Journal articles on the topic 'Evangelist marketing'

Developments in the sports industry have increased rivalry, professional sports clubs have moved towards economic activities in order to maintain their existence and have started to act like a business. Understanding the tendencies of the sports club fans, where the sports clubs interact intensively, will play a key role in the development of the sport. The aim of this study was to determine the sports team evangelism attitudes of high school students and to examine the evangelist behaviours. The research group consists of a total of 376 students in high school in Sivas. A descriptive qualitative survey model was used in the study. In order to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants, the eight-item personal information form, and the 12-item Sport Team Evangelism Scale which were developed by Dwyer, Greenhalgh and LeCrom (2015) and adapted to Turkish by Yüksekbilgili (2017) were used. Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation values were used for data analysis. Normality tests of the data were performed and Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H test were used to compare the variables that did not show normal distribution. According to the findings, it was observed that sport team evangelism levels differed statistically according to the participants' gender, the number of teams they went to, the frequencies of going to matches, the way they followed the matches, and the way to go away. It is seen that the level of evangelism of the sports team of the participants is moderate. Clubs are advised to develop marketing and marketing strategies for products and services, taking into account the profile and evangelist tendencies of the fans.

Undoubtedly, in the modern age of digitalization, Millennials, who are considered digital natives, have become a massive target market for salespersons. Changes in the way Millennials think accompanied by an explosion of social media have led to an increased focus on social media influencer marketing in the company sector. To help establish a new marketing paradigm that accounts for these changes, this research aims to conceptualize and investigate the process of building consumer-brand relationships with Millennial consumers through social media micro-influencers. Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that four core characteristics of social media micro-influencers (i.e., authenticity, the meaning of the influencer, specific content, and secret sharing) were a significant antecedent of brand engagement and brand love, which, in turn, mediated the pathway from social media micro-influencer characteristics to brand evangelism. Understanding what social media micro-influencers mean to Millennials offers the promise of improving brand evangelism through more precise market analysis and market strategy. In the discussion, the paper introduces a three-stage building method towards brand evangelism through social media micro-influencer, including: (1) the stage of selecting influencers; (2) the stage of constructing intense emotional responses to the brand (brand engagement and brand love); and ultimately (3) the stage of becoming a brand evangelist. Lastly, limitations and future directions were discussed.

Brand evangelism, an advanced form of marketing where consumers voluntarily advocate on behalf of the brand, can bring numerous benefits to a firm. Pro-brand behaviors such as word-of-mouth promotion, recruitment of consumers, and disparagement of rivals are just a few of the many actions associated with brand evangelism. With highly impassioned and provocative fans, an opportunity exists to explore brand evangelism within the spectator sport context. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure sport team (brand) evangelism. Guided by Fournier’s (1998) brand extension of relationship theory and following Churchill’s (1979) eight-step method for developing marketing measures, two focus groups of fans were interviewed and an additional 450 sport fans were surveyed through two distinct data collections in an attempt to identify sport team evangelistic behaviors, and test a measure of such behaviors. The assessment of the instrument included two forms of reliability analysis and three modes of validity analysis as the scale was parsimoniously reduced from 88 initial behaviors to four factors and 14 items.

It is a well-known fact now that consumers falsify profound and meaningful relationships with particular brands and that such consumer brand relationships are expected to impact brand-related behavior of consumers. The study investigates the influence of three consumer-brand relational constructs - brand trust, brand affect and brand identification – and their effects on brand evangelism behavior, which was operationalized in the form of two supportive behaviors namely; purchase intentions and positive referrals. After assessing common method bias as well as reliability and validity estimates, structural equation modelling was employed with 458 sample data to test the study model fit and hypothesized relationships. The findings reveal that the consumer-brand relationship influences brand evangelism. All consumer-brand relational constructs (i.e., brand trust, brand affect and brand identification) influence brand evangelism positively in terms of purchase intention and brand referral. The study highlights the importance of brand evangelism in the marketing literature by establishing its causal relationships with the key brand attributes of brand affect, brand trust and brand evangelism. Implications of the results are deliberated with future scope for research.

