Literary Perspectives on Marketing

Deadline for submissions 7 June 2027

a stack of old books on a table in a library, lit up by a shaft of light

Summary

This special issue of JMM explores the contributions that literature can make to marketing and consumer research.

Call for Papers

Guest Editors

  • Jonatan Södergren (University of Bristol, UK)
  • Anthony Patterson (Lancaster University, UK)
  • Cele Otnes (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, US)

“One can learn more … from a reasonably good novel than from a ‘solid’ piece of social science”
(Belk 1986, 25).

Scope of the Special Issue

Marketing and consumer researchers have long been interested in stories (Twitchell, 2004). Yet despite the field’s interpretive turn (Sherry, 1991), literature remains a surprisingly marginalized resource for understanding markets and consumption. While literary criticism has been established within consumer research for decades (Brown, 1998, 1999; Stern, 1989), relatively little work has treated literature itself as a primary source of theorizing, empirical material, or methodological inspiration.

This special issue invites scholars to explore the contributions that literature can make to marketing and consumer research. We encourage submissions that draw on literary texts, literary theory, and literary methods to advance our understanding of consumers, brands, markets, and marketing practices. In particular, we seek work that demonstrates how literature can illuminate dimensions of consumer life that remain difficult to access through conventional empirical approaches. Novels and other cultural texts provide opportunities for researchers to immerse themselves in consumer worlds and develop interpretations through intuition and empathy, reflecting a mode of inquiry that differs markedly from the positivist tradition (Hirschman, 1986).

Recent developments across the humanities and social sciences have brought increased attention to literature as a source of understanding for business school disciplines, including organization studies (Beyes et al., 2019). Within marketing and consumer research, however, their use remains few and far between, with only a handful of notable exceptions (Canavan, 2018; Molesworth & Grigore, 2019; Patsiaouras et al,. 2016; Södergren, 2025; Södergren et al., 2025; Södergren & Vallström, 2024). This is noteworthy given the richness with which literary texts engage questions of consumption. Novels such as Yang Shuang’zi’s (2026) Taiwan Travelogue, for example, explore colonial histories and queer relationships through the consumption of food. Ling Ma’s (2018) Severance, in turn, follows a young woman who clings to her consumer routines through grief and a global pandemic, revealing how the rituals of consumption can serve as solace, mourning, and a means of holding on to a vanishing self.

Recent conceptual developments suggest that this situation is beginning to change. Emerging work in collective close reading (Otnes et al., 2024) and the metaphor of lit crit riffin’ (Takhar et al,. 2025) has demonstrated that literary approaches can contribute to consumer culture and marketing scholarship. These contributions have begun to establish a foundation for literary approaches within consumer research, but much remains to be done to demonstrate their broader applicability and value across the field. This special issue seeks to build on that foundation by establishing literature as a valid source of empirical material, theoretical frameworks, and methodological innovation for marketing and consumer research. Our aim is to demonstrate how literary perspectives can advance understanding of markets, consumption, brands, and marketing practices in ways that complement and extend existing approaches.

The special issue welcomes work that engages literature in at least three interconnected ways:

  1. First, we invite contributions that use literary texts as sources of insight into markets and consumption. Such work may treat novels, short stories, poetry, drama, or other literary forms as empirical material through which consumer culture can be examined and theorized.
  2. Second, we encourage scholarship that adopts concepts from literary theory to advance marketing thought (Ashman et al., 2025; Patterson et al., 2013). Literary traditions offer a rich repertoire of ideas – from narratology and poetics to feminist and postcolonial theory – to help rethink contemporary marketing phenomena.
  3. Third, we welcome methodological and epistemological reflections on literary inquiry in marketing research, building on recent work on collective close reading and lit crit riffin’ that has expanded understanding of what literary approaches can contribute to consumer research scholarship (Otnes et al., 2024; Takhar et al., 2025).

The special issue also welcomes research on the marketing and consumption of literature itself (Brown, 2006, 2015). Contemporary developments such as BookTok and booksmaxxing – not to mention the commercial prominence of book retail spaces like Waterstones and Daunt Books – raise important questions about how literary products are marketed and consumed.

