Critically evaluating the marketisation of fun through a socio-cultural lens of consumer experience

Oct 13, 2026

Ubiquitous but elusive, fun runs through contemporary consumer experiences, shaping how marketers embed the societal pursuit of fun across customer journeys. Yet scholarship remains fragmented: marketing and consumer research struggle to reach a definitional consensus on fun, its conceptual components, and how marketers can leverage it. This thesis examines consumers’ lived meanings of fun and their construction, interpretation, and sharing, and evaluates how marketers use fun to achieve objectives and whether both perspectives align.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages299

Reading Time1 h 45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Objectives

Methodology

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Contributions

Coventry University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Critically evaluating the marketisation of fun through a socio-cultural lens of consumer experience Zaboeva, Nataliia Award date: 2024 Awarding institution: Coventry University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of this thesis for personal non-commercial research or study • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder(s) • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 13. Oct. 2026 Critically evaluating the marketisation of fun through a socio-cultural lens of consumer experience by Nataliia Zaboeva PhD September 2023 Critically evaluating the marketisation of fun through a socio-cultural lens of consumer experience Nataliia Zaboeva A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the University’s requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2023 Abstract Ubiquitous but elusive, fun flows through the fabric of contemporary consumer experiences, enticing marketers to weave the societal pursuit of fun throughout customer journeys. However, despite fun’s omnipresence, scholarly understandings of the construct are limited. Marketing and consumer research struggles to provide adefinitional consensus, let alone comprehension of fun’s conceptual elements and marketers’ abilities to leverage them. Driven by the lack of theoretical understanding of the construct of fun and the keen interest of practitioners, this study has two objectives. First, to examine consumers’lived meanings of fun and the ways in which these are constructed, interpreted, and shared. Second, to understand how the concept of fun is used by marketers in pursuit of marketing objectives and whether the perspectives of two sides are aligned. Underpinned by an interpretive methodology with the hermeneutic phenomenological lens, the empirical element of this study entails in-depth interviews with consumersand marketing professionals representing the brands that adopt the concept of fun in their promotional activities. The findings from consumer interviews reveal two layers of insight. In experienced fun, consumers’meaning making revolves around positive affective states, liberated self, social connectedness and normality transgression. From a wider perspective of fun asa part of consumers’ lives, self is constrained, social influence is evident and fun meanings are shaped by often restrictive social norms. The findings from marketers’sample signal that while such aspects of consumer fun as positive affective states, social connectedness and going beyond normality are acknowledged, the dynamics of self-liberation and self-constraint, as well as the tensions related to consumers’ selfperception surrounding fun that is perceived to fall out of the socially constructed fun norms are overlooked. Based on the findings, the phenomenon of consumer fun is understood through the application of Giddens’ structuration theory, as the intersection of agency and structure affecting and informing each other. Consumers continually recreate structure through their participation in fun practices, while pre-existing conventions of such practices constrain their choices and behaviours but at the same time provide a referential framework within which persona

FAQs

What are the two main objectives of the study?

To examine how consumers live and construct meanings of fun, and to understand how marketers use the concept of fun to pursue marketing objectives while comparing whether the two perspectives align.

What research method and theoretical lens underpin the thesis?

An interpretive methodology using a hermeneutic phenomenological lens, supported by in-depth interviews with consumers and marketing professionals.

What key insights about consumer fun emerge from the findings?

Experienced fun centers on positive affective states, a liberated self, social connectedness, and transgressing normality, while a wider life perspective shows self constraint, social influence, and meanings shaped by social norms.

Oct 13, 2026

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