The Self: How Consumers’ Perceptions Shape Buying Habits
Chapter 5 – The Self
Consumer Insecurities and Consumption
Consumers’ insecurities with their appearance are rampant, with 72% of men and 85% of women unhappy with at least one aspect of their appearance. This chapter will focus on how consumers’ feelings about themselves shape their consumption habits, particularly as they strive to fulfill societal expectations. Many products are bought because individuals are trying to highlight or hide some aspects of themselves.
The Self in Eastern and Western Cultures
Today, it seems natural to think of ourselves as potential celebrities. Many Eastern cultures stress the importance of a collective self (page 158), where a person derives their identity from a social group. In contrast, Western cultures tend to be more individualistic, focusing on the self instead of the collective.
Self-Concept and Self-Esteem
Self-concept (page 159) refers to the beliefs a person holds about their attributes and how they evaluate these qualities. The self-concept is a complex structure composed of many attributes, some of which are given greater positive or negative emphasis when evaluating the overall self.
Consumers’ self-assessment can be quite distorted, especially regarding their physical appearance. Self-esteem (page 160) refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept.
- People with low self-esteem do not expect to perform well and try to avoid embarrassment, failure, or rejection.
- People with high self-esteem expect to be successful and are willing to take more risks and get more attention.
Marketing and Self-Esteem
Marketing communications can influence a consumer’s level of self-esteem. Exposure to ads can trigger social comparison—for example, female college students comparing their appearance with models and showing less satisfaction with their bodies. Self-esteem advertising tries to change product attitudes by stimulating positive feelings about self-esteem.
Real and Ideal Selves
(page 161)
- Ideal self: A person’s conception of how they would like to be.
- Actual self: Our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we possess and lack.
We choose some products because we think they are consistent with our actual selves, while we also consume products to help us reach a more ideal standard. We often engage in impression management, where we work hard to manage what others think of us by strategically choosing clothing and products that will put us in a good light.
While most people experience a discrepancy between their real and ideal selves, for some consumers, this gap is larger. These individuals are good targets for marketing communications that use fantasy appeals. Many products or services are successful because they appeal to the consumer tendency to fantasize.
Multiple Selves
(page 162)
Each of us is a multitude of different people. We have as many selves as we do different social roles. We each play different roles depending on the situation, and each role has its own script, props, and costumes. This can be explained as having different role identities: husband, boss, student, with some roles clashing with each other.
The Looking-Glass Self
How do we decide which self to activate at any point in time? As members of society, individuals learn to agree on shared meanings. We know what a red light means and what fast food lights signify.
Sociologists call the process of imagining others’ reactions the “looking-glass self” (page 162). We bounce signals off others and try to project their impressions of us. Who am I in this situation? Those around us greatly influence this question because we also ask: Who do other people think I am? We pattern our behavior as a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Self-Consciousness
(page 163)
Self-consciousness can be explained as the feeling of having all eyes on us (arriving late for a lecture). On the other hand, we have little self-consciousness when we are in riots or stadiums.
- Some people are more sensitive to the image they communicate to others.
- The concept of the empty self relates to the need of many millennials to take many selfies as an unconscious way of compensating for what we have lost. This develops a culture of narcissism where we constantly record what we do or how we feel.
- Research shows that while people believe taking pictures during an event enhances their enjoyment, the opposite is true. There is a tendency to become preoccupied with documenting the moment more than enjoying it.
You Are What You Consume
The reflected self helps to shape self-concept, which implies that people see themselves as they imagine others see them. Since what others see includes a person’s clothing, jewelry, furniture, car, and so on, it stands to reason that these products also help to determine the perceived self.
Consumers also exhibit attachment to objects for maintaining their self-concept.
Symbolic Self-Completion Theory
(page 165)
Symbolic self-completion theory predicts that people who have an incomplete self-definition tend to complete this identity by acquiring and displaying symbols associated with it. For example, adolescents may buy macho products or smoke cigarettes to develop their masculinity.
When institutions (prisons) want to repress individuality, they remove all personal possessions, thus encouraging group identity. We experience a loss of self (page 166). Victims of natural disasters often experience alienation or depression.
