Myth and ideology in consumer culture theory

The special issue of Marketing Theory (2013) on consumer culture theory (CCT) updates and restates the main aims and controversies in CCT as well as offers a number of novel interpretations on the history and possible future direction of the movement. Whilst the anchor paper from Thompson et al. (2013) is notable for the invocation of Bakhtin’s concept of Heteroglossia, its main significance is as a reply to ongoing critiques of the CCT project. In this commentary article, we highlight the common tendency among critics to emphasize the paradigmatic and institutional basis for CCT as residing in the context of academic discourse. These accounts utilize what Coskiner-Balli (2013) discusses as the mobilization of cultural myths. One consequence of this process of retelling the CCT creation narrative is that it diverts and obscures other ideological readings of CCT. We highlight what we understand as the underlying neo-liberal sentiment at the centre of the CCT project. A neo-liberal perspective repositions some of the main criticisms of CCT, especially those regarding the overemphasis on consumer subjectivities.