CHAPTER

ELEVEN
Influence of Culture on
Consumer Behavior
 To Which Cultural Value or Values Is
This Product’s Advertising Appealing?

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 Convenience in Food Preparation

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 The sum total of learned
beliefs, values, and
customs that serve to
Culture
regulate the consumer
behavior of members of
a particular society.

How do they think, believe, and act

differently?

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 4
A Theoretical Model of Culture’s Influence
on Behavior - Figure 11.2
How culture combines with personality
traits to build our beliefs and values.

Determine how
we intend to
behave, and
consequently
do behave, in
given situations

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 The Invisible Hand of Culture

Each individual perceives the

world through his own
cultural lens

We often don’t think

about the influence
that culture has on
behavior.

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 6
 Culture Satisfies Needs

• Food and Clothing

• Needs vs. Luxury

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.

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In Terms of “Culture,” Do You Consider This Product to
Be a “Good Morning” Beverage? Why or Why Not?

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Many Will Say “NO” Due to Lack of Nutritional Value
and Competing Products (Coffee).

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 Culture Is Learned
Learn how to behave
Issues and the difference
between right and
wrong
• Enculturation
• Enculturation and – The learning of one’s
acculturation own culture
• Language and • Acculturation
– The learning of a new or
symbols
foreign culture
• Ritual
• Sharing of culture Based on age,
interest in the culture,
and desire to become
part of the new society
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 10
 Culture Is Learned
Issues • Without a common
language, shared meaning
could not exist
• Enculturation and
acculturation • Marketers must choose
appropriate symbols in
• Language and
advertising
symbols
• Marketers can use “known”
• Ritual
symbols for associations
• Sharing of culture

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 11
 How Does a Symbol Convey the Product’s
Advertised Benefits?

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 They Provide Additional
Meaning to the Ad.

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 Culture Is Learned
Issues Birthday parties, weddings,
graduations, or religious rites
of passage

• Enculturation and • A ritual is a type of

acculturation symbolic activity consisting
of a series of steps
• Language and
symbols • Rituals extend over the
human life cycle
• Ritual
• Marketers realize that
• Sharing of culture
rituals often involve
products (artifacts)
– Food, perhaps, music or objects
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 14
Selected Rituals and Associated Artifacts -
Table 11.2
SELECTED RITUALS TYPICAL ARTIFACTS

Wedding White gown (something old, something

new, something borrowed, something
blue)
Birth of child U.S. Savings Bond, silver baby spoon
Birthday Card, present, cake with candles

50th Wedding anniversary Catered party, card and gift, display of

photos of the couple’s life together
Graduation Pen, U.S. Savings Bond, card, wristwatch

Valentine’s Day Candy, card, flowers

New Year’s Eve Champagne, party, fancy dress

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 15
 Culture Is Learned
A culture can not just exist within
one person
Issues
• To be a cultural
• Enculturation and characteristic, a belief,
acculturation value, or practice must be
• Language and shared by a significant
symbols portion of the society
• Ritual • Culture is transferred
through family, schools,
• Sharing of Culture
houses of worship, and
media
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 16
 Culture is Dynamic
It is important for marketers to realize
that culture is changing

• Evolves because it fills needs

• Certain factors change culture
– Technology
– Population shifts
– Resource shortages
– Wars
– Changing values
– Customs from other countries
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 17
 The Measurement of Culture

• Content Analysis
• Consumer Fieldwork
• Value Measurement
Instruments

Measurement techniques are used to

track values and social trends for
government and business

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Researchers can look at magazines, websites, television commercials,
and even blogs to see what changes might be occurring and what
values are important

A method for
systematically analyzing
the content of verbal
Content and/or pictorial
Analysis communication. The
method is frequently
used to determine
prevailing social values
of a society.

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 19
 Which Cultural Value
Is Portrayed, and How So?

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 Progress – The Fridge has
Superior Design

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 Which Cultural Value
Is This Ad Stressing, and How So?

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 Fitness and Health –
Low Calorie

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 Consumer Fieldwork

• Field Observation
– Natural setting
– Subject unaware
– Focus on observation of behavior
• Participant Observation

Can be done in the field or by actively

involving participants to observe their
own behavior and beliefs

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 Value Measurement Survey Instruments

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 American Core Values
Criteria for Value Selection
• The value must be pervasive.
– Where a significant portion of the population accepts this
value
• The value must be enduring.
– Lasting for a significant period of time
• The value must be consumer-related.
– Help us understand consumption

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 American Core Values
These eleven values can be considered the “building blocks” of American
culture

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 American Core Values

What American Core Values do these ads represent?

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 Scale to Measure Attitude
Toward Helping Others
Measure people’s attitudes toward helping others

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 Toward a Shopping Culture

• Is shopping what we do to create value in our

lives?
• The younger generation is shopping more
• This has an effect on credit card debt
People of all ages view shopping as more than a
necessity but a hobby, interest, and important part
of their lives

In some cases, shopping becomes an

addiction

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Eleven Slide 30