My colleague Craig Thompson did some heavy lifting on this entry. Hats off to Craig.

Definition of the Term

According to Barthes (2013/1957: 230-231), “a myth is a depoliticized speech that evacuates the contingent, historical, and socially constructed quality of what it seeks to signify, rendering it under the clarity of an inherently indisputable nature.” Myths transform imaginatively construed historical events into facts, where intentions and implications are not necessarily concealed or falsified but naturalized. Simply put, myths are powerful stories. the narrative power of whose central themes shape values, meanings, and ideals through which people make sense of their world. Myths comprise a culture’s stock of hereditary stories. Myths symbolize preferred modes of conduct (means) and life goals (ends). They conform to four main forms: comedic, romantic, tragic, and ironic (Stern 1995). In addition, myths perform four primary functions in society—cosmological, psychological, sociological and ideological, with examples given in the sections that follow.

Psychologist Carl Jung (1928) proposed that humans create and interpret symbols and situations in ways consistent with inherited cultural predispositions, which he called archetypes. According to Jung, these archetypes are expressed in three primary, symbolically charged forms. First are archetypal events, such as birth, death, initiation, achievement, and marriage, for example that populate mythic stories. In consumer culture each of these archetypal event gives rise to major consumption activities fueling demand for products, service, and experiences. For example, luxury products have become important signaling devices in online dating apps where people seek out marriageable partners in pursuit of idealized romantic outcomes (Chen, Wang & Ordabayeva 2023). Similarly, Bonsu and Belk (2003) have shown how in Ghana s social exchanges during death rituals are imbued with symbolic representations that allow the living and the dead to vicariously consume relevant products as expressions of their aspirational selves.

Second, are archetypal characters who populate mythic stories, such as the hero, the outlaw/rebel, the Earth mother, or the caregiving good father (discussed below). Finally, there are archetypal motifs, such as the great creation, the deluge (e.g., Noah’s flood), and the apocalypse. The latter has been the subject of much recent, creative consumption activity as for example in the popularity of disaster films (Bradshaw and Zwick 2016), and doomsday preparedness.

Key Findings & Insights

Studies have illustrated the pertinence of mythic archetypal persona to consumer behavior. These archetypes provide blueprints for action.  For example, Stern (1994) showed that advertisers rely on the short-hand provided by stereotypical figures and plots to convey advertising meanings succinctly. In Japan, Hello Kitty’s enigmatic, comedic cuteness successfully pushes trendy products in the market while mediating psychological tensions between utopian consumerist freedom and control manifest in a kind of theatricalized innocence (McVeigh 2000).

Holt and Thompson (2004) showed that popular media products in the US make use of two alternative stereotypes to portray manhood. Mass market films are filled with one of these, the heroic man-of-action who uses violent means to single-handedly defeat villainous forces and win acclaim, adulation, and often romantic love. Another is the good father stereotype. The good father stereotype has been a staple of American television comedies for decades beginning in the 1950s (Cantor 1990).

Dion and Arnould (2016) showed that the creative directors in luxury brands develop profiles that draw systematically from two mythic archetypal persona that of the artist and that of the magician.  Additionally, their mythologized life stories often feature elements of tragedy as in personal self-denial necessary to achieve artistic excellence.

A final example of a compelling romantic archetypal narrative is the Cinderella fairy tale. Its core theme is that those possessing an impeccable moral character will eventually receive their just (romantic) rewards. The familiar European version of this fairy tale has been retold through numerous films that update the source material and incorporate contemporary variations on its core theme. Versions of the myth that feature high school age heroines, like A Cinderella Story, also recognize the angst of being misunderstood that so many teenagers experience.

Myths assume four functions in society. The cosmological function of myth explains the origins of existence and humanity’s relationship to supernatural forces. For some, religious stories provide this function, but in secular, consumer culture, science fiction mobilizes the cosmological function of myth in media products like Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica, Dune and the like (Kozinets 2001).

