What Has Four Months of Studying Consumption Taught Me?

What have I learned throughout this semester of Consumer Behavior? Well, its a loaded question really. I've learned that I will never grocery shop the same way ever again, and that marketers can use information about consumers to better serve their needs. The following is an overview of some of my favorite topics that were covered throughout the semester.

• The Self: People construct different ideas of who they are, how they would like to be, and what products they consume that make up their identities. These can be described as the Actual, Ideal, and Extended Selves. "We are the sum of our possessions"
• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler: What we consume can be greatly influenced by how our choices are presented to us. Giving people the ability to opt in to something will produce better (more) results than making people opt out of something. 
• The Persuaders: Why do we advertise the way we do? Because once a company has started advertising, "You can't stop or the competition will eat you alive" 
• Consumers don't know why they are consuming the way they are. Consumers make unconscious associations with everything they buy. 
• Motivational Conflicts: Purchase decisions involve more than one source of motivation. Consumers have different motives, both positive and negative that conflict with one another, that makes it difficult for consumers to make rational decisions. 
• Susan Fournier's article taught me that consumers develop brand relationships based on past consumption decisions and who we have been consuming with. 
• Ethnocentrism: We often forget to study the groups we most closely identify with. An example of this is when we watched Bend it Like Beckham and forget to recognize Jules' family as a reference group. 
• Predictably Irrational: Is being aware of our own biases enough to protect us from making bad consumption decisions? I'd say not really, but it does make us informed consumers! 
• Opinion leaders, early adopters, our surroundings, moods, age, and culture all affect what we buy
• Rituals are maps of our past consumption and serve as a way to remember why we do things the way we do.

Thanks for a great semester, I hope this blog was informant and interesting for all who read. 

Look Out, You May Become a Victim of "FREE!"

In case you didn't know, Patagonia is having its annual 50% off past season products sale! Hooray! As a habitual purchaser of Patagonia products, I am very excited about this sale, as I am every year. I currently have a total of $65.95 in my online cart, this includes shipping.

But wait, Patagonia offers free shipping on orders over $75! It seems like such great news, right? Whilst online shopping I am constantly reminded of Predictably Irrational when  see the words "FREE!" (and yes, it really is always in caps). Ariely's book teaches us that "FREE!" makes us perceive that what is being offered is immensely more valuable than it really is. Now I have a decision to make, do I buy the $14.00 trucker hat that I have kind of been looking at to get my total above $75 so that I can get free shipping?

NO! Even though I don't necessarily need a new hat I am only considering buying it because I want free shipping. My shipping total without the hat is only $7.95 which I was already prepared to pay for before I realized there was a free shipping option.  I have only one more day to make a final decision before the sale is over, hopefully I will do the rational thing and go with only my original purchase intent, but no promises...

If you'd like to check out the sale, and maybe get some free shipping, check out the site http://www.patagonia.com/us/shop/web-specials?k=ga

Eating Your Feelings?

With the coming of finals I figured that a post about the estranged consumption habits of students during this hellacious week was appropriate.  I began thinking about this when I realized that I'd had three cups of coffee yesterday afternoon to keep me up and going on my studying. This then made me ponder the question, do consumption habits change as a person is feeling more or less stressed? From personal experience I can say that consumption of food, alcohol, and exercise all drastically change as I begin to feel more stressed. 

One of the articles I found had some interesting information about stress eating. One of the highlights from that article was a small questionnaire that asked the following questions about determining if a person could be a stress eater. http://www.helpguide.org/life/emotional_eating_stress_cravings.htm

• Do you eat more when you’re feeling stressed?
• Do you eat when you’re not hungry or when you’re full?
• Do you eat to feel better (to calm and soothe yourself when you’re sad, mad, bored, anxious, etc.)?
• Do you reward yourself with food?
• Do you regularly eat until you've stuffed yourself?
• Does food make you feel safe? Do you feel like food is a friend?
• Do you feel powerless or out of control around food?

An article I found from Bright Eye, Online Alcohol Therapy, states "A lot of people consume alcohol as a way to manage stress. How often this is effective as a coping strategy probably decreases as the amount you drink increases. But although alcohol doesn't really work as a long-term way of handling stressful situations, it does provide relief in the short term. And this is where the problem starts".   

 http://www.brighteyecounselling.co.uk/alcohol-drugs/alcohol-consumption-stress-management/

And finally, this article from the Mayo Clinic suggests that exercise is a great way to alleviate stress. "Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits." http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469

• It pumps up your endorphins.
• It's meditation in motion.
• It improves your mood. 

