How the Witnessed Cultural Globalization Influences Consumer Culture - Coursework Example

Sociology Essay By Lecturer’s and Peoples lives and behaviours have constantly been ed to change as a result of worldwide flows of migration, technology and media. This has been critical to the rapid globalization that has been witnessed in the recent past, catapulted majorly by the advances in technology. There has been cultural synchronization, a process that is engulfing almost all the societies of the world. As a result of this, a global consumer culture has emerged. The interplay between local and global cultural forces has a presence which has proved to be greatly consequential in the determination of various consumption behaviours that are witnessed today. Apparently, the global consumer culture seen today can positively be associated with culture-free products consumption. These may include things like luxuries and consumer electronics. This paper aims to dissect into how the witnessed cultural globalization influences consumer culture and whether it has a hand in creating homogeneity. Also, it seeks to determine whether differences in culture are wiped out as a result, and whether this exploits the oppressed and the poor in any way. Specifically, the consumption behaviour will be looked into with fashion as the reference. Transmission and sharing of culture, up until recently, primarily occurred among individuals living within close geographic proximities. Today, with an unprecedented scope, intensity and frequency of intercultural exchanges, it is evident that culture is a moving concept which easily permeates national borders, blurring traditional boundaries (Appadurai, 1990). As a result, a global consumer culture has arisen where people live in a single system within a fragmented world (Cowen, 2002; Alden et al., 1999). Peoples global flow exposure and how they, as a whole, identify with the world considerably varies across and within nation-states (Witkowski, 2005) Globalization has seen a growing number of people forming bicultural identities across the world. One part is usually rooted in the traditional local cultures while the other emanates from the global consumer culture. The globalization phenomenon has come to be of paramount importance in todays marketing practice. Practitioners have to decide whether to localize, standardize or use hybrid strategies in promoting products and services in both home country and foreign markets. Acculturation to the global consumer culture relates to "how individuals acquire the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are characteristic of a nascent and deteritorialized global consumer culture" (Cleveland, 2007: 32) The fashion industrys growth has been greatly catalysed by globalization. Attractions towards the marketplace have pushed consumers cultural attributes across a variety of consumer segments in a significant manner. Cultural values shift, purchase intentions on designer products and consumer preferences pass as the most crucial of issues that marketing managers face today. Researchers assert that globalization increase is causing reduced consumer behaviour homogeneity within countries and increased communalities across various countries (Cleveland and Laroche, 2007). Most designer apparel manufacturers try bridging intercultural disparities and also building cultural harmony across end user segments by targeting various themes that stimulate customers delight in trendy clothing. Market strategies that are customer centric are developed on consumers self-confidence characteristics and used by the firms in enhancing fashion apparel purchase intentions (Horowitz 2009). Marketing stimulants have proved powerful. For instance, televised fashion shows, in-store exhibits, fashion advertisements and vogue functions in citified shopping malls influence the transnational cosmopolitanism witnessed among consumers. These two-way marketing tactics for fashion apparel show convergence of modern and traditional lifestyles and values to establish a worldwide client culture that is homogeneous. Conventional methods of employing societal darlings as cultural pilots are now replaced by worldwide players having flagship trademarks as their basis for market segmentation and product branding. Multi-channel networks of building brands and differentiation have been found to impact customers toward trendy apparel, the need is also fabricated at neighbourhood levels that is constituted by and supportive of cultural industries. One city in the world that has turned out to be a brands destination is Milan in Italy, where negotiations of varieties of different channels are happening. Through this design, branding and service fashion strategies are integrated. Asymmetric consumer behaviour is cultivated by intensifying rivalry and globalization together with short life cycles of products in vogue purchasing. This poses several marketing challenges, especially for retail companies. To ensure survival production-wise, retailers and manufacturers have to leverage and develop principal marketing proficiencies. Fashion apparel consumer market has grown to be more diverse by shop brands, designer brands, personalization , advertising, and global marketplace ethnicity. Fashion apparel retailers and manufacturers are capable of attracting targeted consumer groups and maintain them, usually because they have been able to identify their preferences. Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (ODT) provides that individuals strive to achieve and maintain stability between the prerequisite for assimilation by the family and peers and the demand for differentiation and autonomy (Sorrentino et al, 2009). Designer fashion apparel purchase intention among consumers is stimulated in societal contexts. Distinctive fashion features like celebrity endorsement, designer brand, and media reviews, have a consistent association with heart-rending countenance and play an important role in consumer buying behaviour (Marrero and Clavo, 2009). Celebrities formally associated with the music and film industry now have a presence in consumer markets. The fragrance market has especially been well invaded. World re-known female celebrities have endorsed various fragrances, with some starting their own fragrance lines in a bid to influence consumers that already are their fans. For instance, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton and Sarah Jessica Parker are associated with the following female fragrances respectively; Curious, Glow, Just Me and Lovely, with all having a worldwide popularity. Studies insinuate that a person’s perception of his own personality is one salient and distinctive trait differentiating behaviour. Individuals ranked high in a societal setting tend to adapt more to lifestyle changes and as such the fashion demonstrations drive them more (Peterson and Arphan, 2008). Fragrances like Be Delicious by Donna Karen (DKNY), Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana, Femme by Hugo Boss and Miracle Forever by Lancome are also popular worldwide. Their popularity, however, is due to the fact that they are premium brands, which are mostly bought by consumers who want to be classy. That a consumer’s response to a variety of marketing stimuli like advertisements and sales promotions can be influenced by ethnicity is one notion supported by the distinctiveness theory. Companies like Nike that produces sports merchandise have also been selective in picking on and signing contracts with successful sportsmen and teams to market their merchandise. For instance, re-known Portuguese international football star is currently signed in a six million euros a year promotion deal with the sports merchandise giant. He has been featured in promoting the latest of Nike’s football boots, Mercurial Superfly Vapour 2 which saw it trending instantly all over the globe with every player wanting to have a pair. Another celebrity who is involved in clothing is the U.S tennis star Serena Williams, who launched her own fashion clothe line Aneres. One principal driver of consumer behaviour with respect to fashion apparel happens to be the dominance that comes with social interactions. Consumers’ involvement in fashion, refined substances is dependent on the perceptions they have and also on their peers’ response to the personality and proneness to change that they exhibit (Pinheiro 2008). Consumers perceive the association between identity and clothes from their values perspective that is usually generated from varied social influences. Mostly, consumers exhibit lifestyle and fashion as a way of aesthetically awarding their persona. As such, clothing has been considered to be a chance for showing the world a person’s new identity order. There exist both effective and cognitive incentives in this process, translating into possible welfare gains for consumers in some given environments like at work and social places (Bianchi 2002). Cultural values, as some researchers have observed, do affect consumers’ intentions to purchase trendy attire. In cultures exhibiting hedonic values, retailers and manufacturers promote fashion apparel to induce sudden, compelling, and socially complex behaviour in buying through promotional programs so as to increase the income disposable by credit facilitation to consumers (Venkatesh et al, 2010). Pull and push manner of strategies are applied by retailers and manufacturers in making fashion apparel promotions more credible and beneficial from the consumers point of view. Promotions targeting final consumers, referred to as full promotions, offer consumers an extra value directly, with attraction of consumers to their retail venues and immediate sales stimulation as the primary intention. Both the pull and push manner promotions are calculated to hasten the vending process together with increasing sales, in the short term at least. However, the impacts and implications of this strategy on profits and sales from fashion, it is believed, are different. Promotion-led retailing culture for fashion apparel like this sparks fashion-aligned attitudes, spending and debt behaviour on clothes in many consumers (Herran-Martin et al, 2010). In Mexico, departmental stores and designer brands have redefined strategies of fashion apparel retailing with consideration of worldwide-local purchasing preferences. Northern and central Mexico are among regions that have experienced increased numbers of specialized clothing shops, imposing fresh demands on consumers, wholesalers, and manufacturers (Chavez 2002). The traits determining fashion apparel’s together with accessories’ overall acceptance among Mexican customers significantly get affected by the products’ price sensitivity and attractiveness. Brand appeal, overall liking and appearance has been found to greatly influence consumer purchase intent (Rajagopal, 2006). Consumer influence from America is largely responsible for the cross border fashion apparel penetration into Mexico. Out-shoppers go extra miles in out-shopping assortments of better quality merchandise, high quality personal service, more competitive prices, and shopping atmospherics that are more pleasing (Wang and Guo, 2009). Mexican consumers are seen to be largely influenced by a product’s attractiveness and show greater store-loyalty. This is irrespective of the shopping ambience and price. Consumers evaluate both variable and fixed utilities of shopping when choosing stores and apparel; fixed utility is not varied from a tip to another while the variable utility is dependent on the shopping list’s composition and size (Tang, 2001). The Mexican consumers, preferences and perceptions on fashion apparel are also dependent on the cultural and social values of the country. Designer brands that are introduced in the markets in Mexico generally tend to be expensive and prices are considered a major factor that influences consumption. Consumers in Mexico emphasize more on the product’s country of origin than on the brand names. A strong bias for home country seems to affect the country-product evaluations by Mexicans (d’Astous and Ahmad, 2006). In Mexico, fashion promotions are derived in consideration of customers’ socio-psychographic backgrounds such as gender, age, country of origin, income status and social