Chapter 14CultureThis is the final chapter for the seme

Chapter 14:
Culture
This is the final chapter for the semester.
Over the semester we discussed many things about CB.
Hopefully by now, you know that CB is a process that starts
with identifying a need and extends till the act of disposing the
product/service.
Then we identified different factors that influence consumer
decision making – internal factors like personality, identity;
external factors like groups, subcultures as well as technology
like social media.
Finally, in this chapter, we dive into broad yet powerful cultural
factors that influence the consumer behavior.
1
Learning Objective:
14.1 A culture is a society’s personality.
14.2 Myths are stories that express a culture’s values, and in
modern times marketing messages convey these values to
members of the culture.
14.3 Many of our consumption activities – including holiday
observances, grooming, and gift giving – relate to rituals.
14.4 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.
14.5 New products, services, and ideas spread through a
population over time. Different types of people are more or less
likely to adopt them during this diffusion process.

We start by discussing what is culture.
Then we move on to the influence of myths and rituals in
consumption activities and the distinction between what is
considered sacred and profane
And finally, we will discuss how new products and services
diffuse through the population.
2
Objective 1:
A culture is a society’s personality.
We simply can’t understand consumption unless we understand
its cultural context.
Culture is like a lens through which people view products.
Here, we are talking about personality again – earlier we
discussed individual’s personality, brand personality, even store
personality. Now we will discuss society’s personality - culture
The activities we perform in our everyday lives reflect deeper
meanings; be it overcoming challenges like a driver’s test,
choosing thoughtful gifts to thank others or even something as
mundane as calming ourselves with that daily tea or bowl of
favorite ice cream.
Marketers can only appreciate the importance of each of these
activities when they understand what they signify.
That’s why in this chapter we will explore some of the
underlying elements and cultural context.
We simply can’t understand consumption unless we understand
its cultural context.
Culture is like a lens through which people view products.
So, the same activity depending on what cultural context it is

embedded in, can have very different meanings attached to it.
For instance, I consider myself as a coffee lover. I drink black
coffee with no cream or sugar, because I appreciate the different
flavors of different coffee beans & roasts. Yes, the caffeine is a
cherry on top, but I also enjoy trying out different roasts and
beans variation. I am always on the look out for new cafes, I
even like working from cafes. Before pandemic, when we used
to regularly go to our offices, everyday post lunch, my
colleague and I used to walk to a café nearby to get our
afternoon coffee. We probably have tried out every café in and
around the UIC campus. This was almost like a ritual. In
contrast to that, my brother only drinks coffee for its caffeine.
Every morning, on his way to his lab, he picks up the same cup
of coffee from his canteen. So, as you can see, its the same
activity, i.e., consuming coffee, but the meaning both of us
associate with that activity is very different.
You must be aware of the $5 Tuesday AMC movies. That was
another ritual we used to engage in as a group. Everyone from
our program used to finish our work early on Tuesday evenings
and used to go watch a movie at the AMC (typically Block 37
due to ease of access). That had a very different meaning and
motivation as compared to the occasional movies we used to
watch on weekends with our friends/partners.
3
Culture:
Culture is a society’s personality. It is the accumulation of
shared meanings, rituals, norms, and traditions among members
of a society or organization.
Includes both abstract ideas (such as values and ethics) and
material objects and services (like cars, clothing, food, and art)
Our culture determines the overall priorities we attach to
different activities and products.
Consumers are more likely to want products that resonate with a
culture’s priorities
The TV dinner for the United States

Reflected change in the US family structure
Cosmetics made of natural materials without animal testing
Reflected consumers’ concern about pollution, waste and animal
rights
The relationship between CB and culture is a 2-way street.
Consumers are likely to accept products/ services that resonate
with a culture’s priorities
Products that get accepted provide a window into the dominant
cultural ideals
The effects of culture on consumer behavior can be so powerful
& ingrained that it’s sometimes difficult to grasp the importance
and relevance of culture.
We typically notice cultural effects the most when we encounter
a different one and feel the effects of culture shock.
Suddenly many of the assumptions we take for granted about
clothes, food, the way we address others no longer seem to
apply.
Can you think of certain products that reflect the current
culture?
Meal kit services like Blue Apron/Freshly – reflecting the
culture of time poverty; convenience and efficiency
Flavored Seltzer Water (as an alternative to sodas) – reflecting
the culture of health and fitness consciousness.
Home workout equipment/ Video conferencing s/w – reflecting
the post pandemic culture of maintaining social distancing.
Cultural System: Functional Areas
Refers to the way a system adapts to its habitat.
The technology a culture uses to obtain and distribute resources
shapes its ecology
E.g., Japanese consumers value products that make efficient use
of space because of the cramped conditions of their urban

