1. CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Influence of Culture on
Consumer Behavior
2. Learning Objectives
1. To Understand What Culture Is and How It
Impacts Consumer Behaviors.
2. To Understand How Culture Acts as an
“Invisible Hand” That Guides Consumption-
Related Attitudes, Values, and Behavior.
3. To Understand How Culture Sets Standards
for What Satisfies Consumers’ Needs.
4. To Understand How Culture Is Learned and
Expressed in Language, Symbols, and Rituals.
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3. Learning Objectives (continued)
5. To Understand How Consumers Are Always
Adapting to Culture-Related Experiences.
6. To Understand How the Impact of Culture on
Consumer Behavior Is Measured.
7. To Understand How Core Cultural Values
Impact American Consumers.
8. To Understand How the American Culture
Became a “Shopping Culture.”
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4. To Which Cultural Value or Values Is
This Product’s Advertising Appealing?
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5. Convenience in Food Preparation
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6. The sum total of learned
beliefs, values, and
customs that serve to
Culture
regulate the consumer
behavior of members of
a particular society.
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7. A Theoretical Model of Culture’s Influence
on Behavior - Figure 11.2
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8. The Invisible Hand of Culture
Each individual perceives the
world through his own
cultural lens
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9. Lifestyle Matrix for Global Youth
Figure 11.3
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10. Culture Satisfies Needs
• Food and Clothing
• Needs vs. Luxury
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11. In Terms of “Culture,” Do You Consider This Product
to Be a “Good Morning” Beverage? Why or Why Not?
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12. Many Will Say “NO” Due to Lack of Nutritional Value
and Competing Products (Coffee).
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13. Culture Is Learned
Issues
• Enculturation and • Enculturation
acculturation – The learning of one’s
own culture
• Language and
• Acculturation
symbols – The learning of a new or
• Ritual foreign culture
• Sharing of culture
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14. Discussion Questions
• How do U.S. marketers target consumers who
have moved to the U.S. and are new to the
U.S. culture?
• How do U.S. marketers target consumers who
live outside the U.S. and are adopting parts of
the U.S. culture?
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15. Culture Is Learned
Issues • Without a common
language ,shared meaning
could not exist
• Enculturation and
acculturation • Marketers must choose
appropriate symbols in
• Language and
advertising
symbols
• Marketers can use
• Ritual
“known” symbols for
• Sharing of culture associations
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16. How Does a Symbol Convey the Product’s
Advertised Benefits?
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17. They Provide Additional
Meaning to the Ad.
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18. Culture Is Learned
Issues
• A ritual is a type of
symbolic activity consisting
• Enculturation and of a series of steps
acculturation • Rituals extend over the
• Language and human life cycle
symbols • Marketers realize that
• Ritual rituals often involve
• Sharing of culture products (artifacts)
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19. Discussion Questions
• What are some rituals (religious, educational,
social) that you have experienced?
• What artifacts or products were part of that
ritual?
• How did marketers influence the choice of
these artifacts?
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20. Selected Rituals and Associated Artifacts -
Table 11.2
SELECTED RITUALS TYPICAL ARTIFACTS
Wedding White gown (something old, something
new, something borrowed, something
blue)
Birth of child U.S. Savings Bond, silver baby spoon
Birthday Card, present, cake with candles
50th Wedding anniversary Catered party, card and gift, display of
photos of the couple’s life together
Graduation Pen, U.S. Savings Bond, card, wristwatch
Valentine’s Day Candy, card, flowers
New Year’s Eve Champagne, party, fancy dress
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21. Culture Is Learned
Issues
• Enculturation and • To be a cultural
acculturation characteristic, a belief,
• Language and value, or practice must be
symbols shared by a significant
• Ritual portion of the society
• Sharing of Culture • Culture is transferred
through family, schools,
houses of worship, and
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
media Chapter Eleven Slide 21
22. Facial Beauty Ritual of a Young TV Advertising
Sales Representative - Table 11.3
1. I pull my hair back with a headband.
2. I take all of my makeup off with L’Oreal eye makeup remover.
3. Next, I use a Q-tip with some moisturizer around my eyes to make sure
all eye makeup is removed.
4. I wash my face with Noxzema facial wash.
5. I apply Clinique Dramatically Different Lotion to my face, neck, and
throat.
6. If I have a blemish, I apply Clearasil Treatment to the area to dry it
out.
6. Twice weekly (or as necessary) I use Aapri Facial Scrub to remove dry
and dead skin.
7. Once a week, I apply Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2 with a cotton ball to
my face and throat to remove deep-down dirt and oils.
8. Once every three months, I get a professional salon facial to deep-clean
my pores.
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23. Culture is Dynamic
• Evolves because it fills needs
• Certain factors change culture
– Technology
– Population shifts
– Resource shortages
– Wars
– Changing values
– Customs from other countries
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24. The Measurement of Culture
• Content Analysis
• Consumer Fieldwork
• Value Measurement
Instruments
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25. A method for
systematically analyzing
the content of verbal
and/or pictorial
Content
communication. The
Analysis
method is frequently
used to determine
prevailing social values
of a society.
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26. Which Cultural Value
Is Portrayed, and How So?
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27. Progress – The Fridge has
Superior Design
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28. Which Cultural Value
Is This Ad Stressing, and How So?
