consumer behaviour essay - the evolution of the suit

Consumer Behaviour & The SuitBy Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014

This essay explores how the frameworks of ‘the self’, McCracken’s image

transfer model, which can help analyse the purchasing decision process when

shopping for a suit. These frameworks are being applied to the examples

provided in “The Perfect Suit”. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

There are three core elements to the notion of the self, the actual (how the

consumer see’s themselves at the present time), ideal (where the consumer

has recognised how they would like to see themselves) or potential and the

social (how other people see the consumer) or public. (Evans et al., 2006)

The ‘actual self’ relates to the realistic attributes the consumer has set of

themselves, these will include both positive qualities that they posses and the

negative, qualities that they lack. (Solomon et al., 2010; Anon., n.d.) With

reference the suit, it can be used as a tool to reinforce their own individual

(actual) self-identity, Clothing has widely been regarded as a tool utilized by

consumers to connote a meaning, or a set of meanings about themselves to the

public. “Whenever we clothe ourselves, we dress ‘toward’ or address some

audience whose validating responses are essential to the establishment of our

self” (Solomon & Rabolt, 2004: 142)

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Where other people react positively to the suit, as shown in the 1950’s adverts

featured in the case study (The Perfect Suit, 2011) (being exploitative of

women to highlight the suits sex appeal and also reinforce that it is a symbol of

success), and the individual wearing the suit recognises this it helps form or

reinforce their own notions of identity, this is often referred to as “reflected

appraisal”. (Hogg et al., 2000)

An individual’s perception of their actual self can, and often is, heavily influenced

by advertising and the media. A clear example of this are the 1950’s adverts

exploiting women to highlight to the audience that a suit has sex appeal, that

their desire is to be with a masculine man that is successful, (The Perfect Suit,

2011) all of which reinforces the suit as being symbolic of these attributes. Those

consumers that accept the hegemonic reading (Hall, 2003) of these advertising

messages will likely change the way they view themselves, as a result of being

exposed to frequent of images of what one should look like. (Yurchisin &

Johnson, 2010)

Historically the suit has been a form of formal or professional dress, therefore

looking at the case study, focusing on the ‘typical’ businessman, where this

professional sub-culture gravitates around notions of power, authority,

masculinity and success has been established over a substantial amount of time.

The suit has become a symbol (Barthes, 1967), an essential part of this

professional sub-culture, it embodies and connotes the afore mentioned

characteristics of a ‘typical’ businessman.

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This motivation to denote connotations of wealth, success and power are often

driven by the individual identifying the difference between their actual self and

their possible self, by looking social referents (Solomon et al., 2010) that are

close to the individuals possible self, they will actively attempt to emulate their

purchasing decisions in the hope that they will eventually reach this possible self.

(Hogg et al., 2000) Individuals use their own self-concept to interpret social

experiences and to evaluate others, typically choosing to be around individuals

and form cohorts with those that share characteristics that will reinforce their

own self-identity. (Price et al., 2004)

Analysing this through the perspective of a student who has graduated from

University and entering the professional world, their actual state will be

markedly different from their ideal state (being that they want to appear

professional to the new social reference group {other employees}), as the suit

has become a symbol of professionalism and the reference group will be wearing

suits as a uniform, this will be used as a heuristic by the individual to identify

similar product choices to reach the ideal self. (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010) If the

consumer’s actual state is not close to the ideal state, this will typically result in

low-self esteem, which increases risk (of social acceptance), therefore this can be

a motivation to reach the ideal sate in the shortest amount of time possible.

(Solomon et al., 2010)

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However it has been observed that individuals can be made up of multiple selves

to fulfill different social roles such as being a family member, but behaving

differently working in a professional capacity (role identities), these are

contextual based. Therefore individuals will consume different products and

brands to aid in the realization of these multiple selves. (Solomon et al., 2010)

These selves can be changed and be flexible depending on the situational context,

these constructed self-conceptions can also be contrasted over time, for example

of how a consumer used fashion to construct their self identity at University and

contrasting against how this has changed over time, identifying the differences in

consumption choice for their new roles, such as a parent or a professional

worker. (Price et al., 2004) However the suit has become a flexible dress as

perceptions have changed over time, modern business practices are moving to a

less formal environment to that of a more casual one, therefore the boundaries of

these multiple selves can become blurred.