Az elmúlt évtizedekben a kreatív és kulturális ipar szerepe felértékelődött, termékeinek és szolgáltatásainak kereslete növekedett. A cikkben ezen növekedés hátterét, illetve a növekedéshez hozzájáruló vállalati marketing eszközöket egy egyre népszerűbb szektor, a dél-koreai zenei- és filmipar példáján keresztül mutatja be a szerző. A 4E marketing-mix modelljét (Experience, Everyplace, Exchange, Evangelism) használva ismerteti azokat az eszközöket, amelyekkel a vállalatok befolyásolják az iparág termékeinek fogyasztását. A cikk második felében egy nemzetközi szekunder kutatás, valamint egy hazai, a koreai kultúra rajongói körében 2018-2019-ben elvégzett primer kutatás eredményeit összegezve a szektor fogyasztónak sajátosságai és preferenciai is bemutatásra kerülnek.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to capture the strength of consumer’s perceived brand sacredness. The authors developed and validated a measurement scale composed of three related dimensions: supremacy, mesmerization and communitas. Design/methodology/approach Six empirical studies were conducted to identify the brand sacredness construct domains, develop and validate the measurement and test the nomological network between brand sacredness and it antecedent and outcome variables. Findings Results from a series of studies provided robust supports for the scale structure and demarcated the construct domains from other consumer–brand relationship measures. Testing of nomological validity of the scale further showed that brand sacredness is influenced by brand love, emotional brand attachment and brand loyalty and, meanwhile, provides explanatory power to predict theoretically related outcome variables, including transcendent consumer experience, defense of brand, incorporation brand in extended-self, brand ritualism and brand evangelism. Research limitations/implications This study is based on cross-sectional survey data obtained from respondents belonging to well-established brand communities. A longitudinal study involving recent and emerging brand communities could provide an enhanced understanding of the evolution of brand sacredness with time, including brand sacralizaton process as well as possible de-sacralization process. Practical implications The study provides significant insights for brand managers to create an enduring brand and ascertain that consumers find their affiliations with the brand and make it the sacred core of their lives by fandom management through brand evangelism. Originality/value This study adds to the theory on consumer–brand relationship realm by delineating the domains of brand sacredness with its defining feature of extraordinary experience transcending an ordinary brand. It contributes to the existing body of branding and customer-based brand equity literature by incorporating the spiritual aspects of faith, passion and devotion into measuring the value of a brand.

Abstract Taking up an analysis of the materiality of the American Mission Press (AMP) bilingual catalogs printed from 1884 to 1896 in Ottoman Beirut, in this article I identify these booklets as publications that circulated among broad networks of books, journals and newspapers during the period of the Arab nahda. By examining these catalogs in terms of the wider historical significance of their materiality, specifically their organization, layout, typography and illustrations, in this essay I show how these booklets promoted the AMP and its mission’s entangled messages in an increasingly competitive publishing industry. On the one hand, the catalogs highlighted the AMP’s ‘western’ qualifications and strove to engage local readers’ interests in ‘modern’ culture, science and technology. On the other hand, these works marketed the mission’s universalist evangelical views. Thus, in this study I show how such ephemeral publications, when studied for their dynamic content, make evident nineteenth-century Arabic print commerce at work and also illustrate early examples of nascent advertising practices.

This paper is the first part of a cycle comprising five texts on the marketing use of social media by nationwide opinion-forming Catholic weeklies in Poland. Considering the state of the research so far, it is not completely clear how to classify Catholic media profiles on social networking sites. On the one hand, the media activity of the Church is typically evangelistic in nature, but on the other hand it takes place in typically secular conditions. The evangelising role of the Catholic media cannot be separated from the opinion-forming function. The main objective of the project is, firstly, to assess the marketing potential of social media used by the aforementioned weeklies and secondly, to complement the previously described online presence of religious entities in the context of the mediatization of religions. This paper—as the theoretical background of the research—presents the detailed interdisciplinary literature review on the issues crucial for the project, as well as the methodological introduction to our study.

In the past recent years, WhatsApp and WeChat have surprisingly fast growth. Facebook as well became the first social network to reach 1 billion active users every month. The presence of social media is an expectation for brands instead of an exception to the rule. Social events and shared information within your target market will help you understand developments in the industry. The opportunity to expose patterns in business in real time is a potential business intelligence goldmine. The worldwide rate of social penetration reached 49% in 2020, with the highest penetration rates in East Asia and North America. Instagram enables users, through their standards of credibility, authenticity and transparency, to develop themselves. Influencers from social media have a personal recognizable identity, also known as the "true brand" An influencer has tools and values that can motivate many other followers to increase their presence in the media. Even if these leads do not directly buy via social, awareness-raising can lead them to become full-time buyers. The overwhelming majority of users in Instagram are under the age of 30 according to recent Social Media demographics. Marketers face a dilemma: more and more people want businesses to take a social stand, but 79% of CMOs fear that their capacity to attract consumers will be adversely affected. Businesses can mitigate negative emotions by providing positive information to popular social media users. Marketing managers will encourage consumers through tournament and influencer programmers to engage in contact practices so customers can evangelize and encourage their loyalty to the organization through the creation and delivery of user-generated content

A platform might have the potential to bring enormous value to its users. However, without a well-orchestrated launch strategy that coordinates a sufficient number of users onto the platform, this potential will not be realized. The theoretical literature predicts that one approach to coordinating platform take-off is to influence the market’s subjective focal expectations of the future installed base of users. This paper reports on a field experiment investigating the causal role of subjective expectations in the launch of a new platform venture, in which invitations to join a newly launched platform were sent to 16,349 individuals. The invitations included randomized statements regarding the size of the future expected installed base (along with disclosures of the current installed base). I find that simple, subjective, uncommitted, and relatively costless statements broadcasted by the platform with the goal of influencing market expectations were indeed able to influence platform takeoff and overcome an initial chicken-and-egg problem. These broadcasted subjective statements regarding future installed base had a larger influence on adoption rates than did disclosures of the true current installed base during early adoption. However, these subjective statements of expected future installed base ceased to have any effect once the true current installed base grew large. I discuss implications for the promotion, marketing, and evangelism of new platform ventures. This paper was accepted by Duncan Simester, marketing.

