Titanic

Consuming the Myths and Meanings of an Ambiguous Brand

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2223488
AutoresBrown (0000-0002-7084-9726), Stephen Brown (0000-0002-8508-8667, University of Ulster), Pierre Mcdonagh (0000-0002-0447-0910, Dublin City University), Clifford J Shultz (0000-0002-7871-798X, Loyola University Chicago)
Ano2013
Volume40
Fascículo4
Páginas595-614
Data de publicação2013-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Consumer Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0093-5301 • E-ISSN: 1537-5277
EditoraOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1086/671474
OpenAlexW2142514415
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30
Referências citadas101

Myths have come of age in consumer research.In the 22 years since Levy's inaugural article, the literature has grown at an impressive rate.Yet important questions remain unanswered: What makes some myths especially meaningful to consumers?Why are certain consumer myths more prevalent and less perishable than others?This article argues that ambiguity is an influential factor.Using the RMS Titanic as an empirical exemplar, it unpacks the principal forms of myth-informed ambiguity surrounding "the unsinkable brand."Predicated on William Empson's hitherto unsung principles of literary criticism, the article posits that ambiguity in its multifaceted forms is integral to outstanding branding and consumer meaning making, as well as myth appeal more generally.Like poetry and music, mythology should awaken us to rapture, even in the face of death and the despair we may feel at the prospect of annihilation.(Armstrong 2005, 8) A pril, according to T. S. Eliot (1922), is the cruelest month.If 2012 is anything to go by, it is also the craziest.April 2012 was the month when the world went wild for Titanic, the "unsinkable" steamship that sank on its maiden voyage 100 years earlier (Sides 2012

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