Finally, consumer researchers have long explored alternatives to conventional academic writing, including poetry, short fiction, and novels (Brown & Kerrigan, 2020; Schouten, 2026; Sherry, 2025; Sherry & Schouten, 2002; Södergren an&d Dagalp, 2025). Such work raises questions about how knowledge is produced in marketing and consumer research. We encourage submissions that experiment with literary forms of scholarship where these forms are integral to a clearly articulated contribution. Such submissions should engage substantively with the special issue’s central concerns and make it clear how the use of literary form advances these aims. We welcome conceptual, methodological, empirical, and experimental contributions that demonstrate the value of literary perspectives for understanding marketing and consumer culture.

Potential Topics of Interest

Possible research topics include, but are not limited to:

  • What insights can fiction provide for understanding contemporary consumer culture and marketing phenomena that remain inaccessible through conventional empirical approaches?
  • How can specific concepts from literary theory be used as analytical tools for understanding contemporary consumer culture and branding practices?
  • What epistemological assumptions are challenged when novels and other fictional texts are treated as legitimate data sources for understanding consumer culture?
  • How can narratological concepts deepen our understanding of consumer journeys and marketing experiences?
  • How do actors across the book industry (publishers, authors, booksellers) deploy marketing activities to increase the demand for literary works?
  • What role does BookTok and other digital trends play in driving literary consumption?
  • How can creative writing practices be integrated into consumer research?
  • What forms of scholarly contribution become possible when researchers adopt literary or experimental modes of writing?

Submission Guidelines

Authors should submit manuscripts of between 8,000–10,000 words (excluding tables, references, captions, footnotes and endnotes). All submissions must strictly follow the guidelines for the Journal of Marketing Management. These are available at
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=rjmm20
Submissions which do not follow these guidelines will be returned to authors for correction prior to being passed to the SI Editors.

Please note the requirements to include a Summary Statement of Contribution, and to place figures and tables at their correct location within the text. Please also read the following guidelines prior to submitting your manuscript:

Manuscripts should be submitted online using the T&F Submission Portal for Journal of Marketing Management:
https://rp.tandfonline.com/submission/create?journalCode=RJMM
Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript (only use alpha-numeric characters or underscores in the filename). One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from the files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees.

When uploading files authors will be able to define the non-anonymous version as “Manuscript – with author details”, and the anonymous version as “Manuscript – Anonymous”. To submit your manuscript to the Special Issue choose “Research Article” from the Manuscript Type list in the Submission Portal. On the next screen (Manuscript Details), answer ‘yes’ to the question ‘Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?’. A drop down menu will then appear and you should select the Special Issue Title from this list.

Informal queries regarding guest editors’ expectations or the suitability of specific research topics should be directed to the Special Issue Editors via:

Guest Editor Contact Details

Key Dates

  • The online system will be open for submissions to this issue from 7 May 2027.
  • The closing date for submissions is 7 June 2027.

Technical queries about submissions can be referred to the Editorial Office: rjmmeditorial@westburn.co.uk

References

Ashman, R., Brown, S., & Patterson, A. (2025). Character Over Consistency: Telling Tales of Marketing’s ‘She-Monsters’. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 43(2), 420-435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.07.006

Belk, R. W. (1986). Art Versus Science as Ways of Generating Knowledge About Materialism. In D. Brinberg & R. J. Lutz (Eds.), Perspectives on Methodology in Consumer Research (pp. 3–36). Springer-Verlag.

Beyes, T., Costas, J., & Ortmann, G. (2019). Novel Thought: Towards a Literary Study of Organization. Organization Studies, 40(12), 1787–1803. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619874458

Brown, S. (1998). The Wind in the Wallows: Literary Theory, Autobiographical Criticism and Subjective Personal Introspection. Advances in Consumer Research. Association for Consumer Research (U. S.), 25, 25–30.

