Narrative transparency

Abstract

In this paper, we look at how alternative marketing organisations communicate transparency in a climate of generalised risk and scepticism. We contrast the traditional numeric approach to transparency, which involves auditing and third-party certifications; with an alternative approach that we call narrative transparency. Central to narrative transparency is an emphasis on stake-holder dialogue and an invitation to stake-holders to play the role of auditor. This article illustrates how alternative marketing organisations engage in rhetorical tactics central to a narrative approach, to communicate transparency to their stakeholders. These rhetorical tactics include persona, allegory, consumer sovereignty and enlightenment. Community supported agriculture programmes from across the United States are the context for this study. Findings enrich discussions about best practices for transparency and communications. The central contribution is identification of a narrative approach to transparency, the rhetorical techniques such an approach employs, and an explanation of why an alternative approach to transparency reporting emerges.

Keywords:

• audit society
• community supported agriculture
• marketing communications
• narrative
• rhetoric
• transparency

Notes

¹ In discussing agriculture giants Cargill and ADM, Goldman and Papson (2006) point out both companies branding strategies show them as ‘dynamic, yet environmentally friendly’ (Goldman & Papson, 2006, p. 334) and cultivate a union of universal humanism and technotopia (Kozinets, 2008), which can lead to salvation narratives such as the ‘[h]armony and bounty [that] coexist in corporate images of agriculture, where individual farmers stand beside fields of healthy crops, thanks to advances in biotechnology, aerospace, and computing’ (Goldman & Papson, 2006, p. 349). However, the ethical scandals and litigation surrounding these firms are well-documented (e.g., Makin, 2004). Generally ‘big ag’ offers ample illustrations of actions that conflict with stated values (Monsanto, n.d.). Both Cargill and ADM websites have extensive web pages on corporate responsibility (http://www.cargill.com/corporate-responsibility/index.jsp; http://www.adm.com/en-US/responsibility/2011CR/Pages/default.aspx), however finding a means of contact is difficult. When we called ADM to ask for the most recent Corporate Responsibility (CR) report, three receptionists said they did not know what CR was and offered to transfer us to the IT department to report a missing web page. This anecdote well illustrates organisations not demonstrating actions that back up stated values.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melea Press

Melea Press is a Senior Lecturer of Marketing at the University of Bath. She has taught at the University of Wyoming, Marylhurst University, and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. She received her PhD in marketing from the Pennsylvania State University in 2007. Between 1994 and 2002 she dedicated herself to printmaking and book arts. Her interest in social science solidified in 1999 when she worked in the Nizamuddin Basti in New Delhi, India. Her current research focuses on alternative markets, local food issues, transformative consumer research, energy consumption, and sustainability strategies. She has published on marketing and sustainability in books and journals, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Culture, and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

Eric J. Arnould

Eric Arnould is Professor of Consumer Marketing at the University of Bath and Visiting Professor of Marketing at Southern Denmark University. Dr. Arnould earned a doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Arizona in 1982 and worked for 15 years as an applied anthropologist in West Africa. Over the past 20 years, Dr, Arnould has benefited from teaching students at many Universities in the US, Europe and Asia. He has consulted for numerous private firms, governmental agencies, and public-private partnerships in the US and in Africa. His research on sustainability, economic development, services marketing, consumer culture theory, and marketing channels in developing countries appears in many social science and managerial periodicals and books. He is currently involved in research projects focused on corporate ethnography, dry land agricultural commodity marketing, demand side energy management, and conservation agriculture in eastern Africa.