The psychological function of cultural myths is to provide normative guidance, inspiration, motivation, and hope. The Cinderella myth provides this, for example.  However, cosplay provides a recent consumer driven example. Cosplay refers to costumed role performance based on fantasy world characters (e.g., Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Lady Dimitrescu, or Batman). Research shows cosplayers seek to embody coveted personal attributes represented by the character, such as confidence, strength, or sex appeal (Seregina and Weijo 2017).

The sociological function of myth helps a social group maintain a sense of solidarity and cohesion; a function discussed further below. In a detailed examination of a myth that serves a sociological function, Coskuner-Balli (2020) shows that American presidential communications have emphasized different aspects of the enduring American dream myth in response to varying historical contingencies to mobilize the citizenry and to legitimize their own personal brands.  Presidents have also cast the citizen-consumer as a responsible and active moral hero on a hero’s journey to achieve American Dream. The American Dream myth portrays America as an exceptional nation, blessed by divine grace, which offers its citizens boundless opportunities for happiness and personal achievement through consumer abundance.

The ideological function of myth refers to all the naturalized, taken for granted beliefs and values, often politicized, that constitute a cultural worldview. For example, feminist scholars point to the myth of the “good mother,” a variation on Carl Jung’s caregiver archetype that has historically encouraged women to see the domestic sphere as their “natural” place and, in turn, to be accepting of gender inequities in education, political life, and employment.

Studies have shown the relevance of mythology to consumers’ enduring preferences. Illustrating the psychological function of myth, Avery (2012) showed how controversial was the launch of the family targeted Porsche Cayenne to traditionally male owners of Porsche sports cars for whom German high-performance engineering and male gender identity were deeply entwined. Another good example of how brands can harness the power of myth is found in the success of the Incredibles animated films due in part to the effective blending of the male man-of-action and good father stereotypes in the person of Mr. Incredible, not to mention the reimagining of the Earth mother archetype (Stern 1995) in the person of Elastagirl (Ms. Incredible).

Holt (2004) notes the role of myths in offering identity value and proposes that certain brands tap into national myths to become iconic. Illustrating the ideological function of national mythology Luedicke, et al. (2010) showed how Hummer mobilized the ideological myth of American exceptionalism in fostering demand. Similarly, Press and Arnould (2011) showed that the success of the Community Supported Agriculture could be attributed in part to the systematic evocation of competing myth of American pastoralism, a vision of harmonious cultivation of the “garden” by entrepreneurial craftspeople. Jones and Arnould (n.d.) suggest that doomsday preppers in the UK and the US draw on a shared pastoralist myth in imagining post-apocalyptic futures and stockpiling the consumer goods necessary to achieve it. At the same time these authors show that the American sociological myth of regeneration through violence fuels the penchant of some American preppers to amass firearms for an apocalyptic cleansing.

In general, brands compete in broad myth markets (see Holt 2004) that extend beyond immediate rivals in their product category. A myth market is constituted by all the brands and cultural goods that seek to win consumers’ loyalty through effective enactments of enduring mythic stories. For example, Nike has successfully utilized the hero’s journey myth to compete in a crowded market for athletic wear. Its “Just Do It” campaign mythically reframes the idea of striving to achieve one’s athletic potential as a hero’s journey where protagonists overcome various challenges in pursuit of greatness. This campaign builds upon the biographies of elite athletes, such as Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Simone Biles.

Holt (2004) also suggests that opportunities to create new versions of cultural myths occur when there is a shift in national ideology. During these times, brands with rich historical and cultural significance can deliver myths that not only repair the culture but even shape it, since they can “put existing cultural materials to new purposes in order to provoke audiences to think differently about themselves.” Thus, Marvel has profited from positioning Captain America first to galvanize support for World War II, second, to defend American democracy from Soviet communism during the Cold War, and thirdly, portraying him as a jaded hero, who goes rogue to pursue his own moral code in the tumultuous political present.

Using Barthes theory of myth in a granular discussion of mythic change based on the transformation of China’s national ideology from a hardline communist one to a consumerist one, Zhao and Belk (2008, 240) show how “social change at the symbolic level is to a large extent the construction and reconstruction of [signs and meanings]. The new [meanings] (e.g., the pursuit of consumer goods) are elevated through the displaced old [signs] (e.g., the communist icons used to justify the consumption of a Citizen [brand] watch). The old [meanings] are interpreted through new [signs] (e.g., modernization is built through the consumption of the latest consumer goods).”