So, as the week progresses and we all begin to feel more and more stressed, keep in mind that alcohol will only help the problems short term and may give you a screaming headache! Food, though comforting needs to be consumed in a way that helps you maintain regular and healthy choices. And lastly, exercise can help you feel better. 

Abundance at It's Finest

Since our discussion about "We Gather Together": Consumption Rituals of Thanksgiving Day I can't help but be a little irritated by the article. Not that the U.S. tradition of celebrating the harvest is bad but really, eating competitions, eating so much we need to sleep or walk to regain comfort after gorging ourselves? It does seem a little silly, right? Especially when there are so many hungry people in our own country, not to mention other countries who are fighting the deadly battle against hunger. I realize that this article was not written for the purpose of showcasing how much Americans eat on Thanksgiving but rather to study the rituals that the holiday embodies. In the article the authors note the theme of abundance on Thanksgiving, the terms stuffing and loading are used throughout to describe the sheer volume of food, company, and dishes used during the celebration. The article says on the topic of abundance, "Photographs show plates so loaded with food that they are difficult to balance while walking from buffet to table" (Wallendorf & Arnould 1991).

So, while embracing our tradition of abundance what can we all do to help out those who are hungry? Why not drink beer and donate food to the hungry at the Big Sky BBQ Festival?! This event is not until August so you'll have plenty of time to prepare. The tradition of Thanksgiving is based around giving thanks for what we have. In keeping with the theme, have your traditional Thanksgiving celebration but remember to give thanks that you have the ability to stuff yourself on such an occasion.

To get more info on this event check out the Montana Food Bank Network at http://mfbnevents.org/

Wallendorf, Melanie, and Eric J. Arnould. ""We Gather Together": Consumption Rituals of Thanksgiving        Day." Journal of Consumer Research 18.1 (1991): 13-30. Print.

Can You Break Up With Your Gym? How About Your Bank?

Last week in our discussion on Robert V. Kozinets's article, "Can Consumers Escape the Market" we touched on the many highlights of consumption in regards to Burning Man. As we all now know, Burning Man encourages a sense of community at it's event as well as a theme of non-consumption. While the Burning Man committee nudges it's attendees to abide by these guidelines, Kozinets makes a strong argument that non-consumption is nearly impossible. Kozinets writes about the participants of the festival, "From their comments to me, people indicated that they were constantly judging others in terms of the degree of their participation in the event" (Kozinets 2002). When discussing this phenomena we brought up other situations in which the theme is common, some examples were; the Sturgis bike rally, online gaming sites, and my personal favorite, gyms.

My thinking in relating the theme of forced non-consumption was that when signing up for a gym membership, a person is often persuaded by an extremely fit looking individual who will give a run down all about how the gym has a great community and some very exclusive services offered only to members. This reminded me of an episode of Friends where Chandler tries to quit his gym  but requires the assistance of Ross to terminate the membership.

As you can see from the clip, ending Chandler's gym membership doesn't go over so well. Ross also becomes a member of the gym and then they end up with a joint checking account! Chandler and Ross feel pressure from the other members of the gym and bank communities to join and participate, much like the attendees of Burning Man. Kozinets says of his experience with less enthusiastic participants, "These outsiders were judged as inauthentic" (Kozinets 2002). One could argue that it is hard to win as a skeptic of the theme. Unless the participant is convincingly authentic about their participation they may be judged for their motives. Whether its joining a gym or attending Burning Man, consumers need to be aware of the choices they will be making, be it consumption or non-consumption. 

This couple has taken a relaxed approach to the consumption of clothing, but very practical footwear! 

Live Young with Evian and Babies

Generally speaking, I'm not much of a bottled water consumer but this Evian commercial is hilarious! On the Evian website there are all kinds of resources and information about water consumption and what it can do for the human body. Evian's tag line, "Live Young" along its adorable baby ads encourage people to drink water to stay healthy and youthful. The site includes information about where its water is sourced as well as a water quality report for all U.S. states. Evian also produced a video of the making of this crowd pleasing commercial.

To learn more facts about water and see cute babies, check out Evian's website http://www.evian.com/en_us