class, which are crucial for success in inter-ethnic communication (Valdez, 2000). Mexican consumers, who are majorly Hispanic have distinctive shopping behaviours for apparel. Together with the huge market potential, they can be said to be deserving of the huge attention they get from apparel retailers planning to tap into them as a market (Baily and Seock, 2008). The above discussed consumer culture traces its origin way back over a hundred years. Possibly, as Plumb, McKendrick and Brewer (1982) put it, it may have started in England around the eighteenth century. McCracken (1988) however, points out that the global consumer culture revolution should be seen to be part of a bigger transformation that cut across western societies that began way back in the 16th century. Resulting social changes that this transformation brought about resulted in various Western concepts being modified like time, society, space, state, family, and individual. All these had a direct effect on the overall fashion sense and provided the basis on which consumer revolution thrived and developed into one mass phenomenon that defied cultural boundaries to spread to almost all over the world with time. McCracken (1988) offered a comprehensive review of the consumption history. In his review, he divides into three moments the whole course of events. He designates the first moment as being in the sixteenth centurys last quarter in Elizabethan England in which consumption patterns were subjected to profound changes within small sections of the population. During this moment, some of the concepts which were already established like family, individual and space began to falter. These changes were being brought about by circumstances that acted primer to the revolution, a century later, of the consumer movement. This moment is described by McCracken as the second of the three moments. At this moment, the most observed characteristic was the heightened spending propensity of consumers, with increased purchasing frequencies and greatly extended choices for goods. It is at this juncture that fashion gained and started playing a crucial role, and, as had never been before, the consumer individually became targeted for manipulative attempts. Modern marketing instruments have their origin traced to this point in time. The coming of the third moment had the consumer movement as an already established in life as a structural feature (McCracken, 1988). The end of the third stage, however, did not mark the completion of the development. The 19th century pumped in more new qualities, turning the movement into "a dream world of consumption" (Williams, 1982). New developments included inventions of the present critical players like the department store, the medium of film and the world exhibitions. When further developments since that moment are considered, two moments, fourth and fifth, can be added to McCrackers three. Fordism event induced the fourth moment in America at the start of the twentieth century. Fordism, by the 1950s had spread all through Western Europe, at the same time, causing the consumer revolution to shift toward mass consumption after mass production, turning it into a mass phenomenon from an elite phenomenon (Lang and Gabriel, 1995; Bocock, 1993). This allowed for the emergence of a new type of consumer, a consumer that is not constrained nor classified by social class. Apparently, he was one who emphasizes self consciousness, self-expression and individuality, one who gets recognized by the type of lifestyle he has chosen to lead (Featherstone, 1991). The nineteenth century introduction of department stores and world exhibitions brought about major excitement consumers of that time. It can be incomprehensible for consumers of today, who view as a routine chore to visit big stores, that the department store introduction was indeed a big event back then. This introduction was a big game changer with shopping activities getting completely transposed. Customers could now visit shops without intentions to purchase, but to just experience the atmosphere and look around. The stores became places of entertainment where people would spend leisure time and enjoy themselves. The buildings architecture also reflected the same. Both interior and exterior designs often took on forms that were monumental. Attaining all a consumer needed from a single building with several stores became possible as opposed to how things had been before. Multi-storey buildings having large glass showcases by the sides that displayed exotic goods now housed these stores. For instance, Paris BonMarche had an entrance that was decorated richly with ornaments, visitors were invited to enter the building through two pillars that were temple-like, and which supported the buildings front roof. A well lit spacey atmosphere was provided by the buildings giant glass dome and the interior was, to say the least, marvellous. Gallery after gallery lined the building, filled with varieties of goods previously not marched. Three large staircases bearing comparison to those in opera houses had visitors being guided to higher levels while balconies around the top allowed for observation of the activities below (Miller, 1981). Shopping in the nineteenth century thus took an entirely new dimension. This can be said to have influenced a huge number of people from many parts of the world to try to experience the feelings one would get when visiting such magnificent places that were mushrooming in many parts of the world. The atmosphere within and around such stores was designed to give a dreamlike quality for consumers, to attract consumers keen to explore the global market and to ensure increased demand. Goods arrangement was in such a manner as to arouse and stimulate free-floating desires. Credit introduction greatly aided this. Being allowed to make payment in instalments, some commodities previously out of reach of many were now availed to everyone including the ordinary people. All this provided for material desires could now merge with imaginative ones and realization of dreams was now possible. This made shopping to turn into a leisure activity done