Culture is the ‘prism’ through which people view products and try to make sense of their own and other people’s consumer behaviour.

1. CULTURE AND
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Dr. Iglika Kassabova

2. Meet Sean
Sean is an Irish student in Marketing
He is living in Germany
Guess what is his favorite drink!
a) Tea b) Raki c) Guinness Beer

3. Meet Sean
Sean’s attachment to Guinness has a very
different meaning in his world than it would have
in trendy circles in big European cities, where
Guinness may be associated with fashion.
For Sean drinking Guinness is a cultural
belonging.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2
CpKfQiaOE

4. Consider culture
Consumption choices cannot be understood
without considering the cultural context in
which they are made.
Culture is the ‘prism’ through which people
view products and try to make sense of their
own and other people’s consumer behaviour.

5. Consider culture
In our case, an Irish beer was to a large extent
divorced from its original connection with the
Irish traditional working class and is now used
as a trendy.

6. Consider culture
Cultures often modify symbols identified with
other cultures and present these to a new
audience.
These cultural products undergo a process of
co-optation, where their original meanings
are transformed and often trivialized by
outsiders.

7. More examples?
 Sushi
 Pizza
 …

8. Define culture
Culture is a crucial concept to the
understanding of consumer behaviour and
may be thought of as the collective memory of
a society.

9. Define culture
Culture could be defined as the sum total of
learned beliefs, values, and customs that
serve to direct the consumer behavior of
members of a particular society (Shiffman and
Kanuk, Consumer Behavior)

10. Define culture
A society’s culture includes its values, ethics
and the material objects produced by its
people. It is the accumulation of shared
meanings and traditions among members of a
society. (Solomon et al. Consumer Behaviour)

11. Abstract and material objects of
culture
Culture includes both abstract ideas, such as
values and ethics, and the material objects
and services, such as cars, clothing, food, art
and sports, that are produced or valued by a
group of people.

12. More about culture
Culture is basically this interpretation system
which we use to understand all those daily or
extraordinary signifying practices around us.
 Example: Pressing the start button of a remote
control
 Example: Flying to an exotic honeymoon in
Thailand

13. More about culture
 The effect of encountering such differences can
be so great that the term ‘culture shock’ is not
an exaggeration – tattoos, religious symbols,
eating cockroaches, etc.
 Sensitivity to cultural issues – especially
when the cultural expectations are violated –
Spice Girls performing a war dance in New
Zealand.

14. Consumer behavior and culture
 Some products reflect underlying cultural
processes at the time they were introduced:
 Convenience foods and
ready-to-eat meals, hinting at
changes in family structure and
the decline of the full-time housewife.

15. Consumer behavior and culture
 Cosmetics like those of
The Body Shop, made of
natural materials and not tested
on animals, which reflected consumers’
apprehensions about pollution,
waste and animal rights.

16. Consumer behavior and culture
 Unisex fragrances, indicating
new views on sex roles
and a blurring of gender
boundaries as exemplified by
Calvin Klein.

17. Aspects of culture
Culture is not static. It is continually evolving,
synthesizing old ideas with new ones. A cultural
system consists of three functional areas:6
1. Ecology – the way in which a system is
adapted to its habitat. This area is shaped by the
technology used to obtain and distribute
resources (for example, industrialized societies
vs. less affluent countries).

18. Aspects of culture
2. Social structure – the way in which
orderly social life is maintained. This area
includes the domestic and political groups
that are dominant within the culture (the
nuclear family vs. the extended family).

19. Aspects of culture
2. Social structure – the way in which
orderly social life is maintained. This area
includes the domestic and political groups
that are dominant within the culture (the
nuclear family vs. the extended family).

20. Aspects of culture
3. Ideology – the mental characteristics of a
people and the way in which they relate to their
environment and social groups. This area
revolves around the belief that members of a
society possess a common worldview. They
share certain ideas about principles of
order and fairness. They also share an ethos = a
set of moral and aesthetic principles.

21. Individualism vs. Collectivism
In collectivist cultures, people subordinate their
personal goals to those of a stable in-group.
By contrast, consumers in individualist cultures
attach more importance to personal goals, and
people are more likely to change memberships
when the demands of the group (e.g. workplace,
church, etc.) become too costly.

22. Discussion topic
 Do you think the Bulgarian culture puts
greater emphasis on individuality or the
common good? Please, provide some
examples!

23. Define ethnoconsumerism
 Ethnoconsumerism refers to
understanding and analysing every
consumer culture on the basis of its own
premises.

