The return of reality: contemporary marketing beyond postmodernist antirealism

This position paper introduces a fresh philosophical framework for marketing theory and practice: new realism. It draws on recent work by Giannasi and Casarin (2022) and illustrates its fruitfulness for future marketing developments. In particular, it points out that many leading marketing approaches share a strongly antirealist theoretical framework, resulting from their au fond postmodernist philosophical attitude. It also shows that, although Postmodernism initially provided genuinely new insights, its radical antirealism is rather a burden than an inspiration for contemporary marketing, and it is not philosophically inevitable. Finally, the article highlights that new realism is an interesting philosophical alternative to postmodernist antirealism, because it can provide useful and innovative conceptual tools and a stimulating framework of reference. This last claim is illustrated via the discussion of a concrete case study from marketing practice.