Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02 1

Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final

Exam
2020-12-02
Personnummer: 990307-8179

Namn: Jesper Buskas

Betyg:

Totalpoäng: 80

Övergripande kommentar:
2 Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02

General Information

Your answer should be in English.

Answer both questions.
The total score of the exam is 100 points, 50 for each question.
There is a limit of 750 words for each question.
This is an open book exam. You are hence allowed to use the book as well as the
other texts that are part of the literature for the course. No other texts than those that
are mentioned in the section “5 A. Literature” in the CCC Study Guide Fall 2020 are
allowed. If you want to use the texts during the exam they need to be printed. You are
not allowed to use electronic copies.
Please refer explicitly to theories, terms, ideas, concepts and/or perspectives from the
book, articles and book chapters.

Required equipment

A valid ID. Invigilators may ask you during the exam to join a breakout room for an ID
check.
A computer with stable internet connection. The computer needs to have a web
browser to access the exam (such as Firefox, Explorer, Safari, preferably not Chrome),
as well as the Zoom software. No other software can be used during the exam.
A webcam that is turned on throughout the exam. If possible, set the camera angle to
show your desk, not only your face.
A microphone that is muted unless you are in a Zoom breakout room.
No other electronic devices are allowed (no cell phones, no extra laptops, no
calculators).

Other notes

When entering the exam Zoom meeting, it is important that you enter your full name.
For clarifying questions regarding the exam content or technical assistance during the
exam, please reach out to the host via the Zoom chat. Your issue will be handled in a
breakout room. Please join the room when prompted.
If you need a bathroom break, please alert the invigilators by click "raise your hand"
(under participants) in Zoom. You will then be placed in a breakout room with an
invigilator who will approve your request and who will keep a record of the time.
When you are done, you have to hand in the exam, starting with the "Review" button.
Only then can your answers be assessed. Please reserve time to review your answers
before handing in. Once your exam is submitted, you are free to leave the Zoom
meeting without waiting for approval.
It is important to retain your individual exam code shown when logging in to
examination website. This is to recover your work in case of a system crash. The
website saves your work automatically as you type. If you would lose your connection
or if your computer would crash, you can continue with your work when you are back
online.
In case your Zoom connection or video is broken, immediately call the technical
assistance on the number provided in Athena +46707198029.

Cheating and plagiarism

 Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02 3
The exam is strictly individual. It is not allowed to take the exam in the same
room/apartment/house as other persons taking the exam. This also includes relatives
or if you are living together with someone who is taking the exam at the same time.
During the exam you are only allowed to use the textbook as well as printed copies of
the additional book chapters and articles. You may NOT access any digital materials.
You may be requested to share your screen in a breakout room on Zoom.
Cheating and plagiarism is a very serious offense at Stockholm Business School and
Stockholm University. All staff are obliged by law to report all suspicions of cheating
to the Vice Chancellor at Stockholm University, as a matter for the Disciplinary
Committee at Stockholm University.
According to the Higher Education Ordinance (chapter 10, section 1), disciplinary
action may be invoked against students who “by the use of prohibited aids or other
means attempt to deceive during examinations or other forms of assessment of
student performance”.
Plagiarism is a form of cheating or deceit. The ordinance covers all types of graded
work, such as written examinations, take-home examinations, quizzes and written
assignments, as well as unauthorized collaboration in connection with such work.

By clicking the "begin examination" button below you confirm that you have read,
understood and will comply to the instructions/rules of the exam.
4 Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02

1. Short Essay One

Every year since 1988, HUI, a consulting firm and research institute focusing on retailing,
selects a holiday gift that says something about Sweden. A few days back it was announced
that the “Stormkök” – a compact, portable camping stove, a so-called mess kit – was
named the Christmas Gift of the year in 2020. In motivating their choice HUI said that this
year’s present reflects Swede’s rediscovery of nature, as the pandemic forced many to
enjoy the outdoors and stay in Sweden this year.

Please, discuss this year’s Christmas gift of the year, the “Stormkök” (mess kit), from the
perspectives brought up in the section “Making Markets” and “Consumer Culture and the
Language of Consumption” in the book Unboxing Marketing.

Word limit: 750 words.

Svar:

