jacktowerscoms2001

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How do you see the role of consumption in structuring your day-to-day existence?

I see the role of consumption intrinsically tied to my day-to-day existence. I start my day by driving down to the train station to head into the city for work whilst listening to Apple Music only to fill my car up with fuel for the second time this week along the way. At least I’ve been able to claim those extra Qantas frequent flyer points whilst filling up, dreaming of my next venture, if and when that is. Yet this is just the first hour of the day’s interactions amongst the week. (Figure 1.1)

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(Figure 1.1) Consumption in Transit

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My previous understanding of consumption was synonymous with consumerism however through the set readings this understanding has changed. Consumption and consumerism while seemingly the same thing have in fact different ideologies and practices behind their understandings. In understanding these differences between both terms’ “consumption” denotes the “using up” of a material or service despite the “economic or ideological context” in which it is being utilised (Lewis & Potter, 2010, p.28). Whilst “Consumerism” is the reason behind “consuming within a particular type of social and political system” otherwise known as “consumer capitalism” (Lewis & Potter, 2010, p.28). To further the understanding of consumption, “anti-consumerism” is the resistance of “capitalist consumer culture” (Lewis & Potter, 2010, p.28). Both consumption and consumerism have complex political, cultural and social fabrics that are interwoven among our day to day existence regardless of our awareness of their impacts on our lives. Consumption therefore tends to take a passive process whilst consumerism is tied to more intentional ideological motives.

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My conscious thoughts and understanding of what consumption is today relate both to the readings as well as my background being an Architecture graduate where form and function are critiqued heavily. Architecture and design are increasingly becoming interwoven amongst the fabric of consumption through being employed in marketing. As Beverland, Gemser & Karpen (2017) states

“While in prior marketing literature design has often been measured solely in terms of aesthetics, recent studies have proposed to measure design outcomes by means of a three-dimensional construct, composed of aesthetic, symbolic and functional dimensions” (pp. 161).

A parallel can be drawn between these three dimensions whilst considering Carr’s (1990) Functional-leisure shopping continuum (Figure 2.1). Carr suggests there are different degrees of functionality and leisure in understanding consumption. At the functional end, quarter mastering is considered “routine purchases of essential items” and is quite often “boring and laborious” much like paying bills. Moving toward leisure “technical shopping” refers to purchasing “mechanical items that have a job to do” which is considered “functional” as it consists of “planning, decision-making, and information-seeking.” Whilst “expressive shopping” and “recreational shopping” is more “leisured” and enables material goods to “project an image of themselves” taking a more symbolic approach (as cited in Timothy, 2005, pp. 16). As seen in figure 2.1 Needs and wants are scaled as quarter mastering to recreational respectively. As such Our needs are largely functional and technical much like my commute into work by car and train whilst wants are largely tied to recreational, aesthetic and symbolic goods and services much like apple music lifting the mood on the way there. Through understanding where consumption habits fall among this scale one can determine what is routine, boring and laborious which tends to be consumption needs from subjectively expressive and leisured consumerism wants.

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(Figure 2.1) Carr’s (1990) Functional-leisure shopping continuum

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Design is becoming a considerable marketing force and mechanism to contribute to consumer desire through delivering expressive or reactional leisurely shopping experiences. Working at Aesop a Melbourne based skincare company I see this blend of architecture and design deliver such an experience as noted in (Figure 3.1). Aesop’s design philosophy is that well-considered design improves lives. With site specific architecture that creates a sense of place, each Aesop location creates a broader civic destination that transforms the consumer experience. Miles (2010) states

“The notion that shopping is less a functional activity and more and more about the experience is an important one in helping us to understand the broader evolution of the city” (pp. 79).

Coleman (2004) suggests further that shopping is about “mental well-being” where there are “opportunities” for the consumer to “participate” in a “civic or cultural activity” through creating an “environment” that delivers an “experience” that incorporates a “sense of place” (as cited in Miles, 2010, pp, 79). “The sense of place engendered in the shopping experience means that the shopping trip becomes more important than the actual purchase” (Miles, 2010, pp. 79). Here we can begin to understand the way in which the fabric of consumption is tailored. Whereby generating a formula to hook and lure consumers in along the Functional-leisure shopping continuum scale. It is evident to see how the fabric of our very cities are being developed in structuring our day to day consumption habits.

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 (Figure 3.1) Mlkk studios for Aesop Claremont. Retrieved from http://mlkk.studio/work/aesop-claremont/

