17-1
Chapter 17
The Creation and Diffusion
of Consumer Culture
Culture Production Process
17-2
Cultural Production Systems
17-3
• The set of individuals and organizations
responsible for creating and marketing a
cultural product is a Cultural Production
System (CPS). It consists of:
– 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
communicating these symbolic attributes to the
consumer.
High Culture and Popular
Culture
17-4
• Culture Production Systems create many
diverse kinds of products, such as Arts and
Crafts:
– An Art Product is viewed primarily as an object of
aesthetic contemplation without any functional
value.
– A Craft Product is admired because of the beauty
with which it performs some function.
• Mass culture churns out products specifically
for a mass market and many follow a Cultural
Formula where certain roles and props occur
consistently such as in detective or romance
novels.
Reality Engineering
17-5
Reality Engineering Occurs as Elements of
Popular Culture are Appropriated by Marketers
and Converted to Vehicles for Promotional
Strategies.
Reality Engineering is Accelerating due
to the Popularity of Product Placement.
Product Placement is the Insertion of
Specific Products/ Brand Names in Movies & TV.
Media Images Appear to Significantly
Influence Consumers’ Perceptions of Reality.
17-6
Diffusion of Innovations
Early Majority
Innovator
s
Percentage of Adopters
Diffusion of Innovations Refers to the Process
Whereby a New Product, Service, or Idea Spreads
Through a Population.
Early
Adopters
34%
Late Majority
34%
16%
13.5%
2.5%
Early
Laggards
Time of Adoption
Late
Adopter Categories
• Innovators - 2.5% of the population, the first
to buy, will buy novel products.
• Early Adopters - 13.5 % of the population,
share many characteristics with the
Innovators, but they have a higher degree or
concern for social acceptance.
• Early and Late Majority - 68% of the
population, mainstream public, interested in
new things, but not too new.
• Laggards - 16% of the population, the last to
adopt a product.
17-7
Types of Innovations
Symbolic
Innovation
Technological
Innovation
Communicates a New
Social Meaning
Involves Some
Functional Change
17-8
Degree to Which an Innovation
Demands Changes in Behavior
Behavioral Demands of
Innovations
17-9
Discontinuous Innovation
Creates Major Changes in the Way
We Live
Dynamically Continuous Innovation
More Pronounced Change in the
Existing Product
Continuous Innovation
Modification of an Existing Product
Prerequisites for Successful
Adoption
Relative Advantage
Compatibility
Must Fit Consumer’s
Lifestyle
Must Give Advantages
Other Products Don’t
Have
Observability
Ones That are
Observable
Spread Faster
Product
Characteristics
for Successful
Adoption
Complexity
Lower
The Better
Trialability
Reduce Risk by
Letting
Consumer Try it
17-10
17-11
The Fashion System
Fashion is the Process of Social Diffusion by
Which a New Style is Adopted by Some
Group(s) of Consumers.
Cultural
Categories
Collective
Selection
Affect Many
Different Products
and Styles
Process by Which
Certain Symbolic
Alternatives are
Chosen Over Others
Costumes Worn by
Celebrities Can
Affect Fashion
Group Products by
Categories
Behavioral Science Perspective
on Fashion
Psychological
Economic
Models of
Fashion
Sociological
Medical
17-12
17-13
Behavioral Science Perspective
on Fashion
• Psychological Models of Fashion
– Erogenous Zones
17-14
Fashions Have
Accentuated
Different Parts
of the Female
Anatomy
Throughout
History
17-15
Are We at the Mercy of
Fashion Designers?
• Do you believe there is a “designer
conspiracy” because they are the ones
who determine what is “in” and what is
“out” in fashion?
17-16
Economic Model of Fashion
• Parody Display
• Prestige-Exclusivity Effect
• Snob Effect
17-17
Sociological Models of Fashion
•
•
•
•
Trickle-Down Theory
Mass Fashion
Trickle-Across Theory
Trickle-Up
17-18
Medical Model of Fashion
• Meme Theory
• Tipping Point
17-19
Fashion Life-Cycle
Acceleration
General Acceptance
Decline
Rise
Obsolescence
Innovation
Introduction
stages
Acceptance
stages
A Normal Fashion Cycle
Regression
stages
Cycles of Fashion Adoption
• Introduction Stages
– Product is used by a small number of Innovators.
• Acceptance Stages
– Product enjoys increased social visibility and
acceptance by large segments of the population.
– A Classic is a fashion with an extremely long
acceptance cycle.
– A Fad is a short-lived fashion.
• Regression Stages
– Product reaches a state of social saturation as it
becomes overused, and sinks into decline and
obsolesce as new products rise to take its place.
17-20
17-21
Fads, Fashions and Classics
Fad or Trend?
17-22
Questions to Ask to Determine if a Trend, Which
Lasts for Some Time, is Occurring Include:
Does it Fit With Basic Lifestyle Changes?
What are the Benefits?
Can it be Personalized?
Is it a Trend or a Side Effect?
What Other Changes Have Occurred in the Market?
Who Has Adopted the Change?
Think Globally, Act Locally
Two Views Exist Regarding the Necessity
of Developing Separate Marketing Plans
for Each Culture.
Etic Perspective
Emic Perspective
Adopting a
Standardized Strategy
Which Focuses on
Commonalties Across
Cultures.
Adopting a
Localized Strategy
Which Focuses on
Variations Within a
Culture.
17-23
Determining Whether to Utilize
the Etic or Emic Perspective
17-24
• Cultural differences relevant to marketers.
– Tastes and styles,
– Advertising preferences and regulations,
– Cultural norms toward taboos and sexuality.
• To maximize the chances of success for
multicultural advertising campaigns, marketers
should target those who share a common
worldview, who may include:
– Affluent people who are “global citizens”, and
– Young people who are influenced by the media.
The Diffusion of Western
Consumer Culture
Creolization Occurs When Foreign Influences
are Absorbed and Integrated With Local Meanings
The West is a Net Exporter of Popular Culture
The U.S. Invades Asia
Emerging Consumer Cultures in Transitional Economies
Signs That the Western Culture Invasion is Slowing
17-25