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There is no known time in history, nor known human community without laughter. Laughter imbues our social life. Laughter dominates our daily interactions, perhaps more visibly so on social media, where it is now a weapon wielded frequently against marketers. Yet, marketing theory paid little attention to laughter as a social phenomenon or a collective consumer (re)action. This article begins to address this neglect through an integrative review of theories of laughter and specifically by introducing Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of a laughing chorus. I engage the notion as a way to understand the internet publics' rowdy laughter directed at marketing. I show that seemingly nihilistic, irresponsible and discordant laughter is nonetheless an efficacious and notably polyvocal social commentary. To probe further the power of a laughing chorus, I draw on the works of Henri Bergson and Alenka Zupancic and elaborate on laughter as a form of expression that does not depend on reason and argumentation for its effects. I contend that a critical impetus of a laughing chorus may not always be in its content, but in the comic element, centred on repetition. That is, collective, excessive laughter involves a distinct mode of critique, which is not premised on discursive deliberation. I conclude with a reflection on theoretical and methodological opportunities in taking laughter seriously in marketing and consumer culture studies.

This article examines the marketing practices of the Soviet state trust for cosmetics, TeZhe, in the 1930s. Drawing on company records, industry reports, and popular press, we show that TeZhe used an array of marketing tactics, which were similar to those of the Western manufacturers. However, TeZhe's marketing was aligned with the state's economic and sociocultural initiatives and shaped by the ideological dictates of the Soviet system.

"This comprehensive and authorative sourcebook, offers academics, researchers and students an introduction to and overview of current scholarship at the intersection of marketing and feminism. In the last five years there has been a resurrection of feminist voices in marketing and consumer research. This mirrors a wider public interest in feminism - particularly in the media as well as the academy - with younger women discovering that patriarchal structures and strictures still limit women's development and life opportunities. The "F" word is back on the agenda - made high profile by campaigns such as #metoo and #timeisup. There is a noticeably renewed interest in feminist scholarship, especially amongst younger scholars and significantly insightful interdisciplinary critiques of this new brand of feminism, including the identification of a neoliberal feminism that urges professional women to achieve a work/family balance on the back of other women's exploitation. Consolidating existing scholarship while exploring emerging theories and ideas which will generate further feminist research, this volume will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in marketing and consumption studies, especially those studying or researching the complex inter-relationship of feminism and marketing"--