Marketing and the Other: a Study of Women in the Sailing Marketplace and Its Implications For Marketing Discourse.

This paper analyses the concept and function of the “Other” in marketing discourse – a consumption space that speaks about the tension between the “expected” demographic according to stereotypical cultural norms and the possibility of an unseen demographic that remains unacknowledged and thus unidentified in the marketplace. Our discussion of the Other is extrapolated through the feminist lens and uses women in the sailing culture as a case study. We focus on the role women play in this masculinist activity, how they find avenues into participation and what their consequent consumption needs may be. We also discuss their relegation to an invisible space in the marketing discourses that cater to the traditionally male-dominated sailing culture. This paper, thus, explores possible implications and benefits for marketing to an unfixed, liminal group who do not coalesce with the dominant norm in their culture; those who occupy the space of the Other.

Citation:

Helene de Burgh-Woodman and Janice Brace-Govan (2007) ,"Marketing and the Other: a Study of Women in the Sailing Marketplace and Its Implications For Marketing Discourse.", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 189-195.