1. Chapter 11
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2. Chapter 11 Learning Objectives
11.1 To understand culture’s role, dynamics, evolution, and impact on consumers’ priorities and behaviors.
11.2 To understand language, symbols, and rituals as expressions of a learned culture.
11.3 To understand how to measure the influence of culture on consumer behavior.
11.4 To understand Americans’ core values and how to apply them to persuasive communications.
11.5 To understand green marketing and ecologically responsible consumption.
This chapter describes the societal role and dynamics of culture; explains how cultural values satisfy needs; investigates how cultural values are
learned, expressed, and measured; discusses ten American core values; and concludes with a discussion of green marketing.

3. Learning Objective 11.1
11.1 To understand culture’s role, dynamics, evolution, and impact on consumers’ priorities and behaviors.
We often refer to culture as an “invisible hand” that guides the actions of people of a particular society. When consumer researchers ask people why they do certain things, they frequently answer, “Because it’s the right thing to do”—a response reflecting the ingrained influence of culture on our behavior.

4. “Levels” of Cultural Norms
Supranational
National
Group
At the supranational level, youth segmented as:
In-crowd
Pop mavericks
Some researchers conceptualized different “levels” of cultural norms:
1. The supranational level reflects the underlying dimensions of culture that affect multiple societies (i.e., subcultural cross-national or cross-cultural boundaries).
2. The national level reflects shared core values, customs, and personalities that represent the core of the “national character” of a particular country.
3. The group level reflects the subdivisions of a country or society, such as subcultures, and the influences of various reference groups.
On the supranational level of culture, which crosses national boundaries, researchers have developed a lifestyle matrix for four segments of global youth aged 14 to 24:
1. In-crowd: It’s all about privilege and reinforcement; members of this group seek approval from others and prefer classic brands like Nike and Abercrombie & Fitch to uphold tradition.
2. Pop mavericks: Word-of-mouth spreads rapidly, and passion, individuality, and instant gratification are important; members prefer brands that they can personalize—brands like Diesel and Adidas.
3. Networked intelligentsia: They are the hub of online social networks, and it’s all about revolution, creativity, and deconstruction; members prefer cult brands, like Vespa (in America) and Vans, which add to their sense of obscurity.
4. Thrill renegades: It’s all about infamy, adrenaline, and anarchy (and pretending that law and order do not exist).
Networked intelligentsia
Thrill renegades

5. Culture and Marketing Culture’s continuous evolution
Cultural beliefs reflect societal needs
Marketers must always monitor cultural changes to discover new opportunities and abandon markets that have “dried up” because of cultural changes. Marketers should periodically reconsider why consumers are doing what they do, who are the purchasers and the users of their offerings, when they do their shopping, how and where they can be reached by the media, and what new product and service needs are emerging.
Culture expresses and satisfies the needs of societies. It offers order, direction, and guidance for problem solving by providing “tried-and-true” methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs. Culture determines whether a product is a necessity or discretionary luxury. Culture also dictates which clothes are suitable for different occasions (such as what to wear around the house, and what to wear to school, to work, to church, at a fast-food restaurant, or to a movie theater).
At times, society’s collective interest contradicts an emerging custom. For instance, because most young Americans are now electronically connected all the time and at almost any place, distracted driving because of texting or calling on mobile phones is directly causing more car accidents.

6. Culture’s continuous evolution
Marketers must always monitor cultural changes to discover new opportunities and abandon markets that have “dried up” because of cultural changes. Marketers should periodically reconsider why consumers are doing what they do, who are the purchasers and the users of their offerings, when they do their shopping, how and where they can be reached by the media, and what new product and service needs are emerging.

7. Cultural beliefs reflect societal needs
Culture expresses and satisfies the needs of societies.
a) It offers order, direction and guidance for problem solving by providing methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs.
b) Culture determines whether a product is a necessity or discretionary luxury.
c) Culture dictates which clothes are suitable for different occasions.
d) When a specific standard no longer satisfies the members of a society or reflects its needs, it is modified or replaced.

8. Learning Objective 11.2
11.2 To understand language, symbols, and rituals as expressions of a learned culture.
To be considered a cultural value, a belief or custom must be shared by a significant portion of the society, because culture is essentially a series of norms that guide personal and group conduct and link individuals into a largely cohesive group. Generally, members of a society share their values and customs through a common language, although some cultures include more than one language.

9. Learning Cultural Values
Formal learning
Informal learning
Technical learning
Enculturation (consumer socialization) vs. acculturation
Marketing’s influence
Formal learning takes place when parents, older siblings, and other family members teach younger members “how to behave.” Informal learning takes place when children imitate the behaviors of selected others, such as family, friends, or TV and movie heroes and characters. Technical learning happens when teachers instruct children, in educational environments, about what should be done, how it should be done, and why it should be done, in social as well as personal settings. Our ethical values (e.g., the importance of kindness, honesty, and responsibility) are also formed during childhood as we learn them from parents, teachers, and other significant adults.
Enculturation is learning one’s own culture. Acculturation is learning new or foreign cultures.
The contents of media, advertising, and marketing reflect cultural values and convey them to all members of society very effectively. The repetition of marketing messages both conveys and reinforces cultural beliefs and values. In advertisements, cultural values are not only depicted in the advertising copy, but are also coded in the visual imagery, colors, movements, music, and other nonverbal elements of an advertisement. Marketers also transmit a lot of information that enables consumers to express shared cultural values.

