How Legends Become Brands: The Culture Industry in the Second Enclosure Movement
Globalization, Critique and Social Theory: Diagnoses and Challenges
ISBN: 978-1-78560-247-4, eISBN: 978-1-78560-246-7
Publication date: 6 November 2015
Abstract
Purpose
Capital increasingly takes the form of intangible assets, especially trademarked corporate brands. Further, contemporary capitalism increasingly accumulates through commodification of iconic cultural images and legendary narratives constituting a “second enclosure movement” (Boyle, 2008). This paper develops a critical theory of brands, branding, and brand management within economies of spectacle.
Methodology/approach
A case study of the consumer culture surrounding large displacement motorcycling is used to critique the central premise of consumer culture theory (marketing professionals create brands that become valuable icons) and develop an alternative view using concepts from critical theory, especially spectacle (Debord, 1967) and culture industry (Adorno, 1991).
Findings
After initial enclosure, legends were managed by Crossmarketing Licensing Networks (CMLN), coalitions of corporate and state actors, each possessing a piece of the legendary pie. The Sturgis CMLN was organized into two political divisions, rally profiteers and civic leaders, with overlapping but differentiated interests and approaches to the management of the Sturgis legend. The CMLN intervened in the cultural commons to overcome legendary degradations (banality, incoherence, undesirability) surrounding the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Originality/value
Brands are capitalized culture created by enclosures, a form of primitive accumulation. Under current conditions of immaterial production, CMLN’s engage in ongoing cultural production to maintain the capitalized value of their brands. Brands are not only hunted in the wilds of culture, but also increasingly domesticated and fattened when herded through legendary commons.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Andy Hochstetler, Tony Smith, Harry Dahms, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.
Citation
Krier, D. and Swart, W.J. (2015), "How Legends Become Brands: The Culture Industry in the Second Enclosure Movement", Globalization, Critique and Social Theory: Diagnoses and Challenges (Current Perspectives in Social Theory, Vol. 33), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 243-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0278-120420150000033009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited