Vulnerable Consumers Seminar Series

The proposed programme of discussions connects with a series of important contemporary concerns that relate to broad issues of individual and societal well-being.

We focus on consumer vulnerability and characterise it as an undesirable state catalysed by a number of human conditions and contexts. Vulnerability is not necessarily experienced as a permanent state and can often be felt in times of transition - job loss, bereavement, ill health, natural disaster, ageing and the identity and lifestyle shift required in becoming a parent. These conditions and characteristics affect how individuals experience, interpret and respond to the marketplace and often how the marketplace responds to them.

For some time now consumer disadvantage and vulnerability has been explored by consumer researchers striving to highlight particular human conditions and positively affect individual well-being. Studies focussing on poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, immigration, illness, ageing, bereavement, and the vulnerability of children as consumers deepen our understanding of the difficulties individuals face in the marketplace. What began as a few notable studies has coalesced into a nascent yet viable research stream, often organised under the banner of Transformative Consumer Research. The impact of this work is considerable yet further research is needed to understand the contradictions and contingencies of consumer vulnerability, particularly with regard to the social consequences of consumption. For example, marketing practice is frequently indicted as a force which reduces consumer well-being and has a negative affect on society at large.

Such insight into individual human behaviour has the potential to enhance quality of life. A less ambitious but nevertheless important aim is to provide consumers with 'a voice.' This is a highly significant aspect of the study of vulnerability within marketing, a discipline which has historically had a managerial focus. Increasingly consumer research emphasises how consumption relates to the rest of human existence, creating legitimacy for macro and non-managerial marketing topics. However, interest in the societal consequences of marketing does not appear to extend the same degree of legitimacy to all consumer populations. Vulnerable consumer groups often remain under-represented in depictions of the marketplace.

A key objective of the series is to raise the profile of research with vulnerable populations of consumers within the marketing discipline by showcasing national and international research excellence. Further, we wish to create inter-disciplinary dialogue which can encourage both methodological best practice and increase research capacity through future collaborations. A third objective is to engage in mutual knowledge exchange with user-groups, practitioners and policy makers throughout the seminar series and beyond.

The originality of this series lies in the international and interdisciplinary nature of the sessions and in its focus on the role of marketing and marketers in both enhancing and ameliorating consumer vulnerability. The sessions provide space to critique the notion of consumer vulnerability and build a broader understanding of the lived experience of consumers. Demystification is an aim here, as is investigating and challenging common myths and stereotypes that persist about such groups - through, for example, exploring the techniques the vulnerable use to navigate the marketplace. Further, as the language and practices of business infiltrate the public sector and social service provision it would seem timely to highlight the contribution marketing and consumer researchers can make to the study of consumer vulnerability. If successful this seminar series, in bringing together a somewhat fragmented research stream, would represent the first of its kind in the UK. The commitment of our invited international speakers calls attention to the need for such a series.

As highlighted in the ESRC/AHRC "Cultures of Consumption" programme, understanding consumption-related issues is important for informing business, public policy and consumer advocacy groups. Each seminar will involve non-academic user communities. As noted in the case for support, one key speaker at each seminar will represent a non-academic user group. Other users, including representatives from relevant charitable organisations, Government departments and policy makers, will be invited as audience or panel participants. The seminar series will move between 3 major UK cities (Edinburgh, Lancaster and Glasgow) thereby ensuring that impact is not restricted to a narrow geographical area. Equally, the website will broaden the impact of the seminar series as it provides an important platform for reaching an audience beyond those who are able to be immediately present at the events. Some examples of the diverse constituency for the seminar series are outlined below:

Seminar 1: Consumer groups (e.g. Consumer Focus, members of the Consumer Education Liaison Group), non-academic researchers from commercial or third sector organisations (e.g. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion).

Seminar 2: Charities (e.g. Age UK, The Prince's Trust and Save the Children), care service providers and social care professionals, Department of Health.

Seminar 3: NHS, GPs, nursing staff and other healthcare professionals, organisations focusing on tackling health inequalities (e.g. Glasgow Centre for Population Health), HealthWatch (currently due to be launched in October 2012) and The Health Foundation.

Seminar 4: Refugee and integration networks, member organisations of the Disability Alliance and Enable Scotland.

Seminar 5: Charities aimed at combatting poverty including those focused on children and single mother families (e.g. Child Poverty Action Group and Gingerbread), poverty networks (e.g. Poverty Alliance, Business in the Community), Consumer credit counselling service and other debt counselling firms.

Seminar 6: Research funders (e.g. non-academic supervisors on Collaborative Doctoral Award projects)

The seminar series has broad relevance because it provides an opportunity to move from an understanding of the lived experience of vulnerability to a critical assessment of consumerism and, by extension, the role of marketing in it. This would allow a shift in focus from vulnerable people as potentially frustrated consumers to people experiencing vulnerability as citizens. These discussions will inform policy (including marketing and consumer policy), and help consumer-focused and charitable organisations to provide services to their members.

Finally, we envisage the strengthening and development of practitioner-academic networks and relationships, which will enhance the development of fundable research collaborations that are targeted and have clear impact.