Explaining promotional culture: an institutional logics approach

In this chapter, I consider the question of what exactly we mean when we claim the existence of a promotional ‘culture’, where claim that promotion is ordinary, has recognised shapes, purposes and meanings that we absorb at an individual and collective level, and plays a role in the dynamics of power across society. I adopt an institutional logics perspective to understand how these characteristics have emerged is critical to legitimising any claim of a promotional culture. Using Friedland’s conceptualisation of institutional logics as both material and symbolic, I outline eight ‘goods’ that make up the substance of promotional logic, and four characteristics of promotion that emerge from their interaction. Together, I suggest that these goods and characteristics have facilitated the spread of promotion across society and help to explain what constitutes promotional culture in the contemporary moment.