Marian Makkar – The Conversation

Associate Professor of Marketing, RMIT University

Dr Marian Makkar is a marketing academic whose research is anchored in consumer culture. She examines consumer effects on market development, consumption communities, consumer experiences, and market exclusion and dispossession. In particular to market exclusion, her recent work on cultural appropriation looks at how brands appropriate cultures that are less powerful, disadvantaged minority and indigenous groups.

Marian started her career in luxury retail as Marketing Manager of Alfred Dunhill Limited. She also worked in public relations handling FMCG brands, beauty products and luxury automotive brands that spanned the Middle East, Africa and New Zealand.

Experience

2026–present

Associate Professor of Marketing, RMIT University
2023–2025

Senior Lecturer of Marketing, RMIT University
2019–2022

Lecturer in Marketing , RMIT University
2018–2019

Lecturer in Marketing, Auckland University of Technology

Education

2019

Auckland University of Technology, PhD

Publications

2021

Stabilising collaborative consumer networks: How technological mediation shapes relational work, European Journal of Marketing
2021

Market bifurcations in board sports: How consumers shape markets through boundary work, Journal of Business Research
2021

Home sharing at a tipping point: What do we know, how do we know, and where should we be heading?, Journal of Business Research
2020

Managing hearts and minds: romanticizing Airbnb experiences, Current Issues in Tourism
2020

Cultural appropriation, The Sage Handbook of Marketing Ethics
2019

The motivational complexities driving mobile shopping consumption, Marketing Intelligence and Planning
2018

The anatomy of the inconspicuous luxury fashion experience, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal
2018

Emotional experiences behind the pursuit of inconspicuous luxury, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
2014

Review of emotions research in marketing 2002 - 2013, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
2014

The commoditization of luxury, Commodity Marketing

Grants and Contracts

2017

Emerging Researcher Award

Role:

Funding Source:

Royal Society of New Zealand
2017

Doctoral 3 Minute Thesis

Role:

Funding Source:

Auckland University of Technology

Professional Memberships

International Honour’s Society, Beta Gamma Sigma
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT)
Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conferences (ANZMAC)
Association for Consumer Research (ACR)

Research Areas

Marketing (1505)
Tourism Marketing (150604)