ABSTRACT
A world of ubiquitous promotion has many consumers increasingly avoiding promotional messaging and imagery. The promotional culture industry’s (PCI) response has been to reach further into consumers’ consciousness to target them individually. Enabled by the interactivity of the digital world, it is clear that the old days of advertising and promotion, which at best sought groups of people with similar demographic characteristics, have given way to a new system that knows much more about individual consumers than many of those consumers are aware. This new promotional system also recognizes that people seek more from their consumption through a desire for greater authenticity in their lives and in their experiences (Zogby 2008).
