Week 4 Culture

Monday, October 24, 2022
Compulsory page
Bachelor of Business
Management
Consumer Behaviour
© I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 1

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.
2
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
Consumers.
8. To Understand How the American Culture Became a
“Shopping Culture.”
3
The sum total of

learned beliefs,
values, and customs
Culture that serve to regulate
the consumer
behavior of members
of a particular society.
4
A Theoretical Model of Culture’s Influence on

Behavior
5
Tutorial Question-Why Culture is considered “an Invisible Hand” ?
• Each individual perceives the world through his own

cultural lens
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.
6
Culture Satisfies Needs

• Food and Clothing
It helps us decide where to eat, what to eat.

It guides us on what to wear to a certain occasion.
• Needs vs. Luxury

It gives a indication of what falls under the category of
need and luxury.
7
Culture Is Learned
• Issues
Enculturation and acculturation
• Enculturation
• The learning of one’s own culture
• Acculturation
• The learning of a new or foreign culture
8
Culture Is Learned
• Issues
Language and symbols
• Without a common language ,shared
meaning could not exist
• Marketers must choose appropriate
symbols in advertising
• Marketers can use “known” symbols for
associations
9
Culture Is Learned
• Issues
• Ritual
• A ritual is a type of symbolic activity

consisting of a series of steps
• Rituals extend over the human life cycle
• Marketers realize that rituals often involve
products (artifacts)
10
Event: Weddings, Funerals
11
Tutorial 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?
No doubt, growing up you were involved in some rituals –

high school graduation, rite of passage rituals, births, or
deaths.
12
Selected Rituals and Associated Artifacts

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
13
Culture Is Learned
• Issues
Sharing of Culture
• To be a cultural characteristic, a belief, value,

or practice must be shared by a significant
portion of the society
• Culture is transferred through family, schools,
houses of worship, and media
14
Facial Beauty Ritual of a Young TV Advertising Sales Representative
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.
7. Twice weekly (or as necessary) I use Aapri Facial Scrub to remove
dry and dead skin.
8. 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.
9. Once every three months, I get a professional salon facial to deep-
clean my pores.
15
Culture is Dynamic
• Evolves because it fills needs
• Certain factors change culture
▫ Technology
▫ Population shifts
▫ Resource shortages
▫ Wars
▫ Changing values
▫ Customs from other countries
16
A method for
systematically
analyzing the content
of verbal and/or
Content pictorial
Analysis communication. The
method is frequently
used to determine
prevailing social
values of a society.
17
Consumer Fieldwork
• Field Observation
▫ Natural setting
▫ Subject unaware
▫ Focus on observation of behavior
• Participant Observation
18
American Core Values Criteria for Value Selection
• The value must be pervasive.

Where a significant portion of the population accepts this
value.
• The value must be enduring.

Should lasting for a significant period of time.
• The value must be consumer-related.

It has to help us understand consumption.
19
American Core Values
• Achieveme • Efficiency
nt and • Activity and • Progress
success practicality
• Material • Individualis • External

• Freedom
comfort m conformity
• Humanitarianis • Youthfulne • Fitness and

m ss health
20
American Core Values
21
Tutorial Questions
• Have you observed changes in any of the core values
over the past 5 years?
• Why did those changes occur?
• How have they affected marketers?
22
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
23
Subculture -- Concept
• A social-cultural formation that exists as a sort of island
within the larger society
• Meaning systems, modes of expression, lifestyles
• Developed by groups in subordinate structural positions
in response to dominant or larger systems
• Reflect the group’s attempt to solve contradictions rising
from the wider society
24
Significance of subculture to youth

• Extension to larger culture
• Opposition to larger culture
• Offering symbolic elements to construct identity
• Majority of youth pass through life without significant
involvement in deviant subcultures
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Elements of Subculture
• Relatively unique values and norms
• A special slang not shared with society
• Separate channels of communication
• Unique styles and fads
• Hierarchy of social patterns
• Receptivity to charisma of leaders
26
Formation of youth subcultures

• When larger culture fails to meet their needs.
• Industrialization & modern societies contribute to:
▫ Institutional structure of specialization
▫ Lead to extended education
▫ Advance nutrition widen age period
▫ Mother not mom, father not dad
27
Theories related to formation of youth subcultures
• Journey from childhood to adulthood – survival in

otherwise hostile world
• Class struggle expressed through use of style – striving
against dominant class, older generation and those who
conform
• Rebellion through use of shock tactics – through clothes
and wear like punk and hip-hop
• Construction of new identity based on individualism –
alienation, loneliness, meaningless
28
The increase of youth subcultures

• Size of society
• Rate of change in society
• Globalization in society
• Position of youth in society
29
Features of youth subculture

