1. Chapter 14 Culture CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 10e Michael R. Solomon
Chapter 14 discusses the role of culture and how culture affects consumer behavior.

2. Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:
A culture is a society’s personality; it shapes our identities as individuals.
Many of our consumption activities including holiday observances, grooming, and gift giving are rituals.
We describe products as either sacred or profane, and it’s not unusual for some products to move back and forth between the two categories.

3. Chapter Objectives
Styles act as a mirror to reflect underlying cultural conditions.
Many modern marketers are reality engineers.
New products, services, and ideas spread through a population. Different types of people are more or less likely to adopt them.
Many people and organizations play a role in the fashion system that creates and communicates symbolic meaning to consumers.
Fashions follow cycles.

4. Learning Objective 1: What is Culture
A culture is a society’s personality; it shapes our identities as individuals.
Includes values, ethics, and the material objects its members produce
Culture is the accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms, and traditions
A consumer’s culture determines the overall priorities he or she attaches to different activities and products.
A culture is a society’s personality; it shapes our identities as individuals.
A society’s culture includes its values, ethics, and the material objects its members produce. It is the accumulation of shared meanings and traditions among members of a society. We describe a culture in terms of ecology (the way people adapt to their habitat), its social structure, and its ideology (including moral and aesthetic principles).

5. Understanding Culture
Products can reflect underlying cultural processes of a particular period:
The TV dinner for the United States
Cosmetics made of natural materials without animal testing
Driving a hybrid car to preserve the earth
Texting and driving
Consumers are more likely to want products that resonate with a culture’s priorities at any given time. The slide lists some examples of products that became successful because they reflected the dominant values at the time.

6. Learning Objective 3
Many of our consumption activities including holiday observances, grooming, and gift giving are rituals.
Common rituals: Grooming, gift giving, holiday, rites of passage
Mother’s Day
Father’s Day
Birthday
Anniversary
Christmas/Hanukkah
Graduation
Valentines Day
Easter
Chinese New Years
Wedding
Engagement
Baby Shower
Thinks of gift giving rituals specific to your culture?
Now your religion?

7. Rituals
Rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors that occur in a fixed sequence and that tend to be repeated periodically
Many consumer activities are ritualistic
Trips to Starbucks
Sunday brunch
Haircut every 6 weeks
Virtually all consumers practice private grooming rituals, or ceremonies that help us transition from our private self to our public self or back again.
Marketers try to get their products to become part of your weekly, daily rituals
When you hear the word, ritual, you may think of something formal and serious like the ritual of taking communion at church. In reality, consumers have many ritualistic activities. Having Sunday brunch, going daily to Starbucks, and tailgating before football games are all examples of commonplace rituals.
Make a list of your private grooming rituals. Think of how many you have.

8. Gift Giving Ritual
We buy (or make) the perfect object, remove the price tag, wrap and deliver the object.
There is a gift-giving norm of reciprocity.
Gift giving is a form of economic exchange in which the giver transfers and item of value to a recipient, who must reciprocate.
Gift giving also involves a symbolic exchange.
Gift giving ritual proceeds in three distinct stages:
Gestation – giver procures an item to mark an event (structural/ prescribed by culture or emergent/personal and idiosyncratic).
Presentation – process of gift exchange, recipient response and donor evaluation of the response.
Reformulation – giver and receiver redefine the bond between them to reflect their new relationship after the exchange. This may trigger a negative evaluation if the gift is inadequate due to a violation of the reciprocity norm, which obliges people to return the gesture of a gift with one of equal value.

9. New gift giving rituals thought up by marketers
A push present  is a present a father gives to the mother to mark the occasion of her giving birth to their child. In practice the present may be given before or after the birth, or even in the delivery room. The giving of push presents has supposedly grown in the United States in recent years. 
Kindergarten graduation

10. Holidays are filled with rituals
Christmas
Halloween
Valentine’s Day
Thanksgiving
Easter
Passover
New Years

11. For Reflection
Explain some of your own family holiday traditions. How do they affect your behavior as consumers?

12. Learning Objective 4
We describe products as either sacred or profane, and it’s not unusual for some products to move back and forth between the two categories.
Diamond ring for a wedding vs. a ring you buy yourself.