PurposeLimited knowledge exists on the difference in the antecedents and outcomes of relationship quality's cognitive and emotional aspects for e-retailers. This research tests how utilitarian and hedonic shopping values differentially affect “cognitive and emotional” relationship quality components and how the latter differentially affects word-of-mouth and brand evangelism.Design/methodology/approachOnline survey data were collected from 450 Jordanian online shoppers. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 24.0) was employed to analyze the data.FindingsFirst, e-retailer's informativeness and transaction convenience (i.e. utilitarian values), drive more strongly cognitive than emotional relationship quality, whereas e-retailer's escapism and social presence (i.e. hedonic values) drive more strongly emotional than cognitive relationship quality. Second, emotional relationship quality has a strong significant effect on brand evangelism, whereas cognitive relationship quality's effect is insignificant. Third, there are no statistically significant differences concerning the effect of cognitive and emotional relationship quality on word-of-mouth.Originality/valueThe findings of our research are expected to enhance our understanding of e-retailer relationship quality, its emergence and consequences. They would also provide e-retailers with guidance on how to execute growth strategies by focusing on specific types of brand relationship quality, on the other hand.

O artigo analisa o caso ma is espetacular de êxito mercadológico entre as igrejas neopentecostais da atualidade. A “Igreja Universal do Reino” logrou traduzir em termos de terceiro mundo latino-americano a “teologia da prosperidade” e as práticas de marketing do evangelismo norte-americano. O artigo considera e põe em confronto duas dimensões do sucesso da “Universal”: a mercadológica e a religiosa. Sem absolutizações, dá a ambas igual importância na explicação psicossocial do êxito missionário desta Igreja, fundada no Brasil há 20 anos e hoje presente em mais de 40 países, em quatro continentes. Na parte final, sempre desde um enfoque psicossocial, o artigo faz um balanço pastoral crítico, buscando enunciar as linhas pastorais que poderiam servir como pistas de resposta teológico-pastoral das demais Igrejas cristãs, tanto da católica quanto das demais denominações históricas, desafiadas pelo fenômeno neopentecostal.

Innovate or die. This observation is nothing new; yet it is probably more true and topical than ever. Over the last decades, innovation has expanded in an unprecedented manner and is now part of most firms’ strategies, if not the nexus of their strategies. Originally, mainly centred around the introduction of manufactured novelties, innovation is now perceived and depicted by as many adjectives, categories and attributes as one can think of: service, organisational, process, marketing, social, environmental, strategic, business model, and so on. This extension of the nature, types and forms of innovation goes hand in hand with the development of the academic literature focusing not only on the tangibility nature of novelties, but also on the intangibility character of some, or even most, of those. Moreover, and, as the analysis of leading-edge companies shows, innovation is nowadays never restricted to a single specific form. Innovation now embraces bundles of products and services, which are subject to new business models, distributed through new channels increasingly benefitting from an accrued interaction with customers, enrolling them in the development and marketing processes. The boundaries between goods and services innovations have blurred over time, leading to an abundant literature stemming from the convergence or synthesis streams, aiming at building a unified theory for innovation, and highlighting the convergence between the typical features of product innovation (such as the tangibility and the standardization) and those of service innovation (customer-centric, less structured, intangible), as argued by e.g. Evangelista (2006) and Gallouj and Savona (2009). (...)

From Obama's success to the Arab spring, from Kolaveri Di in India to Gangnam style, social media is omnipresent. We no longer go to the news, news finds us; we no longer visit merchandise, merchandise find us; social media has shrunk the globe beyond imagination. Social media is based on the combined notion of influence and participation -.tools that synchronize their voice with the company's voice and that combined voice affects the next customer. The development of social media networks have made it feasible for the customers to speak to thousands of other customers concerning a particular brand or a company. This communication between one to several additionally referred to as word-of-mouth marketing, isn't new to marketing, but the distinction is that currently these communications are on the far side boundaries. With the growing effect of social media on consumer buying behavior, it becomes imperative for a business to understand the competitive advantages of assorted social media avenues across diverse markets. As the world of online marketing is continuously progressing, the marketers must understand how these changes may influence buyer practices, and consequently promotional programs and strategies. Choices on how and when to successfully use the traditional as well as the social media alternatives require careful thought and consideration. This paper aims to throw light on the recent social media marketing strategies and demonstrates how this platform of online networking helps organizations to captivate their clients in a finer manner, thus building a stronger relationship with them. Also the present paper offers significant understanding to the marketers in knowing the vital role social media marketing plays in the formation of a strong brand. The present paper is conceptual in nature, and through the intensive literature review identifies the latest social media practices being adopted by the 21st century marketers. The study is an endeavor to see how advertisers are utilizing social networking as a strategic tool for advancement. The study finds that enhanced presence and communication on various social media channels help the firms in creating a better brand image while reducing promotional budgets. The paper additionally indicates how the exceptional attributes of correspondence by means of online networking help organizations not only in building a superior connection with their customers but also in converting them into their brand advocates. Thus, these network platforms are helping the businesses to engage with the purchasers, influencing them, connecting with them and finally changing them into their evangelists.