centers.
Ecology
Refers to the way people maintain an orderly social life.
This includes the domestic and political groups that dominate
the culture
e.g., nuclear family vs extended family; democratic government
vs authoritarianism.
Social
Refers to the mental characteristics of people and the way they
relate to their environment and social groups
This relates to the idea of a common worldview, i.e., sharing
common ideas about principles of order and fairness.
Members of a culture also share a set of moral and aesthetic
principles, known as ethos.
Ideology
Culture is not static.
It continually evolves as old ideas are merged with new ones.
A cultural system consists of three functional areas –
The Movement of Cultural Meaning:
Advertising and fashion industr y play a key role in imbuing
functional products with symbolic qualities
Culture determines our values and meanings
Meanings reside in everyday products
The products impart their meanings to us as we use these to
express our identities
Consumers associate the values and meanings with their identity
Cultural meanings reside in everyday products and these
meanings then move through the society.

This figure shows how cultural meaning moves through the
society.
Advertising and fashion play a key role in this movement; they
link functional products with symbolic qualities such as
sexiness, sophistication, or just plain “cool”. (remember –
people use products not only for its function but also the
meaning)
These goods, in turn, impart their meaning to us as w e use these
products to create and express our identities.
Culture Production Process :
At any point in time, we might have just a small fraction of the
total set of possibilities.
When we select certain alternatives over others our choice is
only the culmination of a complex filtration process that
resembles a funnel.
Possibilities compete for adoption but then most drop out as
they make their way down the path from conception to
consumption.
This winnowing process is called cultural selection.
We don’t form our tastes and preferences in vacuum.
*Mass media; those around us
Options constantly evolve around and change
A clothing style or type of cuisine that maybe popular one year
may not be the next.
We inhabit a world that brims with different styles and
possibilities.
The food we eat, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the
places we live and work, the music we listen to – the ebb and
flow of popular culture and fashion influences all of them.

Sometimes we might feel overwhelmed by the choices available
to us in the marketplace.
Despite this seeming abundance, however, At any point in time,
we might have just a small fraction of the total set of
possibilities.
*The many images that mass media present to us as well
observations of those around us drive our choices and desires.
The “Rachel” Haircut
Jeans – Skinny vs relaxed fit
The note section consists of some examples that elaborate this
idea of ebb and flow:
The “Rachel” haircut craze – was a big fashion statement in the
1990s when the sitcom first came out --- over the years new
generation of young women got introduced to this free-spirited
character and contributed to the popularity of this haircut. With
the pandemic, a new generation got introduced to this –
although a lot of trends in this show did not age well, this
hairstyle made a comeback.
Clothes is another domain where trends change pretty much
every year and make comebacks often

A culture production system is the set of individuals and
organizations that create and market a cultural meaning.
It has three major subsystems:
Creative: generates new symbols and products (e.g.,
singer/artist)
Managerial: selects, makes, produces, and manages the
distribution of new symbols and products (e.g., a company the
distributes the album).
Communications: gives meaning to the new product and provide
it with a symbolic set of attributes (e.g., advertising agencies
that promote the artists music).
The cultural gatekeepers filter the overflow of information as it
travels down the funnel (e.g., reviewers, and critics).
No single person or company can create popular culture.
Instead, many people and organizations contribute to each new
trend.
For a music release,
the creative subsystem is the singer/artist
A managerial subsystem a company that distributes the CDs
A communications subsystem advertising agencies and
corporations that work with the singer’s company to promote
the music.
Many judges or “tastemakers” have a say in the products we
consider.
Objective 2:
Myths are stories that express a culture’s values, and in modern
times marketing messages convey these values to members of
the culture.

