Anticonsumerist marketers: Cultural intermediaries in an era of consumer activism

Abstract

Through the concept of ‘cultural intermediaries’, this article identifies contradictions between marketing workers’ personal and professional identities as a rich site for understanding the ethics and politics of marketing work in an era of consumer activism. It offers a case study of a small branding agency president’s attempt to resolve their personal anticonsumerist, environmental politics with their work as a marketer promoting the very forms of over/consumption that they personally oppose. The resolution comes in the form of certifying their agency as a B Corp, which legally binds them to act for people and planet as much as profit when making managerial decisions. The following account contributes to the literature on cultural intermediaries in two ways. First, it describes how resolving conflicts between different sources of identification for cultural intermediaries can shape the process and patterns of generating cultural and economic value. Second, the case suggests that promotional agencies can foster trends in a business-to-business context, rather than among retail consumers, which shift normative organizational and market practices.