Chapter 11 Culture’s Influence on Consumer Behavior LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading, studying and analyzing this chapter, students should be able to understand: 11.1 Culture’s role, dynamics, evolution, and impact on consumers’ priorities and behaviors. 11.2 Language, symbols and rituals as expressions of a learned culture. 11.3 How to measure the influence of culture on consumer behavior. 11.4 Americans’ core values and how to apply them to persuasive communications. 11.5 Green marketing and ecologically responsible consumption. CHAPTER SUMMARY Learning Objective 11.1: To understand culture’s role, dynamics, evolution, and impact on consumers’ priorities and behaviors. Culture is the collective values, customs, norms, arts, social institutions, and intellectual achievements of a particular society. Cultural values express the collective principles, standards, and priorities of a community. Most of the promotional messages across the world reflect, to some degree, the cultural values of the target audiences. Cultures always evolve, so marketers must monitor the sociocultural environment so as to market existing products more effectively and develop new products that are congruent with changing cultural trends. Understanding cultural changes is not an easy task, because many factors produce cultural changes within a given society, including new technologies, population shifts, resource shortages, and customs from other cultures. Learning Objective 11.2: To understand language, symbols, and rituals as expressions of a learned culture. To be considered a cultural value, a belief or custom must be shared by a significant portion of the society, because culture is essentially a series of norms that guide personal and group conduct and link together individuals into a largely cohesive group. Generally, society’s members share their values and customs through a common language, although some cultures include more than one language. We learn cultural norms and customs mostly from family and peers, and begin at a very young age to understand that some behaviors are appropriate and others are not. Anthropologists have identified three forms of cultural learning: formal learning, informal learning, and technical learning. Our ethical values are also formed during childhood, as we learn them from parents, teachers, and other significant adults. Anthropologists distinguish between enculturation (learning one’s own culture) and acculturation (learning a new or foreign cultures). The contents of media, advertising, and marketing reflect cultural values and convey them to all members of society very effectively. Given Americans’ extensive exposure to print, broadcast, and online media, as well as the easily ingested and entertaining presentation formats of their contents, media and advertising are powerful vehicles for imparting cultural values. Cultural values are reflected in societies’ languages, symbols, communications, and artifacts. A symbol is anything that represents something else; symbols can be either verbal or nonverbal. Words are verbal symbols and the text of any ad is a composition of symbols. In addition to language and symbols, cultures include ritualized behaviors. A ritual is a type of symbolic activity consisting of a series of steps (multiple behaviors) occurring in a fixed sequence and repeated periodically. Learning Objective 11.3: To understand how to measure the influence of culture on consumer behavior. The most widely used measurements of cultural values are content analysis, consumer field observation, and value measurement instruments. Content analysis focuses on the content of societies’ verbal, written, and pictorial communications, including promotional messages. When examining a specific society, anthropologists frequently study cultures through field observation, which consists of observing the daily behavior of selected members of a society. Based on their observations, researchers draw conclusions about the values, beliefs, and customs of the society under investigation. There are also structured, self-administered questionnaires that measure individuals’ cultural values, such as the Rokeach Value Survey, the Values and Lifestyles instrument, and Gordon’s survey of personal and interpersonal values. Learning Objective 11.4: To understand Americans’ core values and how to apply them to persuasive communications. We identified ten American core values that both affect and reflect the character of American society, using the criteria of pervasiveness, endurance, and consumption relatedness. The core values identified include achievement and success, time and activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, materialism (comfort and pleasure), individualism and conformity, freedom of choice, humanitarianism, youthfulness, and fitness and health. These values are often reflected in advertisements and are applicable to developing marketing strategies. Learning Objective 11.5: To understand green marketing and ecologically responsible consumption. Green marketing is producing and promoting reusable and ecofriendly products. Virtually all companies have adopted at least some environmentally friendly practices in response to the global awareness of climate change and its potentially dire consequences for our planet and its inhabitants. Many Americans now consider buying environmentally sound products to be part of their duties as consumers and a societal and cultural priority. Studies focused on consumers have found that favorable attitudes toward environmentally safe products do not always lead to purchase of such items. Researchers also discovered that consumers cannot easily understand many eco-labels and do not know which lifestyle changes can help the environment. CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction 1. Culture is the collective values, customs, norms, arts, social institutions and intellectual achievements of a particular society. a) Cultural values express the collective principles, standards and priorities of a community. b) Promotional messages often reflect the target audiences’ cultural values. 