Character Over Consistency : Telling Tales of Marketing’s ‘She-Monsters’

Ashman, Rachel and Brown, Stephen and Patterson, Anthony (2025) Character Over Consistency : Telling Tales of Marketing’s ‘She-Monsters’. International Journal of Research in Marketing. ISSN 0167-8116 (In Press)

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Abstract

Conventional brand management wisdom suggests that successful brands should resolve rather than embody contradictions. Yet some brands thrive precisely because they disturb and attract simultaneously. With the aid of mythographer Marina Warner’s “she-monster” concept and Will Storr’s insights on character-driven storytelling, we examine how Mattel’s Barbie doll maintains and sustains the brand’s hold over youthful consumers by embracing rather than smoothing over its contradictions. Via a three-phase empirical study of Barbie consumption, our analysis reveals three consumer responses to such brands: scaring (leveraging brand monstrosity for titillation), mocking (using humour to defuse the brand’s monstrous elements) and lulling (finding comfort in the ostensibly disturbing). This framework challenges the field’s emphasis on brand consistency, suggesting instead that cultural resonance may emerge from carefully cultivated contradictions. By examining how Barbie excels despite its consistent inconsistencies and disturbing backstory, we offer fresh understandings of brands that undermine conventional wisdom. Our findings suggest that rather than attempting to resolve brand contradictions, myth-minded managers might productively embrace their brands’ capacity to simultaneously unsettle and entrance consumers.