Consuming Is Our Culture

The title for my last post explains the development of my thinking throughout this course. The more articles we read and the more videos we watched, I came to terms with the fact that we were not learning about consumer culture. In fact, we were analyzing how consuming became our culture. Everything from our values, morals, perspective of ourselves and the world is determined by what marketers and advertisers decide is acceptable in society.

However, my relationship with consumer culture is a bit more complicated than it is for most Americans. I was not raised in a household where children were exposed to countless ads a day. I did not experience the pressure to be in style from school peers because we all wore the same exact uniform and shoes every day. I was not given fast foods for lunch at school or at home to replace home cooked meals. So my childhood literally was not part of consumer culture, it was just a culture where things did not matter. Now that I have experienced the contrary, I must say that that is a much better culture to be raised in and a culture I would like my future children to grow up in.

This is where I stand. I am a savvy consumer who has always understood the consequences that my actions in partaking in consumer culture bring to others around the world, especially in terms of labor abuse. However, I am savvy enough to also comprehend the alienation that comes with not looking like you do not want to be part of the norm. Even though today it seems that as a society we are more acceptable of people being different, advertisers have now created limitations of how different one should be. You see, marketers will always have an effect on me because not only do I want to be part of American culture, I love everything that has to do with the media. Sadly but true I decide how I want to be represented from what marketers produce - hair styling ideas, nail polish colors, makeup, fashion, and even body image. This may sound awful but I accept that consuming culture in America is a problem that is only going to get worse, so why not use it to my advantage?

I can choose how I want others to perceive me in different situations only from changing the way I style my hair. Seriously, I get more compliments when I have my hair straight then when I have it naturally curly. So what do I do? I wear my hair naturally curly majority of the time. You see, I said majority of the time not ALL the time because I understand how culture perceives women with naturally curly hair. This is what makes me in control about my own consumer habits. I understand every implication that comes with every decision that I make about my body image. I can control the way I represent myself to the world because I know everyone else in some way is conforming to some aspect of consumer culture as well.

I am happy that I can differentiate between using consumer culture to my advantage and just consuming as part to stay included within culture. But it upsets me that because most people have never experienced anything other than American culture, this differentiation would be a difficult one to make. American culture focuses too much on things as a form of personal value and status instead of experiences. Things does not provide an experience and that is the first lie that we need to understand in order to move in a different direction.

It was a pleasure being part of this class and I will truly miss it. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!

Final Blog Post: The Controlled Consumer

After taking this class on consumer culture, I have learned a lot about who we are as a society and how we are influenced everyday by the media and marketers. In regard to the state of our culture, I believe that we have let consumerism take advantage of who we are as human beings. Before marketing and advertising were so prominent, society had values that were more surrounded around family life and who we were as people. Now that advertisers have all access to our lives, it is hard for us to escape the world that relies so heavily on consumerism. We have lost touch of who we are when it comes to family and morals because marketers have taught us that who we are is never good enough.

Personally, I am someone who does not let consumerism get the best of me and define who I am. With the knowledge I have gained, it is not hard to disregard marketing and advertising techniques. I have gained insight as to who I am and what I value. This has taught me that I can live a happy, fulfilling life without buying the newest shoes or the most recent iPhone. I am aware when I am the target audience of an advertisement which allows me to analyze what the company is selling and how they are selling it. It feels good to know that when I want something, it is because it comes from a choice that I made and was not influenced by a magazine or commercial.

Although I have accepted that this is American culture, I am not happy about it. I wish that the companies would realize that although they bring business and money, they are taking away what is important in life. One prime example of this is one's identity. Because of such heavy influence, it is hard for one to make decisions that have had little influence or outside pressures. If the companies can be brave enough to admit the harm they bring or change what they do, then I think consumerism could see a change for the better. This change could bring less advertising, but enough that helps support business. This will allow society to form their own opinions in ways that will benefit their character and self worth.