2. The study of culture is a challenging undertaking because its primary focus is on the broadest component of social behavior in an entire society. *****Use Figures #11.1 and #11.2 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 11.1 Here***** Culture’s Role and Dynamics 1. Culture, the sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to direct the consumer behavior of members of a particular society, is often referred to as an “invisible hand” that guides the actions of people of a particular society. 2. There are three “levels” of cultural norms: a) Supranational level – reflects the underlying dimensions of culture that impact multiple cultures or different societies. A lifestyle matrix for four segments of global youth (14-24) includes: i) In-crowd – privileged and seeking approval from others ii) Pop mavericks – word-of-mouth spreads rapidly; passion, individuality, instant gratification and personalization important iii) Networked intelligentsia – hub of online social networks; revolution, creativity, deconstruction iv) Thrill renegades – infamy, adrenaline, anarchy b) National level factors – such as shared core values, customs, personalities, and predispositional factors that tend to capture the essence of the “national character” of the citizens of a particular country. c) Group Level factors – are concerned with various subdivisions of a country or society. They might include subcultures’ difference, and membership and reference group differences. *****Use Key Term culture Here; Use Learning Objective #11.1 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment 11.9 Here***** 3. Marketers should periodically reconsider why consumers are doing what they do, who are the purchasers and users, when they shop, how and where they can be reached by the media, and what new product and service needs are emerging. 4. Culture expresses and satisfies the needs of societies. a) It offers order, direction and guidance for problem solving by providing methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs. b) Culture determines whether a product is a necessity or discretionary luxury. c) Culture dictates which clothes are suitable for different occasions. d) When a specific standard no longer satisfies the members of a society or reflects its needs, it is modified or replaced. Learning Cultural Values 1. Culture is a series of norms that guide personal and group conduct and link individuals into a largely cohesive group. 2. There are three distinct forms of learning: a. Formal learning—adults and older siblings teach a young family member “how to behave.” b. Informal learning—a child learns primarily by imitating the behavior of selected others. c. Technical learning—teachers instruct the child in an educational environment as to what, how, and why it should be done. *****Use Learning Objective #11.2 Here; Use Key Terms formal learning, informal learning, technical learning Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 11.2 Here ***** 3. The learning of one’s own culture is known as enculturation. a. Key components of one’s enculturation are the family and consumer socialization. b. Educational institutions teach arts, sciences, civics and skills. c. Religious institutions provide spiritual and moral guidance and values. 4. The learning of a new or foreign culture is known as acculturation. 5. A consumer can be a “foreigner” in his or her own country. *****Use Key Terms acculturation and enculturation Here ***** 6. Promotional messages are powerful vehicles for imparting cultural values. 7. Products can become cultural icons and help provide a cultural identity. 8. Social media conveys and shapes cultural values; influential people communicate. 9. A symbol is used to convey desired product images or characteristics; it is anything that stands for something else. a) Symbols can be verbal or nonverbal. b) Symbols may have several, even contradictory, meanings. c) Marketers use symbols to convey desired product images or characteristics. d) Price and channels of distribution (including the type of store where the product is sold) are symbols of the marketer and the marketer’s product. *****Use Key Term symbol Here***** 10. A ritual is a type of symbolic activity consisting of a series of steps occurring in a fixed sequence and repeated over time. a. They can be public or private, elaborate, religious, or civil ceremonies, or they can be mundane. b. Rituals tend to include ritual artifacts (products) that are associated with, or somehow enhance, performance of the ritual. c. Ritualistic behavior is any behavior that is made into a ritual. *****Use Key Terms ritual and ritualistic behavior Here; Use Tables #11.1 and #11.2 Here; Use Hands-on Assignments 11.7 and 11.8 Here***** Measuring Cultural Values 1. There are a variety of measures of culture, including: content analysis, consumer field observation, and value measurement instruments. *****Use Learning Objective #11.3 Here***** 2. Content analysis focuses on the content of verbal, written, and pictorial communications. It can be used to: a) Identify the intentions, focus, or communication trends of an individual, group or institution. b) Describe attitudinal and behavioral responses to communications. c) Determine psychological or emotional state of persons or groups. 3. When examining a specific society, anthropologists frequently study cultures through field observation, which consists of observing the daily behavior or selected members of a society and has the following characteristics: a) It takes place within a natural environment. b) It is performed sometimes without the subjects’ awareness. c) It focuses on observation of behavior. d) Instead of just observing behavior, researchers sometimes become participant-observers, or active members of the environment they are studying. 