Purpose – Due to consumer concerns about food-related diseases and an increase in the use of genetically modified food, more and more “green consumers” integrate environmental considerations into daily purchases, asking for healthier, safer and higher quality food. Marketing managers still face the challenge of broadening the understanding of how and why consumers purchase organic food. Specifically, a deeper understanding of the value dimensions consumers perceive in the context of organic food products is required to develop and implement successful management strategies which might transfer positive consumer perceptions to actual buying behavior and satisfaction. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on theoretical and empirical insights on organic food consumption in different markets, this research investigates antecedents of organic food products and differences regarding the relative importance of the value-based drivers across two Western nations. Findings – The results from survey data indicate significant differences in the value perceptions, especially the functional and individual value perceptions, and recommendation behavior related to organic food for consumers from the USA and Germany. In addition, the segmentation approach provides evidence for consumer segments that cross-national borders: the “convinced opponents,” the “silent/private consumers,” the “prestige-seekers” and the “passionate evangelists.” Originality/value – Consequently, instead of a country-based segmentation approach, marketers should emphasize the different types of consumers across national borders in order to address the differences in customer value perception in the organic food market.

Purpose – Over the past few years online fashion communities have proliferated becoming an increasingly powerful forum for user-generated content, and consequently, the fashion industry has shown great interest in such communities. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse brand advocacy behaviour within luxury brand accessory forums: to analyse the role these communities play in influencing purchase intention; assessing their contribution to fashion brand love. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a netnographic approach to the phenomenon of online luxury accessory communities. The research reports observational data including blog texts and audience comments for four popular forums: The Purse Forum, The Fashion Spot, The Bag Forum (TBF) and Shoe Forum (SF). Although the forums are open to all and are designed to be internationally relevant; the observations were conducted from a base in the UK. Findings – Findings indicate that informants display some unifying characteristics clustered around engagement, involvement, self-concept and self-connection, brand love and hedonic values. Informants however, display some discernible differences as they “rally” to two distinctive totems: first, active luxury brand advocates and second, passive brand advocates. Although subtle, these differences suggest significant possibilities for fashion brand owners. Research limitations/implications – Further research could include the measurement of brand advocacy to distinguish more clearly between high and low levels of advocacy and the resulting consumer behaviour intentions. One sub-group that would be interesting to explore is that of brand evangelists and their relationship with fashion brands: what are the reasons for treating brands as religious artefacts and can this extreme level of advocacy be developed by marketing? The study focused on observing online posts by self-selected brand advocates. A worthwhile comparison could be made with fashion communities where brand marketers are active participants and how this influences the discourse and actions of brand advocates. Practical implications – The findings indicate that all forum members are incredibly attached to their brands, but will still consider purchasing several brands as their “evoked set”. Additionally, even when demonstrating involvement, they can operate as passive observers in the online community. Originality/value – Social media, especially online forums, play an important role in contemporary luxury fashion branding. This study addresses the role these forums play in supporting brand love and the contribution they make to luxury brand advocacy. Membership and influence dynamics are reported; which have resonance to both practitioners and researchers.

Persuasion in evangelism Is persuasion as researched and applied in the different secular fields relevant to evangelism? To many evangelists this is hardly a question to consider, since they take a positive answer as self evident. It is a different matter however when faith in Jesus Christ is marketed as a means to heavenly retirement, or when the fears and emotions of persons are manipulated in order to pressure- sell the gospel. This article looks at two examples of applied persuasion, i e in marketing, and in training and management. One of the aims of evangelism, conversion, is also considered. It is found that many of the principles and techniques of persuasion as formulated may indeed be used in influencing and persuading nonbelievers on condition that specific principles be honoured. The article aims at addressing four principles in this regard.

Purpose This study aims to explore the antecedents and outcomes of brand community engagement (BCE) in the context of social media-based brand communities (SMBCs). Moreover, the mediating role of brand evangelism between BCE and brand defence and between BCE and brand resilience is examined. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected using a questionnaire-based survey from 201 active members of various SMBCs. Partial least square based structural equation modelling is used to test the proposed conceptual model. Findings The results suggest that brand identification and brand prominence are the antecedents of BCE. BCE positively influence brand evangelism and brand defence. Furthermore, the finding suggests that brand evangelism mediates the relationship between BCE and brand defence and also between BCE and brand resilience. Research limitations/implications The sample for this study involves respondents active on different SMBCs, which may constrain uniformity in respondents’ experiences. Practical implications The insights provided by this study are useful in enhancing BCE with the SMBCs. The study highlights the role of brand evangelism in actively endorsing and defending the brands. The brand manager can promote brand evangelistic behaviour through meaningful engagement with SMBCs. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature of brand community engagement by focussing on its antecedents and outcomes in SMBCs. Further, this study adds to the branding literature by connecting two crucial streams of brand research: BCE and brand evangelism. The study also explores the mediating role of brand evangelism. It enhances the understanding of consumer-brand relationships in the context of SMBCs.

