Hipster Consumer Behavior Theoretical Foundation: Consumer Behavior Theory

The phenomenon of consumerism is quiet powerful due to the impact on individual’s lives. Society has come to the point, happiness is associated with consumption. However, the way consumerism works, is if the items being purchased gives temporary happiness. There individuals are always buying the latest products to remain happy. In the text, “The Cult you’re in” Kalle Lasn, discusses a cult-like nature of consumer culture on Americans. Lasn uses the work ‘cult’ as a metaphor; he does not mean an actual cult but American consumers seem to be in a cult-like nature. The ideal example of Lasns argument is the text, “The man behind Abercrombie and Fitch”, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, goes in great depth of the life of the CEO, Mike Jeffries, of

The futuristic looks of 60s clothing were revived, as were the neon colors of the 80s, and the “hippie” style of the 70s (Korsnes n.p.). The fashion of the decade got many elements from previous styles, and many old trends were redesigned and made popular again. Thus, a lot of vintage clothing styles became very popular in this era. Because of globalization, designers based their items on various styles from around the world, causing the fashion of the 2000s to be more diverse, and become a mix and match of different styles. This increase in the variety of the styles made it easier to express one’s identity through fashion (Rindfuss

The 1960s Hippie movement was a major point in the American history. In the 1960s a certain class of young people associated their lifestyles with the ideas of freedom, peace, and love. Hippies acted against white upper middle class lifestyle because they thought it was based on the wrong ideology. Hippies were against consumerism and American suburban life of the late 1950s and early 1960s was embodied in itself the idea of consumerism. Hippies, on the other hand, felt better about communal life with equal distribution of social goods. Traditional “bigger share” and consumerist greed as concepts of American society were despised by Hippies.

In this reading, I will be discussing the different categories in which advertisers have placed consumers to distinguish them from one another using their values, attitudes, and life-style. According to the writer of American culture and advertisement James B. Twitchell, “the object of much consumer research is not to try to twist their feathers so that they will flock to your product, but to position your product in such a place that they will have to fly by it and perhaps stop to roost. After roosting, they will eventually think that this is part of their flyway and return to it again and again” (p. 178). The proposition of stereotyping consumer lifestyles is a very effective way of marketing goods and services. The VALS2 strategy of marketing segment, target, and position used by advertisers is based on research; which means, marketers know more about consumer behaviors than what we think. This is an important issue because it’s necessary to raise awareness in society about the advantages and disadvantages that this can bring. After having evaluated all given points; this article is an eye opener for those who have any doubts about what consumers mean to large companies and advertisers.

These days we are surrounded by the latest technology: smartphones, hybrid automobiles, and robots that clean your floors. Companies are constantly finding ways to capture your attention; to keep upgrading and spending endless amounts of money on items that you don’t need. In “Honestly–You Shouldn’t Have” by Anna Quindlen, the reoccurring theme of materialisticness is mentioned and is applied to every American, starting from the Industrial Revolution up until now. In reality, having these upgraded objects and over expensive clothing represent how socially insecure they are. They simply cannot live looking poor or old fashioned, they need to show others that they are not bottom feeders. People see what they have and know there is a better model

Recently I heard a story about a mother and child walking through a retail store when the child says to her mother “I want those shoes!” The mother asks “Why do you want those shoes?” to which her daughter responds “Because everyone else is wearing them.” The Mother asks, “Wouldn’t you want to get something different and be more original?” and the child says “No, then I wouldn’t be original like everyone else!” Between the 1920’s and the era of World War II America saw some of its most dramatic cultural shifts since the country’s beginnings. This story of a mother and child expresses the changes that took place in the early half of the 1900’s which made a lasting effect in creating the consumer society we know today. This consumer-centered society that we know was developed by multiple shifts in the American economy and lifestyle. In this essay I will discuss how each the “Roaring Twenties,” the “Great Depression” and the World War II Era each contributed in the way of accelerating or stalling the process of creating an American consumer society.

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into Hollister Co.’s marketing communications and assess whether it successfully targets my demographic of young, male recent college graduates. The paper will first introduce Hollister and provide a brief company history as well as outlining the challenges in reaching out to consumers such as myself who differ from the brand’s intended targets. It will then segue to discussing Hollister’s position within the market and any outlying challenges the brand has navigated through.