13. Sacred and Profane Consumption
Sacred consumption: involves objects and events that are set apart from normal activities that are treated with respect or awe
Wedding dress
Profane consumption: involves consumer objects and events that are ordinary and not special
Dress to work
We can also differentiate between the sacred and profane when considering our cultural consumption patterns.
Sacred consumption occurs when we set apart objects and events from normal activities and treat them with respect and awe.
Note that sacred in this case does not mean religious.
Profane consumption describes objects and events that are ordinary and everyday. They are not special like the sacred objects. For instance, a wedding dress is sacred but a dress for work is profane.

14. Sacralization
Sacralization occurs when ordinary objects, events, and even people take on sacred meaning
Contamination means that the objects we associate with sacred events become sacred in their own right.
For instance, we use ornaments and lights to celebrate the sacred event of Christmas and these ornaments may become sacred.
Collecting is the systematic acquisition of a particular object or set of objects
Anything can become sacred. Troy Aikman’s shoes sold for nearly $2,000 because fans had turned the shoes from the profane to the sacred.
Contamination just means that the objects we associate with sacred events become sacred in their own right. For instance, we use ornaments and lights to celebrate the sacred event of Christmas and these ornaments may become sacred.
Some people collect things that are sacred to them. Anything can be collected, it seems. Collecting involves a rational and an emotional component. Some researchers feel that collectors acquire their collections to gratify materialism in a socially acceptable way.
This is different from hoarding, which is merely unsystematic collecting. Collecting typically involves both rational and emotional components

15. Domains of Sacred Consumption
A society “sets apart” sacred places because they have religious or mystical significance
Sacred places: religious/mystical and country heritage, such as Stonehenge, Mecca, Ground Zero in New York City
Sacred people: celebrities, royalty
Sacred events: athletic events, religious ceremonies
A society “sets apart” sacred places because they have religious or mystical significance. Some profane places are endowed with sacred qualities.
We can idolize sacred people as we set them apart from the masses.
Public events can resemble sacred, religious ceremonies (e.g. sporting events, where athletes are central figures in a hero tale; tourism, which is often marked by souvenirs).

16. Sacred Souvenir Icons Local products (e.g., regional wine)
Pictorial images (e.g., postcards, photos)
‘Piece of the rock’ (e.g., seashells)
Literal representations (e.g., mini icons)
Markers (e.g., logo-oriented t-shirts)
Tourism is an example of a sacred experience. People occupy sacred time and space when they travel on vacation. The desire of travelers to capture these sacred experiences in objects is the basis for the souvenir industry. In addition to personal mementos, there are several common types of sacred souvenir icons.

17. Desacralization
Desacralization: when a sacred item/symbol is removed from its special place or is duplicated in mass quantities (becomes profane)
Religion has somewhat become desacralized
Christmas and Ramadan as secular, materialistic occasions
Just as objects can shift from the profane to the sacred, they can shift from the sacred to the profane. There are numerous examples including reproductions of sacred symbols like the American flag on a t-shirt or the image of the Mona Lisa.

18. For Reflection
Give examples of items that were once sacred but are now materialized and marketed. What are the implications in the shift in reverence to the items in question?

19. Objective 5: Pop Culture
Commercial culture based on popular taste.
Pop culture, short for popular culture, describes the lifestyle and tastes of the majority of mostly younger people.
Music by people like Britney Spears and Hillary Duff are examples of pop culture, as is emo and prep.
Pop culture changes with the youth of the world.

20. Popular Culture
Styles act as a mirror to reflect underlying cultural conditions.
Urban fashion is very popular even though inner-city teens represent only 8% of all people in that age group and have incomes significantly lower than their white suburban counterparts.
It is common for mainstream culture to modify symbols from subcultures for a larger audience to consume.