4. In addition to fieldwork methods, depth interviews and focus groups are also quite often employed by marketers to study social and cultural changes. *****Use Key Terms content analysis, field observation, and participant-observers Here; Use Hands-on Assignment 11.10 Here ***** 5. Recently there has been a gradual shift away from inferring characteristics about culture via observation to directly measuring values by means of survey research. a) Value instruments ask people how they feel about such basic personal and social concepts as freedom, comfort, national security, and peace. b) The Rokeach Value Survey is a self-administered value inventory, which is divided into two parts. i) Part one consists of 18 terminal value items, designed to measure the relative importance of end-states of existence (personal goals). ii) Part two consists of 18 instrumental value items, designed to measure the basic approaches an individual might take to reach end-state values. c) Gordon’s Surveys of Personal and Interpersonal Values measures values that determine how people cope with their daily lives. i) One survey is for personal values. ii) One survey is for interpersonal values. *****Use Key Terms Rokeach Value Survey, terminal values, interpersonal values, personal values, instrumental values and Gordon’s Surveys of Personal and Interpersonal Values Here; Use Tables 11.3 and 11.4 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 11.3 Here ****** American Core Cultural Values 1. Identification of American core values is a very difficult task for several reasons. a) The United States is a very diverse country consisting of a variety of subcultures, each of which interprets and responds to society’s basic beliefs and values in its own specific way. b) The United States is a dynamic society, as illustrated by changes due to rapid technological developments, which makes it difficult to monitor changes in cultural values. c) Finally, the existence of contradictory values in American society is somewhat confusing. 2. When selecting specific core values researchers are guided by three criteria: a) The value must be pervasive—accepted and used by a significant portion of the American people b) The value must be enduring—influencing the actions of Americans over an extended period of time c) The value must be consumer-related—providing insights that help marketing people understand the consumption actions of the American people. *****Use Key Term American core values Here; Use Learning Objective #11.4 Here***** 3. The core values identified include achievement and success, time and activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, materialism (comfort and pleasure), individualism and conformity, freedom of choice, humanitarianism, youthfulness, fitness and health. a) Achievement and Success i) These values have historical roots in the traditional Protestant work ethic, which considers work to be wholesome, spiritually rewarding, and an appropriate end in itself. ii) Research shows the achievement orientation is closely associated with the technical development and economic growth of the American society. iii) Individuals who consider a sense of accomplishment to be an important personal value tend to be achievers who strive hard for success. iv) Although closely related, achievement and success are different. a) Achievement is its own direct reward—it is satisfying to the achiever. b) Success implies an extrinsic reward—financial or status improvements. ii) Both achievement and success influence consumption. They often serve as social and moral justification for the acquisition of goods and services and the conspicuous consumption of symbols of personal accomplishments. b) Time and Activity i) Americans consider time valuable and feel it is important to be active and involved. ii) The premium on time affects consumption of convenience goods, including fast food. c) Efficiency and Practicality i) In terms of efficiency, Americans admire anything that saves time and effort. ii) In terms of practicality, Americans are generally receptive to any new product that makes tasks easier and can help solve problems. d) Progress is linked to the values reviewed earlier and the central belief that people can always improve themselves and change should be accepted, including new products or services designed to fulfill previously under- or unsatisfied needs. e) Materialism (comfort and pleasure) leads to the perception that material comfort and possessions signify attainment of “the good life” ***** Use Figures #11-4 - #11.7 Here***** d. Individualism and Conformity i. Americans want to be themselves. ii. Self-reliance, self-interest, self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment are all expressions of individualism. iii. Although Americans deeply embrace freedom of choice and individualism, they accept the reality of conformity. e. Freedom of Choice means the opportunity to choose from a wide range of alternatives and is reflected in the large number of competitive brands and product variations that can be found on the shelves of the modern supermarket or department store. f. Humanitarianism i. Americans tend to be charitable and willing to come to the aid of people less fortunate. ii. Consumer researchers have validated two scales that deal with attitudes toward helping others and attitudes toward charitable organizations. iii. Beyond charitable giving, other social issues have an impact on both what consumers buy and where they invest. iv. Many companies try to appeal to consumers by emphasizing their concern for environmental and social issues. g. Youthfulness: Americans tend to place an almost sacred value on youthfulness, so messages create a sense of urgency about retaining youth and avoiding aging. h. Fitness and Health: Americans are preoccupied with it, and may feel it gives them control over their environment. *****Use Figures #11.8 - #1.10 Here; Use Table 11.5 Here; Use Discussion Question #11.4 Here***** Green Marketing 1. Green marketing is producing and promoting reusable and eco-friendly products. a. Virtually all companies have adopted at least some environmentally friendly practices in response to global awareness of climate change and its consequences for our planet. b. Many Americans consider buying environmentally sound products part of their duties as consumers and societal and cultural priority. c. Green attitudes do not always result in pro-environmental behavior. *****Use Key Term green marketing Here; Use Learning Objective #11.5 Here; Use Figures 11.12, 11.13 and 11.14 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 11.5 Here ***** 2. Consumers’ likelihood to buy environmentally safe products may depend on: a. Quality and price. b. Consumer knowledge of the best means to reduce global warming. c. Consumer understanding of green product labels. d. Engaging green marketing. *****Use Tables 11.6 and 11.7 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 11.6 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment 11.11 Here ***** Chapter 12 Subcultures and Consumer Behavior LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading, studying and analyzing this chapter, students should be able to understand: 12.1 The subcultures within the United States and their relationships to American culture. 