Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 This essay explores how the frameworks of the

self, McCrackens image transfer model, which can help analyse the purchasing decision process when shopping for a suit. These frameworks are being applied to the examples provided in The Perfect Suit. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

There are three core elements to the notion of the self, the actual (how the consumer sees themselves at the present time), ideal (where the consumer has recognised how they would like to see themselves) or potential and the social (how other people see the consumer) or public. (Evans et al., 2006)

The actual self relates to the realistic attributes the consumer has set of themselves, these will include both positive qualities that they posses and the negative, qualities that they lack. (Solomon et al., 2010; Anon., n.d.) With reference the suit, it can be used as a tool to reinforce their own individual (actual) self-identity, Clothing has widely been regarded as a tool utilized by consumers to connote a meaning, or a set of meanings about themselves to the public. Whenever we clothe ourselves, we dress toward or address some audience whose validating responses are essential to the establishment of our self (Solomon & Rabolt, 2004: 142)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Where other people react positively to the suit, as shown in the 1950s adverts featured in the case study (The Perfect Suit, 2011) (being exploitative of women to highlight the suits sex appeal and also reinforce that it is a symbol of success), and the individual wearing the suit recognises this it helps form or reinforce their own notions of identity, this is often referred to as reflected appraisal. (Hogg et al., 2000)

An individuals perception of their actual self can, and often is, heavily influenced by advertising and the media. A clear example of this are the 1950s adverts exploiting women to highlight to the audience that a suit has sex appeal, that their desire is to be with a masculine man that is successful, (The Perfect Suit, 2011) all of which reinforces the suit as being symbolic of these attributes. Those consumers that accept the hegemonic reading (Hall, 2003) of these advertising messages will likely change the way they view themselves, as a result of being exposed to frequent of images of what one should look like. (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010)

Historically the suit has been a form of formal or professional dress, therefore looking at the case study, focusing on the typical businessman, where this professional sub-culture gravitates around notions of power, authority, masculinity and success has been established over a substantial amount of time. The suit has become a symbol (Barthes, 1967), an essential part of this professional sub-culture, it embodies and connotes the afore mentioned characteristics of a typical businessman.

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 This motivation to denote connotations of wealth, success and power are often driven by the individual identifying the difference between their actual self and their possible self, by looking social referents (Solomon et al., 2010) that are close to the individuals possible self, they will actively attempt to emulate their purchasing decisions in the hope that they will eventually reach this possible self. (Hogg et al., 2000) Individuals use their own self-concept to interpret social experiences and to evaluate others, typically choosing to be around individuals and form cohorts with those that share characteristics that will reinforce their own self-identity. (Price et al., 2004)

Analysing this through the perspective of a student who has graduated from University and entering the professional world, their actual state will be markedly different from their ideal state (being that they want to appear professional to the new social reference group {other employees}), as the suit has become a symbol of professionalism and the reference group will be wearing suits as a uniform, this will be used as a heuristic by the individual to identify similar product choices to reach the ideal self. (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010) If the consumers actual state is not close to the ideal state, this will typically result in low-self esteem, which increases risk (of social acceptance), therefore this can be a motivation to reach the ideal sate in the shortest amount of time possible. (Solomon et al., 2010)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 However it has been observed that individuals can be made up of multiple selves to fulfill different social roles such as being a family member, but behaving differently working in a professional capacity (role identities), these are contextual based. Therefore individuals will consume different products and brands to aid in the realization of these multiple selves. (Solomon et al., 2010)

These selves can be changed and be flexible depending on the situational context, these constructed self-conceptions can also be contrasted over time, for example of how a consumer used fashion to construct their self identity at University and contrasting against how this has changed over time, identifying the differences in consumption choice for their new roles, such as a parent or a professional worker. (Price et al., 2004) However the suit has become a flexible dress as perceptions have changed over time, modern business practices are moving to a less formal environment to that of a more casual one, therefore the boundaries of these multiple selves can become blurred.