“Global fashion trends affect us when we compare ourselves with and sell ourselves to other consumers in cities and consumption spaces. New street cultures from anywhere are marketed and copied everywhere, generating generic scripts for mass-consumption and creating what we would like to refer to as ‘template cities’” (Spierings). Humans continue to conform to the social norm and disregard unique aspects inspired solely by personal

The Hippie Counter Culture began in 1960. The hippie era was influenced more by personal happiness in which books, music, and fashion followed as result of their personification of a blissful society. Hippies did not care what others thought of them and their motto was “if it feels good, do it”. Hippies were seeking a utopian society. They participated in street theater and listened to psychedelic rock. As part of their culture they embraced more open sexual encounters amongst each other in their community and believed in use of psychedelic drugs which consisted of marijuana and LSD. The fashion choice that hippies dressed in was due to set them apart from the mainstream society. They choose to buy their clothing from thrift shops and flea markets (Haddock, 2011). Clothing choices are described as “brightly colored, ragged clothes, tie-dyed t-shirts, beads, sandals (or barefoot), and jewelry” (Haddock, 2011, para 7). Hippies also referred

You’re such a hipster.” It’s a phrase heard everyday in school hallways across America, and its usage often operates as a conundrum that obscures teenagers’ perceptions of themselves and who they want to be. I, in turn, have struggled immensely with the paradoxical use of this label.

The book, From Goodwill to Grunge: A Story of Second Hand Styles and Alternative Economics, is in complete adherence with my view of the world, especially as teenager in the 21st century. I believe that fashion, and what people wear is, unfortunately, such a big part of life in 2018. Many teens and young adults are expected to dress a certain way, and shop at certain stores, and if they don’t , they risk being bullied, especially in middle and high schools, which can be extremely deleterious to a teens mental health as well as self esteem. In today’s day and time, thrifting is as popular as ever, with many teens adopting the thrifting lifestyle exclusively for the aesthetic. In the chapter “The Invention of Vintage Clothing” , Le Zotte states,“Vintage

“Two Hipsters Angrily Call Each Other ‘Hipster,’ ” is one of the headlines of an article on the satirical news site The Onion ("Two Hipsters”). before even reading the article, the first thing most people picture is two pretentious, twenty- somethings, wearing way-too-tight American Apparel jeans and lens-less glasses, and their favorite nameless brand or “vintage” shirts, upset that the other has discovered an unrecognizable band before they did. That word “hipster” has grown enormously since that article was written in 2006. Now everyone has that one friend—or group of friends—who says everything is “too mainstream”, and gloats about how they “knew about that before it was trendy.” The term is plastered across tumbler headers and splayed across the titles of articles in major magazines such as; The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Fortune. It seems like everyone is trying to be a hipster, calling others hipsters, or denying that they are a hipster.

One day I was sitting on the couch with my friend acacia, and as always, she was complaining about how her Instagram photos weren’t getting enough likes. I tried to help ease her distraught thoughts about her social media woes by looking up trending hashtags to get her picture the attention she was looking for. In one of the top spots was the word “hipster”. The first thing I thought of was a twenty- something year old, wearing way too tight American Apparel jeans and lens-less, glasses, complaining about how some recently unknown band is so mainstream or how their local coffee shop doesn’t know what at “flat-white” is. Everyone has that one friend who says everything is “too mainstream”, and Acacia was that friend. I brought up my suggestion and she got oddly offended, saying: “I am not a hipster” with pure disgust. I didn’t understand why she was so put-off; she fit, what I thought, was a stereotypical hipster. Then I thought, what exactly is a hipster?

The dominance of capitalist countries has facilitated the conformity of global civilization and cultural environments resulting in an increase of consumer cultures (Sarmela, 1977; Chaney, 2004). As capitalism experiences a natural and unavoidable expansion, consumers engage with consumer culture creating invisible products such as social status, identity, cultures, and ethical relationships (Sternberg, 2017). There are two sides to consumer culture that are the values held by society; those who conform and those who rebel (Turow & McAllister, 2014). All participants of society align with either submission or resistance to dominant ideas, values, and social structures. However, as a result of continued progressive diversity and fragmentation, the distinction between submissive and resistance are blurred. Nevertheless, those who resist and rebel are still participants of consumer culture. Instead they instead form sub cultures in society with alternative beliefs, values and ideas that challenge the mainstream (Chaney, 2004). In order to better understand the relationship between consumption practice and the resistance of consumer culture, theories of reflexive project of self, prosumers, lifestyle commodification, and incorporation will be analyzed in relation to the vegan movement.

As previously discussed, hip consumers main focus is buying unique and different items to be seen as cool. The products offered by Lulu always have the same styles and can be imitated easily. Consumers of this brand buy to fit in and stand out, leading back to conspicuous consumption. These consumers also look to their cultural intermediaries to follow the mainstream trends of this brand. All of these actions are completely opposite of hip consumers.