10
Myths:
Myths are stories with symbolic elements that represent the
shared emotions/ideals of a culture.
They often focus on some kind of conflict between two
opposing forces and their outcomes serves as a moral guide for
listeners.
A myth reduces anxiety because it provides consumers with
guidelines about their world.
Marketers tend to use these mythical symbolism and imageries
in their messages – brand logos, commercials, etc.
Every culture develops stories and ceremonies that help its
members to make sense of the world.
Most of us know a variety of myths that we grew up hearing.
Typically, myths came about to serve as a guide for the
listeners.
From hearing the story, we can learn right from wrong and how
to deal with wrong when we face it.
Myths: Brand Logos and their mythological origins

The swoosh concept is derived from the wing of the Greek
goddess of victory, Nike.
Dove is the symbol of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty
and love.
https://www.designhill.com/design-blog/popular-logo-symbols-
and-their-shocking-mythological-stories/
Examples of brand logos inspired by myths
Nike: According to the Greek mythology, the Swoosh inspires
the warriors as it gives them immense power.
The company named itself after the Greek Goddess.
And chose the swoosh design to give the message of victory and
striding forward in life to the sports people.
Myths: Functions in the culture
Help explain origins of existence
Emphasize that all components of the universe are part of a
single picture
Maintain social order by authorizing a social code to be
followed by members of a culture
Provide models for personal conduct
Myths serves four interrelated functions in a culture.
Functions

Cosmological
Sociological
Psychological
Metaphysical
Myths: Modern Popular Culture
Myths are often found in comic books, movies, holidays, and
commercials
People create their own consumer fairy tales where they tell
stories that include magical agents, donors, and helpers to
overcome villains and obstacles as they seek goods and services
in their quest for happy endings.
Marketers help us live out these fairy tales.
E.g., Popularity of elaborate Disney weddings.
Monomyths: a myth that is common to many cultures
Fictional figures embody properties fundamental to every
culture
E.g., Superman
Many movies/commercials present characters and plot structures
that follow mythic patterns
E.T. represents a familiar myth of messianic visitation.
We normally associate myths with the ancient Greeks and
Romans, but in reality, comic books, movies, holidays, and even
commercials embody our own cultural myths.

Disney weddings. Brides dress as princesses and ride to the
wedding pavilion in a horse-drawn carriage complete with
footmen.
E.T. represents a familiar myth of messianic visitation.
The gentle creature from another world visits Earth and
performs miracles.
The neighborhood children help him combat the forces of
modern technology and society.
The myth represents that the humans God chooses “children
helping the ET” are pure and unselfish
Objective 3:
Many of our consumption activities- including holiday
observances, grooming, and gift-giving- relate to 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.
15
Rituals:
Rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors that occur in a
fixed sequence and that tend to be repeated periodically.
Many contemporary consumer activities are ritualistic.
Trips to Starbucks; Sunday brunch; Tuesday Movies
When individuals consume products (e.g., chocolates) as part of
a ritual, they tend to enjoy them more than if there is no

context.
Many businesses supply ritual artifacts to consumers, i.e., items
one needs to perform rituals, such as wedding cake, birthday
candles, greeting cards, etc.
Consumers often follow a ritual script to identify the artifacts
they need, the sequence in which they should use them, and who
should use them.
Common Rituals –
Grooming – help us transition from our private self to our
public self
Gift-giving – symbolically change a commercial good to a
unique good
Holiday – Thanksgiving, Christmas
Rites of passage – Graduation, Wedding
Many of our ongoing traditions contain rituals.
Grooming: For instance, when you get ready for work or school
each day, you likely have things you always do as part of
getting ready.
Gift-giving: In giving gifts, you may have rituals. For instance,
you might always wrap the gift yourself or always add a
thoughtful personalized note with your gift.
Holidays: During the holidays, families typically have set
rituals for who will start the meal, and so on.
Rites of passages: Lastly, during rites of passage like weddings
and graduations, we typically have rituals we follow.
Rituals: in Commercials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervV-61btEs
When individuals consume products (e.g., chocolates) as part of

