ABSTRACT
Consumption is inherently visual, yet consumer researchers have seemed reluctant to embrace art history and visual studies as critical fields for study. This chapter is part of a larger call for inclusion of art historical issues within the marketing research canon. I present theoretical concepts about representation and introduce art as a key visual representational system. I then discuss identity as a critically important issue that connects consumption and representation, and conclude with a set of propositions that reflect a more image-based model of consumption, and its consequent effects on notions about competition. Three streams of thought are developed: (1) representation and semiotics as tools for understanding visual consumption, (2) the connections between art and advertising via a focus on the image, and (3) implications for consumer theory and competition derived from taking images seriously as a driving force of consumer behavior. These three streams are woven together to develop a model of visual consumption, informed by art historical, psychological, and cultural issues.