12.2 The influence of nationality and ethnicity subcultures on consumer behavior. 12.3 The impact of religious affiliations on consumer behavior. 12.4 The influence of regional characteristics on consumer behavior. 12.5 Age and generational influences on consumer behavior. 12.6 The influence of gender on consumer behavior. SUMMARY Learning Objective 12.1: To understand the subcultures within the United States and their relationships to American culture. Subcultural analysis enables marketers to segment their markets to meet the specific needs, motivations, perceptions, and attitudes shared by members of a specific subcultural group. A subculture is a distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable segment within a larger, more complex society. Its members possess beliefs, values, and customs that set them apart from other members of the same society; at the same time, they hold to the dominant beliefs of the overall society. Major subcultural categories in the United States include nationality, religion, geographic location, race, age, and sex. Each of these can be broken down into smaller segments that can be reached through special copy appeals and selective media choices. In some cases (such as the elderly consumer), product characteristics should be tailored to the specialized needs of the market segment. Because all consumers simultaneously are members of several subcultural groups, the marketer must determine how specific subcultural memberships interact to influence the consumer’s purchases of specific products and services. Learning Objective 12.2: To understand the influence of nationality and ethnicity subcultures on consumer behavior. The three ethic subcultures in the United States that constitute unique market segments are Hispanics (or Latinos), African Americans, and Asian American consumers. Latinos represent 15% of the U.S. population, and their number is estimated to become 30% of the U.S. population by the year 2050. They have an estimated purchasing power approaching $1.2 trillion, larger families, and many live in extended family households consisting of several generations of family members. The African American population of the United States consists of 42 million persons, and is estimated grow to 70 million African Americans by 2050. African Americans have a purchasing power estimated to have reached $1 trillion. It is also important to note that more than half of African American consumers are less than 35 years of age. Generally, the consumption of African Americans consumers is a function of their social standing rather than ethnicity. There are approximately 17 million Asian Americans, representing 5.6% of the U.S. population, and they are the fastest growing American minority, with some estimates showing that their numbers will reach 35 million by 2050. The largest nationalities within America’s Asian population are Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. Asian Americans do not share a common language and are a highly diverse market segment. The Asian American population is greatly urbanized, and the three metropolitan areas with the highest Asian American populations are the Greater Los Angeles Area, the New York metropolitan area, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The most striking characteristics of Asian Americans is a high level of educational attainment. Learning Objective 12.3: To understand the impact of religious affiliations on consumer behavior. The United States reportedly has more than 200 different organized religious subcultures. Of this number, Protestant denominations, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism are the principal organized religious faiths. The members of all these religious groups at times make purchase decisions that are influenced by their religious Identity. Commonly, consumer behavior is directly affected by religion in terms of products that are symbolically and ritualistically associated with the celebration of various religious holidays. Learning Objective 12.4: To understand the influence of regional characteristics on consumer behavior. The United States is a large country that includes a wide range of climatic and geographic conditions. Thus, it is only natural that many Americans have a sense of regional identification and use this identification as a way of describing themselves and others. These labels often assist us in developing a mental picture and supporting a “stereotype” of the person in question. There also are geographic differences in the consumption of staple foods and brand preferences. National brands are products that are available in all fifty states, although the market shares of most brands vary among geographic regions. While geographic differences in sales and market share are common for many brands of consumer packaged goods in the United States, brands in nations that are smaller in geographic area do not exhibit similar regional differences. However, the consumer behavior in more diversified countries, such as large Asian nations, varies significantly among regions. Learning Objective 12.5: To understand age and generational influences on consumer behavior. According to the latest U.S. Census, there are 308 million Americans. Each generation constitutes a distinct subculture and market segment, because its members have unique priorities and purchase patterns. Important shifts occur in an individual’s demand for products and services as he or she goes from