Description: Ethnographic research is a human process about which choices are made. The path a particular study takes is largely down to the decisions the researcher makes about it. In this sense, ethnographic research is not a slave to rigid formulaic method. It does not follow a predetermined path established at the outset of the research programme. Rather it requires flexibility and the capacity of the researcher to engage with the data as they are gathered, as they are generated, or as they emerge, and to make decisions about the progress of the research as it progresses. This is not to imply that ethnography is ad hoc, casual or without structure. It is, however, to imply that the process of ethnography reflects its essential human quality, in that researchers make decisions about the best ways of observing, documenting and reporting human behaviour as it happens. For many social scientists, the idea that research and the knowledge which emerges from it is a reflection of choices made by the researcher raises questions about the reliability of that knowledge, about its capacity to reflect truth. Whilst it may be generally accepted that the complexities of social life are beyond reduction to one simple truth, it is also surely the case that ethnographic research, like any kind of research, seeks to take us towards a truth. As Hammersley (1995) argues, why else would we advocate the careful collection, recording and painstaking analysis of data? Saying this is not to subscribe a notion of positivistic, blind empiricism, but is merely pointing to what is surely a logical outcome of the ethnographic research process. Another way of saying this would be to assert that ethnography has to go beyond conjecture, opinion and dogma to produce accounts of social life that are not only substantiated in the lived experience of that social life, but are also convincing. In short, the ethnographer has to persuade his/her readers that the account is authoritative (Atkinson 1990, Back, 1998) In order to do this, the ethnographer usually produces a narrative (Bruner 1986). This paper examines the ways in which ethnographers choose to represent their work and its capacity to convey versions of the truth. Drawing on a recent ethnographic study which focused on children as consumers, conducted in their homes, in school and whilst shopping (Boden, Pole and Pilcher 2003, Pole 2006) the paper is concerned with ethnography as product (Pole and Morrison 2003). It examines not only conventional written narrative but also those conveyed by photography, drawing, project work and diary entries. It looks at the ways in which ethnographers seek authority for their work and how they construct convincing accounts of reality. Methodology: The paper draws on an ESRC funded study of children as consumers. In the course of the two year study a range of methods were used including discussion, focus groups, participant observation, drawing and project work, photography and diary work. Conclusions: The paper seeks to contribute to debates about the capacity of ethnography to produce authoritative accounts of children's lives. It seeks to go beyond the notion of the ethnographer as the sole author of the narrative.