Charles Aaron Lawry

Dr. Charles A. Lawry is an interdisciplinary social scientist and cultural theorist based in Lyon, France. Washington Post, Complex Magazine, Luxury Daily, CBS Radio, Indiana Business Journal, and many other popular media outlets have noted his unique perspectives on fashion, arts, and culture in the digital age.

Charles Lawry holds a Ph.D. in Family & Consumer Sciences from the University of Arizona, where he studied consumer psychology and completed a research fellowship at the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing. He also earned an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Columbia University. Before entering academia, he worked as a digital strategist and copywriter for advertising agencies in New York City. He collaborated with creative and technical teams to revitalize and acclimate heritage brands, such as Tylenol, Mini Cooper, and L’Oreal Men, to the digital age.

As an educator, Dr. Lawry has delivered courses in media studies, marketing, research methods, social theory, and the humanities. He has taught at elite liberal arts colleges, private universities, and R1 land-grant institutions. This 360-degree experience informs his teaching approach and engagement with the science of learning. He enjoys bringing industry trends and active learning into the classroom.

As a researcher, Dr. Lawry studies the challenges of innovation within the global luxury market and culture industries through the lenses of media diffusion, corporate governance, and new market creation. He is especially interested in how market actors negotiate tensions between self-expression, cultural authority, and collective responsibility in pursuit of luxury and 21st century ideas of the “good life.” He often draws on his diverse training and uses multiple methods to explore these phenomena.

His scholarly work has been published in psychology, marketing, advertising, and cultural studies journals. Recent examples include Psychology & Marketing, Costume Society of America, and the International Journal of Advertising, and Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing. These insights have enabled him to present his work in global forums, such as the International Art Market Association, INFORMS Marketing Science, LVMH-East Asia Branding Conference, Monaco Symposium on Luxury, and the Columbia Center on Global Brand Leadership.