21. 12 Pop Culture Phenomenons That Were So 2012
4. The Hunger Games
1. Call Me Maybe
5. Memes and Gifs
2. Instagram
6. Fifty Shades of Grey
3. Nail Art

22. 7. YOLO
10. The End of the World
8. Shawarma
Gangnam Style
9. Olympic Fever

23. Fashion and Pop Culture
Characteristics of fashion and popular culture include:
Styles reflect more fundamental societal trends (politics and social conditions)
A style begins as a unique statement by a small group and spreads
Styles originate as interplay between deliberate inventions from designers and businesspeople and spontaneous actions by consumers.
Cultural products travel widely.
Influential people in the media play a significant role in deciding which will succeed.
Most styles wear out and people look for new ways to express themselves.
When a style becomes obsolete, others replace it.

24. Retro Nerd Glasses Harold Lloyd popularized in 1917
Teddy roosevent went rimless In

25. What's behind the sagging pants trend

26. Culture Production System
A culture production system is the set of individuals and organizations that create and market a cultural product
It has three major subsystems
Creative subsystem—responsible for generating new symbols and/or products.
Managerial subsystem—responsible for selecting, making tangible, mass producing, and managing the distribution of new symbols and/or products.
Communications subsystem—responsible for giving meaning to the new product and providing it with a symbolic set of attributes that are communicated to consumers.
No single person or company can create popular culture. Instead, many people and organizations contribute to each new trend. A culture production system (CPS) is this set of people and organizations who create cultural meaning. The system has three major subsystems. The creative subsystem generates new symbols and products. The managerial subsystem selects, makes, produces, and manages the distribution of new symbols and produc
A culture production system has three major subsystems:
Creative subsystem—responsible for generating new symbols and/or products.
Managerial subsystem—responsible for selecting, making tangible, mass producing, and managing the distribution of new symbols and/or products.
Communications subsystem—responsible for giving meaning to the new product and providing it with a symbolic set of attributes that are communicated to consumers.
ts. A communications subsystem gives meaning to the new product and provide it with a symbolic set of attributes.

27. Product Placement and Branded Entertainment
Insertion of specific products and use of brand names in movie/TV scripts.
Directors incorporate branded props for realism.
Is product placement a positive or negative when it comes to consumer decision-making?
The use of branded products in film is an old practice but it has renewed attention as brands pay large sums to be included in popular programming. Sometimes the product placement is free because the director wants to use the branded prop for realism. Other times, the placement comes with a fee. The practice is called branded entertainment sometimes because the brands may sponsor the program (like American Idol). Some researchers claim that product placement helps consumers to make decisions because consumers are then familiar with the brands when they shop. However, others say that placements can be a negative influence on consumer decisions if they are not congruent with the plot. In other words, the placement has to make sense in the minds of consumers in order to be effective.

28. Advergaming
Advergaming refers to online games merged with interactive advertisements
Advertisers gain many benefits with advergames
Plinking is the act of embedding a product in a video
Many brands have used advergaming including Axe, Burger King, and Mini Cooper. The games keep the attention of players longer than typical advertising. They let marketers target specific types of consumers. Marketers can tailor the nature of the game and the products in it to the profiles of different users. The format gives advertisers a great deal of flexibility. Lastly, the games enable marketers to track exposure to advertising in the games.

29. Learning Objective 8
New products, services, and ideas spread through a population. Different types of people are more or less likely to adopt them.

30. The Diffusion of Innovations
Innovation: any product that consumers perceive to be new
New manufacturing technique
New product variation
New way to deliver product
New way to package product
Diffusion of innovation
Successful innovations spread through the population at various rates
The diffusion of innovation refers to the process whereby a new product, service, or idea spreads through a population. An innovation is any product or service that consumers perceive to be new. Marketers may need to encourage adoption of new products.

31. Behavioral Demands of Innovations
Continuous innovation
Evolutionary rather than revolutionary
Dynamically continuous innovation
More pronounced change to existing product
Discontinuous innovation
Creates major changes in the way we live
We categorize innovations by the degree to which they demand adopters to change their behavior. A continuous innovation is a modification of an existing product such as when Levi’s promotes a new cut of jeans. The company makes a small change to an existing product. Most product innovations are of this type. When a consumer adopts this kind of new product, she only has to make minor changes in her habits. A dynamically continuous innovation is a significant change to an existing product. A discontinuous innovation creates really big changes in the way we live. Major inventions such as the airplane, the car, the computer, and the television all changed modern lifestyles.

