消费社会语境下的广告文化批判

消费社会是以商品的大规模消费为特征的社会,从消费社会的角度来看,广告文化具备符号化、视觉化、时尚化和鼓励炫耀性消费的特征。在消费社会,广告通过建构商品符号意义,强化、误导目标受众的身份认同,刺激消费者的欲望,来助推消费心理,夸大其对心理满足的功能。它深深地受到商品逻辑的制约,反过来以商品逻辑瓦解原有的社会价值结构和秩序,并在与媒介的同谋中,广泛而持续地干扰媒介传播,刺激着消费社会以及社会文化的负面发展。     

从抽象的意义到具象的符号——论广告编码的意识形态化

随着消费社会的形成,消费者对商品的需求由物质属性向精神属性转变,商品本身的功能性使用价值逐渐由商品的社会性象征意义所取代。为适应或推动这种消费理念的转变,广告在创意编码的过程中,扮演着为商品填充意识形态领域里各项元素的角色．这些元素以大众文化和流行时尚为主,广告商力图对这些文化内涵、价值理念和伦理道德予以个性化的诠释并通过具象的视觉符号向目标受众传播以期得到他们的认可,从而达成最终的商品销售目的。     

Changes and trends in alcohol consumption patterns in Europe

Consumer behaviourists and consumer policy-makers are interested in the degree to which global convergence is occurring for various consumer behaviour dimensions, the extent to which the consumption patterns in different parts of the world are becoming similar and the extent to which these trends may be influenced and/or influence consumer policy. With increasing internationalization and cultural cross-fertilization, the industrialized societies of the world are converging in many ways. Shifts in alcohol consumption patterns in Europe over the past 50 years represent a case in point. As traditional cultural boundaries become blurred, consumer preferences for alcoholic beverages appear to be driven less by long-standing local and regional traditions and more by growing acceptance of a wider choice. The disparity in total alcohol consumption among the 15 countries studied has also decreased. Other powerful forces are likely to accelerate the pace of convergence in the future.     

视觉文化场域中的广告图像消费考量

视觉文化先行者广告的发展演变轨迹与视觉文化场域的形成保持着一定的同步性。从视觉文化场域的视角考量广告图像传播,可以归纳出广告传播的在场隐含着商品消费与图像消费的双重机制,也包含着不同阶层的权力斗争。广告图像消费产生的深层动因在于媒介技术的变革与视觉体验的转向、宏观的社会变迁：消费社会的形成与驱动。     

Comparing sustainable consumption patterns across product sectors

In this paper, we present findings from two qualitative studies where we explored sustainable consumption practices through examining consumers' information search and decision-making processes for recent purchases of five categories of goods/services: fast moving consumer goods (such as foodstuffs and household products), white goods (such as fridges and washing machines), small electrical products (such as TVs and computers), green energy tariffs (such as electricity from renewable sources) and tourism (such as flights). This research has provided us with a set of rich data which explores the nature and extent of sustainable consumption practices across different product sectors. A comparative analysis has allowed us to draw out patterns of consumer behaviour for different product and service types. Our findings suggest that even the same green consumer will not use the same information sources or decision-making criteria, consider the same options or focus on the same industry actors, for products in different sectors. However, we have identified some degree of consistency in purchases within sectors. We present these sector-specific patterns of consumer behaviour and highlight differences in the criteria utilized and the research norms in each sector.     

Convergence and divergence in consumer behavior: implications for international retailing

Converging technology and disappearing income differences across countries will not lead to homogenization of consumer behavior. Rather, consumer behavior will become more heterogeneous because of cultural differences. As consumer incomes converge across countries, the manifestation of value differences will become stronger. This phenomenon makes it increasingly important to understand values of national cultures and their impact on consumer behavior. Retailing strategies for one country cannot be extended to other countries without adaptation. Hofstede’s model of national culture is applied to understand differences in consumer behavior across countries. Examples are provided of consumption differences, their relationships with culture discussed, and selected implications for international retailing management detailed.     

Are Emerging Markets Catching Up With the Developed Markets in Terms of Consumption?

