Consumption as culture or practice:

The 2 perspectives of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) and Practice Theories of

consumption take on different, but also somewhat similar views on why and
how we consume. Describe how the consumption of specific products and/or
brands is understood from these two theoretical perspectives and discuss the
underlying differences AND similarities.
To answer the question of consumption from the perspective of Consumer Culture Theory
(CCT) and Practice Theories, let us first have a brief idea what the theories actually are. As
mentioned in the article of Eric and Craig, consumer culture denotes a social arrangement in
which the relations between lived culture and social re-sources, and between meaningful
ways of life and the symbolic and material resources on which they depend, are mediated
through markets [CITATION Eri05 \l 1033 ] . On the other hand, consumption practice from the
viewpoint of a theory of practice, occurs within and for the sake of practices [CITATION WAR \l
1033 ].

Human consumption of goods and services largely centered on the social status, values and
activities [ CITATION Zuk04 \l 1033 ]. In other words, what we do or value solely relies on the
things that we consume. According to Grant McCracken, in his article he mentioned that
culture is used as a lens to view situations. Culture determines the blueprint of how an
individual act [CITATION McC86 \l 1033 ]. Consumer in a specific set of culture behave by its
rules. For instance, a person living in the United States, wakes up in the morning and on his
way to office buys a cup of coffee to work. The person is part of a particular culture where
they have coffee on their way. Associating a brand to the drink is also a phenomenon of
Consumer Culture. Let us say that particular drink the person got is a "Starbuck" coffee. To
bring the consumer practice perspective with the same example, when the same person is
drinking that coffee on his way to work, apart from identifying with the brand the person is
also performing dispersed practices by following a social rule and which particularly requires
to carry out a task [CITATION WAR \l 1033 ]. For instance, the same person if resides in the
subcontinent for instance, India, would have a up of tea before leaving for the office. Now the
point of understanding is, because of the cultural differences in consumption, an Indian
employee is buying the tea leaves as a cultural norm and then processing to make that cup of
tea is the performance part identified to consumer practice.

What people consumes determines the practices we adhere to. The primary application that I
tried to elaborate with the coffee example in two different countries and two different
consumer cultures and practices could be broadly applied to almost everything we choose to
consume from books to music, television, etc. To understand the concept of consumer culture
let us take another example, if an individual chooses to read books and listen to radio mostly
about business and lifestyles they will automatically start focusing on those things. The world
will be viewed from that perspective and the actions of consumption and practices would be
done accordingly. As mentioned in the article by Eric J. Arnould and Craig J. Thompson,
consumer culture, the term itself conceptualizes a system of interconnected system of
commercially produced images, texts, and objects. The environment comes into focus when
the consumption and practices are determined [CITATION Eri05 \l 1033 ] . When a consumer
chooses to consume news every evening from the CNN and someone reading a paper news
from the New York times will have different views about the world solely because both their
consumption and practices vary.
How we consume things vary between different age groups. The generation Y perceive things
and process it in one way and on the flip side the millennials are impulsive with their
consumption and practices. Taking into perspective the CCT and Consumer practice theories,
no matter where we live or belong, the age gaps between these generations have made
cultural theory more complex and unsolved. According to Bernard Cova, the phenomenon of
community becomes an increasingly important factor in post-modern marketing that was and
still is often overlooked by companies [CITATION Cov97 \l 1033 ]. Here is a “linking value” for
products and services between countries but the differences here is in terms of varying age
groups. According to a research conducted by the Bank America, 71% of Americans sleep
with or next to their smartphone whereas the case is not same for pre-modern generation
whose sole entertainment purpose was an hour of television before they slept [CITATION
GRO15 \l 1033 ].