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29. Fitness and Health –
Low Calorie
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30. Consumer Fieldwork
• Field Observation
– Natural setting
– Subject unaware
– Focus on observation of behavior
• Participant Observation
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31. Value Measurement Survey Instruments
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32. American Core Values
Criteria for Value Selection
• The value must be pervasive.
• The value must be enduring.
• The value must be consumer-related.
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35. Scale to Measure Attitude
Toward Helping Others
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36. Discussion Questions
• Have you observed changes in any of the core
values over the past 4 years?
• Why did those changes occur?
• How have they affected marketers?
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37. Toward a Shopping Culture
• Is shopping what we do to create value in our
lives?
• The younger generation is shopping more
• This has an effect on credit card debt
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Here is an outline of the topics for Chapter Eleven.
Here is an outline of the topics for Chapter Eleven.
To understand culture , just think of the difference between two societies. How do they think, believe, and act differently? Even though many believe culture is becoming less distinct from country to country, I am sure you can identify differences in values and behaviors.
This theoretical model of culture’s influence on behavior gives us a sense of how culture combines with personality traits to build our beliefs and values. This forms our attitudes, which combine with social norms to determine how we intend to behave, and consequently do behave, in given situations.
We often don’t think about the influence that culture has on behavior. Sometimes things just seem like the “right thing to do.” The statement in this slide helps sum up culture as a lens with which people see the world.
Researches have developed this matrix for ages 14-24. The segments are as follows: The in-crowd is all about privilege and reinforcement Pop mavericks spread word of mouth rapidly and like individuality Networked intelligentsia are the hub of online social networks and are creative Thrill renegades are all about infamy, adrenaline, and anarchy
What kinds of needs does culture help satisfy? It helps us decide where to eat, when to eat, and what to eat. It helps us know which products we simply must have, like a cell phone, and what products are a luxury, like a private plane.
We learn about our own culture from the time we are small children. Through both informal and formal learning, we learn how to behave and the difference between right and wrong. The learning of our own culture usually happens slowly over time. Quite often, when someone moves, they must learn a new culture. This process of acculturation can be very difficult and will differ based on age, interest in the culture, and desire to become part of the new society. This web link gives you information on doing business in Japan and some cultural issues, including etiquette and manners.
You may have been exposed to many of these marketers if you live within a city. In addition, if you are not from the U.S. or have traveled extensively, you may have noticed marketing to local cultures.
There is a strong symbolic nature to human language. We use symbols to communicate with each other and marketers will use symbols to communicate to their customers.
You can probably think of many rituals in which you have been involved – birthday parties, weddings, graduations, or religious rites of passage. Many of these rituals involved artifacts, objects that are important to the day. Some rituals might even be informal, like poker night. Are there certain artifacts that students absolutely must have? Food, perhaps, music or objects.
No doubt, growing up you were involved in some rituals – high school graduation, rite of passage rituals, births, or deaths.
Table 11.2 presents some rituals and artifacts. These might be some of the same rituals you identified in the previous discussion question.
A culture can not just exist within one person. There must be a large group which is involved, a significant portion of society. We will discuss subcultures in the next chapter, which are smaller subcultural groups that exist within larger cultures.
Here is an example of a ritual that someone might undergo every day. Notice how it includes certain products with which the consumer is often resistant to change.
It is important for marketers to realize that culture is changing. The products that fulfill needs, what is cool and in style, are constantly changing. Large cultural shifts may occur due to events that affect society. Certain cultures would like to change. For example, this is a link to changing the drinking culture at colleges.
Measurement techniques are used to track values and social trends for government and business. Each one will be looked at individually on the following slides.
Researchers can look at magazines, websites, television commercials, and even blogs to see what changes might be occurring and what values are important.
With consumer fieldwork , researchers observe behavior. This can be done in the field or by actively involving participants to observe their own behavior and beliefs.
Instead of observing behavior, these techniques use surveys of consumers. As you can see, there are a variety of these studies, each a bit different in the number of questions that are asked and the categories they choose to emphasize.
When looking at American culture, what are the core values that reflect society? To be included on the list on the following page, the core values have to meet these three criteria. They have to be pervasive , where a significant portion of the population accepts this value. They have to be enduring , lasting for a significant period of time, and they must be consumer related , in that they help us understand consumption.
These eleven values can be considered the “building blocks” of American culture. Take a minute to think about each one. There is probably a good chance that you can picture an advertisement that appeals to each of these values. Most of these values are clearly stated and should be easily understandable. The ones that might need some description are progress and external conformity . Progress relates to the fact that people and the society can improve themselves. It is closely tied to the related values of achievement, success, efficiency, and practicality. External conformity relates to the fact that although consumers like freedom of choice and individualism, they all accept the reality of conformity.
What American Core Values do these ads represent?
This is a scale that is used to measure people’s attitudes toward helping others. There is a related scale that measures their attitudes toward charitable organizations, which is also given in the textbook.
Think back to when you were in high school. The messages are often very strong in media, through public speakers, and in the press.
The “shop till you drop” mentality has propelled shopping to an American pastime. People of all ages view shopping as more than a necessity but a hobby, interest, and important part of their lives. In some cases, shopping becomes an addiction. This web link takes you to WebMD which discusses this addiction.
