The ethno/graphic novel: alternative shapes of knowledge and hyper-intensity in consumer research

ABSTRACT

In this paper we disrupt established methodological boundaries in consumer research. We embark on a creative exploration to address the lack of an appropriate methodological toolkit. Graphic narratives have the potential to illuminate the social realities and humanly interesting themes underlying contemporary consumer culture. This potential is illustrated through introduction of the ethno/graphic novel, a “hyper-intense” merge of theory, data, representation and induction. We provide Toxic Play: Consuming Beer Pong, as an illustrated example and original contribution to consumer research knowledge. Alongside the illustration, we discuss the methodological underpinnings of the ethno/graphic novel approach and provide guidance on: projects/storyworlds, data scavenging, analysis and re-interpretation, hyper-intense translations, representation/illustration, and dissemination. This article is a call for increased application of alternative shapes of knowledge:methodologies that welcome audiences as co-producers of meaning in intense scientific adventures. The result of this methodological exploration holds potential for an extended and re-invigorated communicative function of consumer research.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnography
• comic book
• representation
• visual methodology
• storyworlds
• transmedia storytelling

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to acknowledge the mentorship, guidance and friendship of the late Dr Brendan Richardson, which contribute greatly to this and other works. The authors would also like to acknowledge the editors and reviewers for the supportive, encouraging, and challenging review process, it enhanced greatly the contribution of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen R. O’Sullivan

Stephen R. O'Sullivan is a lecturer in marketing and consumer culture at University College Cork. His research interests include play and games, research representation, human–animal bonds, and street art. His work has been published in Marketing Theory, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, and Consumption, Markets and Culture.

Robert V. Kozinets

Robert V. Kozinets is an academic who has developed methods and theories that are widely used around the world. In 1995, in a study of fan utopian community, he invented netnography, an application of cultural anthropology to digital networks. Since that time, he has taught digital research methods combined with marketing and branding theories, practices, and ethical praxis to academics as well as to companies such as Lowe's, AMEX, Nissan, TD Bank, Campbell Soup, L'Oréal, Sony, Merck, and many others. Asking questions about technology, entertainment, utopia, and desire, his research pushed the boundaries open on a more cultural, moral, interconnected, and passionate form of studying and theorizing the new media economy. His method changed market research, and his works have been cited over 25,000 times according to Google Scholar. He currently holds the Jayne and Hans Hufschmid Chair of Digital and Business Communication at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Marshall School of Business.