• Features include style/fashion, language, music,
rebellious symbols, identity
• Class/family and youth subcultures
▫ Working class -- more of gang activity, more emphasis
on fashion
▫ Middle to upper class – more of special interest such
as sports, computers, smart cars, sound system
• Music and youth subcultures
▫ Groups can be identified with specific music genre: hip
hop, hippies, black metal
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Types of youth subcultures

• Stable subcultures – functional, hierarchical, and age
based
• Developing subcultures – those roles that become more
or less important to the lives of the young people
• Counter cultures – those that contradict or confront the
larger/mainstream culture; also referred to as
oppositional subcultures
31
Variety of youth subcultures

• Achievers, intellectuals, image conscious, heavy metal,
hippies, average teenager, religious, punk, trendy,
rappers, satanist, nerds, skinhead, traditionalist, sporty
32
Major Age Subcultures
•Baby • Generati • Generati • Generati

Boomers on X on Y on Z
© I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 33

Baby Boomers
• Born between 1946 and 1964
• Roughly 55-75 years old
• Growing segment due to better medical care, declining birthrate and the aging
of the large baby boomer segment
• Three segments by age
▫ The Young-Old (65-74)
▫ The Old (75-84)
▫ The Old-Old (85 and older)
• Consumer behavior – heavy use if traditional media TV, radio newspaper,
magazine though 90% has a FB account
• Prefer going to a bank, purchase with cash but do not reject digital mobile
• Do not like labels, are cynical, and do not want to be marketed to
• Hard working and Independent
• Grew up watching ‘McGyver’
34
How Seniors Use the Internet
35
Generation X
• Born between 1965 and 1979
• Somewhat heavy TV viewers, radio, Heavy FB users and
blogs
• Prefers online banking
• Brand loyal, prefers one-to-one marketing, brand loyalty
• Latchkey generation (recall ‘Home Alone’ movie), MTV
36
Gen Y Millenials
• Born between 1980-1995
• Less TV and more streaming options Netflix, Mobile is big,
online purchasing, multiple social media accounts
• Impatient to slow and poor services
• Three groups
▫ Gen Y Adults – 19-28
▫ Gen Y Teens – 13-18
▫ Gen Y Tweens 8-12
▫ Tech savvy, ambitious, multi-tasking, global social network
37
Generation Z
• Born after 1996 – 2015
• Received first mobile phones, tablets at 10 years old
• Spend at least 3 hours a day online
• Tech Savvy, Global mindset, believes in equality
• Strong appetite for financial education
38
Tutorial Question
• Is it ethical for marketers of high-priced goods, an iPod
for example, to target tweens?
39
Issues in Understanding Gender as a Subculture
• Sex Roles and Consumer Behavior

▫ Masculine vs. Feminine Traits
• Consumer Products and Sex Roles
• Women as depicted in Media
40
References
1. Solomon M.R. (2017).Consumer Behavior: Buying,
Having, and Being, Global Edition, 12/E, Pearson
2. 2. Schiffman, L. G. & Wisenblit, J. L. Consumer
Behavior (2015) 11th Edition Pearson International
Edition. New Jersey
41

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Monday, October 24, 2022

© I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 1

Learning Objectives (continued)

The sum total of

A Theoretical Model of Culture’s Influence on

Tutorial Question-Why Culture is considered “an Invisible Hand” ?

• Each individual perceives the world through his own

Culture Satisfies Needs

It helps us decide where to eat, what to eat.

• Needs vs. Luxury

• A ritual is a type of symbolic activity

Event: Weddings, Funerals

No doubt, growing up you were involved in some rituals –

Selected Rituals and Associated Artifacts

Wedding White gown (something old,

50th Wedding anniversary Catered party, card and gift, display of

• To be a cultural characteristic, a belief, value,

Facial Beauty Ritual of a Young TV Advertising Sales Representative

1. I pull my hair back with a headband.

American Core Values Criteria for Value Selection

• The value must be pervasive.

• The value must be enduring.

• The value must be consumer-related.

American Core Values

• Material • Individualis • External

• Humanitarianis • Youthfulne • Fitness and

American Core Values

• Why did those changes occur?

• How have they affected marketers?

Toward a Shopping Culture

Significance of subculture to youth

Formation of youth subcultures

Theories related to formation of youth subcultures

• Journey from childhood to adulthood – survival in

The increase of youth subcultures

Features of youth subculture

Types of youth subcultures

Variety of youth subcultures

Major Age Subcultures

•Baby • Generati • Generati • Generati

© I-Station Solutions Sdn Bhd 33

Issues in Understanding Gender as a Subculture

• Sex Roles and Consumer Behavior

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