24. Example of ethnoconsumerism
The role of the Italian scooter in
the Italian and British market
contexts:
 In Italy the scooter was mainly
positioned as a symbol of the new,
modern and liberated Italian woman,
epitomized in the Italian superstar
actresses of the
1950s

25. Example of ethnoconsumerism
The role of the Italian scooter in the Italian and British
market contexts:
 The scooter in Britain is an attribute of the
representatives of the more ‘masculine’ heavy
industry and the blue-collar jobs expressed in
subcultural terms among the ‘rockers’ and their
motorcycles;
 And the more white-collar youth subculture of the
‘mods’, heavily engaged in conspicuous
consumption activities;

26. Values
Values are very general ideas about good and
bad goals. From these flow norms, or rules
dictating what is right or wrong, acceptable or
unacceptable. Norms can be as follows:
 Enacted norms – explicitly decided upon
such as the rule that a green traffic light.

27. Values
 Crescive norms – embedded in culture and
are only discovered through interaction with
other members of that culture. These include:
(i) A custom is a norm handed down from the
past that controls basic behaviors: such as
division of labor in a household or the practice of
particular ceremonies.

28. Values
(ii) A more is a custom with a strong moral
overtone.
Mores often involve a taboo, or forbidden
behaviour, such as incest or cannibalism.

29. Values
(iii) Conventions are norms regarding the
conduct of everyday life.

30. Values
We often take these conventions for granted,
assuming that they are the ‘right’ things to do
(again, until we are exposed to a different
culture!).

31. Values
Much of what we know about these norms is
learned vicariously, as we observe the
behaviors of actors and actresses in films and
TV series, but also television commercials,
print ads and other popular culture media.

32. Values
In the long run, marketers have a great deal to
do with influencing consumers’ enculturation
- the process whereby we learn our own
society’s values.

33. Myths and rituals
Every culture develops stories and practices
that help its members to make sense of the
world.
Our own cultural practices appear quite
normal – even though a visitor may find them
equally bizarre!

34. It works like magic
Every culture develops stories and practices
that help its members to make sense of the
world.
Our own cultural practices appear quite
normal – even though a visitor may find them
equally bizarre!

35. It works like magic
Magic may be seen as a so-called ‘primitive’ belief
system which some may consider irrational or
superstitious, but which continues to influence our
supposedly ‘modern’, rational society.
Marketers of health foods, anti-ageing cosmetics,
exercise programmes and gambling casinos often
imply that their offerings have ‘magical’ properties that
will ward off sickness, old age, poverty or just plain bad
luck.

36. It works like magic
An interest in the occult tends to be popular,
especially when members of a society feel
overwhelmed or powerless – magical remedies
simplify our lives by giving us ‘easy’ answers.
Ex.

37. Myths
Every society possesses a set of myths that define that
culture. A myth is a story containing symbolic
elements that expresses the shared emotions and
ideals of a culture.
(1) It often features a conflict.
(2) It often sets good against evil.
(3) It reduces anxiety because it provides
consumers with guidelines about their world.
(4) Strategies can be patterned after these
myths.

38. Myths
Myths serve four interrelated functions in culture:
(1) Metaphysical – they help explain the origins of
existence.
(2) Cosmological – all components are part of a
single picture.
(3) Sociological – establish a social code to maintain
order.
(4) Psychological – establish models for personal
conduct.

39. Myths
For example, many myths contain animals that
have human abilities (e.g. a talking snake) to
bridge the gap between humanity and nature,
just as cars (technology) are often given animal
names (nature) like Jaguar or Mustang.

40. Myths
Many myths involve binary opposition, where two opposing
ends of some dimension are represented. Characters or
products are often characterized as to what they ‘are not’
rather than what they ‘are’.
Ex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibgvkXm9Qkc
(1) Myths are often the fundamental element in folk tales
where they represent eternal conflicts between good and evil,
innocence and guilt, male and female, civility and bestiality.

41. Myths
(2) Conflict is often resolved by a mediating
figure (animals are often given human
characteristics).
(3) A myth common to many cultures is a
monomyth (where a hero emerges from the
everyday world and often has super powers,
e.g. comic book heroes).
Ex. Hercules, Superman, Einstein, Easy Rider,
Jaws

42. Discussion topic
Bring in an advertisement that you believe uses
a myth to sell its products or services.
Ex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eESumSC
Uo7w

43. Commercials as myths
For example, commercials for various food
products ask consumers to ‘remember’ the
mythical good old days when products were
wholesome and natural.

44. Rituals
A ritual is a set of multiple, symbolic behaviors
that occur in a fixed sequence and that tend to
be repeated periodically. Some rituals affirm
broad cultural or religious values, like the
differences in the ritual of tea-drinking in Great
Britain and France.

45. Rituals

46. Rituals
Turning consumption into a ritual event may be
highly profitable.
Many businesses owe their livelihoods to their
ability to supply ritual artefacts, or items used
in the performance of rituals, to consumers.

