Monday, 19 April 2021

The 2021 KBS Spring Series continues on Tuesday 20th April at 1:00 pm with a seminar by Lisa O’Malley.  The seminar format is informal and interactive facilitating discussion and Q&A and will take place on MS Teams Click here to join the meeting  The title and abstract are below

Last Night of Freedom: Marketing and the Performance of Deviance – Lisa O’Malley

Abstract: The Anglo-Saxon tradition that a ‘soon to be married’ man celebrates the end of his ‘freedom’ with male friends is a rite of passage in the USA (the  Batchelor Party), Australia (Bucks Night) and the British Isles (Stag Party). Although historically occurring on a single night and involving drinks at the local pub, stag ‘dos’ as they are colloquially know have expanded in recent years to include a weekend or tour.  While Brighton, Bournemouth and Newcastle remain popular weekend destinations for UK Stag Parties, by the mid-noughties it was estimated that 70 per cent of British stag and hen parties were held abroad. The dramatic growth in Stag Tourism is associated with the deregulation of the airline industry in the 1990s and the resultant proliferation of low-cost airlines making the weekend city break affordable. Dublin and Amsterdam were the original foreign destinations for the British stag but cities in Central and Eastern Europe are now increasingly popular. As such, the foreign stag ‘do’ as it is colloquially know, has become a cultural norm for many young (and even older) men (Thurnell Read 2011, 2012; Briggs and Ellis, 2017). Stag tourists are an interesting example of consumer transgression or (mis)behaviour in action, where men who would most likely not engage in such behaviours at home, are compelled to do so within the auspices of the stag weekend. Thurnell-Read (2009, 2011, 2012) offers some interesting insights following his ethnographic study, highlighting the demands of hegemonic masculinity, the marketing efforts of tour organisations, and the activities of local organisations. Part of a wider study, this presentation considers how various market actors are implicated in the performance of the stag party.