The Department of Marketing has been well represented at the two main annual consumer research conferences.
The Association for Consumer Research conference was held from October 4-7 in Vancouver, Canada and centred on the theme of "Appreciating Diversity." Dr Kathy Hamilton presented her UK-based research as part of a special session on countervailing the effects of poverty where she was joined by researchers from Kenya, the United States and France. Dr Andrea Tonner presented work with consumers in the UK, USA and Australia titled "When motherhood is too hard to face: Anti-consumption in difficult pregnancy" advancing knowledge on how consumption is used during life-transitions. Katherine Duffy presented a paper co-authored with Dr Paul Hewer and Dr Juliette Wilson on the labours, practices and emergent socialities of vintage. Dr Matthew Alexander and Dr Hamilton also participated in the film festival with a film focusing on re-forging community ownership and identity based on their research with First ScotRail's Adopt a Station Scheme.
In August, the Consumer Culture Theory conference was held at the University of Oxford, the first time the conference has been held outside the United States. Several members of the department contributed to a special session on representing culinary cultures. Dr Hewer presented on 'Identity Work, Culinary Spaces and the Celebrity Brand', co-authored with Douglas Brownlie (Stirling) and Finola Kerrigan (KCL). Dr Hamilton presented a paper on poetic representations on food and nostalgia, co-authored by Dr Beverly Wagner, Dr Wilson and Dr Tonner. Several PhD students also attended this event with Leighanne Higgins, Ashleigh Logan and Katherine Duffy all delivering poster presentations focusing on sacred consumption, consumer acculturation and vintage consumption respectively.