WHY YOU SHOULD (OR NOT) MAKE FILMS FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.2

The author invites attendees of the Special Session on Film Making for Marketing Research and Communication to have a critical look at the short history of film making in the marketing discipline and foresee its future. There are two perspectives for this discussion: one is a broad overview of film making for consumer behavior research, and the second is the personal reflection of the author who first engaged in film making nine years ago. Film making as a research approach in the academic areas of marketing and consumer behavior is just beginning its early “teenage” years. It counts its formal age from the time it obtained legitimacy when the first Film Festival took place at the Association for Consumer Research Conference in Atlanta, USA, in 2002. Since then, the Film Festival has become an integral part of this major conference that draws together a global academic audience of consumer researchers. In fact, film festivals are now included in the European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin American ACR conferences, and as of 2012, there were more than 125 films accepted into the various ACR Film Festivals (Belk and Kozinets 2012). The current number of accepted films probably exceeds 150, which demonstrates growing interest in film making in the academic discipline of marketing. Russell W. Belk and Robert V. Kozinets,“founding fathers” of the ACR Film Festivals have become instrumental in developing guidance and academic criteria for the novel research approach of videography. Films are expected to be topical, theatrical, theoretical, and technical. That means that 1) the topic under visual investigation should relate to consumer research; 2) the film should flow in a dramatic and engaging way; 3) a theoretical perspective and contribution should be evident; and 4) the film should have good production values (Belk and Kozinets 2012). The author, who started making films without prior expertise after attending a workshop, has since produced four videographies of various lengths and levels of mastery. They have been presented at conferences globally, one was published in a special multi-media issue of an academic journal, two have earned academic awards, and all of them have found use in the classroom. Topic-wise, the films related to consumer research by exploring happiness (“Finding Harmony in the Jungle”), the role of narratives on food product packaging (“It All Began with a Kiss, or When Packaging Sells a Country”), the transformational power of street language (“Red Bull on the Roof of the World or From Landscape into Servicescape”), and the Easternization of the West (“Yoga and Fashion”). The videographies were filmed in Belize, Italy, England, Indonesia (Bali) and China (Tibet). The film making process for the author has been rewarding because of the creative potential that comes with videography and the use of visual channels of communication for academic purposes. Challenges include making sure the films have the necessary rigor to qualify as academic work.

If This Brand Were a Person, or Anthropomorphism of Brands Through Packaging Stories

Kniazeva, Maria,Belk, Russell W. Korean Academy of Marketing Science 2010 마케팅과학연구 Vol.20 No.3

