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From segmentation tofragmentation

Markets and marketing strategy in thepostmodern era

A. Fuat Firat and Clifford J. Shultz IIFaculty of Marketing, Ar izona State University West, School of

Management, Phoenix, USA

IntroductionThere have been several philosophical debates in the history of marketingthought about the disciplines mission and role within business and society.Among these debates are science versus art, the extent to which the marketingconcept should be broadened, and the recent debates on method and philosophy.From them emerged and continue to emerge new directions and challenges formarketing and marketers. Of course, these debates are (were) usually spurredby social forces or evolving business conditions that inspire(d) the need forfresh thinking. One of the most compelling forces today would appear to be theadvent of postmodernism. As a new perspective, which has been very effective

in the arts and humanities (Foster, 1985; Kaplan, 1987; Stephanson, 1988), aswell as in architecture (Jencks, 1987), postmodernism seems likely to make, andby some accounts is already making (Gitlin, 1989; Habermas, 1983; Hutcheon,1988; Jameson, 1992), an impact on contemporary culture, generally, andconsumer culture, specifically. This impact has not been lost on marketingscholars, many of whom have begun to examine postmodernism within thecontext of their discipline (Brown, 1993a, 1993b; Firat, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993;Firat and Venkatesh, 1993, 1995; Firat et al., 1993, 1994; Ogilvy, 1990; Sherry,1991; van Raaij, 1993; Venkatesh, 1989, 1992). Moreover, subsumed under theimpact of postmodernism across institutions is the belief that postmodernismmay also considerably affect the way that marketing organizations will need toconduct business into the next century. Indeed, themodus operandiformarketers in a postmodern era may be business as unusual. Consequently,there may be a need for traditional marketing management practitioners toreassess their assumptions about markets and the strategies they use to createcompetitive advantage and to capture market share.

Contributions by marketing scholars have generally focused on the implicitimpact of postmodernism on marketing (Brown, 1993a, 1993b; Firat, 1992; vanRaaij, 1993), yet our review of the literature led us to conclude that theimplications of postmodernism for strategic marketing have received little ifany attention from marketing scholars. Our objective, then, is to expand thediscussion of postmodernisms impact on the discipline of marketing and, more

European Journal of Marketing,Vol. 31 No. 3/4, 1997, pp. 183-207.

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specifically, to suggest strategic contingencies for marketing managers andresearch opportunities for marketing and consumer research scholars.

The expanding influence of postmodernismPostmodernism, for a time considered to be a fad by some members of almostall academic disciplines, could prove to be a serious contender as a newperspective from which to view and to act in the world, generally, and thebusiness world, specifically (see Brown, 1993b). This premiss clearly has far-reaching implications for marketing managers. Despite its academic andpopular adversaries (see Bhaskar, 1991; Eagleton, 1990; Habermas, 1983; Hill,1993), postmodernist insights and ideas seem to be commanding growing

attention and creating serious interest across many disciplines, includingarchitecture (Frampton 1983; Jencks, 1987), art (Levin, 1988; Wallis, 1984),philosophy (Derrida, 1982; Lyotard, 1984; Madison, 1988), literary criticism(Jameson, 1992; Wilson, 1989), womens studies (Nicholson, 1990) and history(Winders, 1991). Although marketing and consumer research disciplines havebeen relatively slow to recognize the impacts and existence of postmodernismas compared to sociology (Bauman, 1992), political science (Angus and Jhally,1989; Aronowitz, 1988), and even the management discipline (Bergquist, 1993),recently postmodernist implications have begun to be explored by marketingscholars (as previously cited). In marketing, these implications may be morethan practical, operational, or even theoretical. They may, by some accounts(Firat and Venkatesh, 1995), result in substantial redefinition of the character

and the role of the field. For example, an articulation of postmodernist insightsfor marketing and the consumers of a possibly postmodern era may suggestthat some of the most central tenets and/or principles of marketing e.g. themarketing concept be re-thought and modified extensively. The purpose ofthis paper is to explore these practitioner relevant implications, especially asthey pertain to segmentation and positioning, two of the most central andstrategic concepts in marketing management (Kotler, 1991).

Segmentation and positioning have been singled out because they arecornerstones of marketing management, yet emerging trends would suggesttraditional conceptions of either may not be as meaningful or satisfactory asonce thought, if we hope to understand or explain emerging market conditions.

Therefore, marketers may need to develop different conceptions andapproaches to segmentation and positioning if they wish to achieve marketingobjectives. The aforementioned literature implies the need for transformation(s)in how we view markets. That is, if and when postmodern changes (further)entrench themselves in our societies, no clear or specific recommendations havebeen promulgated that will enable practitioners to respond to the concomitantmarketing challenges. We intend to recommend proactive strategies andframeworks for marketers interested in successfully responding to thosechallenges.

To accomplish this task we shall refer to the framework developed by Firatand Venkatesh (1993), taking into consideration the extensions to this


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framework offered by van Raaij (1993) and Brown (1993a, 1993b). Theseauthors have provided insights into the complex and at times confusingdiscussions on the meaning and domain of postmodernist discourse and culturein order to discern the connections and mutual influences betweenpostmodernism and marketing. In this vein, each paper has proposed severalconnections between postmodernism and, for example, marketing andadvertising practices, which demonstrate the postmodernist tendencies ofmarketing, especially in recent years.

In their framework, Firat and Venkatesh (1993) offer five conditions ofpostmodern culture:

(1) hyperreality;(2) fragmentation;

(3) reversal of consumption and production;

(4) decentring of the subject; and

(5) paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites)

and a general consequence of these conditions loss of commitment. Van Raaij(1993) adds to these conditions the consequence of openness, which he definesas pluralism; that is, pluralism as the dominant approach to all relationships, oras the acceptance of difference. Brown further expands the framework byarticulating three tendencies of the postmodern consumer(s):

(1) readiness for living a perpetual present;

(2) emphasis on form/style (Brown, 1993b); and

(3) greater acceptance of or resignation to (a) state(s) of disorder and chaos(Brown, 1993a).

