You Are What You Buy - Coursework Example

You Are What You Buy The concept of today’s consumer culture builds upon the belief of many consumers that the buyer defines herself through the things that she buys while the things that she buys helps to shape and determine what will be made available in the future. This leads to the idea that the perceived built world that we live in has become more real to us as consumers than the actual real world that exists outside of our created spaces. Essentially, the term consumerism is used to refer to a general belief that the purchase of products will lead inevitably to a sense of happiness and fulfillment in life. According to Kanner, “It’s the meta-message that you can solve all of life’s problems by purchasing the right products” (Kersting, 2004). Because purchases are made on perceived correctness for the prescribed “perfect” life displayed in the media, which has replaced individual social circles as the measure by which one is judged, individual identities are subjugated to the common ideal and little thought is given to what is required to fit the likes and dislikes of the individual’s actual personality and interests. “’Objects are now carrying the status weight that blood and religion and pigment used to carry.’ Which is to say that Americans not only ‘buy up’ but wear their wealth on their sleeve — or chest … labels no longer hid discreetly inside the collar. Today, Tommy Hilfiger’s prized name can take up most of the shirt” (Kulman, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to examine the various ways in which personal consumer choices function to define the self. It is important to understand these consumer decisions because the equation of identity with the values identified by the commercial culture has led to an overall reduction of traditional values as they become overwhelmed by the messages being sent out by the marketers. “The malls are clogged, newspapers are fat, and some of the houses I drive past have been lit up since the day after Thanksgiving … We are all called upon to pay alms to the profits and to decorate our homes in green and red, colors that signify the expenditure of cash that bleeds us dry” (Large, 2003). In celebrating special holidays such as Christmas and Easter, the number of gifts distributed and the value of those gifts are not recognized as valuable in themselves but rather taken to symbolize the degree to which the giver holds the receiver in esteem. A cheap gift given in passing sends the message of being held in low esteem while more expensive gifts wrapped in professional paper indicate higher esteem and personal value. As a result, we are quickly and easily fooled by the empty words of marketing while we fail to recognize true expressions of affection when they occur. To understand fully how this works, it is necessary to have an understanding of how we form our own self-concept. Generally defined, our self-concept is “the accumulation of knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals and roles” (Alvarez, 2010). This is a process that begins when we are still infants as we begin learning how to organize and categorize information about ourselves as we discover we have hands and feet, we are male or female and we are valued or not by those around us. Unsurprisingly, we tend to focus more on our physical definition when we are children, more internal or psychological definition as we enter adolescence and steadily becomes more abstract as we age (Alvarez, 2010). This is an intuitive process, yet it requires us to think, to synthesize and to recognize elements of ourselves that we may or may not appreciate. In building our self-concept, we frequently use the products we purchase as a means of reinforcing what we consider to be positive as well as to project to the rest of our society what we want others to believe of us. When we buy a Dell computer, for example, we may be reinforcing our own self-concept that we are of high-quality, that we deserve the best, that we are reliable and that we are popular. But we may also be attempting to project these ideas to other members of our society as an easier and quicker means of getting them to believe these things about us rather than going through the lengthier and less-certain process of allowing them to get to know us and coming to their own conclusions. This introduces the concept that there is more than one dimension to our self-concept contributing to our motives for purchasing a given product or brand. Investigating the state of the self-concept, researchers have identified four basic dimensions to the self-concept that influence how we select which items to buy. These include the actual self-concept, the ideal self-concept, the private self-concept and the social self-concept (Allen, 2006). The actual self-concept refers to what we know of ourselves at the present time. It can include pieces of information such as one’s position in life (a college student or an office worker for example), whether they’re rich or poor, their ethnicity, age, gender or even popularity among their social group. Brands such as Coca-Cola build on this dimension of the self-concept as it focuses on the here