本研究的焦点是品牌的拟人化. 品牌拟人化被定义为将品牌看作是人类. 具体来说, 本研究的目标是理解如何将品牌拟人化的方法. 通过分析消费者对食品包装上的故事的阅读, 我们试图展示行销者和消费者如何将一系列品牌拟人化并创造意义. 我们的研究问题是一个品牌对不同的消费者具有多个或单一意义, 联想, 个性的可能性. 我们首先强调了本研究在理论和实践方面的重要性, 解释了为什么我们关注作为品牌意义传递工具的包装. 然后我们阐述了我们量性研究方法, 讨论了结果. 最后总结了管理方面的启示和对未来研究的建议. 本研究先让消费者直接阅读品牌意义传递的工具然后让这些消费者口头自由表达他们所感受到的意义. 具体来说, 为了获得有关感知意义的数据, 我们要求参与者去阅读选择的品牌食品包装上的非营养的故事. 包装在消费者研究方面还没有得到足够的关注(Hine, 1995). 直到现在, 研究还是仅关注包装的实用功能并形成了探索营养信息的影响的研究主体. (例如Lourei ro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer, 2002; Mazis and Raymond, 1997; Nayga, Lipinski and Savur, 1998; Wansik, 2003). 一个例外是最近的研究, 将注意力转向非营养信息的包装说明, 并视其为文化产品和将品牌神话的工具(Kniazeva and Belk, 2007). 下一步就是探索这些神话活动如何影响品牌个性感知以及这些感知如何与消费者相关. 这些都是本研究所要强调的. 我们用深度访谈来帮助消除量性研究的局限性. 我们的便利样本的构成具有人口统计和消费心态学的多样化以达到获得消费者对包装故事的不同的感知. 我们的参与者是美国的中产居民, 并没有表现出Thompson(2004)所描述的 "文化创造者" 的极端生活方式. 九名参与者被采访关于他们食品消费偏好和行为的问题. 他们被要求看看12个展示的食品产品包装并阅读包装上的文字信息. 之后, 我们继续进行关注消费者对阅读材料的解释的问题. (Scott and Batra, 2003). 平均来看, 每个参与者感知4-5个包装. 我们的深度访谈是一对一的并长达半个小时. 采访内容被录音下来并转录, 最后有140页的文字. 产品赖在位于美国西海岸的当地食品杂货店, 这些产品代表了食品产品类别的基本范围, 包括零食, 罐装食品, 麦片, 婴儿食品和茶. 我们使用Strauss和Corbin (1998)提出的发展扎根理论的步骤来分析数据. 结果表明, 我们的研究不支持先前的研究所假设的一个品牌/一个个性的概念. 因此我们展示了在消费者看来多个品牌个性可以在同一品牌身上很好的共存, 尽管行销者试图创造更多单一的品牌个性. 我们延伸了Fournier's (1998) 的假设, 某人的人生计划可以形成与品牌关系的强度和本质. 我们发现这些人生计划也影响感知的品牌拟人化和意义. Fournier提出了把消费者人生主题(Mick和Buhl, 1992)和拟人化产品的相关作用联系在一起的概念框架. 我们发现消费者人生计划形成了把品牌拟人化和品牌与消费者现有的关注相关联的方式. 我们通过参与者发现了两种品牌拟人化的方法. 第一种, 品牌个性通过感知的人口统计, 消费心态学和社会个性所创造. 第二, 第二, 在我们的研究还涉及到品牌的消费者所存在的问题与消费者的个性被混合, 以连接到他们(品牌为朋友, 家庭成员, 隔壁邻居)或远离自己的品牌个性和疏远他们(品牌作为二手车推销员, "一群高管".) 通过关注食品产品包装, 我们阐明了非常具体的, 被广泛使用, 但很少深入研究的营销传播工具: 品牌故事. 近期的研究已经视包装为神话制造者. 对行销者来说要创作出和产品及消费它们的消费者相连的文字

YOGA PANTS: A CASE OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION OR CULTURAL APPRECIATION?

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2024 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2024 No.07

THE FEMALE BODY: SELLING AND MOLDING THE FASHIONABLE FIGURE

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2019 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2019 No.07

THE PLASTIC SURGEON AS AN AGENT OF FASHION

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2017 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2017 No.07

While the aesthetic alteration of the body has long been practiced in global cultures, from feet binding in China to scarring and piercing in Africa to face tattooing in New Zealand (Vlahos 1979), only lately has the idea of selective aesthetic alteration through cosmetic surgery materialized, supported by sturdy mainstream demand. Operating in a growing and competitive market, plastic surgery has redefined itself, and its original narrow mission of “fixing” deformed bodies and enhancing the features of celebrities has widened to include supporting the physical beauty of “normal” bodies. Surgeons, in turn, have redefined their individual identities to include the category “artist” as well as “scientist.” Some of them tend to treat the body as “a canvas” to be manipulated into a form artistically conceived by a surgeon; others approach the body as a form already created by nature, yet in need of being scientifically rebuilt, reshaped or returned to an improved and youthful condition. Patients, arguably, favor the “surgeon as an artist” premise and even expect medical offices to resemble fine art galleries: “Our patients want us to be artists” (Swanson 2013, p.182). It is this statement that has guided the author’s research in the direction of examining the artistic aspect of cosmetic surgeons’ identity. If cosmetic surgeons are artists who use human bodies as their medium, then they create living art that “can be seen walking among us in the form of revamped faces and figures.” (Cotter 2009). As such, these transformed bodies should be manifesting fashion trends in their newly reshaped body parts. Following this assumption, this work aims to conceptualize plastic surgeons’ role as agents of fashion, whose creative results “are judged, admired or criticized by observers.” (Bryan 2005, p. 6). How surgeons understand their function as “agents of fashion” is the guiding research question. In the search for answers, the author turns to the channels of marketing communication employed by cosmetic surgeons and examines their online presence on social media platforms. This work focuses on social media with the purpose of analyzing the digital identities of the plastic surgeons and the extent of their artistic side.