10. Language and Symbols Verbal symbols Nonverbal symbols Product
Promotion
Price
Stores at which product is available
Cultural values are reflected in the languages, symbols, communications, and artifacts of a society. A symbol is anything that represents something else, and symbols can be either verbal or nonverbal. Words are verbal symbols, so the text of any ad is a composition of symbols. Nonverbal symbols,
such as figures, colors, shapes, and even textures, are cultural cues that appear within advertisements, trademarks, packaging, and product designs.
Prices and channels of distribution are symbols and reflect cultural meanings of products. For instance, the stores where clothes are sold (and also the prices of the items) symbolize their quality. In fact, all the elements of the marketing mix—the product, its promotion, price, and the stores at which
it is available—are symbols that communicate the quality, value, and image of the offering.

11. Ritual
A type of symbolic activity consisting of a series of steps (multiple behaviors) occurring in a fixed sequence and repeated periodically.

12. Ritual Artifacts
Rituals can be public, elaborate, or ceremonial (e.g., weddings), or mundane routines (e.g., daily grooming). Typically, ritualized behavior is formal and often scripted (e.g., a religious service or proper conduct in a court of law), and occurs repeatedly (e.g., singing the national anthem before the start of a sports event). Many rituals include artifacts, and some products are marketed specifically for certain rituals. For instance, turkey, stuffing, and cranberries are part of the ritual of Thanksgiving Day. Rituals such as graduations, weekly card games, or visits to beauty salons include artifacts.

13. Ritualistic Behavior
Ritualistic behavior is an action or series of steps that have become a ritual. For example, golfers who take a few practice swings before actually hitting the ball display a ritualistic behavior. Personal-care activities are often ritualized; Table 11.2 describes the daily ritual of a woman’s facial care.

14. Discussion Questions
What are some rituals (religious, educational, social) that you have experienced?
What artifacts or products were part of that ritual?
How did marketers influence the choice of these artifacts?
No doubt, growing up you were involved in some rituals – high school graduation, rite of passage rituals, births, or deaths.

15. Learning Objective 11.3
11.3 To understand how to measure the influence of culture on consumer behavior.
Culture reflects a society’s values, customs, and rituals, which in turn reflect how we live and communicate. The most widely used measurements of cultural values are content analysis, consumer field observation, and value measurement instruments.

16. Measuring Cultural Values
Content analysis
Field observation
Depth interviews
Focus groups
Questionnaires
Content analysis, as the name implies, focuses on the content of societies’ verbal, written, and pictorial communications, including promotional messages. Content analysis can determine what social and cultural changes have occurred in a specific society or compare different cultures.
Field observation consists of observing the daily behavior of selected members of a society. Based on their observations, researchers draw conclusions about the values, beliefs, and customs of the society under investigation. In some cases, researchers become participant-observers; that is, they become active members of the environment that they are studying and engage in the same behaviors, rituals, and customs that they study.
Marketers have used depth interviews and focus groups to study social and cultural changes. In focus group discussions, consumers are apt to reveal attitudes and behaviors that signal shifts in values that may affect, for example, the acceptance of new products and services. Focus groups have been used to generate ideas for persuasive strategies designed to reinforce customer loyalty and retention.
Self-administered questionnaires measure individuals’ cultural values, such as the Rokeach Value Survey, the Values and Lifestyles VALS measure, and Gordon’s survey of personal and interpersonal values.

17. Rokeach Values Survey 18 terminal values (ends)
Personal
Interpersonal
18 instrumental values (means)
Competence
Moral
The Rokeach Value Survey is a self-administered, two-part values inventory:
1. Eighteen terminal values that reflect goals and desirable states of existence and are defined as ends (e.g., happiness, pleasure, freedom, self-respect).
2. Eighteen instrumental values, defined as the means to achieve the ends (e.g., ambitious, honest, polite, responsible).
Respondents are asked how important each value is to them as “a guiding principle” in their lives. Within each set of values, there are also two subsets: Some terminal values focus on personal aspects (e.g., a comfortable or exciting life, happiness, inner harmony) and the others on interpersonal
ones (e.g., a world of peace and beauty, national security). The instrumental values are composed of competence (e.g., ambitious, intellectual, responsible) and moral values (e.g., forgiving, helpful, polite). According to the Rokeach typology, in terms of cultural orientation, individuals can belong
to one of four types. Table 11.3 describes the characteristics of each type and also lists applicable, illustrative promotional themes.

18. Gordon’s Survey
Gordon’s Survey of Personal and Interpersonal Values measures values that determine how people cope with their daily lives. There are two surveys—one for personal values and one for interpersonal values—that are partially described in Table 11.4, together with the illustrative characteristics that exemplify each value. As expected, Gordon’s values are strongly reflected in Americans’ core values.