Taking the example of Apple as a brand to understand the perception of the theories.
Consumer culture in post-modern era is the example of Apple’s rise to the top to technology.
It created a product that not only fit the needs of consumers but also became a way of life, a
way of brand culture in the 20th century [ CITATION Gup20 \l 1033 ]. The premium Apple
customers in a way that became part of a technology movement. Apple revolutionized the
world of smart phone with a touch screen device. It made technology a culture and created
the most simplistic products with appropriate packaging. For instance, while unboxing an
Apple phone for the first time the consumer will find an attractive yet minimalist design.
People using Apple phones became a part of streamlined consumer culture, identified
themselves as Apple users. The consumer practice that Apple adheres to is by making their
users use the dedicated application stores and other substantial application. Apple created a
practical process where they have made their product a part of everyday life. Through
analysis of consumer behavior, like, when a consumer downloads Apple store, it gives access
to data the company leverages[ CITATION Gup20 \l 1033 ].

Humans by its very nature tends to be included in groups [ CITATION EPa27 \l 1033 ].
Consumers always loves to be part of the group depending on the brand they use. In this
context, I would like to use the example of the Harley Davidson Riders. The drivers of Harley
Davidson take weekend caravan drives. Whoever owns a Harley is part of culture. Owning a
Harley is therefore termed belonging to a specific tribe and they exist in no other form but the
symbolically and ritually manifested commitment of their members [CITATION Cov97 \l 1033 ].
The similarities with consuming a Harley Davidson bike in both the theories are the sole
philosophical accounts focusing on the surroundings of practical social life while maintaining
a culture of being in the Harley Davidson Club.

The understanding of CCT and the practice theory can be elaborately discussed from multiple
perspectives. In this answer, I used various examples how a culture affects human choice of
consumption and how consumers use the theory of practices as an extension. As said in the
article by Alan Warde, it is important that practices consist of both doing and saying[CITATION
WAR \l 1033 ].
Pick a consumption practice or phenomenon of your choice. Describe it briefly
(!). Then, use both, the Consumer Culture Theory perspective AND Practice
Theory lens to analyze and critically discuss how the consumption
practice/phenomenon of your choice can be seen from a (un)sustainable
standpoint. Which perspective is more informative to you and why?
To answer this question, I would pick "Music" as a consumption practice [ CITATION Mag11 \l
1033 ]. We all at some point in our lives get connected to music. Be it classical or pop songs.
Music industry flourished in the 1980s and 1990s with the consumption of new innovation of
CDs and DVDs. Considering the field more closely we can see the consumption of music has
drastically fall in the last decade. With the consumption of internet and prominence of
illegally downloaded or pirated music, the music industry has seen a transformation in how
the consumption is done. A shift from audiotapes or compact discs (CDs) to the development
of the mp3 music format and consequently the iPod had a huge impact on the consumption of
music [CITATION Ent \l 1033 ].

Taking the Consumer Culture Theory and the Practice Theory lens into consideration, it is
clear that changes have happened in music materiality with innovations and it have deeply
affected the ways in which individuals consume music. Although there is mp3 and other
music digitalization happened, the greatest development came with the creation of Apple's
iPod. Once again, I would like draw Apple and its technological development with the
context of Consumer culture. Just like the Apple's first touch phone, apple completely
changed the course of music listening experience. The whole idea behind this creation can be
elaborated for two reasons, one is to create a brand identity with consumer culture and the
other is to put thousands of music in about the size of a pack of cigarettes into people's
pocket. The idea was a tremendous success, it created another legacy globally. To view it
form the consumer culture perspective, it became a tradition for the youth to identify
themselves as an iPod user. To put practice theory into perspective, with the same example of
music and iPod, the Apple company has made the process of converting music to its own
exclusive music stores and created a process where consumption of music can be done via the
online shops.

The fall of the music industry also has a positive impact on sustainable environment
[ CITATION Pri18 \l 1033 ]. The rise of digitalization is way more sustainable compare to the old
school of consuming and copying compacts discs and DVDs. For instance, it is obvious to
know that every time an individual creates a disc for music in our case, we are also building
one kilogram of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. Fortunately, most of the
post-modern community think that this will affect much if we accumulate all the
consumption globally. It is estimated that a huge tons of carbon dioxide are created every
year from the consumption of people’s CD creation and again copying it for further purpose
[CITATION Ell16 \l 1033 ]. The aftermath is even greater, every time a CD is disposed it creates
a landfill. Since it cannot be recycled, the pile gets stuck for days. Even if we try to recycle
them, it will damage the machines used for recycling. According to Hand and Shove,
approaching the analysis of materiality from the perspective of ‘theory of practice’ we can
witness the birth of technology that can be interpreted as a process consisting in their
‘performative integration’ [CITATION Han07 \l 1033 ].