ABSTRACT

The study tests the consumption convergence hypothesis between developed and emerging markets over a 30-year period (1980–2009) with eight consumption variables: consumer expenditure on food, consumer expenditure on household goods and services, average consumption of calories per day, average consumption of protein per day, and possession of four durables: dishwasher, microwave oven, refrigerator, and washing machine. Socioeconomic influence on consumption convergence is also tested with income, energy consumption, life expectancy, and trade. The regression results indicate that the emerging markets are catching up in terms of consumption but the rate is very slow. Consumption of durables shows slightly faster convergence than other variables. All four socioeconomic variables exert some degree of influence on consumption convergence, with income showing the greatest effect. Knowledge about convergence should be useful to managers for demand estimation and forecasting and for market penetration, segmentation, and positioning strategy.     

I'd like to buy the world a coke: Consumptionscapes of the “less affluent world”

The impact of globalization on the consumption patterns of the Less Affluent World are examined, drawing on examples of consumer culture contact with the More Affluent World. We find that rising consumer expectations and desires are fueled by global mass media, tourism, immigration, the export of popular culture, and the marketing activities of transnational firms. Yet rather than democratized consumption, these global consumption influences are more apt to produce social inequality, class polarizations, consumer frustrations, stress, materialism, and threats to health and the environment. Alternative reactions that reject globalization or temper its effects include return to roots, resistance, local appropriation of goods and their meanings, and especially creolization. Although there is a power imbalance that favors the greater influence of affluent Western cultures, the processes of change are not unidirectional and the consequences are not simple adoption of new Western values. Local consumptionscapes become a nexus of numerous, often contradictory, old, new and modified forces that shape unique consumption meanings and insure that the consumption patterns of the Less Affluent World will not result in Western consumer culture writ globally.     

Convergence in global markets and consumer behaviour

Consumer behavioural scientists such as economists and marketing researchers are interested in the degree to which global convergence is occurring with respect to various consumer behaviour dimensions, particularly the extent that consumption patterns in products appear to evolve and become more similar across different parts of the world. With increasing internationalization and cultural cross‐fertilization, the traditional societies of the world are converging in many ways. The strategic marketing of flavoured alcoholic beverages is a particularly interesting example of this evolutionary process to convergence. Consumers in countries of different cultural originations are developing preferences for the same products and show increasing sign of converging around global product identity. This article presents the results of a study analysing the evolutionary process.     

仿冒品重复消费的动力机制

仿冒品现象已成为商业社会中备受关注的问题,而消费者的重复消费是它盛行的重要形态之一。本文建立消费者的仿冒品满意度整合模型,来明确仿冒品被重复消费的缘由与机制。通过调查和分析得到了以下主要结论:第一,消费者的产品涉入度、奢侈品消费动机、品牌消费认同和诚信意识对于仿冒品的绩效期望和绩效感知分别有较为显著的影响;第二,仿冒品的绩效期望和绩效感知分别对于它的满意度和重复消费有较为显著的正向影响。这些表明,仿冒品的重复性消费以消费者的专业性和诚实性为基础,并受到较高的消费预期和真实的用后感驱动。这些都为知名品牌战略制衡仿冒品提出了严峻挑战。     

Consumer values,motivation and purchase intention for luxury goods

There is considerable ambivalence in how different societies and cultures relate to the consumption of luxury goods. Thinly focused in the literature are Islamic societies (with rapidly emerging ‘super-rich’ consumer segments) where the concept of luxury may be in tension with religious values. Set against this background, this paper investigates how consumer values and motivation influence purchase intentions towards luxury goods. Based on a sample of 400 respondents drawn from Morocco and applying logistic regression models, the paper finds correlations between the intention to buy luxury goods, motivation and personal values. Paradoxically, the influence of religion appears to diminish as consumer affordability of luxury goods increase. Partly due to globalization of markets and impacts on consumer values, Moslems are not fundamentally different from western consumers with regard to predispositions towards luxury consumption. Potential impacts of religion on luxury consumption attitudes and personal values appear to be moderated by the global consumer culture. The results also show an important gender underpinning especially when considered alongside perceived gender biases in consumption decision-making in many Islamic countries. Regarding the nature of purchase behavior women were found to be more positively disposed to impulse purchasing of luxury goods compared to men while more educated people, generally, indicated a greater tendency towards rational than impulse buying decisions.     

