The (re)marketing of disability in pop

Ian Curtis and Joy Division

Bibliographic Data

ID4304376
AuthorsMitzi Waltz (0000-0002-9089-2545, University of Birmingham), Martin James (Southampton Solent University)
Year2009
Volume28
Issue3
Pages367-380
Publication date2009-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143009990110
OpenAlexW1993621544
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited10

In this article we examine the relatively new use of disability as a marketing device in pop music. Our analysis makes specific reference to how the career of Ian Curtis and Joy Division has become overshadowed by his epilepsy, depression and subsequent suicide, with comparison between early press and promotional materials from 1979-1980 and more recent materials created to promote reissues and films about Curtis. It also references other relevant individuals from the pop music sphere and marketing campaigns created around them that ignore or highlight issues of disability.Using these examples, we examine the ways in which messages about disability are packaged and presented within pop marketing discourses and discuss the issue of 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' disability identities in pop, which have been created through a largely marketing-driven discourse. Finally, we briefly explore how the deployment of 'disabled' identities impacts on the musicians so identified, as opposed to on the sales of products

Advertising · Business · Depression (economics · Economics · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Software deployment · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Engineering · Music History and Culture · Psychology · Theater, Performance, and Music History · Marketing

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access