ABSTRACT
Critical marketing scholars have been encouraged to consider the experiences of consumers who encounter marketplace exclusion, consumers 'whose views are rarely heard by those in positions of power'. This chapter focuses on consumers experiencing vulnerability. It reviews consumer vulnerability studies that have drawn on non-conventional methods. The chapter briefly describes the relationship between contexts, theory and representation in order to critically examine the ways context has been viewed in consumer research more widely, particularly harnessing debates in the field of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). It discusses methodologies that offer unique types of access to, and engagement with, vulnerable consumers as informants and participants. The chapter considers stories as sources of data and mechanisms of representation, and considers the merits of action research and participant involvement and finally we outline the benefits of a visual, filmic sensibility in studies of consumer vulnerability.