being a dependent child to a retired senior citizen. The primary age groups applicable to market segmentation are Generations X, Y, and Z, baby boomers, and older Americans. Generation Z is the cohort of people born from 1997 to the present day. Members of Gen Z are highly “connected,” having had lifelong exposure to and use of communication and media technology. Generally, Gen Z are the children of Generation X, although some of the oldest may be the children of baby boomers; the youngest members can also be children of Generation Y. Gen Z is the most diverse American generation ever, and is the last generation to have a Caucasian majority. Gen Z persons have social circles that are much more diverse than older generations’ and include people from different ethnic groups, races, and religions. Marketers expect Gen Z members to be the first generation to earn less than their parents, because they are growing up in a period of economic uncertainty. Generation Y are people born between 1980 and 1996. Gen Y members grew up with technology and embraced it. They are attracted to higher levels of stimulation and are bored easily. They are more confident than other generations were at their age, because of growing up in child-centric households, a youth-oriented society, and the American emphasis on self-esteem. As consumers, they want faster product turnover, personally relevant promotions, and interactive marketing platforms. Many want to design their own products, get involved with messaging through their own networks and rate products. The most effective way to reach Gen Y persons is by messages appearing online and cable TV. Gen Y persons are the heaviest users of text messaging and smartphones. Generation X consists of about 50 million individuals born between 1965 and 1979. As consumers, they represent a market with a spending power in excess of $1 trillion. They do not like labels, are cynical, and generally do not want to be singled out and marketed to. Unlike their parents, the baby boomers, they are in no rush to marry, start a family, or work excessive hours to earn high salaries. For Generation X consumers, job satisfaction is typically more important than salary. Therefore, they are not particularly interested in long-term employment with a single company, but instead prefer to work for a company that can offer some work–life flexibility and can bring some fun aspects into the environment. They want to be recognized by marketers as a group in their own right and not as mini–baby boomers. Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. These 78 million or so baby boomers represent more than 40% of the U.S. adult population, which makes them a much sought-after market segment. They constitute about 50% of all those in professional and managerial occupations and more than one-half of those have at least one college degree. They are a large and distinctive age category (the term “baby boomers” was probably the first distinct and universally recognized name of an American generation). They frequently make similar purchase decisions that influence entire categories of consumer goods. They include trendsetting, upwardly mobile professionals who have influenced the consumer tastes of all age segments. They account for nearly half of consumer packaged goods spending and control between 65% and 75% of the disposable income in the United States. In the year 2010, fully one-third of Americans, 97.1 million of them, were over 50 years old, and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) estimated that U.S. consumers in this age bracket own 80% of U.S. financial assets. America is aging. A large proportion of the baby boomers have already turned 60, with plenty more to come in the next decade. In 2006, there were more than 37 million people in this country who are 65 years of age or older (almost 12.5% of the population). Projecting ahead to the year 2050, it is anticipated that more than 88 million Americans (20% of the total population) will be 65 years of age or older. In addition, from the start to the end of the twentieth century, life expectancy in the United States rose from about 47 years to 77 years. Older consumers are not a uniformed group because people age differently in terms of physical mobility, health, financial resources, and attitudes about retiring and getting older. Cognitive age is a person’s perception of how old he or she is. Marketers realize that people’s perceptions of their ages are more important in determining behavior than their chronological ages. Learning Objective 12.6: To understand the influence of gender on consumer behavior. Because sex roles have an important cultural component, it is quite fitting to examine gender as a subcultural category. All societies tend to assign certain traits and roles to males and others to females. In terms of role differences, women have historically been cast as homemakers with responsibility for child care, and men as the providers or breadwinners. Because such traits and roles are no longer relevant for many individuals, marketers are appealing to consumers’ broader vision of gender-related role options. Also, the “gender gap” is narrowing for many areas, products, and behaviors that used to be strongly gender-linked. Marketers are paying particularly close attention to the working-woman segment of society, and investigating the various subgroups in this segment. CHAPTER OUTLINE INTRODUCTION 1. A subculture is a group that shares certain beliefs, values and customs and exists within a larger society. 2. A subculture can stem from a person’s ethnicity, religion, geographic location, age or gender, among other things. 3. These subcultures provide important marketing opportunities for astute marketing strategists. *****Use Key Term subculture Here; Use Figure #12.1 Here***** Culture and Subcultures 1. A society’s cultural profile includes the unique beliefs, values and customs of specific subcultures and the central or core cultural values and customs share by most of the population, regardless of subcultural memberships. 2. Most Americans belong to more than one cultural group. 