Media, Information and Technoculture 2154F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cameron Diaz, Loud Music, Consumerism
30 Jul 2018
School
Department
Professor
January 19th, 2017
Sociology of Shopping
Last class:
- Somatic markers
- Rhetoric
- Packaging (sensation transference)
- Consumer interaction/participatory consumption (ex. Betty Crocker)
- Sprite commercial
o They don’t have the words to describe how refreshing the drink is so they use
images to show
o Evoke sensations of freshness
- Shopping is a social event because consumerism revolves around the masses
Martin Lindstrom’s BUYOLOGY (2008):
- What makes us buy the things we purchase?
- Buyology – “the subconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires that drive purchasing
decisions”
o Subconscious = Bernays’ approach (the importance of the subconscious mind)
- Neuroscience of shopping
- Lindstrom cites the Rizzolatti’s macaques study (1992)
o The monkey’s brain fired in a particular way when it was reaching for a nut
o They ended up noticing that a money who was watching the other way, it’s brain
fired in the same way (simply by observing the action)
- This mirroring only happens with targeted gestures
- Mirror Neuron – “neurons that fire when an action is being performed and when that
same action is being observed” (54)
- Human behaviour is similar to that of the monkeys
- Consumer mimicry – we mimic the behaviour of others (not limited in just consumer
behaviour – ex. Emotional scene in a movie, you are filled with that emotion as well)
o Innate action – something that automatically happens/ not taught
o Evolutionary – group survival
o When we witness pain, we feel the pain as our own (empathy)
o You don’t have to just observe the behaviour, you can read about it and feel that
emotion (ex. “nails on a chalkboard”)
- We mimic one another’s buying behaviours
o Goes beyond simple desire
o Ex. Gap manikin – you could be like that manikin if you wore that exact outfit
o Women are hardwired to feel a greater degree of empathy than men
▪ Are women attaching themselves emotionally to products and buy more?
- Mirror neurons are active when someone else opens a present
- This explains consumer crazes – when a product is everywhere/when a product from the
past comes back
o Ex. Canada Goose jackets, Herschel bags,
o Ex. Uggs – Cameron Diaz (brought Uggs to LA)
▪ Suede is not meant for snow/wet weather yet people are wearing them in
these conditions (consumer mimicry)
- Mirror neurons work in conjunction with dopamine (pleasure chemical – highly
addictive)
o The effects of it recede quite quickly
o Temporarily feel good when you buy something because of the rush of dopamine
▪ Shopping does make us happier but only in the short term
o Pleasure and social status
▪ Because we are fundamentally social, if we feel a product will increase
our social status, we feel good about it
▪ Evolutionary (reproductive success)
- Ex. Abercrombie & Fitch
o Loud music, dark, attractive people = nightclub vibe
o Teenagers aren’t allowed into that kind of an environment, so the store is
providing a socially acceptable substitute
o Make it darker and louder so that parents don’t come inside and the kids can go
inside and purchase whatever they want
o If you walk by the store and smell the store, you’ll feel good about the brand
because of your dopamine neurons
Sociology of Shopping from 3 Different Approaches:
Socializing a brand (1)
Social impact of a product (2)
Shifts within the consumer system itself (3)
1. Socializing a Brand
- Connection we experience with brand lies in part with consumer interaction (social
interaction)
- Airplanes/Airports – people either like it (because they’re going somewhere) or hate it
o In light of this polarizing stance, let’s think about WestJet
▪ Canadian company based out of Calgary
▪ Second biggest airline in Canada (AirCanada is 1st)
▪ Have very different marketing strategies
▪ AirCanada has large advertisements (Olympics, Celine Dion, etc.)
▪ WestJet: anecdotes are an effective way of advertising, they don’t have
TV ads
• Staging events (i.e. Bernays) – goes on YouTube/online and then
it’s free advertising
• Christmas flash mob in 2012
Document Summary
Sprite commercial: they don"t have the words to describe how refreshing the drink is so they use images to show, evoke sensations of freshness. Shopping is a social event because consumerism revolves around the masses. Buyology the subconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires that drive purchasing decisions : subconscious = bernays" approach (the importance of the subconscious mind) This mirroring only happens with targeted gestures. Mirror neuron neurons that fire when an action is being performed and when that same action is being observed (54) Human behaviour is similar to that of the monkeys. Consumer mimicry we mimic the behaviour of others (not limited in just consumer behaviour ex. We mimic one another"s buying behaviours: goes beyond simple desire, ex. Mirror neurons are active when someone else opens a present. This explains consumer crazes when a product is everywhere/when a product from the past comes back: ex.
