The Branded Carnival: The Dark Side of Marketer-Facilitated Events

Brand fests are opportunities for marketers to co-create experiences with consumers. However, consumers fully participate in marketer-facilitated events but desire bespoke approaches to consumption also. This paper details the... [ view full abstract ]

Brand fests are opportunities for marketers to co-create experiences with consumers. However, consumers fully participate in marketer-facilitated events but desire bespoke approaches to consumption also. This paper details the BPONG brand community and the marker-facilitated event the World Series of Beer Pong (WSOBP). Community members engage in carnivalesque behaviour and toxic consumption, not traditionally associated with brand fest celebrations. Excessive alcohol consumption, the inversion of brand meaning, and upsetting the public, shapes the WSOBP experience. In carnival spirit, behaviour enacted at the WSOBP is in opposition to management’s intended experiential/commercial outcomes. This study contributes to CCT by (1) conceptualising a novel brand celebration form – the branded carnival, the dark-side of brand celebrations (2) showing how contemporary carnivals require marketplace resources to elude and defy the ideological imperatives of the market (3) illustrating how contested ideologies of brand use stimulate tensions in the brand community-corporate relationship. Finally directions for further research are suggested.