Brief descriptions of these conditions are provided in Table I. The purpose ofthis paper is not to discuss postmodernismper sesince such discussion isavailable in the aforementioned literature. Instead, we shall try to elaboratepoints that will help us to provide some further understanding of thetransformation mentioned in the title of this paper: From segmentation tofragmentation.

A recognition of the rudimentary aspects of a transition from modernity topostmodernity will highlight the differences that such a transformation will

affect on the constitution of the market. We shall discuss these marketimplications of the transition throughout the following sections of the paper. Weshall also propose, at different points in the paper, marketing strategies that willbe required to keep up with or proactively respond to the changes in the market.

Foundations of modern marketing thoughtA brief discussion of the tenets of modern marketing is in order to help a betterunderstanding of the changes required for transition to postmodern marketingstrategies. Marketing thought and practice have experienced changes in


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orientations and approaches across history. While present in the practices ofcertain organizations early in the development of modern business practices(Fullerton, 1988), modern marketing thought has not dominated practice untilafter the Second World War (Kotler, 1972). Modern marketing is distinguishablefrom other marketing orientations in several aspects, among which is the

marketing concept. This concept, as articulated by several marketingscholars (e.g. Alderson, 1965; Bagozzi, 1975; Kotler, 1972; Kotler and Levy, 1969;Levy and Zaltman, 1975) captures many of the more essential characteristics ofmodern marketing; characteristics which reflect its indebtedness to tenets ofmodernism in general.

Modern thought put the subject (human being) at the centre and elaboratedthe project of modernity in terms of the relationships this subject develops withthe objects he or she acts on in order to improve conditions of life. The totalityof these subject-object relations constitute the economy, and the rationality of

Postmodern conditions Brief descriptions

Openness/tolerance Acceptance of difference (different styles, ways of beingand living) without prejudice or evaluations of superiorityand inferiority

Hyperreality Constitution of social reality through hype or simulationthat is powerfully signified and represented

Perpetual present Cultural propensity to experience everything (includingthe past and future) in the present, here and now

Paradoxical juxtapositions Cultural propensity to juxtapose anything with anythingelse, including oppositional, contradictory and essentially

unrelated elementsFragmentation Omnipresence of disjointed and disconnected moments

and experiences in life and sense of self and the growingacceptance of the dynamism which leads to fragmentationin markets

Loss of commitment Growing cultural unwillingness to commit to any singleidea, project or grand design

Decentring of the subject Removal of the human being from the central importanceshe or he held in modern culture and the increasingacceptance of the potentials of his/her objectfication

Reversal of consumption and Cultural acknowledgement that value is created not inproduction production (as posited by modern thought) but in

consumption and the subsequent growth of attentionand importance given to consumption

Emphasis on form/style Growing influence of form and style (as opposed tocontent) in determining meaning and life

Acceptance of disorder/chaos Cultural acknowledgement that rather than order, crisesand disequilibria are the common states of existence andthe subsequent acceptance and appreciation of thiscondition

Table I.Brief description ofpostmodern conditions


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managing these relations is the substance of economics. It could be claimed,therefore, that the economy and its science, economics, had to take centrestage in modern society. In fact, it would be difficult to argue the contrary; thatthe economy does not constitute the major interest in modern society. Thedominant train of thought throughout modern history has been that if theeconomy is not healthy, nothing else can survive.

Marketing and the marketing concept tend to be products of this modernistfocus on the economy. The success of the marketing organization is contingenton the acceptance of its products in the market and to the resolution of theproduct offering in a market exchange (in a transaction involving economicresources). Marketing textbooks (see Bagozzi, 1986; Kotler, 1991; Park and

Zaltman, 1987; Stanton, 1975) usually indicate that the final purpose ofmarketing practice is to maximize in the long-term (or optimize) suchexchanges, or sales, and thereby, profits. While the social reason for being(raison dtr e/justification of existence) is professed to be the satisfaction ofconsumer needs, existence is proclaimed to be possible only througheconomic/financial success in a competitive environment. Given that the wholesocietys existence depends on economic health, economically rationalbehaviour becomes central to the operation of any institution or entity, and thefocal importance of the health of the economy above all else (including, somecritics would contend (Evernden, 1989; Henion, 1976), human, animal and plantlife) is reaffirmed in the individual behaviours of marketing organizations.Social and political order comes to be perceived as dependent on a healthy

economic order (Schmookler, 1992). Each marketing organization reflects thisorder in its own operations. One major reflection is in the centrality of theproduct and each products contribution to the success of the organization,since, in modernism, economic value is represented in and by the benefitsinherent to the uses of the product. In other words, value is a property of theproduct; it is [t]he total utility which is yielded by the objectin question(Bannock et al ., 1978). The marketing organization realizes or actualizeseconomic value through its products. One reason for the centrality of theproduct is that modern marketing presupposes that value for the consumer ismaterialized in the prescribed benefits of product attributes being offered, andthat it is this value which results in consumer satisfaction. Postmodernistswould suggest that all of the above assertions are suspect, as we shall discuss.

The above premisses are also reflected on the conceptualizations of theconsumer in modern thought. The consumer, as the subject at the centre of themodernist project, is an individual with a mind that can be independent fromthe natural, sensational (emotional) limitations and weaknesses of the body(Rorty, 1979). As such a subject, the consumer is not only conceptualized to bethe centre of the modernist project (i.e., improving human lives by controllingnature through scientific technologies), but also to be very centred, self-conscious, and committed to a reasoned and reasonable goal or end.Consequently, modern marketing thought tends to hold that a unity (in some


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arguments, authenticity) of self or self-concept, a sense of ones identity andcharacter, can and does exist. The consumer, then, armed with such a unitedconcept of self and a commitment to it (many times represented in a personalquest) strives for the satisfaction of (clearly) identified needs for this self. Suchunity of purpose, character and self logically suggests a stability in theconsumers orientations and behaviour. This allows segmentation intorelatively homogeneous behaviour/need/orientation groups, or the more recenttypes (as in the VALS typology) possible and useful as a marketing principleand tool.