Self-Image Congruence
(page 167)
Self-image congruence suggests that we choose products when their attributes match some aspect of the self, resulting in a cognitive matching between product attributes and self-image. The ideal self appears to be more relevant as a comparison standard for highly expressive social products, such as perfumes, while the actual self is more relevant for everyday products.
We cannot always assume that consumers will always buy products that match their own characteristics.
The Extended Self
(page 168)
The extended self occurs when external objects are incorporated into the self (burying the dead with all their possessions). The extended self happens on an individual level (personal possessions in self-definition), a family level (collective possessions, homes/furniture), and a community and group level (landmarks).
Embodied Cognition and the Digital Self
Embodied cognition explains how the state of the body influences the state of mind. Our body language changes the way we see ourselves. Today, we have access to post-production tools to enforce our identities; we can call this the digital self.
Gender
(Page 171)
Gender is a very important component of the consumer self-concept. Our culture is everything that we learn. We can also observe gender differences when comparing food preferences, quality, and quantity—women eat smaller quantities because they have been trained to be more delicate. Marketing has historically been defined by men and still tends to be dominated by male values.
- Males are more self-oriented, while females are more other-oriented.
- Females are more cautious responders.
- Females are more responsive to negative data.
- Males process data more selectively, and females more comprehensively.
- Females are more sensitive to differentiating conditions and factors.
Sex Roles and Sex-Typed Products
Sex role identity is a state of mind as well as body. A person’s biological gender does not determine whether they will exhibit sex-typed traits (page 172), or characteristics that are stereotypically associated with one sex or the other.
Sex-typed products (page 173) take on masculine or feminine attributes, and consumers associate them with one or the other. Technical brand names are often recalled as masculine, while self-expressive goods are more feminine.
Evolving Gender Roles
Female gender roles (page 175) are rapidly changing as society changes. Suzuki is appealing to the growing number of women in India who are achieving financial independence. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign has shifted the way women are seen and what beauty means since it shows different types of women at different ages.
Male gender roles (page 176) are also evolving but slowly. In contrast to the macho man who does not show feelings, some marketers are promoting the male sensitive side—metrosexual (page 176)—interested in fashion, home design, gourmet cooking, and personal care.
Advertisers are criticized for showing women as sex objects, but the same accusation can be made for men seen as a “beefcake.” Sexism in advertising still exists.
LGBTQ+ Representation
LGBTQ+ communities are being more actively targeted by marketers and companies with a broader acceptance, with more and more communications involving gay couples. Oreo produced special biscuit ads for the Gay Pride parade.
Body Image
(page 178)
A person’s physical appearance is a major part of their self-concept. Body image refers to consumers’ subjective evaluation of their physical selves. A man may think of himself as being more muscular than he really is, or a woman may think she is fatter than she is.
Body cathexis (page 179) is defined as the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction one feels towards various parts and aspects of their own body.
Ideals of Beauty
Ideals of beauty for men and women may include physical traits, but is beauty universal? Beautiful people are generally happier because it’s calculated that they can make more money than average-looking people. Consumers compare themselves to certain standards and are dissatisfied with the outcome since it does not match up.
Ideals of beauty have changed over time. In the 1800s, it was fashionable to appear delicate or almost ill. Marilyn Monroe died in 1962, but she still represents a cultural ideal of beauty. Unilever replicated the Dove campaign in China, where it flopped since many women believed they could attain the kind of airbrushed beauty advertised.
Beauty in male characters can be defined by muscles and hairy faces, as a strongly masculine, muscled body.
Recap
Consumers’ self-concepts are reflections of their attitudes towards themselves. Whether positive or negative, these attitudes will guide many purchase decisions. We choose many products because we think they are similar to our personalities. People use valued objects to define the self. A person’s sex role is a major component of self-definition. Both masculinity and femininity are largely shaped by society. Media plays an active role in telling us how we need to behave as “proper” males and females, although the situation is changing. The way we think of our bodies is a key component of self-esteem. A person’s conception of their body provides feedback to their self-image. A culture provides specific ideals of beauty, and consumers go to great lengths to attain these.