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We often don’t think about the influence that culture has on behavior. Sometimes things just seem like the “right thing
to do.” The statement in this slide helps sum up culture as a lens with which people see the world.
What kinds of needs does culture help satisfy? It helps us decide where to eat, when to eat, and what to eat. It helps
us know which products we simply must have, like a cell phone, and what products are a luxury, like a private plane.
We learn about our own culture from the time we are
small children. Through both informal and formal
learning, we learn how to behave and the difference
between right and wrong. The learning of our own
culture usually happens slowly over time. Quite often,
when someone moves, they must learn a new culture.
This process of acculturation can be very difficult and will
differ based on age, interest in the culture, and desire to
become part of the new society. This web link gives you
information on doing business in Japan and some
cultural issues, including etiquette and manners.
There is a strong symbolic nature to human language.
We use symbols to communicate with each other and
marketers will use symbols to communicate to their
customers.
You can probably think of many rituals in which you have
been involved – birthday parties, weddings, graduations,
or religious rites of passage. Many of these rituals
involved artifacts, objects that are important to the day.
Some rituals might even be informal, like poker night.
Are there certain artifacts that students absolutely must
have? Food, perhaps, music or objects.
Parents teach their children basic values and modes of behavior. These
include moral and religious principles, as well as everyday skills such as
manners and speech, grooming, and interpersonal skills. Do parents teach
children consumption skills? Absolutely, they learn about spending versus
savings, how to shop, and how to make purchase decisions. Children today
are exposed to marketing messages at a very young age, especially through
television advertising and the Internet.
Husbands and wives often need to make decisions together. The way they
balance their influence will differ as to whether it is joint, single, or dominated
by one member. The balance between the husband and wife will differ from
culture to culture. Furthermore, kids are very involved in family decision
making. We are seeing an increase in this as kids are given more
responsibility and are exposed to more media. Because kids are online so
much, they are constantly finding information on products that they will share
with the family. And kids don’t give up easily; when they want something they
will ask many times. We say kids have pester power because they don’t give
up and ask so many times.
Marketers have long used the family life cycle, also known as FLC. It gives
us an idea of the stages that many families pass throughout their life. The fact
is that this traditional life cycle is only passed through by a certain percent of
families, so many modifications have been made and a nontraditional family
life cycle has been created.

In terms of the traditional FLC, we see the 5 stages. Stage I, Bachelorhood,

includes single men and women who have moved out of their parents’ home
and are living on their own. The next stage, the Honeymooners, occurs
immediately after marriage before the arrival of the first child. They often have
start-up expenses as they establish a new home. Stage III, parenthood,
occurs with the arrival of the first child. In this stage, people’s financial status
often changes. Stage IV, postparenthood occurs when the children have left
As you can see from this table, there are many more types of family
households than described in the traditional life cycle. In addition to the ones
here, there are many nonfamily households not described in the traditional
family life cycle.