With our example of iPod, we can see that when a particular new technological advancement
occurs, it creates pathways for involving objects, meanings and doings. From the
consumption context, the iPod itself is a material object be it culturally, socially or
economically [CITATION Dan08 \l 1033 ]. Through adopting the theory of practice, with the
same iPod example, we will focus on the articulate meanings, objects ways of operating with
the connection of appropriation of Apple's iPod. iPod was adopted widely among the
teenagers. It was given as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and other events and owning an
iPod was a compulsory accessory [ CITATION SAd12 \l 1033 ] . It was desired above everything
else. Looking at the tremendous acceptance among the teenagers we can conclude that it was
a ‘circuit of practice’ [CITATION Hal11 \l 1033 ] in the evolution of relationship among
materiality, representation and doing. Giving the iPod was the new shared social routines
among the teenagers.

To conclude, the examples drawn to answer this question has intrigued me to decide which
perspective enlightened me more. Although, the underlying concept of the theory of practice
helps to understand the representation of materiality, the Cultural Consumer Theory is more
informative. For instance, to identify a cultural practice in terms of object, we can simply
identify it with the brand symbolism. CCT works as a that consumption is historically form of
sociocultural practice [CITATION Eri05 \l 1033 ].

Marketing, markets and performativity:

Market practices: Choose a specific marketing activity and describe and discuss
how this activity can be understood from a market practice approach and how it
contributes to shape markets.

To answer the question let us begin with how marketing has evolved over time and how
different techniques are being used in shaping up the 21st century markets. Since the First
and Second World War the world of marketing has changed hugely as it emerged as a distinct
business and management situation [CITATION Lin04 \l 1033 ]. The term marketing and its
evolvement has been discussed by various authors including Adam, Roger and Joelle in their
article of “Contemporary Marketing Practice” [CITATION Lin041 \l 1033 ]. The new generation
idea of marketing is along with having new customers time in and time out, marketers are
now well focused with retaining the old customers. There are plenty of marketing ideas that
could be used to shape up a new of existing market, for our case, I would like to use the
concept of Relationship Marketing and try and elaborate how it helps to shape up the market.

The relationship marketing concept is where the actor (Producer side) tries to gain customer
loyalty with frequent interaction and an everlasting commitment. It is a strategy to create
connections with users by providing information that would serve their needs. With the
passing of time, managers of the companies are working on various ways to increase their
product attractiveness and are trying hard for value addition in every phase. The focus is
more on the relationships. networks and communication compared to previous style of
marketing. Let us look at a figure (fig 1) below and see how relationship marketing actually
plays the vital role in shaping up markets.
 Customer
Loyalty

Customer
Feedback
Satisfaction

Relationship
Marketing

Loyalty Social
Prorams Media

Customer
Retention

F IGURE 1

There are plenty of authors who have suggested that marketing has passed a number of stages
and these days it has changed hugely from transaction marketing to relationship marketing.
As per the article by Debbie and Hans, from the perspective of the market there is a
connection between increased demand due to improved offers, which means product
developed then users gave feedback and it is reshaped in a way that positively impacts the
market demand [CITATION Har16 \l 1033 ]. Managers are also placing a huge emphasis on
managing their marketing relationships, networks, and interactions, with employees as well
as with suppliers, customers [CITATION Rod97 \l 1033 ].

