Identity and Consumption

Focus on identity first in this lecture -  why and how you use and wear a product / consumerism/ what does a brand/product say about you as an individual?

What is identity?

Who you are and what you think about yourself - how you present yourself/ how you want people to view you. Your personality/ interests/ characteristics. 

What is consumption?

Buying/using a resource in some way - taking something and taking it. There are things that are made to be consumed by us. 

How are they related? 

How is consumption an identity? How are they related? - You could choose to buy something from a brand or a product and make that their identity or part of their identity. Tapping into the brand - part of their characteristics.

Make a list of 10 brands that you buy into?

Zara

Alpro Milk

Apple

San Miguel

Cafe Nero

Morrisons

Mango

Victoria Secret

Colgate

Nongshim 

Choose one and why?

Zara - The aesthetic of the clothes fit my style the best and are very very good quality. I also think they are a good price for the quality and I'm getting the best out of my money as the clothes last for a long time and the style stays trendy for a long time.

*Bruno Munari - products are objects of interest and we buy into brands and their products through their aesthetics. 

*John Heskett - they are objects/products that we use and buy into to shape our identity and image. The consumer can choose to do this or a company or brand can do this. *Building your own identity/image/status/memory/social. Consumer culture can help you socialise - e.g. basically dressing/ using brands associated to some social culture etc. 

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS (MAZLOW)

Purple - the basic needs of people/ food, water, warmth

Green - Safety needs- security, safety

Yellow - Belongingess and love needs - intimate relationships, friends

Blue - prestige and feeling of accpmplishments

Self-actualisation - make you 'whole' as a person - the peak/ the idea that when you meet all the needs you're more able to do make pursuits, creativity, problem solving, morality, accepting people. 

ACHIEVING YOUR FULL POTENTIAL.

Who are they aimed at? (Audience) - Nike try to aim their adverts to the youth and youth culture, athletes or sporty people as their primary consumers. 

What is their message? - In general they want to encourage the youth and their consumers to be active and to be more conscious about social/political issues, especially with the newer more modern adverts. 

How do they meet needs or promote needs? (Mazlow) - The  meet the esteem and self actualisation parts of the pyramid as they give the consumers make consumers feel confident. Individuality/ one against everyone else. One against a manmade machine. 

How do they play into or form an individual's identity?  -  They make the consumer feel confident and feel like they are taking action and supporting what the brand is promoting through wearing the shoes.

In the end we as consumers are being sold 'values' by brands -  a senses of belonging, needs, safety, confidence - overall identity. 

*Steven Miles - Consumerism as  a Way of Life 

'whether a consumer culture encourages individual freedom and expression or whether it actually serves painstakingly to construct the parameters within which people consume. In effect, dow we as consumers design our own lifestyle or are those lifestyles designed for us?'