3. Subcultural analysis enables the marketing manager to focus on sizable and natural market segments. *****Use Figure 12.2 Here; Use Learning Objective #12.1 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question 12.1 Here***** Nationality and Ethnicity Subcultures 1. For Americans that are foreign born, as well as Americans born in the United States, there is a strong sense of and identification with the language and customs of their ancestors which can manifest itself in consumption behavior. 2. When it comes to consumer behavior, ancestral pride is manifested most strongly in the consumption of ethnic foods, in travel to their “homeland,” and in the purchase of numerous cultural artifacts. 3. Nationality and ethnicity affect geographic concentration, consumption patterns, media usage and responses to communications. ***** Use Learning Objective #12.2 Here; Use Figures #12.3 and #12.4 Here***** 1. Latino (Hispanic) consumers are the largest ethnic subculture. a) Hispanic Americans represented approximately 15 percent of the United States population in the 2010 Census (buying power of $1.2 trillion in 2011). b) The number of Hispanics is estimated to reach 30 percent of the population by the year 2050. c) Hispanic Americans are younger (the median age of Hispanics is about 9 years younger than the median age of all Americans), they are members of larger families, and they are more likely to live in an “extended family” household—consisting of several generations of family members. d) Not only are Hispanic households more likely than black or non-Hispanic white families to contain children, but Hispanics also spend more time caring for their children. e) The recent Census found that 77 percent live in the seven states that have Hispanic populations of one million or more (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey). f) There are 12 distinct Hispanic subgroups now identified in the United States. i) The three largest Hispanic subcultural groups consist of Mexican-Americans (about 67 percent of total Hispanic-Americans), Puerto Ricans (approximately 86 percent of the total), and Cubans (about 4 percent of the total). ii) These subcultures are heavily concentrated geographically, with more than 70 percent of their members residing in California, Texas, New York, and Florida iii) Los Angeles, alone, is home to one-fifth of the Hispanic population of the United States. g) More than 60 percent of all Mexican-Americans (the largest Hispanic group) were born in the United States and 72 percent of Cuban-Americans were born in Cuba. h) Hispanics have a strong preference for well-established brands and traditionally prefer to shop at smaller stores. i) They appear to be in the process of acculturation, which changes consumption patterns and makes targeting them more challenging. *****Use Figure #12.5 Here***** 2. African American consumers constitute the second largest minority in the United States (after Latinos) a) Consisting of about 42 million people in 2010, African American consumers currently constitute approximately 13.6 percent of the U.S. population and have estimated purchasing power of $1 trillion. b) More than half of African American consumers are less than 35 years of age. c) Consumption patterns are a function of their social standing, not ethnicity. d) African American consumers tend to prefer popular or leading brands, are brand loyal, and are unlikely to purchase private-label and generic products. e) Almost two-thirds of African-Americans are willing to pay more to get “the best.” f) African Americans spend more on hair care and telephone services than any other consumer segment, and they spend more than average on clothing. g) Because the media habits of African American consumers differ from those of the general population, media specifically targeted to African Americans are likely to be more effective. ***** Use Table 12.1 Here; Use Figure #12.6 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #12.8 Here***** 3. The Asian American population (primarily Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese) is currently about 17 million in size and a fast-growing American minority. a) Asian Americans are today the most diverse ethnic group in the United States, and include the influences of 15 different cultures and a wide range of languages. b) Because Asian Americans are largely family-oriented, highly industrious, and strongly driven to achieve a middle-class lifestyle, they are an attractive market for increasing numbers of marketers. c) Educational attainment is an important goal for this segment of the population. d) Asian Americans are more likely to own their own business and are more computer literate than other minorities. e) Many Asian Americans are young and live a good part of their lives in multi-income households. f) It is important to remember that Asian Americans are really drawn from diverse cultural backgrounds. g) The use of Asian American models in advertising is effective in reaching this market segment. **** Use Figures # 12.3 and #12.7A and B Here; Use Review and Discussion Questions #12.3 and #12.4 Here ***** Religious Subcultures 1. The United States has more than 200 different organized religious subcultures. a) Of this number, Protestant denominations, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism are the principle organized religious faiths. b) Consumer behavior is commonly directly affected by religion in terms of products that are symbolically and ritualistically associated with the celebration of various religious holidays. c) Religious requirements or practices sometimes take on an expanded meaning beyond their original purpose. 2. Targeting specific religious groups with specially designed marketing programs can be very profitable. *****Use Key Term religious subculture Here; Use Learning Objective #12.3 Here***** Regional Subcultures 1. The United States is a large country, one that enjoys a wide range of climatic and geographic conditions. 2. It is only natural that many Americans have a sense of regional identification and use this identification as a way of describing others (e.g., “He is a true Southerner”). 3. There are regional differences in consumption behavior, especially when it comes to food and drink. 