Lifestyle and Consumer Culture - Essay Example

Lifestyle and Consumer Culture In the post-modern era of global economy the lifestyle of human societies in different countries of the world has completely been engulfed by the wide spread consumerism. Lifestyles are the forms of individual lives and their interpretation in the social context. The social structure can be linked to attitude and behavior of the dwellers of the society through the depiction of lifestyle. The lifestyle of a society reveals the socio-cultural plurality present in the society through the combination of social status, attitude and preferences and behavior (Reusswig, Lotze-Campen and Gerlinger n.d.). In the context of postmodernism the consumer culture is the reflection of individuality in terms of self expression and self-consciousness. It denotes the individual choices with regards to clothes, speech, eating and drinking preferences, home, car, leisure pastime, choices of holiday destination and so on. Consumer culture is the indicator of individual sense of taste and style and as a whole depicts the preference of the society. In the postmodern era the consumer culture indicates decrease in restrictions or rules and increase of choices (Featherstone 1991). The consumer culture has significantly influenced the lifestyle of every human being and the products and their promotions have also found to target almost every aspect of the lifestyle of persons of different age groups. Australia as a country has also been found to follow the western consumerist culture in terms of fashion, films, new technology and other consumer products to satisfy the daily needs and with booming economy and increased power of buying the Australian consumers have turned into binge buyers. But owing to its location and small but cosmopolitan population the socio-economic trend in the country is not exactly similar to other developed western countries (Henry 2006). The consumer culture in the Australian society tries to assimilate all the varying cultures and lifestyles derived from different ethnic groups and immigrants and try to serve them all but with a focus on urban lifestyle. Promotion of different consumer products through different media has a measurable influence on the consumer culture and lifestyle of the country. The lifestyle of the people also is quite influential for the promotion of the consumer products. There are different aspects of consumerism affecting the lifestyle of people. The products of daily use as well as the luxury items and leisure activities are the symbols of consumer culture of any country. The postmodern consumerism focuses on the consumption of resources in everyday life and advertising through mass media leads people to constant search for new fashion, new style, new sensations, in short new experiences in all the sectors of life. The marketing strategies in all sectors generally target the youngsters both as the current and future consumers of their products. An advertisement of the “Clearasil” cleanser can be cited in this respect. The advertisement clearly demonstrates the lifestyle and daily activities of a common urban young girl in Australia and tried to present the product to be indispensable to maintain such activities. Thus there is an attempt to focus the superficial beauty of a woman as a key to her success and the product to be the key to achieve the beauty. Thus the advertisement is a very good example of promotion of consumer products reflecting the consumer culture more focused on glamorous presentation rather than simplicity. Food and drinks are other very significant consumer products symbolizing the lifestyle of any society. Alcohol advertising is permitted in Australia with some specific codes of conduct but these are not enough to protect the youngsters. Australian parents are found to be extremely concerned with the increase in drinking habits among the youngsters. The advertisers generally try to relate alcohol to happiness and success in various fields of life including personal, social and business sectors. They do not portray the negative sides of alcohol consumption and as a result attract young people towards it (Anon. 2003). For example the Vivezo advertisement, which tried to equalize alcohol with Australian famous beach culture, may induce the feeling in the youngsters that alcohol is a symbol of beach culture and as an Australian they must indulge in alcoholism. These advertisements have the potential to allure the youngsters who can interpret the message in the campaign to be “must take” rather than “may take”. The overt use of sex in ad campaigns such as that of bourbon makers shown on the Fox Sports presenting women very offensively is also a matter of concern. The television and internet advertisements are thought to be the most offensive promotion in the history of the industry. These kinds of advertisements, though not very common, can affect youngsters adversely as they have frequent access to television and internet and the sports channel is the one which is not very often restricted for viewing by the children. This kind of cheap publicity is not only harmful for the society but also for the product which risks profit in the long run (Stark 2008). Soft drinks commercials also have very strong influence on the lifestyle of the people as they generally involve famous personalities from films and sports for the promotions and general public consider them as their role models. Not only can