing masquerade, true countercultural thinkers seem to have recoiled in

inadequacy.

Conversely, the inarguable transformation of Apple into the ranks of corporate power brand,

suggests it would undoubtedly be rejected by those claiming rebellion against mass consumerism,

breeding its deception inferior to this pure minority. In saying this however, Adbuster’s themselves

have recognised a distinct discrediting of the merits of culture jamming through a new wave of

individuals, engulfed by the oxymoronic elitist appeal of rebellion, yet lacking in true sardonic

dissent. These people merely convey a representation of self, a product of the “lost generation” and

their absence of loyalty, nor pride in any one way of being. The highly stylized and pretentious

nature of these “hipsters” reeks of revolutionary artifice, exploiting symbols of archetypal

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“revolutionary classes” such as fashion (Haddow, 2008) to satisfy the romanticised “middle-class”

obsession with the rebel via symbolic escapism from wealth (Hale, 2011, p.302).

The increasing dictation of fashion by the consumers themselves through arguably egotistical street

fashion blogs exemplifies this new wave of cool-seeking desperados ( Ferrier and Sweeney, 2012).

This and the inane adoption of unfamiliar band T-shirts by youth subcultures as mere “status

symbol” (Rogers, 2011) is consistent with Firat and Schultz’s(1997) position, highlighting the fickle

“fragmentation” of consumer loyalties in “postmodern” society. Moreover it demonstrates the

“commodification of resistance” that has signalled the death of authenticity in the countercultural

movement, if this ever truly existed (Bryant and Goodman, 2004. P.345).

In conclusion, the seemingly self-obsessed quest for some exclusive societal prestige may ultimately

lead the individual to reject anything “middlebrow” regardless of taste or enjoyment, a victim of

their own obstinate affectation (Reynolds, 2009). This undermines the countercultural movement,

hollowing the intellectual prowess that rejection of the mainstream originally set out to achieve.

Perhaps the popularisation of those genres once deemed unconventional should be seen as victory

for the traditional cultural recluse and not a justification to fabricate ever-more mindlessly bizarre

fads at the expense of genuine artistic or intellectual merit (Heath and Potter, 2004. P.152).

References

Bryant, R, & Goodman, M (2004), 'Consuming Narratives: The Political Ecology of 'Alternative'

Consumption', Transactions Of The Institute Of British Geographers, 29, 3, pp. 344-366

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Ferrier and Sweeney (2012) “Street style bloggers: dedicated followers of fashion”. The Guardian. 3

February.

Firat, A, & Shultz II, C (1997), 'From segmentation to fragmentation', European Journal Of Marketing,

Volume: 31, Issue. 3/4, pp. 183-207

Ford, P (2008), 'Hip Sensibility in an Age of Mass Counterculture', Jazz Perspectives, Volume: 2, Issue.

2, pp. 121-163

Frank. T ( 1997). “The Conquest of cool”. University of Chicago press, London

Haddow. D (2008). Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization. Adbusters, Issue 79, 29 July.

Available from: http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

Hale. G (2011). “A Nation of Outsiders: How the White Middle class fell in love with rebellion in post-

war America”. Oxford University press, New York

Heath and Potter (2004) “Rebel Sell: Why Counterculture became consumer culture”. HarperCollins

Publishers, New York

Reynolds. S (2009). “Stuck in the middle with you: Between pop and pretension”. The Guardian, 6

February

Rogers. J (2011) Band T-shirts: 'I warn you – don't throw them out'. The Guardian, 13 October

Strate. L (2011) “Marshall McLuhan's message was imbued with conservatism”. The Guardian, 26

July.

Teitel, J 2011, 'TURNED ON AND TUNED IN. (Cover story)', Maclean's, 124, 41, p. 50.

The Self help Industry is a Sham discuss

Salerno (2005), fiercely sleighs the construct of self-help; a multi-million pound industry, wielding a

somewhat unwholesome commoditisation of self-improvement, directed by the charismatic, yet

professionally unaccredited prowess of supposed transformational figureheads. Whilst these

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institutions claim to provide some epiphany for their paying customers, the mindless saturation of

the market, ranging from the bizarre and carnivalesque to banal repackaging of commonsense as

groundbreaking wisdom, means their inspirational promise becomes diluted (p.2). This DIY

interpretation of self-help by individuals eager to profit from its market popularity implores

spectators to ridicule industry legitimacy, despite the fact self-help has been proven to be effective

in some instances (McKendree-Smith et al, 2003; cited in Gellatly et al, 2007; p.1218).