PurposeDrawing on service logic, the authors investigate how value cocreation leads to evangelical brand-related behaviors (brand defense and brand advocacy). The authors analyze the interplay between value cocreation and customer brand engagement on social media in driving these outcomes. The authors also consider the role of brand love in eliciting evangelical brand-related behaviors.Design/methodology/approachRespondents recruited through Amazon MTurk were surveyed on social media use in tourism-related decisions. The total useable sample size was 397. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research model.FindingsValue cocreation and customer brand engagement are drivers of evangelical brand-related behaviors, emphasizing the importance of these two in marketing and how they drive behavioral outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsService logic highlights the significance of value cocreation which, through customer brand engagement and love, leads to brand defense and advocacy. This explains the mediation in our model, where marketers must undertake efforts to support customer brand engagement and brand love.Practical implicationsValue is created by the user for the user through their experiences over time. Brands are owned by customers, and their defense and advocacy of them must be earned. Marketers facilitate customer value creation by providing the resources to cocreate value and love the brand.Originality/valueMost studies investigate value cocreation from an in-role and/or extra-role perspective as to how it benefits firms. Through service logic, the authors illustrate how it leads to evangelical brand-related behaviors.

Investigate and demonstrate the usefulness of the traditional marketing model in developing digital marketing strategies. Digital marketing has contributed to the global market through the use of internet providers as support to their main business. The Internet arose as a new mode of mass communication. The Internet differs from other forms of mass media communication in that it is a low-cost two-way communication medium that allows people on both sides of the communication channel to communicate with one another. As a result, most people have shifted their information gathering from traditional mass media to the Internet. During the same time, globalization became a reality. Because the world has been viewed as a global village, further research could look into m-commerce as a marketing strategy. JEL: M10; M31 <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0776/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Questo articolo mira a portare una riflessione sull’indissolubilità del glocal in tutte le sfere della vita quotidiana, compreso il contesto religioso. Per questo, abbiamo usato il movimento Worship, che sta guadagnando sempre più aderenti in Brasile attraverso l’uso marketing del consumo di esperienza. La riflessione è stata effettuata attraverso la costruzione del contesto glocal e i fattori neoliberali che hanno influenzato la formazione e la crescita della cultura evangelica. Pertanto, questo studio predefinì l’influenza di glocal nella costruzione del mercato contemporaneo brasiliano del Vangelo neopentecostale.

Purpose People spend more than 90% of their smartphone usage time on mobile applications (apps). Companies have capitalized on this opportunity to develop various types of branded apps. However, due to fierce competition in the app market, most branded apps have a low retention rate. Drawing on the theory of psychological ownership, this study aims to investigate drivers of what we call “strong” indicators of branded app outcomes or, namely, indicators of app engagement that reveal a higher level of consumer brand commitment. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted using online and offline surveys. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used for data analysis. Findings The results of the two studies confirm the research hypothesis. When utility-related antecedents (perceived usefulness and ease of use) are controlled for, self-brand congruity and investment size facilitate psychological ownership towards a branded app, which, in turn, generates feedback intention and brand evangelism. Originality/value Unlike the utilitarian perspective on user engagement with branded apps, the current research contributes to the literature by proposing a self-concept perspective that can drive strong indicators of branded app marketing outcomes. Two strategies through which practitioners can facilitate these indicators and create a competitive advantage for their companies are proposed.