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Travel has also meandered into communications and marketing to channel consumption in a way similar to that of architecture. Clearly my architecture and design background has me self-identify with particular consumption practices and this doesn’t stop with Aesop but sees me identify with other similar brand identities. Le Labo is a New York perfumery who share similar design philosophy as Aesop with their utilitarian branding that cleverly frames their products from being a luxury want towards being a justifiable need. This said, with travel being such a strong part of my self-identity and for many others, Le Labo have captured an olfactory memory of a range of cities and created a fragrance around it to justify their extortionate pricing as one can’t deny a memory being anything other than a justifiable need (Figure 4.1). “Tourism” is beyond the mere “passive consumption of visual images” rather being an “interactive experience involving the entire body and all its senses” and is a “process of consumption”. As such “shaping tourist destinations as sites of consumption and people's differential experiences and practices of consumption” has become a commodity in our day to day consumption habits (McGibbon, 2006, pp. 141). With travel and tourism being a sensory experience Zomerdijk and Voss (2010) use the term ‘sensory design’ to refer to “design that provides for sensory pleasure, a concept that is appealing since it does not exclude any of the human senses” (as cited in Beverland, Gemser & Karpen, 2017, pp. 160). This City Exclusive range explores this philosophy of sensory design among its interplay in such context with travel. As noted by Liu (2003) this “aesthetic appraisal” is “multi-sensorial” and is designed to create an “interplay between a person’s visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, haptic and even proprioceptive systems” (as cited in Beverland, Gemser & Karpen, 2017, pp. 160). The perfume house has cleverly designed a range of fragrances that are only available in select cities hence titling the collection as the “City Exclusives Range”. Selling an idea, memory or an intangible artifact crosses the objectively luxury want back into a justifiable need, through attaching importance through sensory design to their brand and product. Sensory design acknowledges that “Intangibility is an important characteristic” to be considered in valuing the “ideas” in the “minds of prospective buyers” as “physical goods” such as “perfumes” are also “ideas” among the “customers minds” “even though they can be inspected and guaranteed” (Morgan, Ranchhod, 2009, pp. 48). I see consumption structuring my day to day existence in identifying with brands that identify with me. This trend is tied to my identity where I begin to fall into this trap of justifying consumption practices as intrinsically being justified by my identity itself. 

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(Figure 4.1) Le Labo’s City Exclusive “Amsterdam” Retrieved from https://www.lelabofragrances.com.au

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The academic study of consumption has helped highlight, reaffirm and contextualise my positioning amongst social and cultural spheres. It has shown how deeply I take an interest in consuming things that are designed and built with attention and thought with self-justification based on my identity. This illustrates my passive awareness of the values I hold when it comes to the choices I make as a consumer. Furthermore, this is to an extent directed by my global positioning, being afforded the privilege to have been raised in a first world nation.  A number of scholars suggest that the “primary characteristic” of a “post-industrial society” shows that it’s a “consumer society” (Featherstone 1991; Lury 1996; Slater 1997; Baudrillard 1998) (as cited in Isabelle, 2013, pp110). Consumer societies illustrate how “our selves” and “Identities” are “formed by “consuming things” as opposed to “producing things” within “post-industrial society”. This however is argued by Baudrillard as a notion where “shaping self” is “forced upon us by the capitalist system” (as cited in Isabelle, 2013, pp110). The capitalist system drives social and cultural status pressures through advertising and marketing that pushes such positioning of self-making. “Shopping is consuming our lives” however it doesn’t guarantee “satisfaction” as with each purchase we are promised happiness, yet we’re still “dreaming of the virtuous ideal” (Miles, 2010, pp. 78). We’re nor happy or content in the pursuit of progress and continue to want the next thing that we don’t have. As Isabelle (2013) states

“This stance is embodied in the theory of consumption as materialistic, which suggests that people in post-industrial societies are bound up in the excessive accumulation of material goods either for their own sake or for purposes of distinction—and that these goods, while never satisfying consumers, are more important to them than their relationships with people” (pp. 108).

Materiality is quite often viewed as “intrinsically bad” and “superfluous,” as “pure individuals” become “sullied” by “commodity culture” and what is needed is an “ascetic repudiation” and “liberation” of individuals from things (Isabelle, 2013, pp. 108). However, this begs the question of what would a society that is not consumption-based to look like? Would there be progress and economic growth? Consumption reflects the individual based on economic or ideological contexts surrounding what one would consider wants and needs. These varied understandings of consumption are based on differing social, cultural and ideological factors. This is understandable based on the ambiguity of the lived human experience where wants and needs can be defined in variance based on the individual.

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References

Beverland, M. Gemser, G. & Karpen, I. (2017). Design, consumption and marketing/ outcomes, process, philosophy and future directions, Journal of Marketing Management, 33/3-4, 159-172, DOI/ 10.1080/0267257X.2017.1283908

Isabelle, D. S. (2013). Food and the self / Consumption, production and material culture. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central http///ebookcentral.proquest.com

Lewis & E. Potter, E. (Eds.), (2010). Ethical consumption/ A critical introduction. (pp.27-39). Taylor & Francis. sourced from http///ebookcentral.proquest.com

McGibbon, J. (2006) Teppich-Swingers and Skibums/ Differential Experiences of Ski Tourism in the Tirolean Alps ch.7 pp 140-157. Retrieved from https///ap01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12181858490001951  

Miles, S. (2010). Spaces for consumption. Shopping for dreams. ch 6 pp 78-94. Retrieved from ProQuest Ebook Central https///ebookcentral.proquest.com

Mlkk studios, (Figure 3.1) Aesop. Retrieved from http://mlkk.studio/work/aesop-claremont/

Mouse De Chen, (Figure 4.1) Le Labo. Retrieved from https://www.lelabofragrances.com.au

Morgan M, & Ranchhod A. (2009). Marketing in Travel and Tourism/ Vol. 4th ed. Routledge.

Timothy, D. (2005). Recreational Shopping, Leisure, and Labour. ch2 pp 15-41. Retrieved from https///ap01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12181858150001951