Models as Mediators

Traditionally, branding is studied in either cultural studies or marketing studies. Both lines of study have produced valuable insights; on the cultural content of brands, and on branding as strategic marketing tool. But upholding a divide between the two is no more relevant with respect to branding than it is with respect to cultural economy at large (Du Gay 2002).

This paper proposes to explore the relation between the content and practice of branding on a "micro"-level, drawing on theoretical and methodological insights from ANT and STS (Latour, 1987). The  methodological inspiration comes from laboratory studies, (Latour 1979; Lynch 1985; Sommerlund 2004 (2007); Sommerlund 2006) and is complemented by the attention paid to the "mediator" by Hennion (1989; 1997; 2005).

The empirical focus will be on a central - but overlooked - actor of branding and advertising; the model. The model has solely been theorized within cultural studies (Craik 1994) as feminine spectacle, but has been neglected as mediator and actor. This paper will argue that models are co-producers of brands, and vice versa. Empirically, the paper will present interviews with models, model-scouts, agents, and advertisers using models in branding-campaigns.

The paper will contribute to the field of cultural economy by extending the productive methodology of STS into the fields of branding and marketing, and to the understanding of branding and marketing by focusing on an understudied phenomena - the model - and by presenting a practice-based study of how brands and branders are interlinked and co-constituted.     

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