a ritual, they tend to enjoy them more than if there is no
context.
So, this is a good way to position your product
Example of how McDonalds positioned their burger as part of
the game time ritual
Ritual: Game time ritual
Artifact: your product/ burger
Script: Whatever the people were doing in the commercial
For your Group Project 4, you need to identify a consumer
ritual that your marketing opportunity can be an artifact for and
develop a ritual script for the commercial (Like the McDonald’s
example above)
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.
Sacred and Profane Consumption:
Sacred
Involves objects and events that are set apart from normal
activities that are treated with respect or awe (not related to
religious)
E.g., Graduation robe, Prom dress, Wedding cake, heirlooms
Profane
Involves consumer objects and events that are ordinary and
everyday
Not special
E.g., Every day work clothes, Lunch in the cafeteria

Many types of consumer activities involve the demarcation, or
binary opposition, of categories such as good versus bad, male
versus female – or even regular cola versus diet cola.
One of the most important distinction we find is betw een the
sacred and the profane.
E.g.: a wedding dress is sacred but a dress for work is profane.
Sacralization:
Sacralization occurs when ordinary objects, events and people
take on a sacred meaning.
E.g., events like Super Bowl; people such as Beyoncé
Domains of sacred consumption:
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
Objectification occurs when we attribute sacred qualities to
mundane items (e.g., shoes, sofa, ring etc.)
This process occurs via contamination whereby objects we
associate with sacred events or people become scared in their
own right.
Tourism is an example of a sacred experience. People occupy
sacred time and space when they are 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.
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)
Orange couch from ‘Friends’ on a world tour

Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC maintains a display
of ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz
The process of contamination is why many fans desire for items
that belonged to (or were even touched by) famous people.
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC maintains a
display that features such “sacred items” as the ruby slippers
from the Wizard of Oz, a phaser from Star Trek, etc. – all
reverently protected behind sturdy display glass.
In 2019, the famous orange couch from “Friends” went on a
world tour to celebrate 25th anniversary of the sitcom
https://people.com/tv/friends-central-perk-sofa-world-tour/
Desacralization:
Desacralization – removal of a sacred item or symbol from its
special place or duplicate it in mass quantities so that it loses
its “specialness” and becomes profane.
Reproduction of sacred monuments like Eiffel Tower
Reproduction of artworks like Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s
David
Printing of sacred symbols like country flags on T-shirts
Just as objects can shift from the profane to the sacred, they ca n
shift from the sacred to the profane.
Reproduction eliminate their special aspects.
They become inauthentic commodities with relatively little
value.
Objective 5:

New products, services, and ideas spread through a population
over time. Different types of people are more or less likely to
adopt them during this diffusion process.
The Diffusion of Innovations:
Innovation: any product or service that consumers perceive to
be new
New manufacturing technique (the ability to design your own
running shoe at nike.com)
New product variation (Uber; Blue Apron)
New way to deliver product (GrubHub, Postmates)
New way to package product (Campbell’s soup in
microwaveable bowl)
Diffusion of innovation: the process whereby a new product,
service, or idea spreads through a population
Successful innovations spread through the population at various
rates
Marketers may need to encourage adoption of new products
among their consumers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QnfWhtujPA
Types of Adopters:
Innovators are always on the lookout for novel products or
services and who are first to try something new
Early adopters are similar to innovators but they are different in
their degree of concern for social acceptance.
Laggards are very slow. Last group to adopt.
The early majority and late adopters are in the middle
Behavioral Demands of Innovations:
Innovations are categorized by the degree to which they demand
adopters to change their behavior.
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): widely used approach to
predicting whether people will adopt a new form of technology
or information system – The likelihood of change/ acceptance is
based on two factors:
the perceived usefulness of the new option
its perceived ease of use.
Three major types of innovations based on the amount of
disruption or change they bring to people’s lives.
Continuous innovation
Evolutionary rather than revolutionary
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
must make minor changes in her habits.
Dynamically continuous innovation
More pronounced change to existing product
Present new way to use an existing product
Consumers must alter our habits to use it.
Discontinuous innovation
Creates major changes in the way we live
Major inventions such as the airplane, the car, the computer,
and the television all changed modern lifestyles
A continuous innovation Most product innovations are of this
type.
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
Relative Advantage
Product should offer relative advantage over other alternatives
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.