Postmodern impacts on marketingOpenness/tolerancePostmodernists have argued that many of the modernist premisses, includingthose which shaped modern marketing thought, are based on myths, in thesame vein that any social existence is (Campbell, 1990). The postmodernistposition is generally that since all social experience is founded on a narrative that is, a story constructed by a social group about life, its conditions, and itsrequirements in which a community believes and, by acting upon such belief,transforms it into the social realityit experiences, no narrative ought to have aprivileged status. Postmodernism, therefore, is open to and tolerant of allnarratives, even including the modernist ones, as long as they tolerate othernarratives also. They do, however, challenge and object to, especially, twoaspects of modern narratives: the modernist assumption that a social realityindependent of a socially constructed one (or of human agency) exists; and themodernist claim to having the only true way of objectively knowing and,therefore, accurately representing this reality thanks to traditional methods ofscientific enquiry. These aspects suggest that knowledge and understandingcan only be determined by a given set of prescribed orientations and methods,however imperfect, whereas for the postmodernist as for Mill (1859/1978) orNietzsche (1954) richer insights may be provided by knowing that theimperfections of ones methods limit how much one may ever know.Postmodernist thought especially challenges these narratives because,perceiving such a unique quality in themselves, the modernist narrativessuggest superiority to all others and tend to reject all others as irrational,insensible, unrealistic, utopian, and even as fantasy and palmistry.

Unfortunately for those who would wish to benefit from postmodernistinsights, there may seem to be an incommensurate ontological schism betweenmodernist and postmodernist positions. As opposed to the knowing subject ofmodernity, postmodernism conceptualizes the consumer as the communicatingsubject, one who actively communicates the social reality she or he prefers tolive rather than passively inheriting one constructed without his/herparticipation. Marketing in a postmodern culture, therefore, has to be open toand tolerant of the non-traditional demands communicated by consumers,including those of interference into organizational cultures.


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Hyperreali ty and perpetual presentThe disillusionments with the modernist project have given rise to manydiverse movements, especially in the most modern societies of the world, whichseem to have eroded the commitment to modernity. One result of the erosion ofcommitment to modernity is an increasing tendency and willingness on thepart of the members of society to seek the simulated reality rather than anextant reality, imposing and immutable (Baudrillard, 1983; Eco, 1986; Postman,1985). There are many indications of this tendency that have an impact onmarketing. One is the transformation of our urban centres into theme parks(Sorkin, 1993). Indeed, the city, itself, the reality that much of modern societyexperiences in everyday life, is a simulation completely constructed by the

human imagination (Gottdiener and Lagopoulos, 1986). Yet, increasingly, wefind different sections of our cities replicating/reflecting different thematicconstructions. In Beverly Hills, California, for example, one finds Rodeo Drive(named Via Rodeo), a very well-known part of this well-known town,representing a theme from Rome. The shopping malls, most imposing parts ofour (sub)urban experience, of course, are theme parks in their own right. TheBorgata in Scottsdale, Arizona, which replicates a Renaissance Italian town, orthe Raffles Center in Singapore, the Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia,represent good examples of this thematization of these important landmarks ofour time, where, possibly, outside their homes and work places, (sub)urbanpopulations may be spending the largest portions of their time. Clearly,however, shopping malls do not stand alone as theme parks. Thematization is

well integrated into work areas, park areas, wharf areas, etc. In this sense,markets are increasingly de(re)constructed by thematizing marketers inconjunction with the consumers who seek the simulated experiences thatenhance and re-enchant their present encounters with(in) life.

For postmodernist observers of contemporary culture, these environmentsrepresent a nostalgia on the part of contemporary urban populations forexperiencing what, in the imagination, once was or could have been. This is apartly disinterested nostalgia, however, not a wish to be indeed transportedtotally into such a time or existence, but only voyeuristically to experience it forthe moment that it excites and titillates the senses. Furthermore, this interest isnot solely for what could have been in the past but also in the future. It is therepresentation of an imagined past or future in the present, and the present isthe period on to which postmodernism turns its gaze. Premodern culturefocused on the past, the modern culture on the future. The focus inpostmodernism is: r ight here, r ight now. But this immediacy does not have tostabilize, become uniform and boring. The postmodern consumer wants toexperience the diversity of many themes, past and future, not get fixed in anysingle one.

The hyperreal reality based on simulation (Baudrillard, 1993; Eco, 1986) allows the realization of this wish. The touristic consumer samples the manysights, sounds, themes and tastes of yesterday and tomorrow which are allnow and here, in the present (Gitlin, 1989) immersing themself into the


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experiences and moving among them to experience each for a moment, as longas it keeps its appeal. The postmodern consumer seeks those experiences thatcan make present all or most of the exciting elements of space/time settingswithout the difficulties and hardships. This postmodern claim seems to findsupport in the interest that consumers display for the IMAX Theatre at theGrand Canyon where they can reallyexperience the canyon in all its (historic)grandeur without the trekking, the heat or the cold, and the possibility ofmissing many sights. The interest in simulation seems to be evident in the factthat visitors to the cloud forest in Costa Rica have to be shown in slide shows allthat they will miss when hiking the forest. It is evident in the numbers oftourists who visit EPCOT Centers World Showcase in Disney World, Orlando,

Florida, from around the world to experience Paris and London and Italy andMorocco, etc. It is evident in the interest in the volcano in front of The MirageHotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the safari at Fossil Rim Park in Texas, and the SanFrancisco earthquake showcase on Pier 39 in San Francisco. Each place is onewhere consumers go to have sensational experiences without the dangersinvolved. Finally, it is very evident in the extraordinary interest exhibited in allmedia for the coming advent of virtual reality and/or integrativecommunication technologies that will allow simulated presence and sharing ofvirtual spaces by people actually far away from each other (Bylinsky, 1991;Dail y News T r ibune, 1990). The success of the marketing examples aboveindicate the greater attention marketing organizations have to give to thehyperreal and its representation in the present.

