Lecture 6- The socio-historic patterning of consumption Flashcards
(30 cards)
Gender, Consumption and markets (Why do we learn this?)
To understand these roles are fluid and culturally constructed, which shapes both consumer behaviour and marketing strategies.
CCT examines how marketing can reinforce or challenge gender norms through branding, segmentation and representation, while highlighting the roles of feminism, masculinity studies, and LGBTQ perspectives in understanding inclusive and ethical marketing.
Gender Identity
non-binary concept, which refers to a person’s innermost sense of being male, female, a blend of both, or neither.
Gender Roles
describe masculine or feminine behaviors in accordance with societal norms.
Difference between Sex and Gender
Sex- Biological
Gender- Cultural/Historical construct
LGBTQ- Umbrella for non-heterosexual and non-cis gender identities
3 gender- informed marketing decision
- Representation- reveals marketers interpretation of gender roles
eg. Man shown as rugged adventurers (think Axe ads), women as nurturing caregivers (e.g., cleaning product commercials).
2.Gender-Based Market Segmentation
➤ A strategy where marketing targets are divided based on gender identity, assuming that gender correlates with specific consumer needs or preferences.
🧠 CCT critique: This often reinforces binary thinking and can overlook non-binary or intersectional consumers.
🎯 Example: Targeting sports gear primarily at men, or beauty products at women.
Gendered Products and Product Design/Branding
- Gendered Products
➤ Involves designing and branding products specifically for men or women, using gender-coded colors, materials, or naming conventions.
🎨 Example: “His” and “Hers” deodorants—black and blue for men, pink and floral for women.
Just my Idea: These Gendered informed marketing decisions do not work on isolation rather an interconnected stages for cultural loop.
Why Gender Matters in Marketing?
Gender is one of the most pervasive social categories in contemporary consumer culture.
Impacts segmentation, branding, design, pricing.
*Gendered assumptions affect all levels of the marketing mix.
*Cultural codes (e.g., “pink tax,” “blue for boys”) have real consequences.
-This indicates that marketers have long framed and exploited gender as a key demographic variable to segment markets. Their behaviour has contributed to gender stereotyping by emphasing ( or even constructing) gender differences rather than similarities.
The 4 waves of Feminism
First Wave (Late 19th - Early 20th Century): Legal inequalities, suffrage
Key Achievements: Voting rights, property rights
Second Wave (1960s - 1980s): Workplace, sexuality, family, and reproductive rights.
Key Achievements: Equality in employment, education, and reproductive laws
Third Wave (1990s - Early 2000s): Individuality, diversity.
Key Achievements: Emphasis on individual rights, addressing diversity and intersectionality
Fourth Wave(2010s - Present): Digital activism, intersectionality, social justice.
Key Achievements: MeToo movement, broader inclusivity, and global feminism
Feminist Critiques in Marketing
Woman are portrayed as:
-Passive, decorative, domestic
-Sex objects or dependent on men
Despite “empowerment” imagery, stereotypes persis
Stereotypes of Men in Advertising
Men typically portrayed as:
*Dominant, stoic, rational *Physically strong, emotionally restrained *Bread winners or rebels (e.g., the “man-of-action hero”)
What is Race and Ethnicity
Race and Ethnicity are not natural, these are socially constructed categories deeply embedded in systems of power, shaping how consumers form identies and how marketers segemnt and target audience.
Race and Ethnicity are not natural,
Why is it important and relevant in consumption practices (race and ethnicity)?
Consumers rely on racial and ethnic distinctions in consumption, in designating their identity, community, and status.
*In turn, marketers use racial and ethnic distinctions in developing targeting and segmenting strategies.
Race and ethnicity are social categories that people have developed in separate places and times to form communities and identities that are distinct from others, and much of that distinction is forged in consumption and marketing activities.(Cross et al. 2023, 228
-one of several ‘niche’ market
What is Race?
A socially constructed category based on perceived physical differences, especially skin color.
Cultural Role: Often used in systems of power, exclusion, and hierarchy—rooted in colonial history and still shaping market dynamics.
Key Point: Race tends to highlight visible traits and is more often linked with structural inequality.
What is Ethnicity
A cultural category based on shared heritage, language, religion, customs, and collective memory.
Cultural Role: Ethnicity is more about identity, tradition, and belonging.
Key Point: Ethnicity emphasizes cultural practices and self-identification, and often overlaps with national or regional identities.
Intersectionality
refers to how multiple social identities–like race, gender, class, sexuality, age and ability–interact and overlap to shape people’s experiences in society, including in markets and consumer culture.
Colorism
is the allocation of privilage and disadvantage according to the lightness ir darkness of one’s skin.
The Role of Power
A system of power is embedded in racial and ethnic distinctions. It takes power to classify people according to their skin color or origin, and even more power to enforce viewing people as inferior due to these characteristics.
Within- group marketing
Happens inside a specific racial or ethnic group. It’s about self recognition and community identity.
🔑 Characteristics:
Designed specifically for one cultural group
Often created by members of that group
Reinforces cultural practices, values, or needs
Between-group Marketing
This is about how different racial or ethnic groups are positioned relative to each other—especially by mainstream or dominant brands (often white-owned).
Global Mobility
Global mobility refers to the movement of people, ideas, and cultures across national borders, and how these movements shape consumer identities, practices, and market systems.
Appadurai’s scapes theory
People, ideas, images, technologies, and money all flow globally—but not evenly. These flows shape consumer cultures in complex and messy ways
1 Ethnoscapes (people, migrants, tourists)
2 Technoscapes (tech/tools)
3 Financescapes (money/capital)
4 Mediascapes (images/media)
5 Ideoscapes (ideologies/values)
These flows interact and form global cultural landscapes that influence how we consume and what meanings we attach to consumption.
🛍️ Example:
A Korean beauty brand gets popular in Brazil via YouTube tutorials (mediascape) and cross-border shipping (technoscape)—consumers adapt it to local beauty ideals.
Glocalization and Multiculturalism
🧠 Core Idea:
Global brands or products are localized to fit local cultures. It’s not “one-size-fits-all”—instead, global and local mix in creative, hybrid ways.
✨ Key Concept:
Think global, act local
Consumers are not passive—they reinterpret global goods using local meaning systems
🛍️ Example:
McDonald’s sells the McSpicy Paneer burger in India. It’s still McDonald’s, but it reflects Indian vegetarian preferences and spice culture.
Theo Tip: Glocalization shows how local consumers actively reshape global brands—not just the other way around!
Migration and Acculturation
🧠 Core Idea:
This focuses on how migrants and mobile consumers learn to navigate between cultures—and how their consumption changes as they adapt.
✨ Key Concept:
Consumers don’t just adopt one culture—they negotiate multiple cultural identities
Acculturation isn’t linear (e.g., going from “home culture” to “host culture”)—it’s multidirectional and relational
🛍️ Example:
An immigrant mother from Mexico in the U.S. might cook traditional food at home (to preserve culture) but shop at Target and use American products (to integrate)—mixing practices to manage identity and belonging.
This theory helps us understand cultural hybridity, identity conflict, and the emotional complexity of consumption for mobile individuals
Berry’s 4 acculturation strategies:
Assimilation - embracing only the dominant culture.
*Integration - embracing both dominant and original home culture.
*Segregation - reject the dominant culture and maintain only their home culture at their new homes.
*Marginalization - maintain a loose contact to both cultures.