during free time, like during free afternoons, and something that one would take the children along with for their fun day out. Another important nineteenth century development was the peoples discovery of goods expressive power for purposes of expressing different lifestyles. This culminated in the appearance of three distinct lifestyle groups, the elite lifestyle, the elite lifestyle and lastly the democratic lifestyle. Dignity, modesty and accessibility characterized the democratic lifestyle. The mass consumption lifestyle on the other hand, thrived on development of new ideas concerning luxury, with the understanding that it was the successor of the aristocratic way of life. The elite lifestyle, in contrast, created a new aristocracy that based on superior tastes and aesthetics, irrespective from the family of origin status. The ideas of the dandies and those of Beau Brunnel inspired this lifestyle. They used the emergent goods language to carve out for themselves a fresh space in society, after the French revolution lead to the breakdown of the old order (McCracken, 1988). We can understand each of the lifestyles as different responses of people to particular problems and difficulties in the changing society. The then fresh system of discourse is noticeable to have been successfully implemented and later emerged in commodity form. Consumers of that time recognized the potential lying within commodities, also, that it could be exploited to accomplish new cultural objectives. Wide use of consumer goods in expressing cultural values and supporting new lifestyles emergence was experienced. As such, the third moment in consideration of the history of consumption that saw the emergence of department stores entailed consumption becoming a dream world in which entertainment, reality and shopping merging and together becoming one entity. Shoppings experiential aspect moved fore, with various authors concluding of shopping having taken on attributes of a fresh consumption religion (Bowlby, 1987). The above chronological overview of events resulting into the present consumer society does not give answers as to why there was heightened propensity to spend. Also, it does not tell why consumers still do spend despite seemingly having all they need. In his theory Thorsten Veblen (1857-1929) suggests that the problem in getting to understand industrial society is how goods take on meaning and not how they come to be made. He stresses that other than the conventional needs satisfaction function of goods, they are also indicative of a persons wealth level and social status. He noted that the lesser rich try to imitate the upper class in leisure and other activities including fashion adoption and further underlining the same through displaying their possessions in an exaggerated manner. Veblen adopted in his theory the assumption that human action is rooted in pride, envy and emulation. Lower classes aspire to move upwards as they observe the higher classes habits and life. Higher social class groups also strive to keep the social distance bigger by continually changing their consumption patterns and habits. For instance, they invent and follow new fashion and trends. Knowledge of what is fashionable makes one elevated to a higher social standing while falling behind shows social decline. In summary, Veblen showed the manner in which everyday objects can lose their functional qualities to become objects of displaying and establishing social standings of the users and owners. The consumption act is, therefore, apart from being viewed simply in economic terms, also manifests as a social status sign having profound socio-cultural significance. Analysis by Simmel (1904) on fashions role in the emulation process shows that competing for prestige and social status results in a seemingly irrational sequence of fashion trends changes which makes obsolete perfectly functional commodities long before their utility gets used up. The consequence of this is an inflated demand of goods, especially those in fashion, leading to a high propensity to spend and is referred to as the trickle-down-effect. The two-way status competition street shows that status competition apart from inspiring imitation also inspires differentiation. With growing urbanization, differentiation became more important. Living in the suburban or metropolis areas added challenges like anonymity to peoples lives. The result is city dwellers getting anxious to preserve their autonomy and individuality with consumption, presenting a way of articulating this. Individual preferences and styles in dressing, drinking, eating and more were employed for differentiation purposes and preservation of autonomous identities. Also, they served to show membership to a particular group of social status in differentiation from other groups or classes (Simmel, 1903). The two theories by both Veblen and Simmel explain the questions arising from the observations made in the chronological history of consumer culture revolution in fashion. It is seen that the "trickle-down-effect" plays a crucial role in the achievement of homogeneity in the culture of fashion products’ consumption and trends adoption globally. This continues to be facilitated by the above explained means of access like fast computer and information technology that advertisers employ to reach the masses globally. This exposes the drive behind the global homogeneity in consumer culture. It is worth noting that to come up with fashion products that appeal globally, the best qualities are pooled from over the world to create the product. As such, industries will seek the best resources from wherever they are in the world to achieve a product that has fashionable appeal. However, the product will be marketed as a global product and the prices will definitely match the tag and in many case retail at so exorbitant prices that the poor from the locality the raw materials were sourced can barely afford. Instead, as findings in Simmels theory point out, the rich will buy the product and the poor won’t, thereby creating the gap in social class and status. 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