Do Geeks Need to Go to College?
Bill Gates didn't graduate. And many Web workers today feel
they don't need a technology degree to succeed.
BY Lisa Schmeiser
Salon.com
APRIL 12, 1999
When Brad Scott of Clear Ink has to devise the information
architecture for a new Web site, he just asks himself where the
site's bathrooms will be.
Scott, a onetime interior design major turned information
architect, is speaking only metaphorically, of course. But he
says learning about "critical adjacencies of space" -- such as
putting restrooms near conference rooms so that meeting
attendees can quickly duck in and out -- carries over to Web
design, where the "critical adjacencies" are of information.
Scott's migration from architecture into the technology industry
isn't atypical: Talk to a group of tech workers, and you may find
that the majority of them drifted into the industry from a
completely different discipline.
The Web industry is creating jobs at a clip, and many of those
jobs are going to college graduates without academic computing
experience -- and people who skipped college altogether. No
one has taken a formal count of these two groups, but they
haven't gone unnoticed. And their success raises the question of
whether a computer science education, or even any higher
education, is a prerequisite to competing in the high-tech job
market.

The relevance of higher education to high-tech jobs is under
scrutiny, thanks to the rising number of success stories
featuring someone who majored in a right-brained specialty,
bypassed college or dropped out -- the most famous example
being Harvard dropout Bill Gates. In December, Forbes asked if
investing in a college education was a smart way to spend time
investing in a career. Among the numbers the article cited:
Close to 15 percent of the Forbes 400 either dropped out of
college or avoided it altogether, and those executives boast an
average net worth of$4.8 billion. A few weeks later, U.S. News
and World Report ran a related article: More boys are opting out
of college to pursue jobs in a booming economy.
There is ample incentive to trade higher education for high-
salaried, high-tech jobs. Forbes noted that a college degree
costing $120,000 might actually be worth more as a mutual fund
with a 5 percent interest rate; if a teenager's parents sink the
$30,000 they would have spent on the first year's tuition into a
mutual fund for their child, he'll have $500,000 by the time he
turns 50. Many college graduates, especially those who spend
their early postgraduate years paying off student loans, will
never see that much in the bank. The article also contends that
colleges are unable to keep up with the proliferation of
programming languages and technologies driving today's job
market, and thus do not outfit their students with the necessary
job skills. Is it any wonder would-be tech tyros rethink college?
The ubergeek news portal Slashdot posted a link to the Forbes
article and found itself hosting a 300-plus-message argument on
the merits of education in relation to high-tech jobs. The
respondents were evenly split: Some younger programmers
argued that their practical experience and high salaries offset
the disadvantages of lacking a degree, while others argued that
a formal
education leads to a higher caliber of technical work later in
life.

But does that formal education even have to be in engineering,
or will any old degree do? Scott is joined by Web producer
Satya Kuner and Jason Monberg, the CTO of Sparks, in
believing that their non-technical degrees have enhanced their
work in the tech industry.
Kuner contends that her background as a dance major improved
her job performance when she was charged with doing technical
support for Unix, C and Perl programming. As part of her job,
she had to walk users through solutions to thorny code errors,
then log the events in a database for other workers. She credits
the improvements she made to the company's database to the
communication skills she learned in college, saying, "Lots of
geeks I know can't provide clear instructions, because they can't
fathom that someone
couldn't know something."
Humanities-based skills can also improve the traditional code-
writing process. According to Kuner, artists bring a novel
perspective to code composition, allowing them to extend the
uses to which a programming language is put. Monberg, who
holds a degree in sociology, has noticed that coding and
engineering groups that include people trained outside the
discipline are more open to innovation. "It opens the door to a
more engaging cross-pollinating environment," he says.
"Individual contributors are not completely locked into thinking
only about their specific task."
Nor are individuals locked into one set of job skills: Scott,
Kuner and Monberg all acquired specific technical skills on a
compressed schedule in response to job demands, and they
believe that their college education helped flatten the learning
curve -- even if the connections between Unix and dancing,
interior design or sociology aren't readily apparent.

