Post-consumption Communities in Recoverism and Art

Obeada, Irina and Cronin, James and Piacentini, Maria (2025) Post-consumption Communities in Recoverism and Art. In: Proceedings of Academy of Marketing 2025 Annual Conference :. Academy of Marketing. (In Press)

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Abstract

This working paper conceptualises ‘post-consumption communities’ formed around shared experiences of coping with what has been abandoned in consumers’ lives rather than what is actively consumed. Drawing on the sociology of absences and ethnographic data collected amongst the art-based “Recoverism” movement that promotes recovery from addiction, we explore how retiring consumption practices can incur communal action and belonging. Through artistically representing sobriety, participants redefine what fulfilment and pleasure look like beyond the coordinates of consumption.