“...children’s play seems to become more and more a product of the educational and cultural orientation of parents...” — Stephen Kline, The Making of Children’s Culture We live in a world saturated by design and through design artefacts, one can glean unique insights into a culture's values and norms. In fact, some academics, such as British media and film theorist Ben Highmore, see the two areas so inextricably intertwined as to suggest a wholesale “re-branding of the cultural sciences as design studies” (14). Too often, however, everyday objects are marginalised or overlooked as objects of scholarly attention. The field of material culture studies seeks to change that by focussing on the quotidian object and its ability to reveal much about the time, place, and culture in which it was designed and used. This article takes on one such object, a mid-century children's toy tea set, whose humble journey from 1968 Sears catalogue to 2014 thrift shop—and subsequently this author’s basement—reveals complex rhetorical messages communicated both visually and verbally. As material culture studies theorist Jules Prown notes, the field’s foundation is laid upon the understanding “that objects made ... by man reflect, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, the beliefs of individuals who made, commissioned, purchased or used them, and by extension the beliefs of the larger society to which they belonged” (1-2). In this case, the objects’ material and aesthetic characteristics can be shown to reflect some of the pervasive stereotypes and gender roles of the mid-century and trace some of the prevailing tastes of the American middle class of that era, or perhaps more accurately the type of design that came to represent good taste and a modern aesthetic for that audience. A wealth of research exists on the function of toys and play in learning about the world and even the role of toy selection in early sex-typing, socialisation, and personal identity of children (Teglasi). This particular research area isn’t the focus of this article; however, one aspect that is directly relevant and will be addressed is the notion of adult role-playing among children and the role of toys in communicating certain adult practices or values to the child—what sociologist David Oswell calls “the dedifferentiation of childhood and adulthood” (200). Neither is the focus of this article the practice nor indeed the ethicality of marketing to children. Relevant to this particular example I suggest, is as a product utilising messaging aimed not at children but at adults, appealing to certain parents’ interest in nurturing within their child a perceived era and class-appropriate sense of taste. This was fuelled in large part by the curatorial pursuits of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, coupled with an interest and investment in raising their children in a design-forward household and a desire for toys that reflected that priority; in essence, parents wishing to raise modern children. Following Prown’s model of material culture analysis, the tea set is examined in three stages, through description, deduction and speculation with each stage building on the previous one. Figure 1: Porcelain Toy Tea Set. Description The tea set consists of twenty-six pieces that allows service for six. Six cups, saucers, and plates; a tall carafe with spout, handle and lid; a smaller vessel with a spout and handle; a small round bowl with a lid; a larger oval bowl with a lid, and a coordinated oval platter. The cups are just under two inches tall and two inches in diameter. The largest piece, the platter is roughly six inches by four inches. The pieces are made of a ceramic material white in colour and glossy in texture and are very lightweight. The rim or edge of each piece is decorated with a motif of three straight lines in two different shades of blue and in different thicknesses, interspersed with a set of three black wiggly lines. Figure 2: Porcelain Toy Tea Set Box. The set is packaged for retail purposes and the original box appears to be fully intact. The packaging of an object carries artefactual evidence just as important as what it contains that falls into the category of a “‘para-artefact’ … paraphernalia that accompanies the product (labels, packaging, instructions etc.), all of which contribute to a product’s discourse” (Folkmann and Jensen 83). The graphics on the box are colourful, featuring similar shades of teal blue as found on the objects, with the addition of orange and a silver sticker featuring the logo of the American retailer Sears. The cover features an illustration of the objects on an orange tabletop. The most prominent text that confirms that the toy is a “Porcelain Toy Tea Set” is in an organic, almost psychedelic style that mimics both popular graphics of this era—especially album art and concert posters—as well as the organic curves of steam that emanate from the illustrated teapot’s spout. Additional messages appear on the box, in particular “Contemporary DESIGN” and “handsome, clean-line styling for modern little hostesses”. Along the edges of the box lid, a detail of the decorative motif is reproduced somewhat abstracted from what actually appears on the ceramic objects. Figure 3: Sears’s Christmas Wishbook Catalogue, page 574 (1968). Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears) is well-known for its over one-hundred-year history of producing printed merchandise catalogues. The catalogue is another important para-artefact to consider in analysing the objects. The tea set first appeared in the 1968 Sears Christmas Wishbook. There is no date or copyright on the box, so only its inclusion in the catalogue allows the set to be accurately dated. It also allows us to understand how the set was originally marketed. Deduction In the deduction phase, we focus on the sensory aesthetic and functional interactive qualities of the various components of the set. In terms of its function, it is critical that we situate the objects in their original use context, play. The light weight of the objects and thinness of the ceramic material lends the objects a delicate, if not fragile, feeling which indicates that this set is not for rough use. Toy historian Lorraine May Punchard differentiates between toy tea sets “meant to be used by little girls, having parties for their friends and practising the social graces of the times” and smaller sets or doll dishes “made for little girls to have parties with their dolls, or for their dolls to have parties among themselves” (7). Similar sets sold by Sears feature images of girls using the sets with both human playmates and dolls. The quantity allowing service for six invites multiple users to join the party. The packaging makes clear that these toy tea sets were intended for imaginary play only, rendering them non-functional through an all-capitals caution declaiming “IMPORTANT: Do not use near heat”. The walls and handles of the cups are so thin one can imagine that they would quickly become dangerous if filled with a hot liquid. Nevertheless, the lid of the oval bowl has a tan stain or watermark which suggests actual use. The box is broken up by pink cardboard partitions dividing it into segments sized for each item in the set. Interestingly even the small squares of unfinished corrugated cardboard used as cushioning between each stacked plate have survived. The evidence of careful re-packing indicates that great care was taken in keeping the objects safe. It may suggest that even though the