Culture and Consumption

Based on:McCracken: ”Culture and Consumption”

Agenda for today

Group presentation

Culture and consumption

From consumer research to marketing strategy

Questions for last week’s class or the exa

Consumption Studies~ 1990?

• goods carry meanings for everyday interactions (i.e. communication)• personal motives are shaped by society/culture

Source: Østergaard and Jantzen, 2000

Understanding culture

• Culture: ”a society’s dynamic blueprints for action and interpretations that enable a person to operate in a manner acceptable to other members of the culture”

Cultural fields

Consumption patterns

Shared culturaltemplates for interpretation

Consumer goods

Shared cultural blueprints for action

Source: Arnould, Price, Zinkhan, 2007

How is consumption a cultural phenomenon?

• Clothing

• Food

• Housing

• Holidays

• Everyday rituals and habits

• Events, experiences

• Interests, hobbies

• ....

• In general: Consumption patterns

McCracken’s Model of Movement of Cultural Meaning

Culturally constituted world

Consumer goods

Individual Consumers

Fashion System

Marketing communication system

Consumer rituals

Locations of meanings

Instruments of meaning transfer

Art

Source: McCracken, 1986

The dynamics of culture and consumption – the movement of meanings

Consumption objects carry symbolic meanings.

They both reflect and influence culture and cultural meanings – this happens in a continuous, self-referencing process.

In this process, cultural meanings are moved between different locations of meaning by e.g. marketing communication, art, media, fashion systems, and consumer actions.

Culturally constituted world

Cultural blueprints

Cultural categories Cultural principles

HabitsCustomsRituals

Help us define and organize our life world (system of social distinction)

TimeSpaceNatureSocietyPeople

Allow grouping, ranking, interrelating(structure)

ValuesIdealsNormsBeliefs

Templates for action andinterpretation

Cultural principles and categories

• Cultural principles can take the form of norms, ideals, beliefs, and values. A few examples of cultural principles are freedom, equality, and brotherhood

• Cultural categories reflect (and influence) such principles. For example, how would the values above influence our concept of society or nature?

Cultural values, myths, symbols

• Values – enduring beliefs about desirable outcomes that transcends specific situations and shape behaviour• Includes instrumental values – beliefs about how people

should behave• Includes terminal values – beliefs about desirable goals

• Norms – informal, often unspoken rules that govern behaviour

• Cultural myths – stories containing symbolic elements that express shared emotions and cultural values

• Cultural symbols – objects that represents beliefs and values

Cultural fields• Cultural fields are complex cultural categories

• Consumer goods and consumption patterns help define cultural fields

• From this perspective, consumption is a tangible manifestation of culture

Vehicles for meaning transfer

• Marketing communication system

• Fashion system

• Entertainment

• Art

• News

• Reference groups

Consumption meanings• Consumer motives for consumption stem from the

meaning of consumptions acts and objects. Such meaning provides value

• Understanding consumers requires understanding of meaning and value

• There are many sources of meaning for consumption objects (e.g. marketing communications, branding, individual experience, cultural myths, etc.)

Types of meanings• Utilitarian meanings – perceived usefulness in

terms of functionality or performance

• Sacred meanings – supremely important/set aside

• Secular – opposed to sacred meanings/”worldly” in character

• Hedonic meanings – associated, facilitating or perpetuating special feelings

• Social meanings – negotiating meanings of individuals and their place in their social setting

• Examples from everyday life?

Cultural rituals

• Behaviours that occur in a relatively fixed sequence and that tend to be repeated periodically

• Possession rituals

• Grooming rituals

• Divestment rituals

• Exchange rituals

Vehicles of communication• When consumption objects have meaning to

people, they also function as media of interpersonal communication

• Example: Christmas• What do Christmas lights symbolize in western

cultures?• Santa Claus?• Do these symbols mean the same• to us all?• Could they loose their meanings?

Discussion• Describe examples of everyday consumption

rituals (at least one example of each type)

• What is the relevance of knowing and analyzing such ritualistic behaviour?

• Discuss important cultural trends such as environmental concern, globalization, and postmodernity in a European context – how are these important to understanding consumer behaviour?

Exam Goals• Explain and apply the key terms, definitions, concepts and models

used in the study of consumer behaviour.

• Differentiate between behavioural, cognitive and interpretive approaches to understanding consumer behaviour and the implications that this choice has on our interpretation of consumers' behaviour

• Demonstrate how as a marketer you can use your knowledge of consumer behaviour concepts to develop better branding programs and strategies to influence those behaviours.

• Describe and analyse key trends in consumer behaviour, and apply them in relation to the branding of actual products or services.

• Reflect incisively and critically over the underlying causes of the consumers’ behaviour

• Apply the tools, concepts and models presented in this course to problems related to brand management, marketing communications and other forms of marketing exchange

• Synthesise and deduce new models that can be used to predict phenomena relevant to the study of consumer behaviour

Case exam – Piresso Case

1. Trends in consumption and use of music.

2. Consumer needs and motivation.

3. The most important cultural forces affecting music consumption at the moment.

4. Differences between different approaches to increasing sales.

5. Marketing implications.