REPRESENTATION AND OBFUSCATION: CRUISE TRAVEL AND THE MYSTIFICATION OF PRODUCTION
This article explores the notion that the relationship between production and consumption on board cruise ships is, to some extent, obscured. The consumption that takes places on board cruise ships often appears divorced from many of the production-oriented activities that make consumption possible. Efforts by cruise ship companies to dissociate production from consumption are planned and calculated. Many elements of the cruise holiday that are hidden from tourists have some connection with the work and human effort that underpins the vacation production process. This obfuscation of the relationship between production and consumption is by no means comprehensive. Tourists on board cruise ships are not necessarily unaware of the exploitation that takes place on board cruise ships. There are some cruise ship tourists who speak with shipboard employees about conditions within the cruise ship workplace. A number of articles that have appeared in prominent newspapers criticize cruise ship companies because workplace conditions on board are so poor. While information about these conditions has been disseminated in a variety of ways, it has not transformed the way in which cruise vacations are produced. The poor treatment of shipboard employees remains the status quo within the industry.
Keywords: Brochure; Commodity fetishism; Consumption; Cruise ship; Production
Document Type: Miscellaneous
Affiliations: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Publication date: 01 January 2005
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