Ludic Agency and Retail Spectacle
Robert V. Kozinets, John F. Sherry, Jr., Diana Storm, Adam Duhachek, Krittinee Nuttavuthisit, Benét DeBerry-Spence
Journal of Consumer Research · 2004 · Volume 31 · Issue 3
Abstract
Spectacular, themed environments have been theorized as places where play is limited and consumer agency is overpowered. In a multiperspectival ethnographic engagement with ESPN Zone Chicago, we find consumers resisting the rules, but only to a limited degree. Spectacular consumption possesses a do-it-yourself quality unrecognized in prior theory. Technology and screens are important to this form of play, which exhibits a transcendent character built of liminoid elements and consumer fantasy. Yet, even in ostensibly overpowering spectacular consumption environments, consumption still is negotiated dialectically; consumer and producer interests are embedded in one another in a process of “interagency.”
Keywords
Experiential Consumption, Ethnography, Leisure and Recreation, Retailing and Store Image, Sociological Theories/Analysis
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