Fragmentation and loss of commitmentRather than suppress fragmentation or try to find unifying themes to resolve it,postmodernism calls for an unabashed practice of it. Recognition of the abovediscussed interest among the consumers of, especially, contemporary marketeconomies in experiencing the different simulated existences, and aninterpretation of human history in terms of socially constructed realities, lendsvalidity to making such a call. This is a call for a tolerance towards differentways of being, life styles and realities. The postmodern sensibility evenencourages the experiencing of many different ways of being, not conformingor committing only to a single one. Such a stance clearly allows for anexpansion of fragmentation, of fragmented moments of experience andexistence in a lifetime. Since contemporary consumers find commitment to asingle project or metanarrative across modernity to have brought little promisebut much misery, they have an affinity to not commit or conform to any unified,consistent, centred field, idea, system, or narrative(Jay, 1986; Lyotard; 1992;Wilson, 1989), or regime of truth (Foucalt, 1980). Fragmentation seems to beomnipresent in the everyday lives of modern consumers.

Indeed, to the postmodern observer, fragmentations abound in everyday lifeexperiences. They dominate the media, the most important and omnipresentmode of exposure to our universe in contemporary society. Fragmentation inthe medium of television permeates advertisements, music videos, situation


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comedies and other programmes. Advertisements and music videos,increasingly resembling each other, are collages of fleeting moments that excitethe senses, yet rarely connect to a central, unified theme or focus. Consider theJust do it Nike advertisements. The purpose of the collage is to leave theconsumer not with a centred idea or cognition but with an overall image, animage that is, itself, not linked to the fragmented images in the collage, buttriggered by their impact on the senses. The programmes on television or themost popular films from the movie establishments are not really that different.Each is made up of largely independent but highly exciting, short, fleetingsegments that stand on their own through their spectacular qualities, whethertechnical, artistic or stylistic. While in modern film, for example, each scene

was constructed to contribute to the narration of a story line, as postmoderntrends diffuse in the film industry, films increasingly concentrate on thespectacle with inconsequential story lines that enable the spectacular scenesthat can be created through technique and style (Marchetti, 1989). Similarfragmentation is also experienced in the spoken or printed vignettes on theradio or in newspapers and magazines, as well as in the highlighted brandnames that flash by on billboards to reinforce the experiences on television andfilms. The fragmentation in everyday life experiences and the loss ofcommitment to any single way of being result in bricolage markets, that isconsumers who do not present a united, centred self and, therefore, set ofpreferences, but instead a jigsaw collage of multiple representations of selvesand preferences even when approaching the same product category. The market

is increasingly constituted of individual consumers who, for example, expresspreference for punk, grunge, conservative and preppy clothing stylessimultaneously (Lacayo, 1994; Tully, 1994). In effect, the market may beconstituted of tribes which allow greater freedom of movement within andamong them than did any class, sub-culture or segment (Cova, 1995).

Paradoxical juxtapositionsAs well as fragmented from each other, postmodernists would argue that thesefleeting spectacles are also fragmented from any context (Gitlin, 1989). They donot belong within a specific context or history. Anything can be juxtaposed toanything else. Everything takes place in the present, here, that is, nowhere inparticular(Gitlin, 1989, p. 350). On television, as well as in other media thatdominate much of our lives, we see programmes, including news programmes,where events, scenes and personalities are often superimposed and juxtaposedon to each other from completely independent and disconnected contexts. Suchfragmentation from contexts in our media surrounding and informing usreinforces, for the modernist critic, a failure on the part of the youngpostmodern generation to connect to history and other worldly events aroundthem (American Broadcasting Corporation, 1988). For the postmoderngeneration that extends from Berlin, to Bangkok, to Boston and that is perhapsbest represented by the MTV generation, Generation X, and the Boom Busters well over 100 million consumers between the ages of 15 and 29 (seeBusiness


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Week, 1992; Tully, 1994) this is an alternative form of being and, ultimately,consumption; one that liberates from more modernist pressures to conform tothe status quo.

Such postmodern existence is reinforced by another set of fragmentations;that of the signifier from the signified, the object from the function, and theproduct from the need. That all signifiers are only arbitrarily linked to thesignified (and the referent) has been well recognized by semioticians at leastsince Saussure and Pierce (Eco and Thomas, 1983; Santambrogio and Violi,1988). The link is only pragmatic, that is, culturally, linguistically imposed. Asin the case of marketing campaigns, the free-floating signifiers can begainfully employed in (re)signification. They can be constantly imbued with

novel or nostalgic or reinforced meanings to represent a multiplicity of ideas,things and positions.

As in the case of the fissure between the signifier and the signified, so is thereone between the object and its function. All objects, including those specificallyproduced for a particular function, are, nevertheless, only arbitrarily connectedto that function. Imagine, for example, the number of different uses a child oreven an adult not acculturated to a Western kitchen could find for a kitchenimplement, such as a mixer. This freedom of objects from their intendedfunctional uses was well recognized by surrealist and other artists, such asDuchampet al., who turned utilitarian objects (toilet seats, meat grinders, Coca-Cola bottles) into icons and art pieces in their own right.

Finally, given a postmodern analysis, the product acquired in the market is

independent of the need(s) for which the consumer initially sought it and theproducer provided it. This, of course, is just an extension of the separation ofthe object from its original function. In effect, the consumer acquires the productfor the image that it represents, and this image is only partially, if at all,constructed on the basis of a functional need. Furthermore, a single product iscapable of representing multiple images, as signified by culture and by themarketing effort. Consequently, the disconnectedness of images and productsfrom each other, from their original contents and from their contexts, iscomplete.

