Greener Journal of Internet, Information and Communication Systems

Greener Journal of Internet, Information and Communication Systems. Vol. 4 (1), pp. 20-29, March 2018.  

ISSN: 2354-2373 

Review Paper

Manuscript Number: 112018162

DOI : http://doi.org/10.15580/GJIICS.2018.1.112018162   

 

Digital marketing gamification and limitations of its strategic power: exploring the online universe of the consumer in critical contexts of political economy

 

Alfred Ndi

 

University of Bamenda, Republic of Cameroon

 

 Abstract

This paper is premised on the hypothesis that gamification is a digital metanarrative that is very susceptible to the sociological discourses of political economy. Drawing insights from the critical paradigms of David Berry’s (2014) critical theory in digital capitalism, Thomas Allmer’s (2015) critical theory and social media: between emancipation and commodification and Hamilton, Bodle and Korin’s  Explorations in critical studies of advertising, intersecting client culture and market technology, it argues that gamification’s rationalist assumptions have severe limitations when it comes to investigating digital marketing in context because it interfaces with the critical narratives of the online customer in ways which are complex. These critical customer narratives have to do with crowdsourcing, new habits and addictions of the online customer, cognitive/affective behaviourism, emotional branding, and deconstructive problems of consumer trust that relate to ethics, law and cyber security of data use.

Keywords: Gamification as digital market strategy, addiction, cognition, crowdsourcing, consumer trust deconstruction, ethical/legal practices, cybersecurity of data use, critical theories of digital capital. 

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Cite this Article: Ndi A (2019). Digital marketing gamification and limitations of its strategic power: exploring the online universe of the consumer in critical contexts of political economy. Greener Journal of Internet, Information and Communication Systems, 4(1): 20-29, http://doi.org/10.15580/GJIICS.2018.1.112018162