the acts done by celebrities but also an unusual stunt done by a common man heighten the chance of imitating the behavior in general public especially in the younger ones. The controversial advertisement by the Coca Cola Company to promote “Coke Zero” was an example of this. The advertisement involving a young man on the roof of a running bus demonstrated the life of a common man surrounded by various restrictions and evoked the sense of no limit among them. The ad campaign tried to awake the wilderness in the common man by removing the sense of restriction from the mind of the public. Fantasy for so called free life in common man provoked them to even imitate the act shown in the campaign. Portrayal of consumerism with zero consequences can surely have extreme consequences on the society (Anon. 2006). A more recent advertisement of Diet Coke portrays young urban working women and tried to present it as their only choice to keep fit and working. This campaign tried to focus on the health consciousness of the consumers to popularize the product. The “Diet Coke plus Vitamin” or “Diet Coke plus Antioxidant” are the varieties of the product focusing more specifically on health aspects. The advertisements tried to integrate the product with both work and leisure and thus tried to associate with almost all aspects of the lifestyle of a person. The portrayal of the daily activities of the common man in the ad campaigns brings the product into the real world experienced by the public from the fantasy world of celebrities. This helps the product to connect with people more easily and encourages them to buy the same. The changing consumer culture focusing more on reality rather than fantasy is reflected in such advertisements. Cars are considered to be one of the most luxurious items used by the society. But the postmodern consumerism showed increased ability of the people to spend on such items. The cars have also come within the reach of common man. The car companies thus started to make cars to suit the needs of daily life of the people and showcase them as the necessities of common people rather than luxury of the rich ones. The ad campaign of Kia Rondo7 focuses on the daily needs of the public but at the same time inspire them to ask for more comfort and luxury in their lifestyles. It concentrates on the public tendency of fitting more facilities in a single item. The ad presents Rondo7 to be suitable for both urban rural lifestyles. The car standing in a calm country environment portrays the more laid back rural lifestyle whereas the pictures of the car carrying seven people either to work or to family trip are the portrayals of urban lifestyle presenting it to desirable for both rural and urban people for various purposes. This advertisement is yet another example of changing consumer culture based on the changed lifestyle of the society which has shifted the focus from luxury to necessity, fantasy to reality. As a whole it can be said that the lifestyle and consumer culture of people in Australia are intimately interrelated. They hugely influence each other and the promotional activities symbolize the fact clearly. The advertisement campaigns often showcase the lifestyle of the target people to attract them towards the product and also sometimes become the element of interference in the lifestyle of the public. The overuse of women as a sex symbol in almost all products including food, drink or any other consumer good is quite common in present consumer culture and it is the time when Australia really needs a well-organized consumer movement to establish the views of the consumers at the national platform along with the big business groups, green groups and the unions (Mayne 2006). References 1) Anon., 2003. Alcohol promotion and young people. Drug Info: Clearing House. [Online]. Available at: http://www.playnowactnow.net.au/pdf/Fact_sheet_MarketingAlcohol.pdf [accessed on 26 August 2008]. 2) Anon., 2006. Coke Zero launched in Australia. The Inspiration Room Daily. [Online]. Available at: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/coke-zero-in-australia/ [accessed on 25 August 2008]. 3) Featherstone, M., 1991. Consumer culture and post modernism. UK: SAGE Publications. [Online]. Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Whl49Kviuh0C&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=lifestyle+and+consumer+culture&source=web&ots=xGxPL137X_&sig=Uc9J1CCE5xni5f5wGbWt3hy6wFY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA83,M1 [accessed on 26 August 2008]. 4) Henry, P., 2006. Consumer culture in Australia. Emerald Shop. [Online]. Available at: http://shop.emeraldinsight.com/product_info.htm/cPath/45/products_id/136 [accessed on 25 August 2008]. 5) Mayne, S., 2006. Why Australia needs a consumer culture. Crikey. [Online]. Available at: http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20060914-Why-Australia-needs-a-consumer-culture.html [accessed on 26 August 2008]. 6) Reusswig, F., Lotze-Campen, H. and Gerlinger, K., n.d. Changing global lifestyle and consumption patterns: The case of energy and food. [Online]. Available at: http://www.populationenvironmentresearch.org/papers/Lotze-Campen_Reusswig_Paper.pdf [accessed on 25 August 2008]. 7) Stark, J., 2008. ‘Stalking’ whiskey ad prompts outrage. The Age. [Online]. 07 August. Available at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/stalking-whiskey-ad-prompts-outrage-20080806-3r6g.html [accessed on 25 August 2008]. Read More