ABSTRACT

If ever a literary genre were made for consumer research, that literary genre is allegory. The word comes from the Ancient Greek allegoreo, meaning to speak of the other in the marketplace. Building on the pioneering research of Barbara B. Stern, this article considers the character and characteristics of allegorical storytelling. It does so by means of an empirical study of a richly storied apparel brand, Hollister (HCo), whose sudden rise and rapid fall contains allegorical lessons for retailers and researchers alike. Part of a project to promote literary criticism, it identifies three key themes that typify allegories – Life, Location and Language – all of which figure prominently in a sizeable introspective study of HCo consumers.

摘要

如果曾经有一种文学体裁是为消费者研究而制作的，那么这种文学体裁就是寓言。这个词来自古希腊语allegoreo，意思是在市场上谈论他人。本文基于 Barbara B. Stern 的开创性研究，探讨了寓言故事的特点和特点。它通过对历史悠久的服装品牌 Hollister (HCo) 的实证研究来做到这一点，该品牌的突然崛起和迅速衰落为零售商和研究人员等人提供了寓言教训。作为促进文学批评项目的一部分，它确定了象征寓言的三个关键主题——生活、地点和语言– 所有这些都在一项针对 HCo 消费者的大规模内省研究中占有重要地位。