Taking into consideration the figure drawn above, let us see how Relationship Marketing
helps in shaping the market. Let's take an example of a pharmaceutical product willing to
launch a product. Before anything else, the company needs to understand the market and be
able to influence both the user as well as the market behavior. From the customer's
perspective, let us look at the pharmaceutical product. We have to understand the behavior of
the customer along with the behavior of the society that exhibits how and when the product is
being used. After that the data from the consumer’s action and feedback will be used to
improve the product. Then going into the next phase where the company will monitor the
behavior of the other actors present in the market like the manufacturers, government, etc.
Eventually the company can determine to reduce the difficulties in alignment with the actions
exhibited by the market actors. This use of market insights from the user feedback will
enable the company to convert the necessities into expanding the demand of quality products
and services through various channels. The company can also have real time data to monitor
market actions which will integrate the networks and link consumers and other users to
financing mechanisms that is correct for them.

In order to shape the market while using certain marketing approach, it is important to use the
innovation of technology. The pharmaceutical company in our example can use call centers,
online consultations and online payment methods. This will bring the product of healthcare in
reach of the consumer with ease. Awareness campaigns for the use of the healthcare product
can also be used through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Once the product is
developed and rolled into the market, the next target should be customer retention through
various options like low-cost strategy with the highest quality by thoroughly improving the
supply chain.

The concept of relationship marketing at some point becomes a competitive advantage for
any company and also builds strong long-term relationships with important stakeholders
[ CITATION Nwa07 \l 1033 ] . Going back to figure 1, we can see that with the use of Social
Network tool, a new product can be used to shape the global market as well. It can be
assumed that the concept of relationship marketing works both locally as well as globally. A
real-life example would be how Unilever reaches out to millions of its users worldwide.
Since they retain consumers through services, every time they launch a new line, they have
their existing line of consumers as well as retailers and supply chains. They maintain the
connection from the very beginning of the product development. To use our example, to
shape market globally, this particular firm could use franchising of health services like what
Apollo Hospitals in India does.

To conclude, there are many different types of factors and variants that causes huge changes
in the practice of marketing. We just picked one activity and tried to demonstrate how it can
possibly shape the market. Through focusing initially at gaining new customers to eventually
retaining them with the help of utmost customer satisfaction and loyalty programs.
Relationships with the market actors be it consumer, retailer, financial service provider are
created in the business community to have a foreseeable future and to tackle real world
issues. It can be presumed that the foundations of relationship marketing are based on user
behavior be it customer or any other stakeholder. As written in the article by Debbie and
Hans, user–market relationship expands the scope of how users can shape markets [CITATION
Har16 \l 1033 ].

Marketing performativity and consumption: Describe the role of marketing in

our society and, based on the notion of performativity, discuss how marketing
may influence contemporary consumption.
To answer this question, let us go back to our very basic of what actually marketing is and
how it plays a different role for the consumer, organization, society, etc. It can be said that
satisfying the benefit of both the customer and the organization is the basic concept of
marketing. It brings customer demand into reality and profit to an organization. The role of
marketing is to develop satisfying relationships that benefit both the customer and the
organization [ CITATION Moo99 \l 1033 ]. Marketing is also responsible for the majority of
tasks that bring in revenue and profits to an organization. Market educates customers about
the need for certain demand which consequently delivers to provide for the same [CITATION
Wir14 \l 1033 ].

So, does marketing only plays a role in meeting consumers demands or to inform them about
certain products? The answer is No. We can argue that marketing as a discipline has a huge
role to play in economics as it provides customers by targeting them and promotes goods and
services as a result. When a business earns revenues, the next thing that happens is it becomes
a tax product for the government. In short, the more successful marketing campaigns, the
more revenues the more taxes paid to the regulators. The ultimate role that marketing plays in
the society it adds value to the society [ CITATION Moo99 \l 1033 ]. Imagine for instance, a
business earning huge chunk of revenues that helps them to expand which in turns creates
new jobs, more individual taxes for the government, higher standard of living and eventually
leading to increase in economic growth. With the help of marketing activities, strategies and
various approaches, as answered in the previous part, marketers try to understand the
consumer behavior, use feedback, eventually advertise the product to influence users to have
it [CITATION Wir14 \l 1033 ].