McCracken’s Meaning Transfer model provides a framework for analyzing how

meaning is transferred from conception to the individual consumer. The first

stage is the ‘culturally constituted world’, which is built on advertising and the

fashion system. This fashion system is built up of products, brands and opinion

leaders who lead discourse around them. (McCracken, 1989) An example within

the fashion of recent context would be the late designer Alexander McQueen,

whose contemporary collections received high media attention and significantly

influenced fashion trends, making him and his company an opinion leader. (Tran,

2010 )

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Opinion leaders are individuals who often have high involvement (rational,

emotional or both) and are knowledgeable around a specific area of interest. The

opinions that they express are respected and recognised as holding authority in

that area, thus often leading discourse amongst consumers around the product,

brand or another area of interest. (Solomon et al., 2010)

An opinion seeker is an individual that are influenced by the actions and

opinions of opinion leaders to emulate certain aspects of these to help construct

their own identity, inform purchasing decisions and how others view them.

(Price et al., 2004) Products and brands are often given more attention through

celebrity endorsement; this is where opinion leaders, particularly those that

have a celebrity status, are either directly or indirectly endorsing them.

McCracken’s meaning transfer model describes the process of emulating the

actions and dress of a celebrity, therefore the emulator will gain and enjoy some

of the perceived qualities displayed by the celebrity.

Opinion leadership and opinion seeking can also be viewed with regards to the

‘Innovation Adoption Curve’, as opinion leaders will be fashion innovators,

forming trends whilst opinion seekers who have a relatively high level of

involvement will be following these as an early adopter, as involvement

decreases within the opinion seeking consumers they will adopt the fashion

when it becomes popular on mass. Individuals that have low involvement will

only adopt the fashion after it has been well adopted; these are referred to as

‘laggards’. (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010)

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As referred to previously, the suit does not have a static meaning, it is adaptable

and changes overtime inline with wider societal and cultural changes. (Solomon

et al., 2010) The suit has been established within British culture being

introduced in the early 1800’s, historically the suit was an established symbol of

authority, power and higher or elitist culture, seen from the Victorian Frock coat.

(The Perfect Suit, 2011)

In the late 1880’s the Scottish MP Keir Hardie, who was considered a

nonconformist and his manifesto stood for better rights for the working class

population (Griffiths, 2008). Hardie has been identified as a fashion opinion

leader of the time, defying parliamentary conventions by wearing a lounge suit

instead of the more formal dinner suit, this was an attempt to differentiate

himself from the establishment that had gained a negative reputation amongst

the working classes. As a result of this many of the working classes adopted the

suit as a common way of dressing, this change had resistance from the political

establishment, which eventually adopted the lounge suit as a late majority or

laggard. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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Between the 1950s and 1960’s, the post World War 2 economic boom for the

West and the rise of free market policies and mass consumerism, the advertising

of a nuclear family lifestyle dominated consumer discourse. The TV series ‘Mad

Men’ portrays conformity through mass consumption (early to late majority

adopters) and the lifestyles of young elitist professionals focused on an image of

sophistication with style. ‘Mad Men’ focuses on those creating advertising

messages that created this ‘American Dream’ of success and capitalism, which

was a form of cultural imperialism that the mass population idolized. (Tribic,

2009)

However the era of the 1960’s are also attributed the peak of British popular

culture, which gained mass adoption in the USA with bands such as ‘The Beatles’

who frequently wore suits as part of their image. The Beatles were an opinion-

forming group, especially with more politically vocal members such as John

Lennon. The mass population adopted their image increasingly as they rose to

popularity. (Karwowski, 2002)

In the 1970’s the suit had begun to reach the maturity stage (The Perfect Suit,

2011) within the fashion cycle (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010) as the cultural

opinion leaders of this era had adopted denim as the new fashion trend. This

new mass adoption of denim and ‘casualness’ made the suit become a symbol of

a mundane working lifestyle, of conformity and compliance, making it less

appealing. However certain opinion leaders within popular culture such as David

Bowie wore extravagant suits, within the context of his music they were viewed

as desirable. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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Stemming from the later 1970’s to the 1980’s the punk subculture became

prevalent in British culture. Punk was a counter-culture rebelling (nonormative

behavior) against mass consumerism and the establishment (normative

behavior) (Solomon et al., 2010). Opinion leaders for this particular subgroup

came from those that full embraced a ‘do it yourself’ lifestyle and way of thinking.