19. Learning Objective 11.4
11.4 To understand Americans’ core values and how to apply them to persuasive communications.
American core values that both affect and reflect the character of American society. Designating American core values is difficult because some are contradictory, the United States is diverse and dynamic.

20. Criteria to Select Core Values
The value must be pervasive
The value must be enduring
The value must be related to consumption behavior
We used the following criteria to select and designate core values:
1. The value must be pervasive. That is, a significant portion of the American people must have accepted the value and used it to guide their attitudes and actions.
2. The value must be enduring. That is, it must have influenced Americans’ actions over an extended period (as distinguished from fads and short-lived fashions).
3. The value must be related to consumption behavior. That is, it must provide insights that help us understand Americans’ consumption habits.
The core values identified include achievement and success, time and activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, materialism (comfort and pleasure), individualism and conformity, freedom of choice, humanitarianism, youthfulness, and fitness and health.

21. American Core Values Achievement and Success Time and Activity
Efficiency and Practicality
Progress
Materialism
Individualism and Conformity
Freedom of Choice
Humanitarianism
Youthfulness
Fitness and Health
Americans maintain that challenges and competition drive people to excel. Success is closely related to achievement, but the two are not identical. Specifically, achievement is its own direct reward (it implicitly satisfies the individual achiever), whereas success includes an extrinsic reward (such as luxury possessions, financial compensation, and high status). Both achievement and success influence consumption and often provide justification for the acquisition of goods and services.
Americans consider time valuable (i.e., “time is money” and “time waits for no one”) and many visitors from other countries often comment on how many times Americans look at their watches and how concerned they are about deadlines and promptness. We hold time in high regard because
we can accomplish more and be more productive if we use time wisely, keep busy, and do not waste time. Americans value being active and involved in society, and keeping busy in one’s daily life is considered necessary. The premium placed on time has had both positive and negative effects on American society.
Americans consider themselves highly efficient and pragmatic. Many business executives pay little attention to theoretical scenarios; instead, they often employ trial-and-error, a pragmatic approach that consists of trying several potential solutions to a given problem individually and selecting the most effective one.
Americans view change (progress) as desirable because it symbolizes development (personal as well as societal), improvement, and growth.
For most Americans, from a very young age, material comfort and possessions signify attainment of “the good life”—a life that may include a new car, a dishwasher, an air conditioner, a hot tub, and an almost infinite variety of other convenience-oriented and pleasure-providing goods and services. Americans often compare themselves to others in terms of the value of their possessions and tend to believe that they are happier than those who have less.
Americans value “being themselves.” Self-reliance, self-interest, self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment are popular expressions of individualism in our language. Striving for individualism is the rejection of dependency; that is, it is better to rely on oneself than on others. Although Americans deeply embrace freedom of choice and individualism, they nevertheless accept the reality of conformity.
Freedom as an American core value stems from the nation’s fundamental principles: freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion. Americans prefer and even expect to be able to choose from a wide range of alternatives in all aspects of their lives.
Americans are often generous and willing (and even eager) to help those in need. They support many humane and charitable causes, and often sympathize with the underdog who must overcome adversity to get ahead.
Americans are preoccupied with youthfulness, a state of mind and a state of being, sometimes expressed as being “young at heart,” “young in spirit,”
or “young in appearance.”
Being fit and healthy is an important core value and very evident in many aspects of American life.

22. Humanitarianism Benefits to Donors: Belongingness Trusting
Social-practical motivation
Prestige
Illustrations of attitudes about charitable giving appear in Table 11.5.
Another study investigated the motivations of alumni who donated money to intercollegiate athletic programs and identified four distinct benefits that donors received from their monetary pledges:
1. Belongingness—being associated with and loyal to the institution, helping to build a successful athletic program and continue tradition
2. Trusting—confidence in the institution’s leadership and vision
3. Social-practical motivation—exploring social and professional contacts, receiving priority seating at sports events and tax deductions
4. Prestige—pride in supporting a prestigious institution and sports teams

23. American Core Values: Illustrative Promotional Themes

24. To which Core Value does the ad appeal?
The time aspect of time and activity

25. To which Core Value does the ad appeal?
Materialism (Comfort and Pleasure)

26. To which Core Value do the ads appeal?
Efficiency

27. To which Core Value do the ads appeal?
Freedom of Choice

28. To which Core Value do the ads appeal?
Humanitarianism

29. Learning Objective 11.5
11.5 To understand green marketing and ecologically responsible consumption.
Green marketing is producing and promoting reusable and eco-friendly products. Over the past twenty years or so, virtually all companies have adopted at least some environmentally friendly practices in response to the global awareness of climate change and its potentially dire consequences for our planet and its inhabitants.

30. Ecologically Responsible Consumption
Many Americans consider buying environmentally sound products to be part of their duties as consumers and a societal and cultural priority. Although many consumers claim to be “green” and support ecological causes, studies indicate that such attitudes do not always result in pro-environmental behavior. The figures show consumer responses to a poll about their attitudes and behaviors.
Discussion Question:
How do your “Green” attitudes affect your purchase behavior?

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Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education