Online with
Louise Ripley

 
Consumer Behaviour
The Self
Chapter 5 Solomon Consumer Behaviour

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Perspectives on Self

Self Concept

Content
 
What we actually look like, how smart we are, how we dress... 

Self-Esteem
Positive or Negative? Intensity, stability, accuracy
Real and Ideal Selves
What are we really like? What would we like to be? 
Fantasy
Bridging the Gap
How do products help us bridge this gap? 

Multiple Selves We all play many roles 


What different roles do you play?
What costumes hang in your closet?
 
Symbolic Interactionism - We have many social selves and we need a different set of products as props to play each one. Here, an ad for Urban Barn furniture uses a recognized older style of furniture to make you think about buying furniture to differentiate yourself from the self that is still your mother's son or daughter
 

Looking Glass Self - how do you imagine the reaction of others to your behaviour?

Here Campbell's Soup creates in the mind of a parent the image that the family will have of the kind of parent who stays home all day cooking up a scrumptious stew for dinner

Self Consciousness

Do you worry about your appearance? Kiwi reminds you that you'll feel better with your shoes shined

Consumption and Self Concept
You Are What You Consume

Symbolic Self-Completion Theory
What have you bought to make up for what you weren't? 

Self/Product Congruence

Self-Image Congruence Models
What have you bought because "it's you"?

The Extended Self

 Individual
Family
Community
Group
What have you bought because you belong to one of these?

Gender Roles
Differences in Socialization

Agentic Goals
Communal Goals

 

This ad from 1953 is definitely aimed at women. We'll look for ads today that focus primarily on one gender. 

Gay and Lesbian Consumers

Exercise
Gay and Lesbian Consumers
We will look at magazines to see if we can find ads aimed at gays. If you're reading this ahead of time and you know of any, please bring them in. 

For more on the issue of marketing to gays, see the work of my colleague and friend, Steven Kates. Steven is a Chartered Accountant, a graduate of the York Schulich MBA and PhD programmes, and now a professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. In addition to publishing in the top marketing journals Steven had his doctoral thesis published as a book

Body Image

Hair
Fattism
Body Image Distortions
Cosmetic Surgery
Body Decoration & Mutilation
Body Piercing

Linking the concepts in body decoration with the theories about group influence,
what have you done to yourself (that you'd be willing to talk about!) in this area?


Time for Group Meetings

OTHER UNITS

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AP/ADMS 3210 3.0 Consumer Behaviour
York University, Toronto
© M Louise Ripley, M.B.A., Ph.D.