and now attitude of life. It conveys concepts of energy, fun and modernism for a ‘right-now’ kind of attitude. Other examples of products that appeal to a person’s actual self-concept are products designed to help us feel better by addressing a current depressed state or to help us care for the other things that we own. An old man may decide to purchase Pandol simply because he has a headache right now and wishes to find some relief. A woman may determine to buy the store brand of washing soap as a means of keeping the family clean because she knows in this case, the end result of a clean family is what’s important as no one will ever see the brand. The ideal self-concept refers to a person’s idea of who they want to be. “Many Americans are constantly in pursuit of bettering themselves whether it is through their income, education, occupation, etc. Most Americans aspire to have an ideal life and they sometimes purchase products that make them feel closer to their ideal self-concept” (Allen, 2006). This is as true in Australia as it is in America. Obviously, since this is the ideal, the average person will continue to pursue those aspects of life that tend to emphasize the ways in which their actual self-concept is similar to the ideal. Many times, this takes the form of purchasing products that link them with what they think they should be. A college student may opt to purchase an Apple brand laptop because they need the high technology and want the increased speed. To participate in the ‘green’ movement, a consumer may opt to purchase products sold in recycled materials. The private self-concept is different from the ideal in that the person tends to privately believe that this is who they really are in spite of their present circumstances. “Private self-concept can be how you believe that you act as a person such as friendly, creative or adventurous” (Allen, 2006). An environmentally-conscious person who has little time for the recycling box and must spend long hours on the freeway trapped in rush hour jams may opt to purchase a hybrid vehicle as a means of bringing them more in line with who they feel they are. Recognizing that they may need to lose a little weight or because they have a private wish to remain in good shape, another individual may choose to purchase healthier foods simply because they are good for the body. The final dimension is the social self-concept in which we attempt to fit into a specific element of society. “It is the perception of how we would like to be seen by others” (Allen, 2006). To bring themselves in line with the current ‘in’ crowd, individuals may opt to purchase Starbucks coffee every morning rather than make coffee at home so that other people see them as part of this crowd. It is the concept behind wearing shirts with the Tommy Hilfiger logo blazoned across the chest. The individual who wears this type of clothing wants other people to realize that they have money, they have style, they are part of the ‘in’ crowd. Rather than proving anything by their actions, they rely on the prominent display of the brands they use to project how they want others to perceive them. It is undeniable that today’s consumer culture is heavily swayed by the advertisers and marketers that deliberately manipulate human nature to play upon our ideas of identity and value. Consumers define themselves not by their inner virtues or their traditional values but by the items they’ve collected and their ability to keep up with the latest trends and styles seen on the media. However, we cannot blame this culture completely on the media without taking some responsibility ourselves. As consumers, we help define the culture we live in and we cannot help the ways in which our self-concept is developed. Buying into the concept of having to keep up with outer appearances rather than developing inner values is reinforced by us as we overspend for in order to prove to ourselves and others what we feel we are, should be or would like to be. Having constructed a culture in which inner personal nature and emotion are defined by the products we consume and exchange, it is difficult to redefine values just because the economy has shifted. The tendency in this culture when times get tough is to adopt a protectionist attitude in which we pledge to support only each other, but this is not the approach we need to rescue the future. Instead, we need to refocus our value systems to the traditional values of inner worth and sincere emotion at the same time that we continue to engage in international trade. References Allen, Dawn. (2006). “Self-Concept.” Dr. Drea’s Online Resource Center. Available February 21, 2010 from Alvarez, Jeannette. (2010). “Self-Concept.” Social Issues Reference. Available February 21, 2010 from < http://social.jrank.org/pages/554/Self-Concept.html> Kerstings, Karen. (June 2004). “Driving Teen Egos — And Buying — Through Branding.” APA Online. Available February 21, 2010 from Kulman, Linda. (June 24, 2004). “Our Consuming Interest.” U.S. News and World Report. Vol. 136, N. 23: 58. Large, Jerry. (December 11, 2003). “Holiday Season is a Time to Define Your Values.” The Seattle Times. Available February 21, 2010 from Read More