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Final Post: To Be an Engaged Consumer

In my conversations with friends, we often talk about current sales in stores and/or online. When I in my room, I would often browse online catalogs as a procrastination technique. And a popular activity (in middle school) is to go waste time at the mall. I used to enjoy all three forms of consumerism.

Even before this class, I questioned the items that I bought. It began in middle school when I started working as a babysitter and dog walker. I finally learned about the time and strain that is behind the cash. Since then, I started questioning what I buy. Is the item (but more often food) really worth the time that I spent to earn the money?

Coming into this class, I thought I saw through the marketing façade. Yes, I learned about the obsession on skinny models. Yes, I see the targeting of kids such as my younger brother. Yet, despite all this surface knowledge, I did not feel a part of the market. This course acknowledges that even though we think we are smart enough to detour around the trap of consumerism, we are and will always be consumerists. Not only is that a part of our nature (we must consume food and water), but this is also a part of our culture. To be American is to be a Consumer.

This is not to say that Americans are terrible people. No. The employees of these markets and advertising companies are also humans. It’s not their fault. Rather, consumerism stems from our culture (as indicated in the course title). And culture is something we can change; the most potent form is through education. However, for this to happen, everyone must agree that they don’t want to live in this sort of culture.

For some people, this culture is the air they breathe (celebs...). Especially with international students and people from industrialized countries, consumerism is a definition of class or caste. I speculate that this disease of consumerism spread through globalization. However, this is someone else’s culture and country. Even in our own country, there are those who are born and raised to believe in the power of the brand name. I don’t think I should inflict my beliefs (of anti-consumerism) onto them. I don’t know. And after realizing the scale of this issue, I don’t feel like there is much I can do to influence others. I think I change how I act now and in the future.

That was quite a depressing end… On the other hand, there were some parts of this class that really stood out to me.

1.     Connection to Religion/Thailand. In my religion class, I learned about how the monks are handling the deforestation in Thailand (which is presume is for making goods to export abroad). They ordinate trees and have very discreet signs. To put this in perspective, nuns are not allowed to be ordained. (Women’s rights are a whole other issue.) Also, there must be at least 10 monks present for this ceremony to take place. And in Thailand, Buddhism is deeply ingrained in their culture and daily lives. The signs that they write seems ordinary (like save the trees!) but the language used allow the signs to have a second meaning: the trees are our life. Without these trees, the forests would be gone, and so would the lives of the Thai people living there. Quite the statement!

2.  My personal research on Lumosity put in to perspective on how items meant for health usage is marketed. This research reminded me of when I worked at a pharmaceutical company and how statistics were manipulated. The items that Lumosity and pharm companies sell are meant for medical or health-related usages. Sometimes that could mean life and death. To think that consumerism plays a role in these delicate situations made me curious about the ethical issues involved. I want to learn more about public health policy (in regards to marketing of drugs) and how that relates to ethics.  

3.  Finally, I stared to think about the people behind the items. The Story of Stuff video briefly mentioned this through the idea that buying a cheap clock may be taking a toll off of a worker. I thought about factory workers, mostly immigrants (also another story for another time), and how by buying the cheap products, I may be unintentionally supporting this cycle. However, I am a broke student. I can’t afford to support local produce and handmade gifts. And that is the worst part: I know that I am doing wrong, but I just can't afford to do right.

At this moment, the best I can do is to be an engaged consumer by supporting local businesses and spending money on experiences rather than items. 

Bonus: how to change the last sentence for a better parallel structure? 

Photo 1: http://www.bridalguide.com/sites/default/files/slideshow-images/engagement-ring_mrs-camera.jpg

Photo 2: http://www.mrwallpaper.com/wallpapers/City-Lights-China.jpg

Photo 3: http://cdn.lightgalleries.net/4bd5ec0733027/images/Tree_Ordination029-1.jpg

Shortage of Supply for L.L.Bean Boots

As I am wrapping up my Introduction to Macroeconomics course, I am glad to see that I have actually learned something , let alone be useful for the real world. I am sure every person in this blog either own a pair of the boots or have already seen more than half of the campus wearing them. They are great for the cold, wet, and snowy weather that we have and will continue to experience. They are ideal for the New England weather.