Decentr ing, consumption/production reversal, and the emergence of theHomoconsumericus

The fragmentations discussed certainly reflect on the everyday life and being ofthe consumer. Marketings growing influence and role in human life, in terms ofan increasing, almost complete, domination of life by the products purchased inthe market, renders the consumers life a series of fragmented self-definitionsdetermined by consumption. In consuming each product, as the consumer eatsa frozen dinner, watches television, feeds the cat, washes dirty clothes in theclothes washer, they are involved in an independent, separate task which is onlyconnected in the cultures imaginary narratives of purpose regarding a healthylife, a long life, an enjoyable life, a free life, etc. The consumer is no longerdefined by the cost/benefit assessments of choices, but by the experiences


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acquired through consumption. Yet these are indeed narratives through whichconsumers seem to seek a central, unified meaning and purpose for a life that isincreasingly fragmented into moments dominated by tasks required byproducts consumed. In effect, these are modernist narratives, products of themodernist imaginary (Kellner, 1989).

Conversely, postmodern consumers are said to be transcending thesenarratives, no longer seeking centred, unified characters, but increasinglyseeking to feel goodin separate, different moments by acquiring self-imagesthat make them marketable, likeable, and/or desirable in each situation ormoment. As a result, one finds a growing playfulness with the game ofsimulating and switching images to make the best of each situation in which the

consumer finds themself (Ewen, 1988; Kaplan, 1987; Moyers, 1989). In short,modernistHomo sapiensevolved intoHomo economicus, a creature defined bytime and resource allocations, costs and benefits. The postmodern individualhas evolved intoHomo consumericus, a creature defined by consumption andthe experiences derived therefrom.

Thus occurs the fragmentation of the self. In postmodern culture, the self isnot consistent, authentic or centred (Gergen, 1991; Laing, 1969). Postmodernistswill argue that it never was, in its core, or in tendency, but that in modernity theillusion of such a self was sanctified and, therefore, sought. The postmoderngeneration has transcended this quest and neither seeks it nor feels a guilt innot seeking it. On the contrary, this ability to switch images and representdifferent selves by switching products that represent the images allowing

oneself to lay claim to powerful successful images is considered as a liberationas freedom from monotony, boredom and the necessity to conform. Manyconsumers, for example, find energy, excitement and fun in playingpersonalities through look-alike parties, contests and life styles (Moyers,1989). On the other hand, in societies where modern culture and rhetoric are stillstrong, the experience of seeking such image and personality switching, suchendless array of situations necessitating variations, seems to create, in someindividuals, a counter-seeking of conformity and belonging to permanent andtightly-knit groups, such as cults and gangs, or clubs and other groups ofvarious sizes that require conformity based on an array of agendas.

In a market exchange economy, all these self-images are represented throughthe products acquired in the market and, thus, the market becomes the locus ofrealizing the fragmented self, the fragmented moments of feeling good. Themarket is, itself, fragmented, since it appears to have no central, unified agenda.It is construed of many consumers and products, and all relationships in themarket are truly momentary; each transaction requiring no deep commitmenton the part of the consumer. Indeed, the consumer can do a trial purchase, aslong as the buying power is present, and drop the product, or use it momentarilyas required in representing an image in one situation, then move to another,with other products. The moments of involvement in the market are, thereby,fragmented. Yet, in contemporary times where the market mentality is sopervasive, the consumer seeks self-images to be marketable that is, to be


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represented in a social or economic market and these marketable self-imagesare represented through acquisition of products in the market. In this sense, themarket and its fragmentation become the centre of all activity and the mediumthrough which all is signified and represented without the appearance of anyunified purpose, ideology, or narrative. This may indicate, contrary to thepostmodernist claims that all meta-narratives have come to an end, theexistence, at this juncture of the postmodern, of a new meta-narrative that is notrecognizable with the modernist categories and constructs that historicallyenabled the perception of existence of a meta-narrative. Fragmentation, itself,and its medium, the market, constitute, in fact, this new meta-narrative. Thedeliberate practice of the market, marketing, then becomes the culture of

contemporary life. For consumers to fulfil their desires, marketingorganizations will need to empower the consumers to become marketers of (self)images themselves.

Emphasis on form/styleThe fragmentation, the dynamic of continuous communication of new imagesand imaginaries through creative signification and representation of free-floating signifiers subsequently necessitates that each communicative momentbe independently exciting. In the culture of disjointed images (re)presented incollages the possibility of substantive linkages among and withincommunicative moments is greatly eliminated and an increasing sophisticationin form and style, where technique and pace gain utmost importance, is

necessitated. The communicating, touristic, customizer markets (consumers),and the marketers, rely on the form and the style of their communicativemessages (whether it be in verbal, visual, sonic or other media) to address andrepresent their content. Form becomes content in remaining the only way torepresent it (Ewen, 1988). Concurrently, the markets become image rather thanbrand markets, remaining loyal to brand names only as long as they maintainfresh and up-to-date images a circumstance experienced by brand names suchas Brylcreem, Ovaltine and Lifebuoy (Elliott, 1993). In effect, the markets arefluid, constantly ready to switch and re-switch, constantly ready to try severalor many images, brands and products, both sequentially and simultaneously.

This is, by no means, a senseless try anything movement, however. Theimage must be right it must be the image sought whether in terms of qualityand value, or in terms of expressing the consumers own momentary image.Marketers better get things right, especially when it comes to cultural icons(Steinhauer, 1994).

Acceptance of disorder /chaosThe ability to move among the fragmented moments and experiences heightensthe scepticism among contemporary consumers that a single order is present ornecessary. Rather, the consumer generally takes the existence of disorder andchaos as the norm with the cognizance that different orders, even if temporaryand momentary, is to be constructed through signifying actions and


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negotiations with others and with the objects. The markets, therefore, have to beconsidered as fluid and not stable.

In the postmodernist sensibility, chaos and disorder are not to be feared butto be critically played with. Increasing numbers of consumers seem to have losttheir trust in the industrial, technological order which promised brighter andimproved futures but largely failed to provide it for large majorities of theworlds population although the successes in medical technologies cannot bedenied, they are considered to have benefited small minorities around the world instead creating much pollution, misery, loss of responsibility, depletion of theEarths resources, extinction of species, and possibilities of immensedestruction (Baudrillard, 1987; Chomsky, 1989; Kellner, 1990; Postman, 1985)

Therefore, marketing strategies that will provide the possibilities for criticalplay with chaos and disorder will empower the contemporary consumers, givethem greater control over the order(s) they wish to see in their lives, and bringsuccess to the marketing organization.