set was used, the children or perhaps the parents, considered the set as something to care for and conserve for the future. Flaws in the glaze and applique of the design motif can be found on several pieces in the set and offer some insight as to the technique used in producing these items. Errors such as the design being perfectly evenly spaced but crooked in its alignment to the rim, or pieces of the design becoming detached or accidentally folded over and overlapping itself could only be the result of a print transfer technique popularised with decorative china of the Victorian era, a technique which lends itself to mass production and lower cost when compared to hand decoration. Speculation In the speculation stage, we can consider the external evidence and begin a more rigorous investigation of the messaging, iconography, and possible meanings of the material artefact. Aspects of the set allow a number of useful observations about the role of such an object in its own time and context. Sociologists observe the role of toys as embodiments of particular types of parental messages and values (Cross 292) and note how particularly in the twentieth century “children’s play seems to become more and more a product of the educational and cultural orientation of parents” (Kline 96). Throughout history children’s toys often reflected a miniaturised version of the adult world allowing children to role-play as imagined adult-selves. Kristina Ranalli explored parallels between the practice of drinking tea and the play-acting of the child’s tea party, particularly in the nineteenth century, as a gendered ritual of gentility; a method of socialisation and education, and an opportunity for exploratory and even transgressive play by “spontaneously creating mini-societies with rules of their own” (20). Such toys and objects were available through the Sears mail-order catalogue from the very beginning at the end of the nineteenth century (McGuire). Propelled by the post-war boom of suburban development and homeownership—that generation’s manifestation of the American Dream—concern with home décor and design was elevated among the American mainstream to a degree never before seen. There was a hunger for new, streamlined, efficient, modernist living. In his essay titled “Domesticating Modernity”, historian Jeffrey L. Meikle notes that many early modernist designers found that perhaps the most potent way to “‘domesticate’ modernism and make it more familiar was to miniaturise it; for example, to shrink the skyscraper and put it into the home as furniture or tableware” (143). Dr Timothy Blade, curator of the 1985 exhibition of girls’ toys at the University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Gallery—now the Goldstein Museum of Design—described in his introduction “a miniaturised world with little props which duplicate, however rudely, the larger world of adults” (5). Noting the power of such toys to reflect adult values of their time, Blade continues: “the microcosm of the child’s world, remarkably furnished by the miniaturised props of their parents’ world, holds many direct and implied messages about the society which brought it into being” (9). In large part, the mid-century Sears catalogues capture the spirit of an era when, as collector Thomas Holland observes, “little girls were still primarily being offered only the options of glamour, beauty and parenthood as the stuff of their fantasies” (175). Holland notes that “the Wishbooks of the fifties [and, I would add, the sixties] assumed most girls would follow in their mother’s footsteps to become full-time housewives and mommies” (1). Blade grouped toys into three categories: cooking, cleaning, and sewing. A tea set could arguably be considered part of the cooking category, but closer examination of the language used in marketing this object—“little hostesses”, et cetera—suggests an emphasis not on cooking but on serving or entertaining. This particular category was not prevalent in the era examined by Blade, but the cultural shifts of the mid-twentieth century, particularly the rapid popularisation of a suburban lifestyle, may have led to the use of entertaining as an additional distinct category of role play in the process of learning to become a “proper” homemaker. Sears and other retailers offered a wide variety of styles of toy tea sets during this era. Blade and numerous other sources observe that children’s toy furniture and appliances tended to reflect the style and aesthetic qualities of their contemporary parallels in the adult world, the better to associate the child’s objects to its adult equivalent. The toy tea set’s packaging trumpets messages intended to appeal to modernist values and identity including “Contemporary Design” and “handsome, clean-line styling for modern little hostesses”. The use of this coded marketing language, aimed particularly at parents, can be traced back several decades. In 1928 a group of American industrial and textile designers established the American Designers' Gallery in New York, in part to encourage American designers to innovate and adopt new styles such as those seen in the L’ Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925) in Paris, the exposition that sparked international interest in the Art Deco or Art Moderne aesthetic. One of the gallery founders, Ilonka Karasz, a Hungarian-American industrial and textile designer who had studied in Austria and was influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, publicised her new style of nursery furnishings as “designed for the very modern American child” (Brown 80). Sears itself was no stranger to the appeal of such language. The term “contemporary design” was ubiquitous in catalogue copy of the nineteen-fifties and sixties, used to describe everything from draperies (1959) and bedspreads (1961) to spice racks (1964) and the Lady Kenmore portable dishwasher (1961). An emphasis on the role of design in one’s life and surroundings can be traced back to efforts by MoMA. The museum’s interest in modern design hearkens back almost to the institution’s inception, particularly in relation to industrial design and the aestheticisation of everyday objects (Marshall). Through exhibitions and in partnership with mass-market magazines, department stores and manufacturer showrooms, MoMA curators evangelised the importance of “good design” a term that can be found in use as early as 1942. What Is Good Design? followed the pattern of prior exhibitions such as What Is Modern Painting? and situated modern design at the centre of exhibitions that toured the United States in the first half of the nineteen-fifties. To MoMA and its partners, “good design” signified the narrow identification of proper taste in furniture, home decor and accessories; effectively, the establishment of a design canon. The viewpoints enshrined in these exhibitions and partnerships were highly influential on the nation’s perception of taste for decades to come, as the trickle-down effect reached a much broader segment of consumers than those that directly experienced the museum or its exhibitions (Lawrence.) This was evident not only at high-end shops such as Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. Even mass-market retailers sought out well-known figures of modernist design to contribute to their offerings. Sears, for example, commissioned noted modernist designer and ceramicist Russel Wright to produce a variety of serving ware and decor items exclusively for the company. Notably for this study, he was