My Iranian Road Trip - Comments and Reflections on Videographic Interpretations of Iran's Political Economy and Marketing System

Abstract

Iran is an enigmatic political economy and marketing system. Access to it for purposes of rigorous and thorough research is not easy. Scholars therefore must be creative when studying such systems, and may be limited to interpreting extant findings by others. In this article, the authors share comments and reflections on My Iranian Road Trip, a short film documenting Nicholas Kristof's 2012 tour through Iran, and an ensuing panel that analyzed and discussed the film during the 39(th) Annual Macromarketing Conference. The film was sponsored and released online by The New York Times. While it was agreed that some glimpse of Iran is better than none - and that Kristof's film does contribute to the discourse on political and economic dynamics in Iran - the authors share comments on methodological shortcomings, representativeness, over-simplification, and concerns about some questionable conclusions, which inevitably implies need for more rigorous, thorough and nuanced research if we are to understand Iran's complex political economy and marketing system.