Marketing in postmodern cultureIn a culture of fragmentation where consumers are neither committed to norcaptivated by a single narrative, state of being, or self, and where they asserttheir existence through the power of the images they represent (Moyers, 1989),marketing indeed becomes the cultural sensibility. Both the spectacles, nowrepresenting attractive images and vying for consumers momentaryexperiences, and the consumers themselves, representing images that make

them attractive in different moments, have to acquire the marketing acumen. Inan environment where there is increasingly less commitment to any onespectacle, product, brand, but only a momentary attachment so long as theimage represented is seductive, as experienced by several brands that enjoyedhigh popularity for a period, such as LA Gear and, to a certain extent, Lacoste a continual (re)production, (re)formulation, (re)positioning and (re)generationof images (image marketing) is necessitated. In a system of fragmentednarratives where none has power beyond the image that it represents throughsignifying the elements of the bricolage it offers, success is only possiblethrough a marketing sensibility that recognizes the linguistic, symbolic andcommunicative aspects of signifiers to employ and (re)signify them in ways thatrepresent spectacular images. Any signifier (including theHomo consumer icus)that cannot achieve this tends to be lost in the market, now the only medium ofexistence.

The postmodern consumer, therefore, recognizes that they are not just aconsumer, but a customizer and a producer of (self-)images at each consumptivemoment (Firat et al., 1995). Marketing with a postmodern perspective must nolonger conceptualize any consumer unit as a point of conclusion (the end user),but as a moment in the continual cycle of (re)production. And, since thisconsumer is no longer representing a centred, unified, consistent, single self-image, but a fragmented and fluid set of self-images, conceptualizing theconsumer as a member of a relatively homogeneous market segment is


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increasingly difficult. Rather, marketers will have to revisualize the market as aset of fragments, as we shall discuss. Already, marketing organizations arerealizing that they may be encountering segments of one (Blattberg andDeighton, 1991). That is, as consumers are starting to seek unique self-imagesand computer technologies are allowing, in some cases, personalized productionof products, the segments are breaking up into individual customers. Anexample is the advent of personalized greeting cards. While modernity createdmass-production of greeting cards with their specialized messages for differentsegments and occasions, computerization now allows personalized messages,yet still on mass-produced cards. The personalization of the cards themselves isalso likely to follow soon, since technology allows it and fragmentationdemands it. This forces the greeting card company to transform from one ofmanufacturing and marketing greeting cards (aproduct) to one of marketing aprocesswhereby consumers can, themselves, produce cards. In Japan, somemarketers of kitchens are using virtual reality technology to allow the futureowners of kitchens to participate in the designing of their kitchens (Bylinski,1991). The customer is increasingly becoming the customizer (McKenna, 1988;Moyers, 1989). Such transformation is likely to affect many, if not most,marketing organizations, especially since it enables consumers to constructdifferent versions of products that in their imagination best represent theimages they wish to create when marketing themselves. Furthermore, givenfragmentation, marketing techniques which allow consumers to constructdifferent styles, forms, types and versions of the same product for use in

representing different self-images in different situations (spectacle marketing)are likely to become necessary. This may most likely require the greatestingenuity and creativity on the part of organizations that market high-pricedurable products.

Marketing strategy in fragmented marketsFragmented markets are likely to render segmentation strategies andtechniques founded on the more traditional bases of segmentation, such asdemographics and psychographics, and even the more recent typologies (forexample, VALS typology (Mitchell, 1984)) less and less useful. Such strategiesdepended on the modern premisses, discussed earlier in the paper, regarding,for example, a consistent, centred and unified character or self-concept for the

consumer. The consumer was conceptualized as a subject, a human being whowas qualitatively different from objects and who acted on and through objectsto realize superordinate goals for life. Ability to act on and manipulate objectsto fulfil the goal in the future afforded this consumer their power. Thepostmodern consumer is conceptualized (and conceptualizes themself) in asubstantially different way, as a product which asserts its power throughobjectification, (re)presenting an image, thereby, the ability to seduce(Baudrillard, 1990) in order to achieve a position that makes one marketable inthe present, in each moment of exposure. For postmodern consumer markets,


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using segmentation strategies that try to constrain or anchor consumers to asingle, consistent, stable way of behaving is likely to lead to marketing failure.

Fragmented markets and fragmented experiences signal both the increasingpossibility and maybe necessity and the growing consumer desire for fluidmovements among different experiences, images and meanings in and throughlife. As a result, the offerings of marketing organizations that have greatersensitivity to changes in the market and the desires of contemporary consumersexhibit the postmodern characteristics discussed above. We are witnessing thesuccess of those marketers who provide consumers with products that helpprojection of (self-)images and, especially, of those marketers who offerconsumers (con)texts within which consumers can have experiences and

experiment with (self-)images different from those required by the roles theyplayed in modern society. Las Vegas, which T ime Magazinedeclared as theNew All American City (Anderson, 1994), a city that has flourished evenduring times of general economic stagnation in the USA, and a city that manypostmodernists consider as the prototype postmodern space, is a case in point.It is increasingly being constructed as a city of themes and is no longer simplya gambling town. The themes offered to the consumers, such as Ancient Egypt(Luxor Hotel), Roman Empire (Ceasars Palace Hotel), or pirate land (TreasureIsland Hotel), present such (con)textual experiences and represent experimentstoward postmodern marketing. We must assess these experiments, along withthose of Disney, Universal Studios, Nike Town, Legoland and others asexamples of early (or immature) postmodern marketing, however. While they

allow consumers different experiences and possibilities of playing with (self)images, they are highly commercial and predetermined offerings not leavingmuch scope for the consumer to participate in their design and construction. Amore mature postmodern marketing practice will empower consumers forgreater participation in such play and construction of experiences, images andmeanings.

