Transcript Capter 17
Chapter 17
The Creation and Diffusion
Of Global Consumer Culture
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior
Buying, Having, and Being
Sixth Edition
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Opening Vignette: Alexandra
• What does Chloe mean when she says that the
Capri pants are “tight”?
• What makes the clothing they are buying seem
tight?
• Why does Alexandra want to give her
classmates in Kansas the impression that she is
“fresh off the streets of New York City”?
• Why does Alexandra feel like she would fit in
with the “sistahs” in the Bronx?
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The Creation of Culture
• Co-optation:
– Process by which outsiders transform the meanings
of cultural products
• Cultural Selection:
– Process by which many possibilities compete for
adoption, and these are steadily winnowed out as
they make their way down the path from
conception to consumption
• Culture Production Systems (CPS):
– The set of individuals and organizations
responsible for creating and marketing a cultural
product
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The Movement of Meaning
Figure 17.1
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The Culture Production Process
Figure 17.2
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Obsolescence
• As this AT&T ad
demonstrates, many
products and styles
are destined to
become obsolete.
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Vibe
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Cultural Specialists
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Components of a CPS
• Components of a CPS
– (1) Creative Subsystem (e.g. Eminem)
– (2) Managerial Subsystem (e.g. Interscope)
– (3) Communications Subsystem (e.g. Ad and
publicity agencies)
• Cultural Gatekeepers
– Responsible for filtering the overflow of
information and materials intended for consumers.
– Throughput sector: Set of agents which serve as
gatekeepers
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High Art and Popular Culture
• As this British ad illustrates, high art merges with
popular culture in interesting ways.
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Discussion Question
• Tommy Hilfiger clothing
originally targeted a
preppie audience as is
indicated in the ad on the
left. However, Hilfiger
now pursues the hip-hop
crowd as well.
• How does a company
successfully change its
product image to target
other cultures? Can you
think of other products
that have pulled this off?
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High Culture and Popular Culture
• Arts and Crafts:
– Art Product: Viewed primarily as an object of
aesthetic contemplation without any functional
value.
– Craft Product: Admired because of the beauty with
which it performs some function.
• High Art Versus Low Art
• Cultural Formulae:
– When certain roles and props often occur
consistently.
• Aesthetic Market Research
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Recycled Imagery
• This perfume ad
recycles imagery
from pulp romance
novels.
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Reality Engineering
• Reality Engineering:
– Occurs as marketers appropriate elements of popular
culture and convert them for use as promotional vehicles.
– Cultivation Hypothesis: The media’s ability to distort
consumers’ perceptions of reality.
• Product Placement:
– Refers to the insertion of specific products and the use of
brand names in movie and TV scripts.
• Advergaming:
– Where online games merge with interactive advertisements
that let companies target specific types of consumers.
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Rolling Stone
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The Diffusion of Innovations
• Innovation:
– Any product or service that consumers perceive to
be new.
• Diffusion of Innovations:
– Refers to the process whereby a new product,
service, or idea spreads through a population.
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VIDEO: Nike
• Nike emphasizes the
importance of
innovation throughout
its organization.
Click image to play video.
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Adopting Innovations
• Laggards:
– People who are slow to pick up new products.
• Late Adopters:
– Consumers interested in new things, but do not want them
to be too new. They deliberately wait to adopt an
innovation.
• Innovators:
– The brave souls who are always on the lookout for novel
developments and will be the first to try a new offering.
• Early Adopters:
– Share many of the same characteristics as innovators, but
an important difference is their degree of concern for social
acceptance, especially with regard to expressive products.
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Types of Adopters
Figure 17.3
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A Laggard
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Behavioral Demands of Innovations
• Continuous Innovation:
– Refers to a modification of an existing product.
• Dynamically Continuous Innovation:
– A more pronounced change in an existing product.
• Discontinuous Innovation:
– Creates major changes in the way we live.
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Prerequisites for Successful Adoption
• Compatibility:
– Innovation is compatible with the consumer’s lifestyle
• Trialability:
– People are more likely to adopt a product they can
experiment with first
• Complexity:
– The product should be low in complexity
• Observability:
– Easily observable innovations are more likely to spread
• Relative Advantage:
– Should offer relative advantage over other alternatives
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The Fashion System
• Fashion System
– Consists of all those people and organizations
involved in creating symbolic meaning and
transferring these meanings to cultural goods.
– Context-dependent: Different consumers can
interpret the same item differently.
