“ A Critical Approach To Experiential Consumption : Fighting Against The Disappearance Of The Contemplative Time ”

The notion of experience has entered the field of consumption and marketing through Holbrook and Hirschman's 1982 pioneering article. Twenty years after, this notion has gained ground to be recognised as important for what it can contribute to marketing knowledge of the consumer. As a consequence, it is the pillar of the so-called experience economy and experiential marketing. Building on Arnould and Price's well-known 93's 'River Magic' paper on extraordinary experiences, marketers tend to engage consumers in a memorable way, offering them extraordinary experiences. For them, experiences provide consumers a way to engage physically, mentally, emotionnally, socially and spiritually in the consumption of the product or service making the interaction meaningfully real. In this paper, we build on several works from Latin philosophers and sociologists (Bruckner, Cassano, Le Breton,Urbain…) to unveil the North-American roots of the romantic vision that support such an idea of extraordinary experiences. Then, we put to light the impact of this vision on what Manzini in his essays on sustainable development and wellbeing, names the disappearance of the 'contemplative time'.