Outlook

It should be fruitful to examine marketing communications in many cultural and historical contexts and times using mythic analysis. The transformation of Ramadan from a religious holiday into a consumerist holiday in the Islamic world, or the return of commercialized yoga to India as a practice of personal potentiality building rather than a spiritual discipline, for example would benefit from such a treatment for example. More generally, the tools of mythic analysis offer a useful framework from which to deconstruct both local and global consumer imaginaries as the international examples cited above suggest as well as to imagine alternative ways to construct and legitimate alternative new social orders and consumer subjectivities.

Key References

Barthes, R. (2013/1957), Mythologies. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux

Holt, Douglas B. (2004), How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Luedicke, M., Thompson, C. & Giesler, M. (2010). Consumer identity work as moral protagonism: how myth and ideology animate a brand-mediated moral conflict,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (April), 1016–32.

Thompson, C.J., Arnould, E. & Veresiu,E (2023). Market mythmaking and consumer culture. In Consumer Culture Theory, 2e, Arnould, E. J., Thompson, C.J., Weinberger, M. & Crockett, D., London: SAGE Publications, 273-300.

Other References / Further Recommended Literature

Avery, J. (2011). Defending the markers of masculinity: consumer resistance to brand gender-bending. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(December), 322-336.

Bonsu, S. K. & Belk, R. W. (2003). Do not go cheaply into that good night: death-ritual consumption in Asante, Ghana. Journal of Consumer Research, 30(June), 41-55.

Bradshaw, A. & Zwick, D. (2016). The field of business sustainability and the death drive: a radical intervention. Journal of Business Ethics, 136(June), 267-279.

Campbell, J. (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Cantor, M G. (1990) Prime‐time fathers: A study in continuity and change. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 7(3), 275-285,

Chen, Q., Wang, Y. & Ordabayeva, N. (2023). The mate screening motive: how women use luxury consumption to signal to men. Journal of Consumer Research, 50(August), 303-321.

Coskuner-Balli, G. (2020). Citizen-consumers wanted: revitalizing the American dream in the face of economic recessions, 1981–2012. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(October), 327-349

Dion, D. & Arnould, E. (2016). Persona-fied brands: managing branded persons through persona, Journal of Marketing Management, 32 (February), 121-148.

Holt, D. B., & Thompson, C. J. (2004). Man-of-action heroes: the pursuit of heroic masculinity in everyday consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (2), 425–40.

Jones, H. & Arnould, E. (n.d.) How reflexive modernization and optimistic doomsday fantasies pattern tragically individualized consumer responsibilization. Espoo, FI: Aalto University School of Business.

Jung, Carl G. (1928), Contributions to Analytical Psychology, New York: Harcourt Brace.

Kozinets, R. V. (2001), “Utopian enterprise: articulating the meanings of Star Trek’s culture of consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research, 28 (June), 67–88.

Luedicke, M., Thompson, C. & Giesler, M. (2010). Consumer identity work as moral protagonism: how myth and ideology animate a brand-mediated moral conflict,” Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (April), 1016–32.

McVeigh, B. (2000). How Hello Kitty commodifies the cute, cool and camp ‘consumutopia’ versus ‘control’ in Japan. Journal of Material Culture, 5(July), 131-245.

Press, M. & Arnould, E. (2011). American Pastoralism: Linking Post-War Suburbia and Community Supported Agriculture, Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(2) 168–194.

Seregina, A. & Weijo, H. A. (2017). Play at any cost: how cosplayers produce and sustain their ludic communal consumption experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(June), 139-159.

Slotkin, R. (2000). Regeneration through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1860, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Stern, B. B. (1995). Consumer myths: Frye’s taxonomy and the structural analysis of consumption text. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(September), 165-185..

Zhao, Z. & Belk, R. W. (2008). Politicizing consumer culture: advertising’s appropriation of political ideology in China’s social transition. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(August), 231-244.