Well, apparently the company has experienced a shortage of supply of the boots after Black Friday. The demand for the boots are so high that people who have ordered them online may have to wait till February to receive their package. This was a really surprising fact for me. Why do people feel that they specifically need L.L.Bean boots for the winter? I mean I have lived in Boston for ten years and I had never heard or seen anyone wear the brand before I came to Smith. While on campus it seems like the brand is part of Smith's culture.

Christmas Advertisement

It is coming soon. Christmas the celebration of love, peace and joy. Or at least that´s what it is supposed to be. This holiday has become the most consumeristic moment of the year; the marketing for this event even starts earlier every year. Everybody prepares gifts for the loved ones and most of the times those gifts are bought in stores. one could for sure say that stores are the busiest during this time of the year. 

Why am I talking about that? Well when I started thinking about what to write about this week I decided to check out christmas commercials. And I found a lot of them! From funny to classic to romantic. The ones which are triggering my mother instincts are probably the most successful. I chose to share one campaign with you, which seems to be the highlight of Great Britain's christmas advertisement. 

John Lewis, a department store with many branches around Great Britain, produces a very compelling and emotional advertisement for the season of giving and caring. They all are made in a very similar way. The background music is enhancing the emotions triggered by the beautiful pictures. Most of the times children are involved and some kind of gift giving. The commercials are very long (around 2 min) and they all do not have any speaking. Only in the end of the commercial the viewer sees the message they want to communicate with there possible costumers. This year it is "Give someone the christmas they´ve been dreaming of". 

In my opinion these commercials are very well made and they work just fine, at least with the female population watching. The company deliberately sells emotions to gain a positive connection of their brand in the consumers mind. I read a couple of the youtube comments below the video and they all seem to be waiting for the commercial every year. This video is not only a advertisement campaign anymore, but it is also a tradition. And isn´t that the biggest success a commercial for a company can have? 

Just Fab - Just Hilarious

My friend has just sent me an advertisement video to cheer me up during Final Exams. Accidentally, this video comes from JustFab - a shoe fashion company I once wrote about. To be honest, JustFab never fails to make me laugh, even so hard that I can fall from the chair.

This advertisement is very silly. First of all, the spokeswoman gave me an impression of fake and cockiness. With an excuse of apology to mail carrier, she purposely shows off her/the company's pride in women's madness when receiving JustFab's packages. While this strategy aims to highlight JustFab's popularity, it actually turns out to annoy me a lot. A woman myself, I have to admit that the women in this advertisement are like animals to me. They are completely insane. No matter how excited and longing you are, I bet that as a human, you will definitely not jump and hit others like that. Those actions reminds me of those of predators when they catch their victims... Even when the advertisement aims to be funny, is not it too much to make fun of its own consumers? Do you want to buy anything from a brand that considers you as animals? NO! Any one, especially women, will feel offended by this advertisement, even if they laugh the first time they see it.

JustFab, I believe you want to sell your products to human beings, not animals. Since you treat your customers as animals, I think I will not ever be your customers. I want to remain my status as a human.

From E-Commerce to M-Commerce

We have talked a lot about how social media affects customer behaviors. Given the fact that people spend so much time browsing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram everyday, the marketers have made great effort to promote their products online. Whatever we have previously searched through search engines or viewed on online shopping website will definitely pop up again on any other webpage. Moreover, since it is shown that people spend a growing amount of time shopping with mobile devices in these years, mobile based advertising platforms/apps such as Atlas have been launched to keep up with this shopping trend.

Here is the latest feedback. During the thanksgiving, according to a data analysis released by IBM, mobile devices accounted for 32.3 percent of sales and 52.1 percent of traffic, which is a 22 percent of jump from last year. So people not only browse more on smartphones but also do shop more on mobile platforms. Moreover, the price of an average order recommended by Facebook reached $109.94, almost 10% higher than Pinterest's.

It’s obvious that M-commerce marketing strategies are dominating the retail sector.  I wonder how the further consumer trend will go