A key opinion leader within the punk movement was Malcolm McLaren, the

manager of the ‘Sex Pistols’ (one the most popular punk bands of the era), who

helped define their image, which then transferred down to consumer products

such as clothing. (Moore, 2004)

However bands such as Crass attempted to move away from the

commodification of punk by dressing all in black, as they felt it was diverging

away from the original foundations and ethics of the punk subculture, therefore

Crass are often viewed as having a higher authority of opinion leadership than

bands such as ‘The Sex Pistols’ and ‘The Clash’ as they were seen as more

authentic within the more hardcore members of the punk movement.

(Thompson, 2004)

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A modern example of how opinion leaders have shaped the symbolic meaning of

the suit can be seen how leaders of the Labour Party in the 1990’s, specifically

with Tony Blair branding his administration as ‘New Labour’ wore the

traditional uniform of a MP, a plain suit, however wore it in a different way going

against confession. This was achieved by often not wearing a tie, the rolling up of

sleeves and unbuttoned cuffs to communicate an image of approachability,

casualness and that they were in touch with the general public. However John

Seargent comments that this new take on the conventional dress code could

undermine the leaders as opinion leaders, weakening their authority and status

by aligning themselves the wider population. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

The consumer goods adopted receive an image transfer from the opinion leaders

that adopt them. These are then transferred down to consumers who purchase

these items. An iconic brand of recent times is ‘Apple’, who have successfully

penetrated the creative industry, specifically film and music, thus those artists

(who are opinion leaders) are frequently seen using ‘Apple’ products, those

consumers that have the same products are often see as more creative and

productive than those who do not.

Therefore clearly the transfer of image value systems is important for the

purchasing decision process. The purchasing decision process is the steps a

consumer makes to consume a purchase; problem recognition, information

search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase

evaluation. (Solomon et al., 2010)

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The initial stage, problem recognition is where the consumer has recognised a

gap between their actual state and their desired state. Contextualizing this into

the situation of attending a wedding, which societal codes require participants to

dress formally, the consumer will have identified that their current image lacks

formality. This also relates back to the notions of self-identity as the consumer

will have lower self-esteem due to the gap between their actual-self and their

potential-self will be high. (Solomon et al., 2010)

The second phase, information search can be short or extensive; the level of

rational and emotional involvement heavily influences this. Rational involvement

include factors such as financial implications, durability and usability, whereas

emotional factors are the extrinsic values given from the branded article (Trott,

2012) that can bring happiness, feelings of accomplishment and social status.

(Evans et al., 2006) Within the previously mentioned context, both rational and

emotional levels involvement are likely to be high, this is because the risk of not

conforming to societal norms of dress code would likely result in a negative

public-self image, and that formal dress is usually significantly higher in price

than casual. Therefore this high level of involvement will result in a more

extensive information search than a lower level, routine purchase. (Evans et al.,

2006)

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After completing the information search phase the consumer will then evaluate

the alternatives set on their own criteria, as well as criteria set by opinion

leaders and the reference group (other attendees at the wedding). (Solomon et

al., 2010)

The final decision will based upon either a rational or an emotional decision, one

will take dominance over another, for example a suit that has been mass

produced can signal ubiquity and lower quality in contrast to a tailored suit,

which would signal individualism, high status and high quality. Although a

tailored suit is substantially more expensive than an ‘off the peg’ alternative, the

emotional factors hold a higher influence for a key social event such as a

wedding. (Evans et al., 2006)

After the purchase has been made and the consumer uses the product, by

wearing it at the wedding, they will seek to validate that they have made the

correct decision through their reference groups. (Solomon et al., 2010) They will

actively seek the opinions from members within this reference group, however

those that carry the most influence will be others who are seen as an opinion

leader within the group, or another member who the consumer has a high level

of emotional attachment to. If there are positive comments about the purchase

decision, it will result in the consumer feeling confident that they have made the

correct decision and make them feel satisfied that they have achieved

recognition from their reference group. Alternatively if the comments are

negative and outweigh the previously perceived benefits of their purchase

decision, this can result in post-purchase dissonance.

