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Muniz / Kozinets
LITERATURE REVIEW / THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Muniz and Schau (2005) begin with a discussion of religiosity and the purpose that religious thinking and behavior serve for human psychology. In particular, their theoretical concern involves the way in which religion constructs meaning for believers, and how disappointment -- or a sense of the god that failed -- affects this religious experience as manifest within a brand community. Their specific focus is on the community of Apple Newton users -- "at least 20,000 day-to-day Newton users" (pp.737-8) -- and how their religious thinking was observed after Apple itself discontinued the Newton brand.
Muniz and Schau collected their data largely from two Internet user forums, where Newton users would communicate with each other. However, they also recruited direct subjects for interviewing via a web-page, and ultimately included direct interviews (via email, phone, and face-to-face) with about 80 participants in the Internet forums.
KEY FINDINGS
Muniz and Schau discovered that "supernatural, religious and magical motifs" were common in the discussions of this user community, almost as though this were an aspect of their own sustained faith in a brand that had been abandoned by the Apple corporation...
739). Different aspects of the consumer experience maintaining this faith in the Newton seem quite obviously religious in character, with stories about "resurrection," "miracles," and the magical qualities of the product itself being common.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Muniz and Schau ultimately find that the most interesting aspect of this religious thinking among Newton users is the religious experience of "community." In the case of the Apple Newton, they note that "underdog brands, those that are marginalized, stigmatized, and left behind" paradoxically create some of the strongest user communities (p. 746). They conclude that this form of brand loyalty has the same social psychology that can be observed in religious identity: "some of the same forces that drive many religions may drive the religiosity of brand communities" (p. 746).
References
Kozinets, RV. (2001). Utopian Enterprise: Articulating the meanings of Star Trek's culture of consumption. Journal of Consumer Research 28:1.
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