Character analysis and racism in marketing theory and practice

This paper discusses how early marketing scholars and practitioners drew upon the insights offered by physiognomy and phrenology. These ancient ways of understanding 'character' and personality types were used as tools to encourage practitioners to be more analytic and systematic in their dealings with customers. And these variants of psychological thought, it is argued, provided interesting but racially charged ways of thinking about and reflecting on consumer behaviour. While this literature is not unproblematic, given the racism that can be discerned in the output of certain scholars, those working in the intellectual domain that was known as 'character analysis' were quick to enunciate their racial pluralism. Racism, it is suggested, remains an issue that marketing scholars and practitioners still need to confront and critique.