4. A national brand is a brand that is available in all fifty states. ***** Learning Objective #12.4 Here; Use Key Term national brand Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #12.2 Here ***** Generational (Age) Subcultures 1. Five age subculture segments from the 308 million Americans are discussed (Generation Z, Generation Y, Generation X, baby boomers, and seniors) because their distinctive lifestyles qualify them for consideration as subcultural groups. 2. Generation Z is a cohort of people born from 1997 to the present day. a) Highly connected with lifelong exposure to media technology like the Internet b) Most diverse American generation ever c) Teens are those aged 13 to 17 d) Tween are those aged 8 to 12 e) Both segments are lucrative, elusive and fickle, but are otherwise unlike each other. i) Teens are more independent in their behavior and less reliant on their parents for day-to-day stuff than tweens. ii) Teens spend about $160 billion each year, while tweens have about $40 billion. *****Use Key Terms Generation Z, Generation Y, Generation X, baby boomers, and seniors Here; Use Figure 12.8 Here; Use Learning Objective #12.5 Here***** 3. The Generation Y (Echo Boomers, Millennials) age cohort (a cohort is a group of individuals born over a relatively short and continuous period of time) was born between the years 1977 and the late 1990s or between 1980 and 1996 (i.e., the children of the baby boomers). a) They are confident and have a high need for stimulation. b) Many want to design their own products and rate products. c) Gen Y adults are the largest users of cell phones and text messaging. d) Generation Y falls into six segments: i) Hip-ennials: believe that they can have an impact on the world and make it better; aware of what’s going on globally, give to charity, and search for information regularly; read, but don’t produce, social media content. ii) Millennial Moms: enjoy traveling, getting in shape, and treating their “children” as they were treated (pampered); confident, very family oriented, and proficient in technology; participate in social networks online; attached to their peer groups. iii) Anti-Millennials: mostly care about their businesses and their families; do not buy green products like most Millennials do; seek comfort instead of change. iv) Gadget Gurus: always looking for the next big gadgets, usually from Apple, and will stand in line to get them first; highly egotistical, wired, free spirited, and laid back; often create content online and tweet continuously; male dominated and single. v) Clean and Green Millennials: take care of themselves and support others; driven by social causes, ecological issues, philanthropy, and positive outlooks on life. vi) Old-School Millennials: did not adopt many of the typical Millennial rituals, like updating their Facebook pages during meals; would rather meet people in person than online or through text, and read books instead of blogs; independent and self-directed. 4. Generation X (Xers) consists of about 50 million individuals born between 1965 and 1979. As consumers, they represent a market with a spending power in excess of $1 trillion. a) They do not like labels, are cynical, and generally do not want to be singled out and marketed to. b) Unlike their parents, the baby boomers, they are in no rush to marry, start a family, or work excessive hours to earn high salaries. c) For Generation X consumers, job satisfaction is typically more important than salary, they do not neglect their families while striving to secure higher salaries and career advancement, and they are not loyal to employers. d) Members of Generation X are sophisticated consumers. Although many claim that they are not materialistic, they purchase prestigious and pricey brands, but not necessarily designer labels. e) They want to be recognized by marketers as a group in their own right and not as mini–baby boomers, so advertisements targeted to this audience must focus on their style in music, fashions, and language. f) One key for marketers appears to be sincerity. Xers are not against advertising, but strongly oppose insincerity. g) They grew-up with the various advantages of computer technology and most specifically with a number of ways to search for information of importance to the user. 5. The term Baby Boomers refers 78 million people that were born between 1946 and 1964. a) They make up 50% of all those in professional and managerial occupations. b) They frequently make similar purchase decisions that influence entire categories of consumer goods c) The segment includes trendsetting, upwardly mobile professionals who have influenced the consumer tastes of all age segments. d) They account for nearly half of consumer packaged goods spending and control between 65% and 75% of the disposable income in the United States e) They want to look and feel young. f) They enjoy buying for themselves, for their residences, and for others. g) Yuppies – the younger segment among the baby boomers that includes urban, upwardly mobile persons -- are the most sought-after subgroup of baby boomers. i) They are well off financially, well educated, and in professional or managerial careers. ii) Many buy status brand names, such as BMWs or Lexus hybrid cars, Prada shoes and clothing, Rolex watches, expensive adventurous vacations, and scores of pricey gadgets. iii) As many yuppies are maturing, they are shifting their attention away from expensive status-type possessions to travel, physical fitness, planning for second careers, or some other form of new life directions. iv) People’s outlooks about retiring are related to their levels of fulfillment during their professional careers, their accumulated financial resources, and their health status. *****Use Hands-on Assignments #12.9 and #12.10 Here***** 6. America is aging; the number of elderly consumers is growing twice as fast as the overall U. S. population. a) Projecting ahead to the year 2050, it is anticipated that more than 88 million Americans (20% of the total population) will be 65 years of age or older. b) Driving the growth of the elderly population are three factors: the declining birthrate, the aging of the