TY - JOUR
T1 - The commodified materiality of magazines and magazine brands
AU - Sternadori, Miglena
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, University of Nebraska Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - In this essay, I argue that material objects that represent a magazine or a magazine brand are tangible commodities whose presence in public and private spaces serves to reinforce existing social difference through “a complicated relationship between objects and images, products and signs, commodities and brands” (Iqani 2012, 23). Such material objects include but are not limited to magazine-branded and magazine-endorsed objects, print issues, magazine covers, and material replicas of covers. Although much has been written about magazines’ role as communities, commodified materiality makes them more reminiscent of exclusive clubs. As digital disruptions have favored the abstract and the ephemeral over traditional material anchors, materiality—no longer essential to the existence of either magazines or communities—appears to be increasingly becoming a luxury good associated with the accumulation and reinforcement of social status.
AB - In this essay, I argue that material objects that represent a magazine or a magazine brand are tangible commodities whose presence in public and private spaces serves to reinforce existing social difference through “a complicated relationship between objects and images, products and signs, commodities and brands” (Iqani 2012, 23). Such material objects include but are not limited to magazine-branded and magazine-endorsed objects, print issues, magazine covers, and material replicas of covers. Although much has been written about magazines’ role as communities, commodified materiality makes them more reminiscent of exclusive clubs. As digital disruptions have favored the abstract and the ephemeral over traditional material anchors, materiality—no longer essential to the existence of either magazines or communities—appears to be increasingly becoming a luxury good associated with the accumulation and reinforcement of social status.
KW - Branded materiality
KW - Conspicuous consumption
KW - Lifestyle
KW - Magazines
KW - Online retail
KW - Sign commodities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124773162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/jmm.2021.0001
DO - 10.1353/jmm.2021.0001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124773162
SN - 2576-7887
VL - 21
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Journal of Magazine Media
JF - Journal of Magazine Media
IS - 2
ER -