Interview subjects can pitch themselves when interviews promise publicity

Evidence

However, such expressions of sincerity do not belie the potential limitations of qualitative interviews. Let me be clear: I am not suggesting participants’ accounts are inaccurate or dishonest in any way. Instead, I believe their self-descriptions are likely structured by what Katherine Sender described as the “pitch,” whereby those inculcated in the advertising and marketing professions endeavor to portray themselves (or their organizations) in a favorable light; this orientation thus shapes the contours of the interview experience for both the researcher and the participant. That some of my own interviewees exhibited self-conscious, pitch-like approaches was less a product of professional marketing or advertising training (though I do contend that these fields are over-represented among fashion bloggers) and more a symptom of their aspirational ranking. That is, as social actors seeking a career amidst an overinflated supply of potential laborers, these individuals may have framed their interactions with me in a particular way given the public nature of this project (i.e., a book). Put simply, the opportunity to be “interviewed for a book” could be read as another mode of “exposure” for career-hungry social media aspirants. — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love, 627

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the book’s central thesis that exposure functions as deferred payment for aspirational workers — an interview can itself be consumed as exposure currency. — connects to: Self-branding demands maintaining an edited yet authentic self before an audience — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 507; Confrontational interview films thrived on subjects who resisted and insulted the camera — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 1408; Expressions of narrow self-interest are rhetorical performances rather than literal self-reports — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 3
• QUESTION: Does the pitch-orientation of interviewees systematically skew qualitative research toward favorable self-presentation in gig-economy studies specifically?

Broader Connections

• Confrontational interview films thrived on subjects who resisted and insulted the camera #complicates (0.75) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1408
• Self-branding demands maintaining an edited yet authentic self before an audience #expands (0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 507
• Expressions of narrow self-interest are rhetorical performances rather than literal self-reports #expands (0.72) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 3