OUGD501 - Identities & Consumption

* In what ways can products/services relate to consumers identities?

- Everything we buy, wear, consume affects our perception of the person in order to establish and maintain identities and to signify group memberships.

- Everyone is taught from an early age that products and brands have meaning. 

- Material goods have meaning.

- The consumer chooses what to buy and what not to buy. 

-  'avoid certain brands in order to distance themselves from what they stand for'

- 'There is no doubt that individuals make use of goods and services to 'make sense' of those around them, to compare themselves to other, and to signal group memberships.' 'All three examples clearly show a strong association between people and material possessions.'

* How do consumers use products/services within social interaction?

- Defining social groups 

- Distinguish an individual from others.

- Comparing someone else's similarities and differences to ourselves. 

- Challenging self-esteem 

- 'Basically, theory suggests that the sense of who we are is shaped by us being able to imagine how we are perceived by others'

'there are three steps to self-fulfilling prophecy: (1) people must have expectations of what another person; (2) the person (x) who holds the expectations of what another person is like; (2) the person (x) who holds the expectations must be influenced by their beliefs in how they act towards that person (y); and (3) person (y) must subsequently respond by behaving in line with the other person's (x) expectations.' 

* Using the theories discussed: suggest some visual communication strategies that effectively promote a product to its target consumer.

The Ladbrokes life - Building personas that the target consumer compared himself/herself to. 

BET 365 - 'I am part of the world's favourite online betting company', 'and I bet responsibly at bet 365 - Raymondo 

Remel London - ' Get the London look.' 


* Are there any ethical issues?

Should people be judged by what they buy/look like?

Making unrealistic body ideals.

Over consumption

Self-esteem


Summary - 

The essay by Cathrine Jason-Boyd, Consumer Psychology explains the relationship between identities and the consumer. Explaining that everything we buy, wear, consume affects our perception of the person in order to establish and maintain identities and to signify group memberships. Stating 'There is no doubt that individuals make use of goods and services to 'make sense' of those around them, to compare themselves to other, and to signal group memberships.' these three examples are explained again through Higgins self-discrepancy theory explaining '1 Actual self - the way people are at the present time. 2 Ideal self - the self that we aspire to be. 3 Ought self - they way we think we should be'. Through social groups is another way that the relationship between identities and the consumer can be effected. 'Tajfel described social identity as "that part of the individuals self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance of that membership (1931,p.255). It is increasingly common that groups use consumption to signal to others that that they somehow belong to each other' This relationship between identities and the consumer can be exploited by the designer whether this is ethical remains to be seen. In terms of creating personas for target audiences this way of thinking about how consumers react to brands can be use to the designers advantage.