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The consumer will attempt to rationalize their decision by focusing on the

positive aspect and recognizing less the negative aspects, there is a higher

danger of post-purchase dissonance with products such as a suit, which typically

have high levels of involvement. (Solomon et al., 2010)

A criticism of this traditional approach to consumer decision-making is limited

and linear, whereas it can be more cyclical. An example of this would be where

the consumer has chosen a specific suit out of a selection of alternatives and it is

unavailable, they would have to revisit the evaluation of alternatives stage. It is

also depending on previous experience, if they have purchased a suit for a

similar occasion before, they will recall elements of a previous information

search from memory as a heuristic, thus reducing the overall time spent in this

phase. (Solomon et al., 2010)

A main criticism that could be directed at the three discussed frameworks is that

all of them refer to consumers as being passive, rather than an active with

consumption of marketing messages. Therefore the extent to which advertising

has a more than substantial influence on self-image, image meaning transfer and

the purchasing decision process can be viewed with a degree of skepticism, as

the decoding of these messages are more complicated than basic communication

models portray.

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Stuart Halls’ model of ‘encoding/decoding’ states that consumers can have three

different readings of texts. A hegemonic reading where they accept the messages

in a way that the encoder (sender) intended. (Hall, 2003) An example of this

would be the adverts from the 1950’s that showed the suit as a symbol of power

and success. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

Another interpretation outlined by Hall is a ‘negotiated reading’, where elements

of the message are accepted, however certain aspects are rejected or authenticity

questioned from the decoder (receiver) (Hall, 2003). An example being in the

1970’s where denim became adopted by the masses as a fashionable item of

dress (The Perfect Suit, 2011), an advert that conveyed messages that the suit

still had a ‘cool’ appeal could be negotiated by the reader as partially true,

however as denim rises in popularity it can be brought into question.

The final decoding state in Hall’s model is ‘rejection’, where the decoder

dismisses the communication all together, disagreeing with the hegemonic

meaning. (Hall, 2003) In the context of the suit, Kier Hardy in the 1880’s defying

parliamentary conventional dress code of a formal dinner jacket suit, the media

reinforced this social norm, by wearing the lounge suit. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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In summary the meaning attached to the suit has changed over time depending

on the social context of the time, changing depending on the endorsement of

opinion leaders and adoption of the mass population. At present the suit has

multiple meanings attributed to it, which is a result of the suit being regularly

adapted over time. The lines between the professional image, notions of

‘coolness’ and authority have become blurred.

[ENDS]

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Works Cited

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Hall, s., 2003. 'Encoding/Decoding'. In V. Nightingale & L. Ross, eds. Critical Readings: Media and Audiences. Maidenhead: Open University Press. pp.51-64.

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Price, L.L., Arnould, E.J. & Zinkhan, G.M., 2004. The Self & Selves: International Edition. In Consumers. 2nd ed. London: McGrawhill Irwin. pp.393-423.

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Thompson, , 2004. Crass Commodities'. Popular Music & Society , 27(3), pp.307-21. Available online from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=670f5944-6ec2-4460-b0bb-65b7f292fe72%40sessionmgr4&vid=11&hid=120.

Tran, M., 2010. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen dies aged 40. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/11/alexander-mcqueen-dies-fashion-designer" http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/11/alexander- mcqueen-dies-fashion-designer [Accessed 12 March 2012].

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Yurchisin, J. & Johnson, K., 2010. Fashion and the Consumer. Oxford: Berg.

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consumer behaviour essay - the evolution of the suit

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