An example of relatively more mature postmodern marketing may bepresented by the Electronic Caf International experiment (Galloway andRabinowitz, 1989). Started by two artists in Santa Monica, California, electroniccafs now about 50 exist around the world provide an environment in whichconsumers from all walks of life can experiment with new integrativeinformation and communication technologies, including virtual reality andhypermedia technologies, in order to try out and construct experiences they feelmay be maningful. As already mentioned, mature postmodern marketingstrategies will be those that empower the consumers to become partners withmarketing organizations as influential participants in the construction ofexperience(s) and (self-)images when and if they choose.

Currently, as we have tried to express, such constructions are greatlydependent on the market and on the ability to make the images and offeringsmarketable. This is due to the growing influence of the market globally.However, the meanings and the difference that the consumers are seeking toconstruct in their lives may come to be considered to be restrained and limited


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by the necessities of making them marketable. Postmodern marketers,therefore, need to be alert and ready to respond to significant qualitativetransformations in the very nature of the market itself.

Is it at all possible to plan and develop marketing strategies in anenvironment of fragmented and fluid spectacles, images and lives? How doesany marketer, including the consumer, market their products themself andknow which images will attract? The purpose of the remainder of this paper isto propose some answers to these questions in order to alert opinion leaders andinnovators in the field of marketing to the possible opportunities and pitfalls ina possibly increasingly postmodern global market.

Image is the productWhile modernist meta-narratives declared that value was a property of theproduct and that the image represented this value, as we discussed earlier in thepaper, the postmodernist insights regarding the simulation and the symbolictend to lead to a claim that the relationship between the product and the imageare reversed. Marketing practitioners have known for a long time that, in manyinstances, the products image determines whether an exchange isconsummated. The consumer purchases a product to realize the value that theyperceive in the image. For marketing to be successful, therefore, the productmust represent the image well; otherwise the consumer will be disappointed.

Thus, value is the property of the image, it is the image that the consumer seeks,especially at a time when the principal goal of theHomo consumer icusis to

(re)produce and (re)present oneself as an image. Marketers need to think interms of (re)producing images and of then constructing products that representthe images. That is, they must think in terms of products representing theimages, not images representing the products.

In concordance with the increasing importance of the symbolic and theimage over the functional (specifically, utilitarian functions) and the material,the images that the consumers seek in objects (products) are likely toincreasingly emphasize the symbolic aspects. That is, the image of the object islikely to be increasingly dependent not on the (utilitarian) functions it servesbut on its contributions to self-image and its contributions to happiness (orfeeling good). Consequently, there is a need to pay greater attention to the tacitand the visceral, especially to thefeelingsof the consumers. How consumersfeel,therefore, is going to play an increasingly important role among who they are(demographics), what they do(activities and interests, life styles), what theythink(opinions and beliefs), and what they value(values and attitudes), aspectsof consumer behaviour that have been more heavily researched in modernmarketing. Researchers can expect to find feelings to be more fluid or ficklethan the other variables, that is changing more often and rather substantially asthe consumers move from one situation or life sphere to another. We are defininglife spheres as the domains within which an individual performs, usually atdifferent moments of their life. These spheres are, generally, culturallyconsidered or perceived to be relatively separate from each other in that the


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individual rarely transports the roles he or she plays in one sphere into another.In contemporary society, such life spheres within which consumers will mostlikely seek different images include, but are not limited to, the work sphere, thedomestic sphere and the recreational sphere. It is imporant to recognize thatsince the spheres are culturally constructed and bound, they are dynamic and inrather constant (re)definition.

Fragmented imagesIf the arguments of the postmodernist scholars are correct, it will be ratherfutile to try to find consistent, centred, or stable self-images in postmodernmarkets. Rather, within each life sphere there will be several self-images that a

single consumer may subscribe to at different times, under differentcircumstances. Therefore, in postmodern markets the marketers purpose willincreasingly be to understand the elements of the types of images representedin Figure 1, for example, in order to try to provide processes for the consumersto immerse themselves into and find the elements that they seek in(re)presenting and (re)producing their self-images. It is possible that researchwill expose the existence of greater affinity among certain images in differentlife spheres, as illustrated by three such spheres in Figure 2. There may befound, therefore, some image clusters within and across life spheres. While it isunlikely to expect any single postmodern consumer to adhere to any singleimage within the life spheres (due to the aforementioned fragmentations), theremay be higher propensities to switch among certain images that belong to the

same clusters (due to the image clusters). Any image cluster should beconsidered rather temporary and transitory, however, given the characteristicsof postmodern markets. Furthermore, it may be reasonable to expect that thelife spheres that seem to be so clearly defined and different at present that is,work life, domestic life, and life outside the home spent for recreation andleisure, for example, are currently rather well delineated from each other willbegin to merge, either creating new configurations of life spheres or a life that isnot differentiable into distinct spheres, but completely fragmented intodispersed moments.

Figure 1.Constitution of images


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Merging of the consumer and the producer (organization)Based on our discussion of the developments observed in postmodernculture(s), we have already tried to illustrate the increasing propensity of theconsumer to act as a producer. This propensity seems to occur along twodimensions: theHomo consumer icusperceives themself as a product to be(re)presented in market(s), and participates in the market to (re)produce theirmarketable self-image(s); and they increasingly become a partner in the processof production of the products that they use in (re)producing their self-images.Both dimensions indicate a merging of the consumer and the producer since ateach instance of activity there is, simultaneously, both consumption andproduction occurring as the individual consumes products she or he finds inthe market, for example, they are (re)producing their self, both physically andmentally. At each moment, whether there is a clear and conscious intention onthe part of the individual or not, consumption also produces the self-images.

Figure 2.Fragmented images inlife spheres


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Given the postmodernist insights, therefore, consumption and production areinseparable, contrary to the modernist contentions and efforts to define thesetwo moments separately (Mill, 1967/1836; Say, 1964/1821). Coincidentally, theconsumer is also a producer at each moment. Postmodernist insights may alertus to the fact that, while culturally we may wish to make a distinction betweenthe two (i.e. consumption and production, consumer and producer) to help usorder things in our own minds, any distinction is only arbitrary. The culturalrecognition of such identity of consumption and production, consumer andproducer, and the technological advancements in the computer/informationfield which allow greater customization in organized production, may be theimpetus behind the greater participation of the individual in the process of

production, not as an employee of the producing organization but as itscustomer/partner.

