EXOTICISM, Brands & Society: Ethics and Aesthetics of Diversity - Paperback

by Gerald Mazzalovo (Author)

Creating values out of the irreducible cultural differences from which emerges EXOTICISM.

For decades, Exoticism has been dismissed as superficial fantasy or colonial gaze. Gerald Mazzalovo says the opposite. In this groundbreaking work, he brings Exoticism back to its true intellectual roots. He returns to and broaden Victor Segalen's original definition of Exoticism as the "Aesthetics of the Diverse", adding the ethical dimension and reframing it for a world where culture, identity, and branding are constantly intertwined.

This is not a nostalgic look at old postcards of palm trees and distant lands. This is a hard, semiotic, cultural, and economic inquiry into why the foreign still seduces us, why difference shapes desire, and how brands use this instinct to move markets, shift perception, and create cultural value activating, mystery, seduction, escapism, and nostalgia.

Inside this book, you will gain:

- A semiotic model of how Exoticism works, how the foreign creates meaning, and how difference produces emotional reward. It reveals why the unfamiliar pulls us, scares us, and fascinates us.

- A strategic analysis of how brands and marketers can use Exoticism as a tool to manage their communication and creation activities.

- A clear view on Exoticism in the 2020s, when immigration, diversity, identity issues, and appropriation debates shape politics and markets.

- A contemporary return to Segalen's philosophical foundation, offering a way to reclaim Exoticism from cliché, and reposition it as a relevant theory of difference.

Exoticism is essential reading for anyone passionate about cultural studies, global branding, strategy, consumer psychology, semiotics, and the meaning-making forces that drive culture and commerce today.