Consumer Culture Vulture

An interesting article from the Guardian . Brief review of developments in the sex toy industry and looking at how vibrators have gone mainstream. The role of marketing in this is food for thought. Which came (if you'll pardon the pun hurr hurr) first? Did marketing strategies and tactics contribute to sexual pleasure being increasingly diverse and open, or did it merely follow up and exploit these for commercial purposes? Reading around the topic is fascinating and food for thought for marketers. Sex is of course one of the go-to settings for brand image and promise. And trends in sexuality offer the market researcher a wealth of potential information for interpreting wider societal change. Businesses operating within the sector tend to be particularly focused on their consumer's needs and wants (again innuendo very much intended) and to have innovative marketing strategies ahead of their time. An excellent article from the Economist (Sept 2015) highlights how pornographers...

I'm really bad at networking. I managed to swap 3 business cards at the EMAC Conference last month. I didn't become an academic to have to interact with people. Inside of the classroom fine - I'm a performer in their acting out some version of myself and every teacher in every Educating Rita knock off ever. But real life me, jeez. Sat in the canteen during lunch whilst big shot academic cliques surround felt like being lonely and forlorn back at high school all over again. I'm just not very sociable. Retreating back to my office here I go. Thank goodness for articles, blogs, online dating and the like.  

Its that time of year when all of our beloved students piss off, and once we have completed our marking (you laughed at my jokes in class 2:1 BAM! You never ever had a pen or paper 3rd BAM! This has a lot of long words and detailed references and Hollyoaks is about to start 2:1 BAM!) then it is time to look forward to CONFERENCES. :D Conferences are to academics what spa breaks are to the diamond studded whores of the oligarchs. They're a chance to size yourself up to the competition, get your name out there, passive aggressively (or just aggressively if you have made it to professor or above) tear into your competition, and fall asleep in homogenised hotel suite surroundings. I don't think any of us particularly wants to be there. But it does bring the perk of an all expenses Ryanair flight to an international-adjacent airport. And if you're lucky you might get felt up by a randy editor at the gala dinner and a 3* publication ought to be in the bag. This year I have ...

Already got the Mentos Coke bath into today's classes. #buzzlecturing

Yet again a Kardashian-Jenner has come to my rescue. There I was staring at my blank powerpoint presentation, trying to find some inspiration for my branding lecture next week. There are only so many textbooks you can trawl through before realizing they are all equally inaccessible. How do I fill 2 hours with re-branding? Other than some funny pictures comparing Air BnB's new logo to genitalia I'm drawing a blank. And then In-Touch magazine trends on my Facebook pane claiming that Bruce Jenner is transitioning into a woman. My re-branding exercise comes just like that. Bruce, Kris, Kim, the less famous ones, you are angels for our times. Not you though Rob. If I was a religious man I would be offering up some goat's blood for your skincare regimens right now.    

"hello, Before I said to you hale me to write my reference, you ask my information? my name is X, my student number is Y, do you need my exam's performance? Good luck."

Week three of teaching done and all I want to do is curl up and sleep for my weekend solid. However, I have going through my head a half dozen activities and tasks am trying to get right for my classes next week. Something to do with holiday choices; trolling students facebook profiles in order to critique consumer identities; a blind date based market research session... it goes on. To get right, a good lecture activity probably takes five or six hours to work out. For about 15 minutes class time. It is an exhausting ratio; but if it goes well then can recycle in one form or another forever after. This week I have had three lectures based on a Jeremy Kyle type audience baiting TV show for instance. In one we were yelling at a bin representing BP after the 2011 Gulf oil spill. In another the poor pot plant in the corner was standing in for Kim Jong Un and his repellent regime. I have no idea if the students learnt the points about sustainable and ethical disaster management, or polit...