College provided a mental model for learning subsequent skills,
which complements the one constant in high tech: the need to
keep learning. Any high-tech worker, regardless of academic
background, must stay abreast of new skills to keep up in the
field.
Perhaps, as those Slashdot posters argued, the learning can take
place on site at a $60,000 programming job. But judging by the
posts complaining, "if only Bill Gates took an OS class,"
there are also unarguable merits to a technical university
education for engineers. Monberg himself admits that there are
times when a computer science education would have come in
handy: "When you get down to it, earning a CS degree provides
one with some very basic practical experience."
At the heart of the higher-education debate lies the question: Do
high-tech workers miss out on some crucial educational event if
they skip college? There's no denying that high-tech offers
something few other disciplines do -- the ability to enter and
move up in an industry based on applicable skills and
experience, instead of requiring a degree to even enter the
arena. But having a degree doesn't prevent high-tech workers
from picking up experience elsewhere. The
learning skills one uses to pick up programming languages and
systems operations are highly individual, and can be acquired
from disciplines as diverse as music or biology. They can also
be picked up through a combination of time spent on a computer
and a curiosity to learn more: Kuner, Monberg and Scott all
honed their technical chops through self-teaching.
What can't be picked up through hard programming experience
is the discipline-specific experience that any college graduate
possesses. To a biology major like me, object-oriented
programming didn't make much sense when it was explained in
terms of classes and constructors. But when I could map the
general ideas to familiar ground -- the immune system's

different types of cells and the chemical signals they send to
each other are similar to classes of code objects and the
embedded functional signals they each have -- I picked up the
programming concept, and expanded on it in ways my
computer-engineering co-workers hadn't pondered yet.
As more graduates combine their intellectual experience with
practical technical skills, observers may recast the higher-
education question. Instead of wondering whether college
is relevant, we may ask what kind of degrees will allow high-
tech workers and companies to stay fresh and keep innovating.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Discussion Questions
After thoroughly annotating the article, answer the following
questions. Type your answers
and hand them in with the annotated article.
· List and define three words new to your vocabulary.
· What is the Forbes 500?
· What are the humanities?
· Why is the value of higher education in question for those in
the computer technology world?
· How did Kuner’s work in dance help her in the technology
field?
· Based on the information in this article, how would you advise
the students at Washington, DC’s Dunbar High School who just
met Jeff Bezos? What should they keep in mind as they think
about jobs in technology?
· What skills from your field would help you excel in a STEM
major? If you are majoring
in a technological field, what skills/courses from the
humanities might benefit your performance?
11/12/2021

1
Chapter 14:
Culture
Learning Objective:
14.1 A culture is a society’s personality.
14.2 Myths are stories that express a culture’s values, and in
modern times
marketing messages convey these values to members of the
culture.
14.3 Many of our consumption activities – including holiday
observances, grooming,
and gift giving – relate to rituals.
14.4 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.
14.5 New products, services, and ideas spread through a
population over time.
Different types of people are more or less likely to adopt them
during this
diffusion process.
1
2
11/12/2021

2
Objective 1:
A culture is a society’s personality.
• We simply can’t understand consumption unless we
understand its cultural context.
• Culture is like a lens through which people view products.
Culture:
• Culture is a society’s personality. It is the accumulation of
shared meanings,
rituals, norms, and traditions among members of a society or
organization.
• Includes both abstract ideas (such as values and ethics) and
material objects
and services (like cars, clothing, food, and art)
• Our culture determines the overall priorities we attach to
different activities and
products.
• Consumers are more likely to want products that resonate with
a culture’s priorities
• The TV dinner for the United States
• Reflected change in the US family structure
• Cosmetics made of natural materials without animal testing
• Reflected consumers’ concern about pollution, waste and
animal rights

• The relationship between CB and culture is a 2-way street.
• Products that get accepted provide a window into the dominant
cultural ideals of the
period
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Cultural System: Functional Areas
• Refers to the way a system adapts to its habitat.
• The technology a culture uses to obtain and distribute
resources shapes its ecology
Ecology
• Refers to the way people maintain an orderly social life.
• This includes the domestic and political groups that
dominate the culture
Social
• Refers to the mental characteristics of people and the way they
relate to their environment and social groups
• This relates to the idea of a common worldview, i.e., sharing
common ideas about principles of order and fairness.