RESTORING AUTHENTICITY OF A COUNTRY

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.7

This work aims to explore how authenticity of a newly independent country is being restored in the face of legacy left by invaders. To surface crucial elements of geopolitical authenticity, I turn to Estonia as a country representative of many nations that went through the tumultuous changes of the last century. The end of the twentieth century left a powerful mark on the geopolitical scenery of the planet. Countries’ borders were changed or restored, and new formal maps were redrawn. Only the break up of the former Soviet Union has resulted in 15 independent countries, with Estonia being one of them. The joy of freedom came up with economic, political, and cultural challenges including the challenge of restoring authenticity of a country.

WHY YOU SHOULD (OR NOT) MAKE FILMS FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.7

The author invites attendees of the Special Session on Film Making for Marketing Research and Communication to have a critical look at the short history of film making in the marketing discipline and foresee its future. There are two perspectives for this discussion: one is a broad overview of film making for consumer behavior research, and the second is the personal reflection of the author who first engaged in film making nine years ago. Film making as a research approach in the academic areas of marketing and consumer behavior is just beginning its early “teenage” years. It counts its formal age from the time it obtained legitimacy when the first Film Festival took place at the Association for Consumer Research Conference in Atlanta, USA, in 2002. Since then, the Film Festival has become an integral part of this major conference that draws together a global academic audience of consumer researchers. In fact, film festivals are now included in the European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin American ACR conferences, and as of 2012, there were more than 125 films accepted into the various ACR Film Festivals (Belk and Kozinets 2012). The current number of accepted films probably exceeds 150, which demonstrates growing interest in film making in the academic discipline of marketing. Russell W. Belk and Robert V. Kozinets,“founding fathers” of the ACR Film Festivals have become instrumental in developing guidance and academic criteria for the novel research approach of videography. Films are expected to be topical, theatrical, theoretical, and technical. That means that 1) the topic under visual investigation should relate to consumer research; 2) the film should flow in a dramatic and engaging way; 3) a theoretical perspective and contribution should be evident; and 4) the film should have good production values (Belk and Kozinets 2012). The author, who started making films without prior expertise after attending a workshop, has since produced four videographies of various lengths and levels of mastery. They have been presented at conferences globally, one was published in a special multi-media issue of an academic journal, two have earned academic awards, and all of them have found use in the classroom. Topic-wise, the films related to consumer research by exploring happiness (“Finding Harmony in the Jungle”), the role of narratives on food product packaging (“It All Began with a Kiss, or When Packaging Sells a Country”), the transformational power of street language (“Red Bull on the Roof of the World or From Landscape into Servicescape”), and the Easternization of the West (“Yoga and Fashion”). The videographies were filmed in Belize, Italy, England, Indonesia (Bali) and China (Tibet). The film making process for the author has been rewarding because of the creative potential that comes with videography and the use of visual channels of communication for academic purposes. Challenges include making sure the films have the necessary rigor to qualify as academic work.

TURMERIC LATTE BATTLE: THE COMMODIFICATION AND PROTECTION OF AUTHENTICITY IN WELLNESS TOURISM

Maria Kniazeva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2023 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2023 No.07

The wellness travel industry faces a curious challenge: it experiences high consumer demand for indigenous experiences while also facing growing accusations of cultural appropriation of authentic practices. According to the Global Wellness Summit (2023), “hyper-indigenous” wellness travel is a global trend for 2023, as travelers seek the source of ancient healing knowledge. However, many of these cultural practices have already spread across national borders like the turmeric latte served in Western retreats or yoga that is practiced globally, leading to an established yoga tourism market (Market Research, 2022). How can these conflicting realities, rooted in the concept of authenticity, be reconciled? This study aims to explore this research question by analyzing two wellness narratives: one that commodifies ingenious practices outside their original borders and another that safeguards them within national and cultural boundaries.

