Chapter16: Symbolic Consumer Behavior
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CHAPTER 16
Symbolic Consumer Behavior
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter discusses the symbolic role that products can play. Some products are used as
conscious badges that designate the various cultural categories of which we are members.
Products and rituals also hold symbolic significance when we undergo role transitions. They
serve as symbols by connecting us to people, places, and times that have been important to
us, and they are symbols of our individuality and uniqueness. The combined symbolic uses of
products and rituals affect our self-concept.
Some of our possessions are regarded as very special. They are non-substitutable, will not be
sold at market value, and will be purchased with little regard for price. They are rarely
discarded, even if their functional value is gone, and may not even be used for their original
functional purpose. We personify these possessions, may feel powerful emotions in their
presence, and may have feelings of fear or sadness over their potential or actual loss. In part,
possessions are special because they serve as unique emblems, facilitate role transitions,
connect us to others, or express our unique styles. In part, they are special because they
indicate personal mastery and achievements or are mood enhancing. Background
characteristics such as social class, gender, and age all seem to influence just what type of
object is regarded as special.
Some entities are so special they are worshipped, set apart, and treated with inordinate
respect—that is, they are sacred. A number of things outside the realm of possessions—
people, places, objects, times, and events
—also take on sacred status. Sacred objects transcend time and space and have strong
approach/avoidance powers and great fascination. They are cared for and nurtured. Often,
special rituals are devised to handle them. Sacred objects can be profaned or made more
ordinary by commercialization, inappropriate usage, or divestment patterns. As such,
marketers need to take care in developing, changing, or profaning sacredness in objects.
Gift giving is a process of transferring meaning in products from one person to another. Gift
giving entails three phases: gestation, presentation, and reformulation, and is a complex
process, involving single or multiparty donors, along with single or multiparty recipients. Gift-
giving occasions are often culturally prescribed, but may vary in their timing.
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Discuss how products, special possessions, and consumption activities gain symbolic
meaning and how this meaning is conveyed from one consumer to another.
2. Identify how marketers can influence or make use of the symbolic meaning that
consumption may have for consumers.
3. Distinguish between sacred and profane entities, and show why this distinction is
important for marketing strategy.
4. Understand the process of gift giving and describe how marketers can use knowledge of
this process to market more effectively.
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Sources and Functions of Symbolic Meaning
A. Meaning Derived from Culture
1. Cultural categories are natural groupings or categories of objects that reflect
culture.
a) Time (work time, leisure time)
b) Space (home, office, safe/unsafe places)
c) Occasions (festive versus somber)
d) Gender, age, social class, ethnicity
2. Cultural principles are ideas or values that specify how aspects of culture are
organized and/or how they should be perceived or evaluated.
B. Meaning Derived from the Consumer
1. Consumers can develop their own individual meanings associated with
products.
2. Consumption symbols can be used
a) To say something about the consumer as a member of a group
b) To say something about the consumer as a unique individual
C. The Emblematic Function
1. Geographic Emblems
a) Products can symbolize geographic identification.
(1). Preppie clothing style symbolizes identification with New England.
2. Ethnic Emblems
a) Products and consumption activities can symbolize identification with a
given culture or subculture.
(1). Clothing and food are used to express ethnic identity.
b) Consumers sometimes use ethnic emblems of other cultures to
differentiate themselves.
3. Social Class Emblems
a) Products we consume reflect our social class.
b) Social classes use different symbols in consumption rituals.
4. Gender Emblems
a) Products seem to be characterized as having membership in the male or
female gender category.
(1). Stems from culturally devised notions of fatness and thinness
5. Reference Group Emblems
a) Products such as school uniforms can serve as emblems of membership
in a reference group.
b) Rituals such as debutante balls are sometimes indicators and affirmations
of group membership.
6. Marketing Implications
a) Marketers play three roles in establishing the emblematic function of
products.
(1). Symbol Development
(a) Identifies cultural principles associated with a cultural category
and imbues the product with attributes deemed to represent
those characteristics
(2). Symbol Communication
(a) Advertising can imbue a product with meaning through the
selection of setting, time of day, types of people in the ad, and
how the product is presented.
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a) Rituals or ceremonial aspects, such as gift wrapping
b) Timing and surprise element of the gift
c) Attention devoted to gift-giving process or recipient
d) Reaction donor hopes to elicit from recipient
3. The Reformulation Stage
a) Donor and recipient reevaluate their relationship based on the gift-giving
process.
b) An appropriate gift may strengthen relationship bonding.
c) This stage has implications for whether the recipient will reciprocate on
the next gift-giving occasion.
C. Marketing Implications
1. Promoting products and services as gifts; Marketers can promote their
products and services as gifts.
2. Frivolous products with a higher price and larger donation are preferred in the
gift giving process.
3. Technology and gift shopping; Technology has created major changes in the
gift-giving process.
4. Marketers have become more sensitive to ethnic and religious diversity in the
U.S.
5. Alternatives to traditional gifts are increasing.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION
Possible answers are as follows.
1. Contrast the emblematic function of a product with the role acquisition function; also
contrast the connectedness function of a product with the expressive function.
The emblematic function is the use of products to symbolize membership in social
groups. The role acquisition function uses products as symbols to help feel more
2. What is reflexive evaluation, and how does it affect role acquisition?
3. How does the ideal identity schema relate to a person’s actual identity schemas?
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a) The importance of considering the emblematic nature of their offering
3. Use the chalkboard to record student responses.
a) Write down their ideas as they are presented.
b) Concentrate on the principles being discussed rather than the examples
being used.
c) Help them to see the interrelationships among their responses.
IV. Execute
A. Apply what has been learned.
1. Lead a discussion on how the concepts can be applied in organizations.
a) What barriers may be faced in applying the concepts from the exercise?
b) What can be done to help others understand the concepts when you use
them at work?
B. Transfer and use the knowledge.
1. Encourage students to make a record in their notes about how they will use the
ideas in the workplace.
2. Even if they don’t have a specific job, how will they remember to use what they
have learned?