• Members of a culture also share a set of moral and aesthetic
principles, known as ethos.
Ideology
• Culture is not static.
• It continually evolves as old ideas are merged with new ones.
The Movement of Meaning:
Advertising and
fashion industry play
a key role in imbuing
functional products
with symbolic
qualities
Culture determines
our values and
meanings
Meanings reside in
everyday products
The products impart
their meanings to
us as we use these
to express our
identities
Consumers
associate the values
and meanings with
their identity
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• At any point in time, we might have just a small fraction
of the total set of possibilities.
• When we select certain alternatives over others our
choice is only the culmination of a complex filtration
process that resembles a funnel.
• Possibilities compete for adoption but then most drop
out as they make their way down the path from
conception to consumption.
• This winnowing process is called cultural selection.
• We don’t form our tastes and preferences in vacuum.
• Mass media; those around us
• Options constantly evolve around and change
• A clothing style or type of cuisine that is “hot” one
year may be “out” the next.
The “Rachel” Haircut
Fashion trend from Winter

2019 – Neon turtlenecks
Fashion trend from Winter
2021 – Head to toe denim
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A culture production system is the set of individuals and
organizations that create and market a cultural product.
It has three major subsystems:
• Creative: generates new symbols and products (e.g.,
singer/artist)
• Managerial: selects, makes, produces, and manages the
distribution of new symbols and products (e.g., a company
the distributes the album).
• Communications: gives meaning to the new product and
provide it with a symbolic set of attributes (e.g.,
advertising agencies that promote the artists music).
• The cultural gatekeepers filter the overflow of information
as it travels down the funnel (e.g., reviewers, and critics).

Objective 2:
Myths are stories that express a culture’s values, and in modern
times
marketing messages convey these values to members of the
culture.
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Myths:
• Myths are stories with symbolic elements that represent the
shared
emotions/ideals of a culture.
• They often focus on some kind of conflict between two
opposing forces and
their outcomes serves as a moral guide for listeners.
• A myth reduces anxiety because it provides consumers with
guidelines about
their world.
• Marketers tend to use these mythical symbolism and imageries
in their
messages – brand logos, commercials, etc.
Myths: Brand Logos and their mythological origins

The swoosh concept is derived from the
wing of the Greek goddess of victory.
Dove is the symbol of Aphrodite, the
Greek goddess of beauty and love.
https://www.designhill.com/design-blog/popular-logo-symbols-
and-their-shocking-mythological-stories/
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Myths: Functions in the culture
Functions
Cosmological
Sociological
Psychological
MetaphysicalHelp explain origins of existence
Emphasize that all components of the universe
are part of a single picture
Maintain social order by

authorizing a social code to be
followed by members of a
culture
Provide models for personal conduct
• Myths serves four interrelated functions in a culture.
Myths: Modern Popular Culture
• Myths are often found in comic books, movies, holidays, and
commercials
• People create their own consumer fairy tales where they tell
stories that
include magical agents, donors, and helpers to overcome
villains and
obstacles as they seek goods and services in their quest for
happy endings.
• Marketers help us live out these fairy tales.
• E.g., Popularity of elaborate Disney weddings.
• Monomyths: a myth that is common to many cultures
• Fictional figures embody properties fundamental to every
culture
• E.g., Superman
• Many movies/commercials present characters and plot
structures that follow
mythic patterns
• E.T. represents a familiar myth of messianic visitation.
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Objective 3:
• Many of our consumption activities- including holiday
observances,
grooming, and gift-giving- relate to rituals.
Rituals:
• Rituals are sets of multiple, symbolic behaviors that occur in a
fixed sequence and that
tend to be repeated periodically.
• Many contemporary consumer activities are ritualistic.
• Trips to Starbucks; Sunday brunch; Tuesday Movies
• When individuals consume products (e.g., chocolates) as part
of a ritual, they tend to
enjoy them more than if there is no context.
• Many businesses supply ritual artifacts to consumers, i.e.,
items one needs to perform
rituals, such as wedding cake, birthday candles, greeting cards,
etc.
• Consumers often follow a ritual script to identify the artifacts
they need, the sequence in
which they should use them, and who should use them.

