Deconstructive Strategy and Consumer Research: Concepts and Illustrative Exemplar

Abstract

This article introduces the application of deconstruction to consumer research by addressing three questions: What is it? How does one do it? and What contribution can it make? It briefly summarizes deconstruction's French origins and entry in American criticism and examines the key term différance —“difference” and “deference.” The article demonstrates the role of deconstructive criticism as an agent provocateur by first presenting interpretations of an advertising exemplar—Joe Camel—from the perspectives of the New Criticism and structuralism and then performing a deconstructive reading that subverts these interpretations. It ends with the implications of deconstruction for enlivening consumer research discourse.