also commissioned to create a toy tea set for children. The 1957 Wishbook touts the set as “especially created to delight modern little misses”. Within its Good Design series, MoMA exhibitions celebrated numerous prominent Nordic designers who were exploring simplified forms and new material technologies. In the 1968 Wishbook, the retailer describes the Porcelain Toy Tea Set as “Danish-inspired china for young moderns”. The reference to Danish design is certainly compatible with the modernist appeal; after the explosion in popularity of Danish furniture design, the term “Danish Modern” was commonly used in the nineteen-fifties and sixties as shorthand for pan-Scandinavian or Nordic design, or more broadly for any modern furniture design regardless of origin that exhibited similar characteristics. In subsequent decades the notion of a monolithic Scandinavian-Nordic design aesthetic or movement has been debunked as primarily an economically motivated marketing ploy (Olivarez et al.; Fallan). In the United States, the term “Danish Modern” became so commonly misused that the Danish Society for Arts and Crafts called upon the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to legally restrict the use of the labels “Danish” and “Danish Modern” to companies genuinely originating in Denmark. Coincidentally the FTC ruled on this in 1968, noting “that ‘Danish Modern’ carries certain meanings, and... that consumers might prefer goods that are identified with a foreign culture” (Hansen 451). In the case of the Porcelain Toy Tea Set examined here, Sears was not claiming that the design was “Danish” but rather “Danish-inspired”. One must wonder, was this another coded marketing ploy to communicate a sense of “Good Design” to potential customers? An examination of the formal qualities of the set’s components, particularly the simplified geometric forms and the handle style of the cups, confirms that it is unlike a traditional—say, Victorian-style—tea set. Punchard observes that during this era some American tea sets were actually being modelled on coffee services rather than traditional tea services (148). A visual comparison of other sets sold by Sears in the same year reveals a variety of cup and pot shapes—with some similar to the set in question—while others exhibit more traditional teapot and cup shapes. Coffee culture was historically prominent in Nordic cultures so there is at least a passing reference to that aspect of Nordic—if not specifically Danish—influence in the design. But what of the decorative motif? Simple curved lines were certainly prominent in Danish furniture and architecture of this era, and occasionally found in combination with straight lines, but no connection back to any specific Danish motif could be found even after consultation with experts in the field from the Museum of Danish America and the Vesterheim National Norwegian-American Museum (personal correspondence). However, knowing that the average American consumer of this era—even the design-savvy among them—consumed Scandinavian design without distinguishing between the various nations, a possible explanation could be contained in the promotion of Finnish textiles at the time. In the decade prior to the manufacture of the tea set a major design tendency began to emerge in the United States, triggered by the geometric design motifs of the Finnish textile and apparel company Marimekko. Marimekko products were introduced to the American market in 1959 via the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based retailer Design Research (DR) and quickly exploded in popularity particularly after would-be First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy appeared in national media wearing Marimekko dresses during the 1960 presidential campaign and on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. (Thompson and Lange). The company’s styling soon came to epitomise a new youth aesthetic of the early nineteen sixties in the United States, a softer and more casual predecessor to the London “mod” influence. During this time multiple patterns were released that brought a sense of whimsy and a more human touch to classic mechanical patterns and stripes. The patterns Piccolo (1953), Helmipitsi (1959), and Varvunraita (1959), all designed by Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi offered varying motifs of parallel straight lines. Maija Isola's Silkkikuikka (1961) pattern—said to be inspired by the plumage of the Great Crested Grebe—combined parallel serpentine lines with straight and angled lines, available in a variety of colours. These and other geometrically inspired patterns quickly inundated apparel and decor markets. DR built a vastly expanded Cambridge flagship store and opened new locations in New York in 1961 and 1964, and in San Francisco in 1965 fuelled in no small part by the fact that they remained the exclusive outlet for Marimekko in the United States. It is clear that Marimekko’s approach to pattern influenced designers and manufacturers across industries. Design historian Lesley Jackson demonstrates that Marimekko designs influenced or were emulated by numerous other companies across Scandinavia and beyond (72-78). The company’s influence grew to such an extent that some described it as a “conquest of the international market” (Hedqvist and Tarschys 150). Subsequent design-forward retailers such as IKEA and Crate and Barrel continue to look to Marimekko even today for modern design inspiration. In 2016 the mass-market retailer Target formed a design partnership with Marimekko to offer an expansive limited-edition line in their stores, numbering over two hundred items. So, despite the “Danish” misnomer, it is quite conceivable that designers working for or commissioned by Sears in 1968 may have taken their aesthetic cues from Marimekko’s booming work, demonstrating a clear understanding of the contemporary high design aesthetic of the time and coding the marketing rhetoric accordingly even if incorrectly. Conclusion The Sears catalogue plays a unique role in capturing cross-sections of American culture not only as a sales tool but also in Holland’s words as “a beautifully illustrated diary of America, it’s [sic] people and the way we thought about things” (1). Applying a rhetorical and material culture analysis to the catalogue and the objects within it provides a unique glimpse into the roles these objects played in mediating relationships, transmitting values and embodying social practices, tastes and beliefs of mid-century American consumers. Adult consumers familiar with the characteristics of the culture of “Good Design” potentially could have made a connection between the simplified geometric forms of the components of the toy tea set and say the work of modernist tableware designers such as Kaj Franck, or between the set’s graphic pattern and the modernist motifs of Marimekko and its imitators. But for a much broader segment of the population with a less direct understanding of modernist aesthetics, those connections may not have been immediately apparent. The rhetorical messaging behind the objects’ packaging and marketing used class and taste signifiers such as modern, contemporary and “Danish” to reinforce this connection to effect an emotional and aspirational appeal. These messages were coded to position the set as an effective transmitter of modernist values and to target parents with the ambition to create “appropriately modern” environments for their children. 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