• Common Rituals –
• Grooming – help us transition from our private self to our
public self
• Gift-giving – symbolically change a commercial good to a
unique good
• Holiday – Thanksgiving, Christmas
• Rites of passage – Graduation, Wedding
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Rituals: in Commercials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervV-61btEs
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.
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Sacred and Profane Consumption:
Sacred
• Involves objects and
events that are set
apart from normal
activities that are
treated with respect
or awe (not related to
religious)
• E.g., Graduation robe,
Prom dress, Wedding
cake, heirlooms
Profane
• Involves consumer
objects and events
that are ordinary and
everyday
• Not special
• E.g., Every day work
clothes, Lunch in the
cafeteria
Sacralization:
• Sacralization occurs when ordinary objects, events and people
take on a sacred meaning.

• E.g., events like Super Bowl; people such as Beyoncé
• Domains of sacred consumption:
• 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
• Objectification occurs when we attribute sacred qualities to
mundane items (e.g., shoes, sofa, ring etc.)
• This process occurs via contamination whereby objects we
associate with sacred events or people become scared in
their own right.
• Tourism is an example of a sacred experience.
• 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.
• 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)
Orange couch from ‘Friends’ on a
world tour
Smithsonian Institution in Washington
DC maintains a display of ruby slippers
from Wizard of Oz
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Desacralization:
• Desacralization – removal of a sacred item or symbol from its
special place or
duplicate it in mass quantities so that it loses its “specialness”
and becomes
profane.
• Reproduction of sacred monuments like Eiffel Tower
• Reproduction of artworks like Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s
David
• Printing of sacred symbols like country flags on T-shirts
Objective 5:
New products, services, and ideas spread through a population
over time.
Different types of people are more or less likely to adopt them
during this
diffusion process.
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Innovation: any product or service that consumers perceive to
be new
• New manufacturing technique (the ability to design your own
running
shoe at nike.com)
• New product variation (Uber; Blue Apron)
• New way to deliver product (GrubHub, Postmates)
• New way to package product (Campbell’s soup in
microwaveable bowl)
Diffusion of innovation: the process whereby a new product,
service, or idea
spreads through a population
• Successful innovations spread through the population at
various rates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QnfWhtujPA
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Types of Adopters:
Innovators are always on
the lookout for novel
products or services and
who are first to try
something new
Early adopters are similar to
innovators but they are
different in their degree of
concern for social acceptance.
Laggards are very slow
The early majority and late adopters are in the
middle
Behavioral Demands of Innovations:
• Innovations are categorized by the degree to which they
demand adopters to change their behavior.
• Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): widely used approach
to predicting whether people will adopt a new
form of technology or information system – The likelihood of
change/ acceptance is based on two factors:
1. the perceived usefulness of the new option
2. its perceived ease of use.
• Three major types of innovations based on the amount of
disruption or change they bring to people’s lives.

• Continuous innovation
‒ Evolutionary rather than revolutionary
‒ 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
must make minor changes in her habits.
• Dynamically continuous innovation
‒ More pronounced change to existing product
‒ Present new way to use an existing product
‒ Consumers must alter our habits to use it.
• Discontinuous innovation
‒ Creates major changes in the way we live
‒ Major inventions such as the airplane, the car, the computer,
and the television all changed modern lifestyles
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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
Relative Advantage
• Product should offer relative advantage over other alternatives
Look Through on your Own
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Chapter Objective:
14.7 Many people and organizations play a role in the fashion
system that creates
and communicates symbolic meanings to consumers.
14.8 Fashions follow cycles and reflect cultural dynamics.
14.9 Western (and particularly U.S.) culture has a huge impact
around the world,
although people in other countries don’t necessarily ascribe the
same

meanings to products as we do.
14.10 Products that succeed in one culture may fail in another if
marketers fail to
understand the differences among consumers in each place.
29

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