32. Prerequisites for Successful Adoption
Compatibility
Innovation should be compatible with consumers’ lifestyles
Trialability
People are more likely to adopt an innovation if they can experiment with it prior to purchase
Complexity
A product that is easy to understand will be chosen over competitors
Observability
Innovations that are easily observable are more likely to spread
A successful innovation, no matter how much we have to change in order to adopt it, should possess certain attributes. To the extent that the product innovation meets these five criteria, it will be adopted.
Relative
Advantage
Product should offer relative advantage over other alternatives

33. End

34. Learning Objective 9
Many people and organizations play a role in the fashion system that creates and communicates symbolic meaning to consumers.

35. The Fashion System
The fashion system includes all those people and organizations involved in creating symbolic meanings and transferring these meanings to cultural goods
Fashion is code
Fashion is context-dependent
Fashion is undercoded
Although we might think of fashion as clothing, it really includes all types of cultural phenomena including music, art, architecture, and science. We can think of fashion as a code or a language that helps us to decipher meaning. Unlike language, though, fashion is context-dependent. Different consumers can interpret the same style differently. Fashion products are undercoded too. That means that there is no one precise meaning but rather potentially different meanings for each person perceiving the fashion.

36. Behavioral Science Perspectives and Models of Fashion
Psychological
Economic
Sociological
Medical
The meanings we give products reflect the underlying cultural categories that correspond to the basic ways we characterize the world. Our culture distinguishes between different times of day, between leisure and work, and between genders.
Fashion is very complex and operates on many levels. It can affect us as a society and as an individual. Psychological factors can help us to explain what motivates us to be fashionable. Economists approach fashion in terms of supply and demand. The sociological perspective focuses on a subculture’s adoption of a fashion. The trickle-down theory states that there are two conflicting forces that drive fashion change. First, subordinate groups adopt the status symbols of the groups above them as they attempt to climb up the ladder of social mobility. Dominant styles originate with the upper classes and trickle down to those below. Meme theory explains how something becomes popular seemingly all of a sudden. A meme is an idea or product that enters the consciousness of people over time. Memes spread among consumers in a geometric progression just as a virus starts off small and steadily infects increasing numbers of people until it becomes an epidemic.

37. Motives and Psychological Models of Fashion
Conformity
Desire for variety seeking
Need to express personal creativity
Sexual attraction
There are many motives for fashion. Poplar motives include conformity; desire for variety seeking; the need to express personal creativity; and sexual attraction.

38. Learning Objective 10
Fashions follow cycles.

39. Fashion Life Cycle Example
Introduction stage: small number of music innovators hear a song
Acceptance stage: song enjoys increased visibility
Regression stage: song reaches stage of social saturation as it becomes overplayed
This slide explains the three stages in the overall fashion life cycle. A classic fashion is one with an extremely long acceptance cycle. A fad is one with a very short cycle.

40. For Reflection
What is and what should be the role of fashion in our society? How important is it for people to be in style? What are the pros and cons of keeping up with the latest fashions?

41. Chapter Summary A culture is a society’s personality.
Myths are stories that express a culture’s values.
Many of our consumption activities include rituals associated with holidays, grooming, rites of passage, and other events.
We’ve reviewed many concepts in this chapter. The key points are noted on the slide.

42. Chapter Summary
Products may be sacred or profane and some may shift between the two categories.
Styles are like a mirror that reflect culture.
We can distinguish between high and low forms of culture.
Marketers are also reality engineers.
We’ve reviewed many concepts in this chapter. The key points are noted on the slide.

43. Chapter Summary
New products spread through the population. Certain characteristics make it more likely that they will be adopted.
The fashion system creates and communicates symbolic meaning for consumers.
Fashion follows cycles.
We’ve reviewed many concepts in this chapter. The key points are noted on the slide.
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