Abstract
We discuss issues that require attention by (macro)marketing scholars in view of how people use new technologies of communication, specifically the Internet. Despite roadblocks because of lack of new literacy, lack of access to technologies, and modern marketing orientations, major transformations are foreseen. We discuss how trendsetters with access engage in constructing selves (e.g., iconic and (dis)embodied selves) that invigorate and that are fueled by technological as well as cultural transformations. We highlight the pivotal role that macromarketing must play in directing these transformations by (1) providing avenues for the development of a new literacy required today, (2) reconfiguring the markets and marketing systems to permit people’s engagement in participatory practices, and (3) embracing and encouraging multiple orders and navigation among them. Following observations regarding trends in people’s orientations toward life and construction of selves, we propose avenues for (macro)marketing scholarship and research to guide the above-stated directions.