At the end of this chapter you should
understand:
 What is culture?
 What are cultural dimensions?
 Myths and assumptions
 Rituals (gift-giving, holiday)
 Rites of passage
 Sacred and profane Consumption (sacred
places, sacred people, sacred events)


Culture is the accumulation of shared
meaning, rituals, norms and traditions among
the members of an organization/society
Culture is a society’s personality
Our culture determine the
overall priorities we attach
to different activities and
products
 Products can reflect
underlying cultural
processes of a particular
period:
Examples:
 Gablinger’s low-cal beer
introduced in the 1960’s
failed
 Cosmetics made from
natural material without
animal testing-pollution,
waste and animal rights

Ecology
Social structure
Ideology

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Ecology: the way a system adapt to its habitat,
resources shape its ecology. Example: Japanese
greatly value products that make efficient use of
space because of the cramped conditions in their
urban centers
Social Structure: the way people maintain an
orderly social life-product purchase also depend
on ur social structure. Example: representative
govt. (democracy) vs. dictatorship
Ideology: the way people relate to their
environment and social groups Examples: Water
Kingdom in Bombay (Theme park), consumers are
unaware with mixed-sex swimming in public- the
swim suits cover the women from wrists to ankles
Power
Distance
Way members perceive differences in
power when they form interpersonal
relationships
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Degree to which people feel threatened by
ambiguous/ unknown situations
Masculine
versus
Feminine
Degree to which social and gender roles
are clearly delineated
Individualism
versus
Collectivism
Extent to which culture values the welfare
of the individual versus that of the group


Enacted norms are specifically chosen
Crescive norms are discovered as we interact
with others
◦ Customs: norms handed down from the
past that control basic behavior
◦ Mores: custom with a strong moral overtone
◦ Conventions: norms regarding the conduct
of everyday life

Every culture develops
stories and ceremonies
that help members make
sense of the world
◦ Lucky rabbit’s foot
◦ Lucky numbers (e.g.,
number 8 in China)
◦ Magic remedies
(computers)-simplify our
“lives” by providing easy
answers
◦ Evil eye, stone rings
(amulets to ward off badluck)
◦ Lottery
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Myths are stories with symbolic elements that
represent the shared emotions/ideals of a
culture
Myths are culturecentric so they take on
different forms around the world
Story characteristics
◦ Conflict between opposing forces
◦ Outcome is moral guide for people
◦ Myth reduces anxiety by providing guidelines to the
consumers



Myths are often found in comic books,
movies, holidays, and commercials
Monomyths: a myth that is common to many
cultures (e.g., Spiderman and Superman)
Many movies/commercials present characters
and plot structures that follow mythic
patterns
◦ Gone With the Wind
◦ E.T.: The Extraterrestrial
◦ X-Men
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Eggs are bad for your heart
Carbohydrates make you fat
Calories eaten at night are more fattening
than those eaten early in the day
Radiation in microwaves create dangerous
compounds in your food
Microwaving zaps nutrients
You crave certain foods because you’re
deficient in one of the nutrients they provide
Its important to fast periodically, to cleanse
toxins from your body
What are Rituals?
 Multiple, symbolic behaviors/ series of acts
performed in a same way.
 We perform Rituals according to our cultural and
religious values for example; wedding
ceremonies.
This refers to all
those specialty
products that are
used and
consumed in
various religious
and social rituals
Ritual artifacts
Ritual scripts


Ritual script
guides the use
of various
artifactual
materials.
Muslim
wedding
rituals.
 Consumers
buy products according to their
rituals for example particular wedding
consumptions.
 Businesses supply ritual artifacts (Items
needed to perform rituals) to consumers for
example wedding rice, birthday candles
etc.
Grooming Rituals
 All consumers have private grooming
rituals.
They aid in transition from private to
public self.
A women believes in going
to parlor before going to a
social gathering, if she won’t
visit a parlor she wouldn’t be
able to move confidently in
the gathering.
Men shaving before going out is
another example of grooming
rituals
Private/public and work/leisure personal rituals
 Beauty rituals reflect transformation from natural state
to social world or vice versa

Consumers try to procure a perfect object to gift someone and
before giving it they remove the price tag and carefully wrap
it.
 Gift-giving is form of;
 Economic exchange
 Symbolic Exchange
 Social Expression

Gestation: Giver is motivated by an event to procure a gift.
 Structural event: prescribed by culture (e.g; Basant)
 Emergent event: more personal.
 Presentation: process of gift exchange when recipient
responds to a gift and donor evaluates the response.
 Reformulation: Giver and receiver adjust the bond between
them

Holidays are based on a myth with a character at center of
story
 Marketers find ways to encourage gift giving and provide
artifacts to perform those rituals
 Businesses invent new occasions to raise on need for
cards/ritual artifacts
 Mother’s day, Grandparents’ Day etc
 Retailers elevate minor holidays to major ones to provide
merchandising opportunities

Definition: A rite of passage is a ceremony and marks
the transition from one phase of life to another.
&
 A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's
transition from one status to another.
 It can be
 Natural (Death, Puberty)
 Individuals (Getting divorced)

•Separation
•Liminality
•Aggregation
Sacred:
It involves objects and events that are
set apart from normal activities that are treated
with respect.
 Profane:
It describes the objects and events
that are ordinary.

 Sacred
places:
 Sacred
people:
 Sacred
events:

Local products

Pictorial images

‘Piece of the rock

Literal representations

Markers

Definition: Sacralization occurs when ordinary
objects, events, and even people take on
sacred meaning

Desacralization: when a sacred item/symbol
is removed from its special place or is
duplicated in mass quantities (becomes
profane).