In the consumption society we live in today almost everything is based around

consumption. And the idea around marketization is key in this scenario. Marketization
means that more and more domains of our life´s become permeated by the market and
entitys who previously was not commercial and marketable becomes just that. This
commercialization is not surprising thus companies always search for new ways to invest,
make a profit and grow their businesses. (Hartmann, Ostberg, Parment & Solér, 2020). This
explains briefly why the "Stormkök" has been selected as the gift of the year. 2020 has
been a rather strange year and has forced us to be more outdoor than ever before, thus
companies has to find a new product that fits our current lifestyles and the "Stormkök" is a
perfect fit for that. The reason why this product even exist can be explained by realizing
that consumption has become a very big piece of our contemporary lifestyles.
Consumption is so dominant in our life´s that more and more societies has developed a
evergrowing consumer culture, that means that people more and more rely on
consumption in their life´s and that products and services will solve all our daily
problems. (Hartmann et al, 2020) This can also explain why the "Stormkök" is being stated
as the gift to buy 2020, consumers has a new problem, the coronavirus is in our societies
and we need to be more outside, perfect we buy a "Stormkök" and head to the mountains!
(problem solved?) This growing consumption in our societies can be seen as a good thing
from an economic perspective, consumers buy stuff in their leisure time, pay taxes in which
the society profits from and the society can consequently build new railways, schools and
hospitals for example. It seems kind of awesome, right? But lately, the Christmas holidays
has become very marketized and commercialized, it has gone from celebrating the birth of
Jesus to gather in the streets of Denmark to "launch" the Christmas celebration by
consuming Tuborg beer. This imagination consumers have about Christmas is what drives
the consumer culture even further, we think that if we just get the right gifts, the right food,
the right Christmas tree we will ultimately be more happy and get a perfect Christmas.
(Hartmann et al, 2020) So if we buy the new "Stormkök" we will be so much happier
because we support the current situation with the coronavirus and take our responsibility
to keep our distance to fellow citizens, and also, it is the perfect gift, right? (contributing to
a happier Christmas). Another thing that can explain this years Christmas gift is that
symbolic consumption is something that is becoming increasingly important for people.
This means that everything we consume comes with a symbolic meaning outside the
functional for example if we buy the "Stormkök" this will be symbolically charged, for
example it can be filled with the meaning of "I take responsibility for the corona situation
 Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02 5
and I will be more outside cooking" this symbolic meanings plays a big part in consumers
decision making. Consumption can thus be seen as a own language, we tell people where
we stand and what we symbolize through consumption. Buying a "Stormkök" can thus
symbolize a stance for responsibility and this can have a big meaning for people to be able
to show the world that they indeed care about more than just consuming unnecessary
things. (Hartmann et al, 2020)

As a conclusion, this years Christmas gift is kind of a result of the existing consumer culture
we live in. New products pop up everyday that is meant to stimulate our happiness and
symbolize what we stand for. This year with corona and everything makes it perfect for
companies to sell a product such as the "Stormkök" to fuel our desire to make a difference
and to make us symbolize something meaningful.

Poäng: 40

Kommentar:

2. Short Essay Two

During the last couple of years marketing research has increasingly focused on collecting
enormous amounts of data (what is typically labelled Big Data), largely in the form of the
traces that we all leave behind as we live (parts of) our lives in the digital world. Please
discuss both how this type of marketing research can benefit consumers and what the
problems are with this shift towards “algorithmic consumer cultures”.

Base your discussion on the section “Marketing in the Digital Era” in the book Unboxing
Marketing as well as the texts by Carah & Brodmerkel (2020) and Zwick & Dholakia (2020).

Word limit: 750 words

Svar:

Marketing in the digital era also called "digital marketing", "digitized marketing", "social
media marketing" etc has created a platform where companies can store enormous
amounts of data of consumers in order to "target" them in the right way and thus be more
profitably with their marketing. The companies that do this one the larges scale is the "Big
Five" that includes Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, but also companies
such as Netflix, Spotify, HBO and Tinder. All these companies have enormous amounts of
data about consumers. (Hartmann et al, 2020) The digital era has been stated as a era
where the power has shifted from companies to consumers, but I would like to state that
this is not as true as one may thing. This "shift" can be seen as a diversion away from the
fact that consumers seemingly work for free, for this big corporations. For example we start
a YouTube channel for free and then earn money from it, it seems kind of great, right? But
what we are doing, in essence, is producing big amounts of data and information who then
YouTube can sell to marketers to make a big profit. This whole thing can be seen as a good
and a bad thing. For example ICA is tracking our purchase history which results in them be
able to offer us great things based on our needs, which is great and very convenient. But
when the Big Five is using our data in kind of nasty ways without consumers even being
aware of it to push products and services down our throat, it is compromising consumers
power, and one can wonder if the meal we ate yesterday was a result of our own choices or
if it was a result of the computational of platforms producing predictions about consumers.
(Hartmann et al, 2020) In the article written by Zwick & Dholakia they conclude that digital
6 Consumption, Culture and Commerce Final Exam 2020-12-02
marketing has evolved into what they call "computational marketing analytics". Which
means a combination of customer databases with analytical power and algorithmic
strategies. This means that marketing becomes easier and more available for marketers
around the world. They mean that digital marketers becomes "choice architects" who can
design increasingly more efficient marketing strategies by channel customers choices at
the exact time of decison-making, which result in marketers becoming better and more
profitable. (Zwick & Dholakia, 2020) But when marketers succeed to control customers
demand that is when they really become efficient and successful. This means that when
marketers succeed to get consumers to not even be aware of or care why they chose a
specific product or information over another because it was based on a algorithmic design
or their own autonomous cognition. (Zwick & Dholakia, 2020)

As a little summery, this phenomenon of marketing in the digital era and us moving towards
an algorithmic consumer culture can be both good and bad. It all comes down to how we
as companies and marketers handles all data about consumers. Marketing is all about
creating value for society, firms and consumers. We do that by create good offers to
consumers which have great value attached to them, if we do this by adapting our
knowledge about consumers through Big data or not does not matter. What matters is that
we are not exploiting the consumers by using data and information in nasty ways, just to
make a profit. So we as marketers have a great responsibility for shaping the existing
consumer cultures and also in shaping our societies in large towards a sustainable future.

Poäng: 40

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