Brown, S. (1999). Marketing and Literature: The Anxiety of Academic Influence. Journal of Marketing, 63(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299906300101

Brown, S. (2006). Consuming Books: The Marketing and Consumption of Literature. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203020128

Brown, S. (2015). Selling Poetry by the Pound: TS Eliot and the Waste Land Brand. Consumption Markets & Culture, 18(5), 411–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2015.1020795

Brown, S., & Kerrigan, F. (2020). Once Upon a Theory: Editorial Introduction to Expressions of Interest. Marketing Theory, 20(2), 147–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593119897773

Canavan, B. (2018). Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at Tiffany’s: Existentialism and Consumption in Capote’s Novella. Marketing Theory, 18(4), 571–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593117753982

Hirschman, E. C. (1986). Humanistic Inquiry in Marketing Research: Philosophy, Method, and Criteria. JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 23(3), 237–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378602300304

Ma, L. (2018). Severance. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Molesworth, M., & Grigore, G. (2019). Scripts People Live in the Marketplace: An Application of Script Analysis to Confessions of a Shopaholic. Marketing Theory, 19(4), 467–488. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593118821725

Otnes, C., Maclaran, P., & Canniford, R. (2024). Collective Close Reading (CCR) as a Method for Interpreting Cultural Text. In R. W. Belk & C. Otnes (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing (pp. 210–220). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Patsiaouras, G., Fitchett, J. A., & Davies, A. (2016). Beyond the Couch: Psychoanalytic Consumer Character Readings into Narcissism and Denial. Marketing Theory, 16(1), 57–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593115595675

Patterson, A., Khogeer, Y., & Hodgson, J. (2013). How to Create an Influential Anthropomorphic Mascot: Literary Musings on Marketing, Make-believe, and Meerkats. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(1-2), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2012.759992

Schouten, J. W. (2026). Boomers. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 25(1-2), 13-120. https://doi.org/10.1362/147539226X17768703058009

Sherry Jr, J. F. (1991). Postmodern Alternatives: The Interpretive Turn in Consumer Research. In T. C. Robertson & H. H. Kassarjian (Eds.), Handbook of Consumer Research (pp. 548–591). Prentice-Hall.

Sherry Jr, J. F., & Schouten, J. W. (2002). A Role for Poetry in Consumer Research. The Journal of Consumer Research, 29(2), 218–234. https://doi.org/10.1086/341572

Sherry Jr, J. F. (2025). Thirteen Ways of Looking at ‘Apprentices:’ A Memoir of Rejection, Recrimination and Reconciliation. Consumption Markets & Culture,  1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2025.2452627

Shuang’zi, Y. (2026). Taiwan Travelogue. And Other Stories.

Södergren, J. (2025). Via Crucis of the Body: Clarice Lispector Visits Advertising. Journal of Marketing Management, 41(3-4), 273–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2025.2459423

Södergren, J., & Dagalp, I. (2025). Poetics of Consumption. Consumption Markets & Culture.

Södergren, J., Hjelm, M., & Ahlberg, O. (2025). Every Consumer Researcher Dies Alone. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 24(4), 246–255. https://doi.org/10.1362/147539225X17573319257543

Södergren, J., & Vallström, N. (2024). Writing Brands into Historical Silences: Insights from Wide Sargasso Sea. In A. Das, H. R. Chaudhuri, and O. Sandikci Turkdogan (Eds), Postcolonial Marketing Communication: Images from the Margin (pp.37-51), Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0285-5_4

Stern, B. B. (1989). Literary Criticism and Consumer Research: Overview and Illustrative Analysis. The Journal of Consumer Research, 16(3), 322–334. https://doi.org/10.1086/209218

Takhar, J., Södergren, J., Patterson, A., & Stevens, L. (2025). Lit Crit Riffin’: A Collaborative Mode of Literary Criticism in Marketing Theory. Marketing Theory, 14705931251378533. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931251378533

Twitchell, J. B. (2004). An English Teacher Looks at Branding.  Journal of Consumer Research, 31(2), 484–489. https://doi.org/10.1086/422125

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