We mentioned above the examples of personalized greeting cards and virtualreality kitchens whereby the customer participates in the process of finalizationof certain features of the product that they will eventually possess and use.Clearly, such offerings of process instead of a product are at their early stages.

Yet, if we were to carry this trend to its logical end, it represents a merging of thecustomer and the organization, where the customer becomes a complete partnerin the production process(es) of the organization(s). While, currently, this mayseem far in the future, it also seems to be an increasingly inevitable trend formany product categories and services. The implications of postmodernconditions for the market and for marketing strategies discussed above are

summarized in Table II.

Future researchCertainly, social trends and the emergence ofHomo consumer icuswouldsuggest the mutually evolving concepts of marketing and postmodernism, i.e.postmodern marketing, warrant further research. We believe the mostcompelling research would investigate the developments in the market and thecorresponding marketing responses to these developments. To a large extent,this paper discussed the developments that are taking place in contemporarymarkets as a result of the postmodern trends by utilizing the insights frommostly postmodernist observers of the qualitative changes that are occurring.One of the central conclusions from the discussions was that the realm of

images is increasingly asserting its dominance, both in terms of whatconsumers seek and in terms of determining what value(s) the products in themarket will eventually represent. Thus, one major area of research required is:

How the images that at a certain time tend to be especially preferredwithin different life spheres or dispersed moments are constructed.And similarly, how the level of participation by individual consumers,marketing organizations, and other cultural institutions in the process ofsignification and representation of these images interact presently andinteract over time.


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Another important conclusion from the discussions provided in this paper isthat the consumers are in the market to produce themselves, specifically, theirself-images which will make them successful, that is, attractive and marketable,in the different situations (which are unfolding increasingly as market relations)that they encounter in every sphere of their lives. Therefore, a second important

area of research is: How the consumers select the different images to represent in different

situations. (What is the degree of contribution from the elementsdepicted in Figure 1 in the preference of the images selected?)

The situations for which the consumers customize themselves as marketableimages are increasingly fragmented as we have already illustrated.Consequently, the individuals are representing not singular images but multipleimages fashioned for the many occasions that each individual encounters. Asproducers of self-images, the consumers need to manage this multiplicity and

Postmodern condition Market implications Marketing strategies

Openness/tolerance Communicating Flexible marketing(rather than knowing) markets Adaptive marketing

Hyperreality Constructed (rather Thematizationthan given) markets Simulation

Perpetual present Consumer preference Immersionfor simulationsHere-and-now markets

Paradoxical juxtapositions Bricolage markets Image fragmentationFragmentation Fragmented markets Image clusteringLoss of commitment Touristic markets Spectacle marketing

Decentring of the subject Consumers with Continual imagefragmented selves (re)generation

Reversal of consumption Customizer markets Market de (re)constructionand production Producer markets Process marketing

Emphasis on form/style Image (rather than Image (versus brandbrand) markets marketing)

Acceptance of disorder/chaos Fluid markets Empowerment marketing

Note:

Concepts are positioned in the table for reasons of parsimony and clarity; readers shouldunderstand that while we intentionally denote some specific relationships in the table, in fact theconcepts, as discussed in the text, are very dynamic and each is related to and impacts all theothers

Table II.

Implications ofpostmodern conditonsfor market andmarketing strategies


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fragmentation. This, as discussed, may be achieved through some clustering ofimages. Thus, another area of research needed is:

How the image clusters form, transform and reform. (What are the majorfactors that play a role in these transformation processes?)

Our earlier discussions indicate that, as a result of the changes in the nature ofthe consumer and the market, important changes are also taking place in thenature of the product and marketing. We elaborated the transformation fromproduct to process in the marketing organizations offering. Currently,marketing organizations are largely oriented towards providing finishedproducts for their customers. Thus, a much-needed research area is:

How to identify, cope with, and manage the differences during the timesof change from marketing a product to marketing a process.

As processes are offered to customers to enable them to participate in thedesigning of the final product in order to customize the products to the imagessought by the consumers, the marketing organizations will be responsible formaking these processes friendly and approachable and thus attractive to theircustomers. This is a new area of expertise and it requires research into:

How the participation of the consumers in the processes forcustomization of products to represent preferred images are or can beenhanced and made more effective.

Finally, all the transformations discussed above point to substantive and

qualitative changes in what marketing is and will become. Beyond the different,specific research needs listed above, a much more general and conceptual, aswell as practice-oriented rethinking of the role of marketing, indeed of itsidentity, its definition, will be necessary. Therefore, as the merging of thecustomer and the organization becomes increasingly complete, importantavenues of research will involve:

How to reconceptualize and practise marketing; positioning, pricing,distribution, promotion (information and conversation) and product(process).

How to develop new marketing strategies based on thesereconceptualizations.

How to operationalize the role of marketing in order to avail it to allmarketers, including, specifically, theHomo consumer icus.

ConclusionThat the world is presently undergoing extraordinary change can hardly bedebated. Moreover, this change seems to be affecting all people and institutions.However, the appropriate way to make sense of it, to explain it in such a waythat marketers can seize opportunities that emanate from this phenomenalchange, is the source of frequent and sometimes divisive debate. The purpose ofthis paper has been to provide an objective overview of the emergence of a social


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phenomenon, postmodernism, and to discuss the impacts this phenomenonmay have on the marketing discipline, especially strategic contingencies formarketing managers and research opportunities for marketing and consumerresearch scholars.

We submit that postmodernism, so influential in other disciplines, has thepotential to reframe our thinking about social trends and business practices inan increasingly global, but fragmented marketplace, and thus to give marketingmanagers insights that, in turn, can abet strategic decision making. Finally, wesuggest that a better understanding of the underlying macro social forces andmicro human behaviour associated with postmodernism can ultimately beleveraged by marketers to obtain competitive advantages in an increasinglydynamic, unpredictable and unstable marketplace.

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