huge baby boomer segment, and improved medical diagnoses and treatment. c) In the United States, “old age” is officially assumed to begin with a person’s sixty-fifth birthday (or when the individual qualifies for full Social Security and Medicare). However, people over age 60 view themselves as being 15 years younger than their chronological age. d) Cognitive age is a person’s perception of how old he or she is. Marketers realize that people’s perceptions of their ages are more important in determining behavior than their chronological ages. i) Feel Age —how old one feels. ii) Look Age —how old one looks. iii) Do Age —how involved a person is in activities favored by his or her age group cohort. iv) Interest Age —how similar a person’s interests are to those of others in his or her age group. *****Use Key Term cognitive age Here***** e) Because the majority of older consumers perceived themselves as younger (cognitive age) than their chronological age, marketers should look beyond chronological age to perceived or cognitive age when appealing to mature consumers. f) Older consumers are not a homogeneous subcultural group. i) The young-old – age 65 to 74. ii) The old – age 75 to 84. iii) The old-old – age 85 and older. g) A study of elderly consumers’ “quality-of-life orientation” identified a distinct group of older persons, which the researchers named the “new-age elderly.” i) The new-age elderly are individuals who feel, think, and do according to a cognitive age that is younger than their chronological age. ii) They retire later than other elderly and feel more in control of their lives. iii) They are self-confident in making consumer decisions and view themselves as more knowledgeable and alert consumers. iv) Many are “selectively innovative” and only adopt innovations that truly enhance their lives. h) Seniors often want to be identified not for what they did in the past but by what they would personally like to accomplish in the future. i) They have a strong commitment to remaining functionally young. ii) Research has found that when considering how to advertise to seniors, older adults have a higher liking for and better recall of emotional appeals (younger consumers have a higher liking for and recall of rational appeals). i) Older Internet users (aged 65 and older) are the fastest-growing demographic group with respect to the U.S. Internet market because the computer “empowers” older consumers/allows them to regain some of the control that was lost. *****Use Figure #12.14 Here; Use Review and Discussion Questions #12.5 and #12.6 Here; Use Hands-on Assignment #12.11 ***** Gender Subcultures 1. Women and men respond differently to messages and products. Sex roles affect consumption behavior. a) Women show superior affect and purchase intention toward ads that are verbal, harmonious, complex, and category oriented. b) Men exhibit superior affect and purchase intention toward ads that are comparative, simple, and attribute oriented. c) Female shoppers tend to be more prone to such shopping motives as uniqueness and assortment seeking, social interaction, and browsing. d) Women are more loyal to local merchants than their male counterparts. e) Women control a substantial portion of the household’s expenditures and the family’s spending. Because of this, women are frequently a household’s “chief purchasing officer” or “chief financial officer.” *****Use Learning Objective 12.6 Here ***** 2. Within every society, it is quite common to find products that are either exclusively or strongly associated with the members of one sex. 3. Many women feel that the media and advertising create an expectation of beauty that most women can never achieve. 4. Working women have been segmented as follows: a) Stay-at-home housewives b) Plan-to-work housewives c) Just-a-job working women d) Career-oriented working women 5. The segments of working women are somewhat self-explanatory, but there is an important distinction between “just-a-job” and “career-oriented” working women. “Just-a-job” women” work because the family requires the additional income, whereas “career-oriented” women are driven more by a need to achieve and succeed in their chosen careers. 6. Working women have also been segmented as: a) The Indie Woman (Single, 28 to 34 years old, with a median income of $33,200 and college degree; busy building her career and loves it; outs off marriage and having kinds because she does not want to have obligations to others; likes to work late, go out late, and come and go as she pleases; aspires to buy luxury brands across categories like travel, clothes, jewelry, and automobiles (e.g., Chanel, Prada, Ritz-Carlton and BMW) but loves to shop for bargains; considers virtual image as important as her real-world one; heavy social media user, mostly via mobile devices) b) The Mom Achiever (Working mother, 35 to 45 years old, with a median income of $75,000; highly driven, has advanced degrees, and earned executive jobs; applies her professional knowledge and ethics to being a mom; has a hard time leaving her job behind; would choose a 50% pay raise over 50% more time with her kids; spends a lot of money on herself, mostly on prestige beauty products and services; spends little time on research before buying high-end products, but is also thrifty and looks for discount websites) a) The Alpha Goddess (Working mother, 55-to-64-year-old, with a median income of $69,000; knows what she wants and has the resources to get it; loves to lavish gifts on her family, but her top purchases are for herself (e.g., luxury cars, travel, prescription drugs); buys expensive fragrances and is influenced by celebrity endorsements; confident in her relationships; receptive to new technologies; watches more TV than other age groups, but is not a captive audience; unlikely to compromise on either love or sexual attractiveness in order to have a committed relationship.) *****Use Table #12.3 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #12.7 Here ***** Instructor Manual for Consumer Behaviour Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lozor Konuk, S. Ramesh Kumar 9789332555099, 9780134734828
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