Brands As The Language Of Consumer Culture.

INTRODUCTION

"One cannot not communicate" (Watzlawick, Bavelas, & Jackson, 1967, p. 49). All human behavior conveys messages which influence others (Martineau, 1957, p. 45). This investigation is about brands as units of meaning in the language of the consumer market culture. In this language, advertising serves as the dictionary, disseminating brand meaning to the culture.
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Some recent research implicitly assumes that culture is an outside influence on marketing (e.g., Caillat & Mueller, 1996; Kanso, 1992). However, marketers who previously viewed themselves as acting outside of culture increasingly recognize that marketing not only occurs within culture, but is an important component of culture (Solomon & Englis, 1994). Cultural anthropologists join the staffs of major marketing organizations that recognize cultural research is important to the marketing process. Within cultural environments, marketers create brands to sell their products or services; consumers often use brands as language to engage in cultural discourse.

Marketing ends when consumption begins (Douglas & Isherwood, 1996, p. 36). Once they have been created and marketed, brands "belong" to consumers (Schultz & Barnes, 1995, p. 13). Brands are meaningless except in consumers' perceptions. Consumers are the locus of all market value, whether utilitarian or expressive. Brand success depends upon significance to consumers and how they use brands. This study examines cultural influences on what brands mean to consumers, and how consumers use brands to convey meaning in the consumer culture. I show how consumers can use brands to compose...