– Undercoded: There is no one precise meaning, but
rather plenty of room for interpretation among
perceivers.
• Fashion
– The process of social diffusion by which a new
style is adopted by some group(s) of consumers.
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Cultural Categories
• Cultural Categories:
– Cultural distinctions that correspond to the way we
characterize the world
– Collective Selection: The process by which certain
symbolic alternatives are chosen over others.
• Behavioral Science Perspectives on
Fashion
– Major approaches:
• Psychological Models of Fashion
• Economic Models of Fashion
• Sociological Models of Fashion
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Instant Gratification of Needs
• A cultural
emphasis on
science in the
1950s and 1960s
affected product
designs, as seen
in the design of
automobiles with
large tail fins (to
resemble
rockets).
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Economic Models of Fashion
• Parody Display:
– Where upscale consumers deliberately adopt
formerly low-status or inexpensive products and
stores.
• Prestige-Exclusivity Effect:
– When high prices still create high demand.
• Snob Effect:
– Where lower prices actually reduce demand.
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Female Anatomy Throughout History
• This ad for Maidenform
illustrates that fashions
have accentuated
different parts of the
female anatomy
throughout history.
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Sociological Models of Fashion
• Trickle-Down Theory:
– There are two conflicting forces that drive fashion change
• First: Subordinate groups adopt the status symbols of the
groups above them.
• Second: Superordinate groups look at subordinate groups to
make sure they are not imitated.
– Mass Fashion: When media exposure permits many groups
to become aware of a style at the same time.
– Trickle-Across Effect: Fashions diffuse horizontally among
members of the same social group.
– Trickle-Up: Fashions that originate with the lower class
first.
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A “Medical” Model of Fashion
• Meme Theory:
– When an idea or product enters the consciousness
of people over time
• Tipping Point:
– When a few people initially use a product, but
change happens in a hurry when the process
reaches the moment of critical mass.
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Cycles of Fashion
• Fashion Life Cycles
– Fashion Acceptance Cycle
• Introduction Stage
• Acceptance Stage
• Regression Stage
– Classic: A fashion with an extremely long
acceptance cycle.
– Fad: A very short-lived fashion.
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A Normal Fashion Cycle
Figure 17.4
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Comparison of Acceptance Cycles
Figure 17.5
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The Behavior of Fads
Figure 17.6
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Cyclical Nature of Fashion
• This Jim Beam ad
illustrates the cyclical
nature of fashion.
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BadFads.com
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Fad or Trend?
•
•
•
•
•
Does it fit with basic lifestyle changes?
What are the benefits?
Can it be personalized?
Is it a trend or a side effect?
What other changes have occurred in
the market?
– Carryover effects
• Who has adopted the change?
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Discussion Question
• Fads such as tie dye
clothing, bell bottoms,
parachute pants, etc.
have made many
appearances on the
market.
• What distinguishes a
fad from a trend?
How can marketers
prevent their product
from just being a fad?
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Transferring Product
Meanings to Other Cultures
• Think Globally, Act Locally
• Adopt a Standardized Strategy:
– Etic Perspective: Focuses on commonalities across
cultures.
• Adopt a Localized Strategy:
– Emic Perspective: Stresses variations across
cultures.
– National Character: A distinctive set of behavior
and personality characteristics.
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Globalization
• We expect today’s technical products to satisfy our
needs – instantly.
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Emic Perspective
• JCDecauz, a French
advertising agency,
specializes in “street
furniture” like these
kiosks, newsstands
and public toilets.
They represent an
emic perspective
because each is
designed to reflect the
local culture.
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Cultural Differences
Relevant to Marketers
• Back Translation:
– A different interpreter retranslates a translated ad
back into its original language to catch errors.
• Does Global Marketing Work?
• The Diffusion of Consumer Culture
– Culture tends to flow from stronger nations to
weaker ones (wealthier, freer, & more advanced)
• I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke…
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Emerging Consumer Cultures in
Transitional Economies
• Globalized Consumption Ethic:
– People worldwide begin to share the ideal of a material
lifestyle and value brands that symbolize prosperity.
• Transitional Economies:
– Refers to a country that is struggling with the difficult
adaptation from a controlled, centralized economy to a
free-market system.
• Creolization
– Occurs when foreign influences are absorbed and
integrated with local meaning.
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World Advertising Appeals
• Many advertising messages appeal to people the world
over. This Australian ad for a Finnish product would
appeal to sophisticated young people from many
different cultures.
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