Foucaldian theorists, Rimke(2000) and Hazelden(2003) transpire that the self-help movement is no

more than a reflection of enhanced societal interests in the psychological, encouraging increasing

ways of exploiting these “ideals” for the conservation of capitalistic “political objectives”, like

“consumption, profitability and efficiency” (Phillip, 2009; p 152-3). Because self-help is ultimately

“the product for modern capitalism” (Jordison, 2009), in the quest for salvation, the individual

becomes a servant to the system; the source of those very feelings of emptiness that primarily

sought solace in self-help.

Lasch (1979), theorised that the explosion of “therapy” had bred a society consumed by

“narcissism”, condemned to repeated pursuit of temporary material fulfilment (Hazleden, 2003,

p.113). This is reflected further by movements like “The Secret” and their “slickly marketed”

projection of “The universe” as “a giant vibrating ATM” and pure materialistic gain, playing upon

society’s preoccupation with vacuous wealth (Beato, 2007). Whilst this suggests the industry may

merely be responding to this new self-obsessed target market, there also lies the contention that the

industry itself exacerbated, if not produced this absurd superficial fixation (Hazleden, 2003, p.113).

Conversely, Lichterman (1992) purports that the predominantly “middle class” readers of self-help

literature are aware of its paltry spiritual underpinning and its empty, clichéd spiel, constantly

interpreting from a dismissive angle (p.427). Whilst this audience mockery, may undermine the

power of such literature, consumers continue to buy. Perhaps this is a worse outcome than genuine

belief, reflective of the cultural death of literature beneath the blockbuster might of self-help

(Salerno,2005; p.9). Moreover a “sick-note” subculture seems to have emerged, whereby the various

ailments of modern life promoted by self-help gurus has translated into a society constantly seeking

exemption from physical exertion via some artifice of mental illness and longing for sympathy

(Peacock, 2011).

Taylor (2011) stresses that the absurdly exaggerated therapeutic dramatisation by the likes of Tony

Robbins and Dr Phil, presents self-help almost as a parody of itself, a boldly ridiculous manifestation

of regurgitated machismo. Audiences realise they’re own manipulation, yet succumb, particularly

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since the once-elusive mystery of such therapy has become a mass-market normality, luring

consumers of all backgrounds through cheap relics of life-enhancement such as books and DVDs.

On the other hand, the success of self-help is, by definition, distinct to the individual experiencing it.

Despite the questionable methods of some self-help Charlatans, the worthiness of the experience

lies in its ability to engender a feeling of elation or achievement from the individual, however

misguided or temporary this may be. Despite Salerno’s (2005) argument that the market for self-

help and it’s retargeting of the same people every 18 months is a paradox in itself, these people

continue to buy (p.6). Thus, however brainwashed followers may be, they are ultimately hungry for

some feeling of self-enrichment and whether this is merely the product of “group cohesiveness”

within such followings (Galanter, 1990; p.544), much like religion, self-help, for some, provides a real

glimmer of hope in an otherwise dubious construct.

References

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Beato (2007) “The Secret of the Secret: A cult self-help DVD fleeces the credulous”. Reason.com.

April Issue. Available from: http://reason.com/archives/2007/03/15/the-secret-of-the-secret

[ Accessed 3 April, 2012]

Gallanter (1990). “Cults and zealous self-help movements: a psychiatric perspective”. The American

Journal of psychiatry. Volume: 147, Issue. 5

Gellatly, J, Bower, P, Hennessy, S, Richards, D, Gilbody, S, & Lovell, K (2007), 'What makes self-help

interventions effective in the management of depressive symptoms? Meta-analysis and meta-

regression', Psychological Medicine, Volume: 37, Issue. 9, pp. 1217-1228,

Hazleden, R (2003), 'Love yourself: The relationship of the self with itself in popular self-help texts',

Journal Of Sociology, Volume: 39, Issue. 4, pp. 413-428.

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