In just under 150 years, societies have changed from having very few brands to having almost everything branded or brandable. How, and why don’t we know more about it? This chapter provides a much-deserved critique of extant brand thought and highlights the considerable need for a sociological conception of brands. Analyzing brands as vessels of popular meaning used for promoting things, places, people, and ideas, the chapter also questions how existing research traditions restrict and retard the development of a meaningful social science of brands. Too much attention to social psychology and to consumer culture theory, and too little to traditional sociology, has meant that the general social and political processes that generate, animate, and transform brands have been sacrificed to the priorities of these dominant research traditions in marketing departments. We offer this critique in order to identify opportunities for generating empirical research tying together society, politics, and markets.

American beliefs about social class are not always accurate. Up to half of Americans claim to belong to the middle class, and many believe in an egalitarian society where social mobility is possible. These misperceptions have been attributed, in part, to the mass media. This work sets out to explore whether images of and messages about social class in advertising may contribute to such misperceptions. The class structure pictured in advertising is examined using a large representative sample of American print advertising from 1950 to 2015. First, a content analysis is used to identify what images of social class are depicted in advertising and in what proportion. Then, a qualitative approach is taken to identify what messages those images convey. Findings are presented for each social class. Together the findings suggest that advertising blurs the lines between social classes and diffuses the potential for class conflict. Importantly, this work also notes that advertising representations of the lower and working class are markedly positive, differing from other forms of mass media in important ways. This work calls for increased attention to social class in the marketing literature and is a crucial step in considering the societal effects of marketing messages.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine social mobility. Social mobility has traditionally been thought to result in a divided habitus. However, recent work has suggested that for the socially mobile, habitus may become blended or even that individuals can choose their habitus in a strategic fashion. Each position has received empirical support, raising two questions. First, does the experience of social mobility result in a habitus that is more divided or strategic? Second, what factors affect this outcome? Design/methodology/approach These questions are investigated by conducting depth interviews with people who have experienced social mobility. Findings The direction of social mobility determines what effect social mobility has on the habitus. For the downwardly mobile, the habitus appears to remain rooted in one’s former class. This is because downward movement is devalued, and so there is less incentive for those who experience it to change their thoughts, feelings or behaviors to match their new position. For the upwardly mobile, the habitus changes slowly. The trajectory and the subjective experience also affect the outcome. Two strategies respondents use to deal with social mobility are noted. Research limitations/implications Bourdieu’s notion of the divided habitus is reconsidered and compared to newer incarnations, and the importance of the direction of social mobility is underlined. This work explains why upward and downward mobility result in different changes in the habitus. Practical implications Investigating the experience of social mobility is particularly important given the frequent, dynamic nature of mobility in European countries. Two strategies used to manage downward mobility are identified. Originality/value This work reconsiders Bourdieu’s notion of the divided habitus and newer incarnations and explains why upward and downward mobility result in different changes in the habitus. Such a finding is not only an invitation to expand on the notion of habitus but also works to draw attention to other factors that play a role in habitus and strategies used to manage change.

The authors investigate brand advertising as an instrument of class politics, used to shape perceptions of and beliefs about social groups, specifically the working class. These images are consistent with the prescriptions of capitalist realism. The authors content-analyze representations of the working class drawn from a random sample of ads from 1950 to 2010. Quantitative results are compared to a variety of secondary data sources, including the General Social Survey and public opinion polling. The authors find that representations of the working class do not closely follow social, political, or economic changes. If anything, increasingly nostalgic images contradict the disappearance of blue-collar jobs. The authors examine the ads in more depth to explain why the content does not align with objective reality, identifying a variety of tableaus commonly used in representations of the working class that are consistent with capitalist realism and myths of the American class structure.

Purpose This paper aims to explore how home economists, employed by the Good Housekeeping Institute, may have influenced the use of principles from the home economics movement in advertising appeals for electric appliances. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of more than 400 print advertisements from Good Housekeeping magazine, from 1916 to 1929, was conducted to determine whether manufacturers used appeals derived from the home economics movement in their advertising. Then, the Good Housekeeping Institute’s history is explored to suggest how its relationship with manufacturers may have resulted in the use of the home economics movement’s principles in advertising appeals for electric appliances. Findings The content analysis shows that principles of the home economics movement appeared in advertising appeals for electric appliances in advertisements placed in Good Housekeeping magazine during the period studied. Through its unique relationships with electric appliance manufacturers, the Good Housekeeping Institute seems to have taught manufacturers how to position electric appliances by incorporating the principles of the home economics movement in their advertising appeals. Practical implications This research demonstrates how a commercial organization successfully navigated its relationships with manufacturers and consumers for mutual benefit. Originality/value This work is the first to link the Good Housekeeping Institute’s work with manufacturers to its influence on advertising appeals. This work also expands understanding of the influence of women on marketing practice. Existing literature on women’s publications is also broadened by analyzing Good Housekeeping, rather than the more frequently studied Ladies’ Home Journal.