The Timing of Daily Demand for Goods and Services—Microsimulation Policy Results of an Aging Society,Increasing Labour Market Flexibility,and Extended Public Childcare in Germany

Knowledge about the timing of consumption opens new insights into consumption behaviour for consumer, economic, social, as well as for communal and societal policies. It not only allows sound information for a better match of timely supply and demand but also about everyday living arrangements. This study contributes to the timing aspect of daily consumption by posing the question: How is the timing of daily demand for goods and services affected by major changes in German society? We concentrate on important and currently discussed developments and policies: the huge shift in Germany’s demographic structure with an aging society (with a population forecast for 2020 by the German Federal Statistical Office), the deregulation and the further expansion in flexibility of the labour market, and the current policy of extending public childcare support. For each aspect and policy, we first describe the actual timing of daily demand for goods and services. With the microsimulation approach and different scenarios, we then quantify the respective societal and policy impacts based on more than 37?000 time-use diaries of the current German Time Budget Survey of 2001/2002.     

Social media adoption behaviour: Consumer innovativeness and participation intention

With the emergence of social media, the trends of selfies have become common across various social networking platforms as a distinctive way of self-presentation. It has aroused the interest of various scholars to comprehend the consumer adoption behaviour for social media. Thus, built on the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and theory of planned behaviour (TPB) perspective, this paper developed a model to empirically test whether and how critical factors of consumer selfie-posting behavioural intention on social media affect behavioural intention and word-of-mouth to consequently enhancing their adoption behaviour towards social media to post selfies. The data were gathered from 353 young consumers who post their selfies clicked via smartphone on their social media accounts. The results revealed that consumer innovativeness and participation intention directly and indirectly affect consumer adoption behaviour for social media to post their selfies. Additionally, the study identified that among all critical factors, participation intention and perceived behaviour control have strongest influence on behavioural intention to post selfies followed by consumer innovativeness, attitude towards selfie-posting and subjective norms. The study contributes to the extension of TPB by adding participation intention and positive WOM, adoption of social media. This research validated the significant roles of consumer innovativeness, participation intention, positive WOM and intention to post selfies in predicting the adoption behaviour. Practitioners and marketers of social media sites can improve the usability and effectiveness of positive WOM and intention to post selfies to attract more young consumers.     

Ostracizing sources avoid communal tastes: Effect of ostracizing behaviour on extraordinary consumption

Although people often exclude others in their daily encounters and social media interactions, no consumer research on ostracism has solely focused on sources of ostracism. We argue that the influence of ostracism on evasive behaviour is worth investigating since the scant academic investigations on sources are limited to their reparation intentions for their harmful behaviour. Three experiments were conducted to examine the influence of ostracizing behaviour (vs. neutral vs. social interaction) on extraordinary consumption in face-to-face and social media contexts. It was uncovered that sources sense dissonant feelings in dissimilar contexts when their behaviour transcends society's normative boundaries and, hence, prefer consumption that does not commonly appear in society as a means to evade this dissonance. The effect was moderated by sources' justification of their behaviour. We initiate consumer research on sources of ostracism and contribute to the marketing practice of introducing extraordinary consumption options by investigating the psychological consequences of ostracizing behaviour.     

Why buy new when one can share? Exploring collaborative consumption motivations for consumer goods

The notion of collaborative consumption or sharing economy—where consumers share access to ownership of properties such as cars, clothes and accommodations—has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Development of communication technologies and peer‐to‐peer communities has enabled consumers to coordinate sharing activities through various online platforms. Collaborative consumption involves sharing of both intangible (e.g., music, space and car rides) and tangible assets (e.g., household items, clothes and furniture). Activities such as renting, swapping, trading and purchasing/selling used consumer goods are included in the latter. Despite increasing academic attention on collaborative consumption, little research has been pursued in the context of consumer goods. The nature of consumption for tangible goods can be entirely different from that of intangible goods because people can exercise greater control over tangible goods, which results in greater psychological ownership than that for intangible goods. To address this gap, the objective of this study is to develop a scale that examines consumer motivations for collaborative consumption of consumer goods. Following Churchill's paradigm of scale development, the procedures of scale item generation, purification and validation were conducted via in‐depth interviews, literature review and surveys. The study identified five underlying dimensions of collaborative consumption of consumer goods: concern‐for‐sustainability, social, variety‐seeking, fun and cost‐saving. Study findings and implications are discussed, and future research avenues are suggested.     