47. Rituals
Examples?
 Birthday candles, diplomas, specialized foods and
beverages (e.g. wedding cakes, ceremonial wine, or
even sausages at the stadium), trophies and
plaques, band costumes, greetings cards and
retirement watches;
 Daily life is full of ritualized behaviour - wearing a
tie, Muslim scarf.

48. Grooming rituals
(a) When consumers talk about their grooming
rituals, some of the dominant themes that emerge
from these stories reflect almost the mystical
qualities attributed to grooming products and
behaviors.
(b) Many people emphasize a before-and-after
phenomenon, where the person feels magically
transformed after using certain products (similar to
the Cinderella myth).

49. Gift-giving rituals
(a) Westerners see this ritual as a form of
economic exchange.
(b) Gift-giving can be symbolic.
(c) Gift-giving can affect a
relationship in multiple ways.

50. Gift-giving rituals
(d) Every culture prescribes certain occasions and
ceremonies for giving gifts.
(e) Since the rise of the internet and its digitalized
world has made it much easier and present in our
lives is the idea of sharing – of giving away (in a
digital form) what one already possesses, but
without losing it oneself.

51. Gift-giving rituals
The gift-giving ritual can be broken down into three distinct
stages:
(1) Gestation – the giver is motivated by an event to buy a
gift.
(a) Structural – prescribed by culture (e.g. Christmas
present).
(b) Emergent – decision is more personal (e.g.
husband brings a love gift for his wife).
(2) Presentation – recipient responds to gift and the donor
evaluates the response.
(3) Reformulation – bonds between parties are adjusted
(looser or tighter).

52. Holiday rituals
Holidays are important rituals in both senses of the word
- going on holiday was one of the most widespread
rituals and tourism one of the biggest industries of the
late 20th century.
On holidays consumers step back from their everyday
lives and perform ritualistic behaviors unique to those
times.
 For example, going to Disneyland in Paris may mean
a ritualized return to the memories of our own dreams
of a totally free (of obligations, duties and
responsibilities) fantasy land of play.

53. Rites of passage
Every society, both primitive and modern, sets
aside times where such changes occur. Some of
these changes may occur as a natural part of
consumers’ life cycles (puberty or death), while
others are more individual in nature (divorce and
re-entering the dating market).

54. Rites of passage
Marketers attempt to reach consumers during
these passage times.
Stages include:
- Separation – detaching from the original group
- Liminality – person is literally in between
statuses
- Aggregation – person re-enters society after
rite of passage

55. Final rite of passage
The final rite of passage is death. This ritual is
tightly scripted in most societies.
(1) Funeral practices vary across cultures, but
they’re always rich in symbolism.
(2) One of the main purposes of death rituals is
to negotiate the social identities of deceased
persons.

56. Sacred and profane consumption
 Sacred consumption involves objects and
events that are ‘set apart’ from normal
activities, and are treated with some degree of
respect or awe.
 Profane consumption involves consumer
objects and events that are ordinary, everyday
objects and events that do not share the
‘specialness’ of sacred ones.

57. Domains of sacred consumption
Sacred places are set apart by a society
because they have religious or mystical
significance or because they commemorate
some aspect of a country’s heritage.
(Bethlehem, Mecca, Stonehenge)
Other places are created from the profane world
and given special sacred qualities. (Disneyland)

58. Domains of sacred consumption
In many cultures, home is particularly a sacred
place. This is the consumer’s ‘inner space’.
People themselves can also be sacred.
(Princess Diana, John Lennon)

59. Domains of sacred consumption
Many consumer activities (events) have also taken on a special status
(Olympics, the World Cup, Woodstock and sometimes even a family
vacation)
Fine arts, classical music and tourism are also examples of sacred
experience.
Personal mementos from sacred events can include the following:
(a) Local products.
(b) Pictorial images.
(c) ‘A piece of the event’ such as a rock or seashells, etc.

60. From sacred to profane, and back
again
Sacred things become profane and profane
things become sacred.
(1) Desacralization occurs when a sacred item
or symbol is removed from its special place or is
duplicated in mass quantities, becoming profane
as a result. Religion to some extent has become
desacralized.

61. From sacred to profane, and back
again
(2) Sacralization occurs when ordinary objects,
events or even people, take on sacred meaning to a
culture or to specific groups within a culture.
(a) The process of sacralization can be used
to understand more mundane phenomena than
such super-events or popular culture heroes.
(b) Objectification occurs when sacred
qualities are attributed to mundane items.

62. From sacred to profane, and back
again
(c) This process can occur through
contamination.
(d) Objects can be set apart in collections.
Collecting refers to the systematic acquisition of
a particular object or set of objects, and this
widespread activity can be distinguished from
hoarding, which is merely unsystematic
collecting.

63. THANK YOU!