Journal of Marketing Management

“Permacrisis” was declared the 2022 word of the year by Collins Dictionary, highlighting the dominance of societal discourse about an ongoing state of crisis, uncertainty, and upheaval. From wars and political instability to health pandemics and institutional inequalities, crises have impacted the marketplace and studies of it throughout history. However, there is a need for more work that addresses the machinations and impacts of this current time of so-called “permacrisis”, including by addressing the class, gender, racial, and global politics that are implicated in it.

• Is the marketplace itself a crisis to be solved or dismantled?
• How are ideas about crises and normality established and contested in the marketplace?
• What moral positions are communicated and critiqued in the marketplace amid crises?

Inspired by previous Journal of Marketing Management (JMM) special issues that critically tackle questions of power and injustice (Arsel et al., 2015; Prothero & Tadajewski, 2021; Thomas et al., 2021), this special issue explores the politics and permacrisis of the marketplace (e.g., how the ongoing Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic and interconnected crises are shaping marketplace activities and antagonisms). Critically focusing on structural power dynamics and the contours of capitalism (Coffin & Egan-Wyer, 2020; Davis & Mitchell, 2022), this issue will bring together a range of writing that takes seriously the question of how politics and a state of permacrisis is implicated in the marketplace, including the many ways that ableism, classism, racism, and sexism is reinforced. The collection of writing will also discuss some of the dynamics between politics, digital culture, and the influencer and entertainment industry.

We will consider the intricacies of “narrative brand spaces and brand storytelling” (Feiereisen et al. 2020), such as how times of crisis are depicted and discussed across the arts (Kerrigan & Preece 2023) and various social media and content-sharing sites (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, Twitter). There will also be analysis of who and what typically determines whether “we” are in the throes of “crisis” or are experiencing a form of “normality”, and how such distinctions are made in the marketplace. Accordingly, we are interested in constructions and experiences of temporality via the marketplace, where the concept of “crisis” (and times “before” it) is impacted by a range of power dynamics, individuals, and institutions.

We seek critical interventions (e.g., journal articles and videography submissions) that grapple with how the concepts of “crisis” and “normality” are (re)defined in and by the marketplace, across different geo-cultural and socio-political contexts. Additionally, this special issue seeks contributions that reflect on the relationship between forms of protest, strike action, so-called “free speech”, and the politics and permacrisis of the marketplace. This collection of work will analyse elements of the relationship between race and the marketplace (Johnson et al., 2019) during times of crisis. It will also critically consider the commodification of care (Chatzidakis et al., 2020; Sobande, 2022; The Care Collective, 2020), such as by analysing how morality manifests in the marketplace and by examining how brands frame themselves as caring about different issues and demographics during times of crisis. Other topics that contributors may choose to focus on include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Critical marketing pedagogical approaches in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
• Feminist analyses of how crises are constructed and commodified in the marketplace.
• Marketing and brand responses to politics and the “permacrisis” (e.g., marketing and brand campaigns related to COVID-19, the cost-of-living crisis, ongoing wars, and recent political changes).
• Nation-branding and the marketing of countries and political parties during times of crisis.
• The role of influencer culture in politics and crisis communications.
• Racial capitalism and the recent history of the marketplace (e.g., the relationship between racial capitalism, work and labour conditions, health pandemics, and other crises).
• The changing landscape, norms, and aesthetics of the influencer culture industry in response to crises.
• The epistemological roots of how “crisis” is (re)defined in and by the marketplace.
• The relationship between celebrity culture and times of crisis.
• Visual culture and its depiction of crises and everydayness.
• Why and how protests and strike action occur in marketplace contexts amid crises (e.g., the emergence of new unions and examples of recent industrial action).

For the full call including references please see https://www.jmmnews.com/politics-and-permacrisis/

Authors should submit manuscripts of between 8,000–10,000 words (excluding tables, references, captions, footnotes and endnotes). All submissions must strictly follow the guidelines for the Journal of Marketing Management. Please note the requirements to include a Summary Statement of Contribution, and to place figures and tables at their correct location within the text. Please also read the following guidelines prior to submitting your manuscript:

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Manuscripts should be submitted online using the T&F Submission Portal for Journal of Marketing Management. Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript (only use alpha-numeric characters or underscores in the filename). One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from the files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees.

When uploading files authors will be able to define the non-anonymous version as “Manuscript - with author details”, and the anonymous version as “Manuscript - Anonymous”. To submit your manuscript to the Special Issue choose “Research Article” from the Manuscript Type list in the Submission Portal. On the next screen (Manuscript Details), answer ‘yes’ to the question ‘Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?’. A drop down menu will then appear and you should select the Special Issue Title from this list.

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