中国奢侈品消费的动因分析

随着当前我国奢侈品消费人数的不断攀升及奢侈品消费金额的不断提高,中国的奢侈品消费从整体上看未富先奢的局面已经出现。其大致可分为两类：一类是传统奢侈品的消费,消费人群主要集中在超富裕阶层;另一类是新奢侈品的消费,消费人群是中产阶级和白领。从影响我国消费者奢侈品消费的主要动机来看,人际性消费是影响我国奢侈品消费的主要动机,其中符号性消费是影响我国当前奢侈品消费的首要因素。符号性消费、从众性消费与人情消费都属于非理性的消费行为,促使我国奢侈品消费呈现出一种非理性状态。因此．应大力倡导理性消费．同时也要抓住契机。加大宣传营销力度与创新．树立自己的民族奢侈品牌,更好地发施我国经济     

Plastic bag politics: modifying consumer behaviour for sustainable development

The adverse environmental impacts of plastic bags, including production energy costs, limited lifespan, increasing landfill content and inability to biodegrade, provide symbolic and practical evidence of a ‘throwaway’ consumer culture which acts as a significant barrier to sustainable consumption in particular and sustainable development in general. Decoupling consumer behaviour from plastic bag use is therefore an important challenge in the pursuit of sustainable consumption as a precursor to achieving sustainable development. This article provides a critical evaluation of that challenge, set within the theoretical framework of sustainable development. It examines the adverse environmental impacts of plastic bag use and evaluates initiatives by governments and businesses internationally to change consumer behaviour regarding the use of plastic bags in line with sustainable development principles. The politics of this agenda are analysed using a combination of consumer policy and public policy perspectives. Finally, the article draws conclusions regarding the earlier analysis.     

Consumer resistance in a world of advertising clutter: The case of Adbusters

The pervasive influence of advertising and consumer culture is examined in relation to a postmodern condition marked by increased speed, fragmentation, and the decentering of the subject. This condition often prompts the consumer to develop ad‐avoidance strategies that protect his/her psychic space by filtering out excess advertising clutter (which also colonizes the public and discursive space of consumer culture). The struggle for these cultural spaces resembles a war of position between the ideology of consumerism and its opponents, who attempt to cultivate alternative worldviews toward consumerism. Although some perspectives see consumption as a means for self‐expression and the fashioning of multiple identities, this position valorizes consumption practices irrespective of their environmental and social impact. An evaluation of the antiadvertising magazine Adbusters illustrates the obstacles inherent in launching challenges to consumerism, and the difficulty of resisting consumerism given advertising's control over cultural spaces. Marketers have converted resistance efforts from some of consumption's most ardent critics into market segments by targeting certain goods and services toward them. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Reconceptualizing risk perception: perceiving Majority World citizens at risk from ‘Northern’ consumption

The premise of this paper is that the consumption behaviour of ‘Northern’ citizens places Majority World citizens at great risk. A theoretical evolution suggested in this paper is the extension of the notion of risky consumption to include the impact of consumption on the human security of others. Until people can envision that their consumption behaviour places others at risk of exposure to harm, they will not see the need to perceive, assess and manage the risk. The paper tenders a preliminary reconceptualization of risk perception, using the conventional consumer behaviour model constructs of personal, distribution channel and situational factors. From this new perspective, instead of judging whether the good or service is risky for a ‘Northern’ citizen to consume, risk perception scholars would examine people's perceptions of whether their consumption places fellow citizens at risk, the people labouring and producing the goods and services.     

中国消费品出口贸易规模与结构分析

20世纪90年代以来,我国消费品出口贸易迅速发展,占全部出口贸易值的比重持续上升,目前已超过60％,在出口贸易中占有重要地位。今后,中国消费品出口贸易规模将稳步扩大,但占全部出口商品的比重将有所下降;消费类电子电器等资本技术密集型消费品占全部出口消费品的比重继续上升,其他劳动密集型消费品所占比重继续下降,中国消费品出口贸易结构继续优化。