Before getting into the performativity, let us first understand the meaning of it. As first
described by the philosopher John L. Austin, the term performativity is the power of language
to effect change in the world [CITATION Hal99 \l 1033 ]. It functions as a form of social action.
As Austin said, there was a difference between constative language and can be evaluated as
true or false and performative language, does something in the world. So, what does this
notion of performativity means in marketing? It refers to the performance of an organization
and is often used as a metaphor indicating efficiency and profitability [CITATION RCa15 \l
1033 ]. To define performativity in marketing, the marketing discipline itself has been
understood and, some may argue, has been designed to be performative which means the
theories and models developed in marketing are typically intended to bring about effects,
rather than simply to describe [CITATION Mas15 \l 1033 ].

To discuss how marketing with the notion of performativity, I would like to use the concept
from Butler's explanation of performativity. Let us analyze the diagram below to see how
different gender reacts to different approaches of marketing. The idea of using the Bulter's
viewpoint is important because the intent an actor has when picking up a marketing theory or
model is likely to affect how that model is used and consequently the effects and outcomes it
brings about [CITATION Mas15 \l 1033 ].

Set of
all
Set of all masculine acts
neutralSet of all feminine acts
acts

F IGURE 2
If we look in the above figure which is divided into three categories. Each of which has its
own relevance. The first circle shows the set of all masculine acts, the last circle shows the
set of feminine acts and the common circle shows the neutral acts. On the basis of gender, let
us try and understand the concept of performativity in Marketing. For example, gender is
social construct. It is about how we feel and behave. Do we behave in a feminine way or do
we behave in a more masculine way? Do we consider ourselves to be a male or a female? It is
all inside us, in our brains that let us feel in certain way. An individual born as a male in a
particular society may eventually feel in his brain in a more feminine way. Now coming back
to what Butler said, gender is constructed through performance. That eventually leads us to
perform certain actions in certain ways, exhibit emotions, behavior that will eventually lead
to our decision of consumption in the real world. For instance, in our society, to be female or
to act feminine we believe that particular character will be wearing make ups, high heels,
skirts. On contrary, if a character drinks beer in a pub every day, talks loudly or goes to gym
to bulk, these practices if done every day is believed to be masculinity. The whole idea is
performing certain tasks constantly, regularly, we create certain norms that this particular
gender is masculine or feminine.

Now let us use the idea of gender into marketing. For instance, a particular vlog where we see
a girl always putting on make-up, discussing which lipstick to wear, trying to look beautiful.
Talking about high heels, what to wear and what not to wear. Discussing various cloths and
trying them to exhibit certain way of style. Now this particular vlog of that girl reflects a
character that is more feminine and she constantly goes on repeating how to look beautiful.
This also exhibits that the target market of the vlog is the group of females who considers
wearing certain make ups and looking beautiful is a way of life. So, in simple words, her vlog
is trying to construct gender identity particularly for women. She is teaching girls about a
particular behavior that should be practiced. Now coming back to consumption in relation to
this. That vlog is selling female product by promoting gender identity and this is a simple yet
elaborative example of the practice of the notion of performativity in marketing that will
influence contemporary consumption.

Now let us take another example that uses the concept of performativity in marketing that to
influence contemporary consumption. Take for instance, the YouTube channel of "THENX".
This is channel that regularly posts videos about the host working out to stay fit. The host is
by the obvious notion is a male who constantly try to explain the importance of fitness and
how to achieve certain muscle by performing certain exercises. In this example we see that
the channel along with the workout videos trying to sell memberships of more dedicated
exclusive content that the viewer cannot simply view without payment. Also, through the
channel the host try and sells products like fitness equipment, cloths, and other accessories.
The whole target customer is male viewers who considers or have the feeling that they are
male and to look masculine they need to work out and have abs. This is another thoughtful
example of using the gender and selling services and products.

To conclude, I would like to use a quote from the article by Peet, Alex & Sally,
Conceptualizing market segmentation as performative enhances our knowledge of how
marketing frameworks shape marketing practice [CITATION Ven15 \l 1033 ]. Through various
examples I have tried to explain how gender performativity could or have an influence in
modern day marketing. As Butler said, “When it is said gender is performed, we mean we
have taken a role or we're acting in some way and it is crucial to the gender that we are”
[CITATION But04 \l 1033 ].
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