The Geneva Automobile Exposition - Essay Example

The Geneva Automobile Exposition BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE The Geneva Automobile Exposition There is very little at the Geneva Automobile Exposition representative of family and female demographics. Using observation as a research tool, it was abundantly clear that this auto show was attempting to cater to the male consumer demographic and the male professional demographic. The majority of visitors to this exposition were male businesspersons, adorned in suits that were scrutinizing automobiles as though they were attempting to benchmark automobile construction. This was a male-dominated exhibition in which the majority of promotional literature, service engagements, and on-speaker announcements were targeted at men. There are distinct differences between demographics in how they were looking at the different available automobiles. The male professional audience wearing suits and ties were gathered in very collectivist groups, making rather hushed commentaries about the features they were scrutinizing as though they were performing some type of unethical behavior or attempting to make their discussions classified. What I found rather interesting and very much aligned with sociological theory of culture is that many of these professionals were middle-aged, Asian men. Collectivist societies strongly value group membership and tend to make decisions that will benefit the needs of the majority. Collectivists also are usually concerned about saving face, which is about preserving group reputation. I observed many occasions where the showroom models and other service staff attempted to interact with these close-knit professional groups, only to be scorned for their efforts. It was clear that many of these male professionals were strict and exclusive in-groups that did not value attempts by others to engage them socially. There were instances in which families were looking at automobiles, though their presence was minimal among the vast amount of professional groups. The method by which they examined cars differed, involving more publicized opinion about features and cost, while they remained more interactive by taking a seat in the driver’s cab. What was interesting is that females in the family structure were much more engaged with the exhibition models (which were nearly all female). Mothers and wives did not seem to be intimidated by model beauty, instead they seemed to develop emotionally-charged relationships with one another. At the same time, men did not seem to be very interested in engaging with the female models. Instead, they were so fully engaged with the design and functionality of cars and strongly concerned about pricing issues and affordability. The presence of middle class male buyers was also dominant. Many of those representative of this particular class found more value in sensation when interacting with the automobiles. They seemed to be concerned with touch, finding emotional connections by stroking design characteristics. Non-verbal cues that illustrated strong emotional responses included fidgeting like joyous youths that are about to receive their favorite toy. There were many instances where middle class male consumers were partnered with another male in the same class, both sharing these same emotional connections and responses and then publicizing these feelings through verbal interchanges. Environmentally, there was a great deal of male-oriented propaganda and visual effects when the show attempted to highlight various prototypes and new design structures for the automobiles on display. Scantily-clad women, such as those in short skirts or bikinis, often accompanied these performances. These women were often observed sitting or riding on the hoods of new design concepts, accompanied by revving engine noises played over the speaker system for audible special effects. During these special performances, women and men were fully engaged with the content, however it was the females that seemed to find it necessary to comment to their male partners about what they were observing. This is not necessarily surprising, as many models of sociology believe that women’s self-esteem is related to their own perception of personal vanity and how women compare themselves to other attractive women. While the men were clearly more interested in the aesthetic features of design, women almost seemed to feel threatened by the beautiful and thin models that were being used during performances which were exhibited through excessive commentaries about the performances. In some cases, the men seemed irritated by having their attention deterred from the presentations to satisfy their female partner emotional needs and alleged problems with personal esteem and security. Was this a sign that some individual might have underlying relationship issues that were manifesting through observable impatience and annoyance? Oftentimes, non-verbal cues point toward these rather private relationship dimensions and there was, at least, enough evidence that for some partnered male/female duos there were troubles associated with relationship security. There were many video systems in a variety of places during the exhibition that showed primarily male auto owners enjoying their luxury vehicles. American-based automaker advertisements often used male models in their promotions in a variety of lifestyle situations. These situations ranged from hard-working construction workers, agriculture, and many stereotypical masculine activities. Smaller and more efficient automobiles depicted females that were marveling over low cost, design and better gas mileage, such as showing women in a social environment discussing efficiency during an outdoor brunch. It seems that the automakers believed that women tend to engage in many stereotypical activities involving group association and were attempting to create positive psychological responses based on needs for female social belonging. This shows that the advertising and other associated promotions were aligned with knowledge about what promotes interest in females versus males and the automakers attempted to focus less on pricing and design in an effort to create lifestyle connections between brand and buyer. Another interesting characteristic of the Geneva Auto Exposition was how supplementary services were built around the male professional worker. There were sections that provided exclusive food product sampling, such as with companies like Nissan offering shrimp cocktails for those with VIP passes. What was interesting is that these niche services had the VIP aspects displayed openly so that middle class consumer demographics could easily see the higher resource professionals enjoying their experience with food services. It was as though there was a strong emphasis on social class differentiation that is not usually common in North American auto shows. This could be a cultural dimension of the European mentality that prides itself on traditional class divisions developed over time or it could represent an effort to appeal to the collectivist mentality of many Asian professionals that value group exclusivity. However, upon observation, it seemed that the professionals enjoying these VIP sections were enjoying being in the spotlight by lower-resource visitors passing by and were using body language that illustrated a type of disgust over those not privileged to attend VIP functions. The offering of VIP services to higher-income professionals was not very surprising, based on sociological theories about class divisions and attitudes related to class distinction. Many Asian cultures are hedonistic, meaning that maximizing self-utility is a primary goal of the social condition. Many Asians have very high power distance acceptance between people in society with low and high resources. These values are founded on male-dominated governments and family structures that provide people with very early lessons about the importance of knowing your place in society related to class. It seemed that the Geneva Exhibition did an excellent job in creating models of service that were aligned with long-standing cultural characteristics of Asian professionals that clearly had a positive impact on their egos and self-confidence. Observation of those with European backgrounds that were passing by these food service areas for exclusive membership seemed irritated that they could not attend the VIP functions. Though mostly observable through body language, it seemed that individualists (mostly European visitors) found the power distance to be distasteful. This, again, was not surprising considering it is aligned with sociological theory on individualist cultures that want more shared decision-making, shared social control, and much less distance between classes. This was an interesting characteristic of the social condition at the exhibition: the vast differences of thought between group-minded cultures and cultures that do not value interaction with lower-resource members of society. Overall, the Geneva Exhibition should be considered set-up much like an art gallery, allowing people to wander through the show at their own pace with no restrictions or regulations established for observing the many different automobile exhibits. It was not set up with a structure that promoted inter-group socialization, but invited visitors to stay within their own social group whether large or small. In countries like the United States, it is more common for there to be social outlets for families to engage with one another using their children as a medium and an excuse for improving social relationships. There was nothing like this at the Geneva show which could point to the presence of fewer family-centered values compared to other nations. Children, therefore, seemed to be largely bored with the exhibition which manifested itself through fidgeting and reaching for the mother figure to gain attention. This is also not surprising as it is aligned with sociological attachment theory that is usually established between child and the female caregiver. The Geneva Exposition was a unique example of how sociological principles can be applied to promotions, show structure and content, and class distinctions which were manifested through unique service concepts. How people related with their own groups and others not involved in their professional or family groups was interesting and would be an interesting research project if using surveys or questionnaires rather than observation. One thing, however, was very clear: The event planners clearly understood culture and gender theories and attempted to build this successfully into their sales and promotional strategies. Read More