ABSTRACT

How does the portrayal of the collector gathering information about a specimen to be added to a collection differ from the image of the marketer gathering information about a consumer to be targeted by mass customisation? In the customisation text, the target is to be 'persuaded' to identify itself, whereas in the description of the collector the target involuntarily provides information about herself simply by going about her daily business. The interweaving of the t\VO different texts raises the question about what might be implied by 'persuasion'. Is the potential customiser being encouraged to persuade the targeted consumer to leave a trail of data behind them as they go about their business so that they can be tracked, in much the same \vay as the collector tracks the movements of his target?