WHEN A POINTY NOSE IS IN VOGUE: OR (UN) SAVING FACE IN KOREA

Maria Kniazeva,Eva Babicheva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2015 No.06

While borrowing from the theory of lookism, defined as “prejudice toward people because of their appearance” (Tietje and Cresap 2005, p, 31), this paper ventures into an emerging pattern of consumer behavior—designing one’s own body with the help of a surgical blade. The “designer body” idea has gradually moved from futuristic fiction to the exclusive domain of celebrity personalities and has lately arrived in the more mainstream marketplace (Kim, 2015). Available statistics indicate a growing number of plastic surgeries and clinic locations, the booming popularity of the aesthetics surgery specialty in medical schools, and burgeoning medical tourism with the goal of aesthetically reinventing one’s body (Akam 2014). Consumer vocabulary has embraced “rhinoplasty” and “liposuction” and lovingly transformed the dry medical jargon into the softer slang terms “rhino” and ‘lipo.” While breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure, in this work we purposely focus on the face. Unless veiled, the face is the body part that is always on display. In addition, we intentionally perform this study in the specific cultural domain that places strong metaphorical value on the face and has historically developed the dignity-centered concept of “saving face” as a major guiding principle of life. The choice of South Korea within this vast cultural realm seems the most logical given the fact that twenty percent of women in the country have something surgically done on their faces, which is arguably the highest known proportion in the world (Willett 2013). Finally, South Korea’s emphasis on Confucian values is part of our approach. Our research objective is to understand the interplay of major cultural forces that define the embrace of a novel mass marketed product (plastic surgery) designed to correct one’s genetic make-up. Considering marketing to be one such cultural force (Fedorenko 2014), we specifically aim to conceptualize its role in an ongoing interaction with Confucian values. What makes a culture rooted in conservative beliefs and respect for the elderly so openly question and surgically correct the “quality” of the body received from one’s parents? Does it happen because of or in opposition to Confucianism? Does fashion simply extend its province by converting desirable pointy noses and v-shaped chins into “in” items similar to pointy shoes? These research questions have shaped our qualitative methodological approach (Strauss and Corbin 1998) that relies on the juxtaposition of norms and values dictated by Confucian beliefs and those manifested through marketing channels. To uncover the normative messages and consumer directions coming from marketers, we turn to the so-called language of the street and perform close analysis of fifty advertising billboards and street signs promoting plastic procedures and located in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. We read both visual and textual data against the traditional Confucian literature. This methodological direction for our study was developed with the purpose to fill in the gap in the existing research, as detailed in the literature review, followed by the analysis of data, discussion of our findings, and the final section outlining a potential course for future research.

(UN)SAVING FACE, OR THE DESIGNER FACE AS A NEW CONSUMER COMMODITY

Maria Kniazeva,Eva Babicheva 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

We develop a concept of the face in the consumer behavior discipline and contribute to the theory of lookism defined as bias toward people because of their perceived physical appearance (Tietje & Cresap,, 2005). “What is the face?” –is our fundamental research question. What makes the face become the site of voluntary alteration? How do marketing forces drive the mainstream embrace of surgical correction of facial features as a commercial commodity, similar to shoes? While the latest medical advances have handed some control over appearance to consumers and provided them with a product (plastic surgery) designed to correct one’s genetic make-up, the designer face as a new consumer commodity hasn’t been addressed academically yet. Presumably, the face is the most distinctive human body element that sets a person apart from others, but academic studies that incorporate the phenomenon of treating people in a way biased by their perceived physical attractiveness have largely focused on the entire physique. To fill the academic gap, we specifically study the normative function of advertising as it presents itself in the format of street billboards. Examining this advertising language in the context of an emerging pattern of consumer behavior—designing one’s face through surgery—we theorize how the marketing channel normalizes this novel pattern, fitting it into historical, philosophical, social, and cultural contexts; how it legitimizes plastic surgery as a mainstream consumer commodity; and how it makes the face an object of alteration. Moreover, we perform the study in the specific cultural domain of Asia that places a strong metaphorical value on the face and has historically developed the honor-centered concept of “saving face” as a guiding principle of life (Lee, 1999). Driven by the fundamental question “What is the face?” and its examination in the context of the face-saving culture of South Korea, we developed a working research question to guide our inquiry: what makes a culture rooted in conservative beliefs and respect for the elderly so openly question and surgically correct the “quality” of the body received from one’s parents?