McCrackens Meaning Transfer model provides a framework for analyzing how meaning is transferred from conception to the individual consumer. The first stage is the culturally constituted world, which is built on advertising and the fashion system. This fashion system is built up of products, brands and opinion leaders who lead discourse around them. (McCracken, 1989) An example within the fashion of recent context would be the late designer Alexander McQueen, whose contemporary collections received high media attention and significantly influenced fashion trends, making him and his company an opinion leader. (Tran, 2010 )

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Opinion leaders are individuals who often have high involvement (rational, emotional or both) and are knowledgeable around a specific area of interest. The opinions that they express are respected and recognised as holding authority in that area, thus often leading discourse amongst consumers around the product, brand or another area of interest. (Solomon et al., 2010)

An opinion seeker is an individual that are influenced by the actions and opinions of opinion leaders to emulate certain aspects of these to help construct their own identity, inform purchasing decisions and how others view them. (Price et al., 2004) Products and brands are often given more attention through celebrity endorsement; this is where opinion leaders, particularly those that have a celebrity status, are either directly or indirectly endorsing them. McCrackens meaning transfer model describes the process of emulating the actions and dress of a celebrity, therefore the emulator will gain and enjoy some of the perceived qualities displayed by the celebrity.

Opinion leadership and opinion seeking can also be viewed with regards to the Innovation Adoption Curve, as opinion leaders will be fashion innovators, forming trends whilst opinion seekers who have a relatively high level of involvement will be following these as an early adopter, as involvement decreases within the opinion seeking consumers they will adopt the fashion when it becomes popular on mass. Individuals that have low involvement will only adopt the fashion after it has been well adopted; these are referred to as laggards. (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 As referred to previously, the suit does not have a static meaning, it is adaptable and changes overtime inline with wider societal and cultural changes. (Solomon et al., 2010) The suit has been established within British culture being introduced in the early 1800s, historically the suit was an established symbol of authority, power and higher or elitist culture, seen from the Victorian Frock coat. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

In the late 1880s the Scottish MP Keir Hardie, who was considered a nonconformist and his manifesto stood for better rights for the working class population (Griffiths, 2008). Hardie has been identified as a fashion opinion leader of the time, defying parliamentary conventions by wearing a lounge suit instead of the more formal dinner suit, this was an attempt to differentiate himself from the establishment that had gained a negative reputation amongst the working classes. As a result of this many of the working classes adopted the suit as a common way of dressing, this change had resistance from the political establishment, which eventually adopted the lounge suit as a late majority or laggard. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Between the 1950s and 1960s, the post World War 2 economic boom for the West and the rise of free market policies and mass consumerism, the advertising of a nuclear family lifestyle dominated consumer discourse. The TV series Mad Men portrays conformity through mass consumption (early to late majority adopters) and the lifestyles of young elitist professionals focused on an image of sophistication with style. Mad Men focuses on those creating advertising messages that created this American Dream of success and capitalism, which was a form of cultural imperialism that the mass population idolized. (Tribic, 2009)

However the era of the 1960s are also attributed the peak of British popular culture, which gained mass adoption in the USA with bands such as The Beatles who frequently wore suits as part of their image. The Beatles were an opinionforming group, especially with more politically vocal members such as John Lennon. The mass population adopted their image increasingly as they rose to popularity. (Karwowski, 2002)

In the 1970s the suit had begun to reach the maturity stage (The Perfect Suit, 2011) within the fashion cycle (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010) as the cultural opinion leaders of this era had adopted denim as the new fashion trend. This new mass adoption of denim and casualness made the suit become a symbol of a mundane working lifestyle, of conformity and compliance, making it less appealing. However certain opinion leaders within popular culture such as David Bowie wore extravagant suits, within the context of his music they were viewed as desirable. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Stemming from the later 1970s to the 1980s the punk subculture became prevalent in British culture. Punk was a counter-culture rebelling (nonormative behavior) against mass consumerism and the establishment (normative behavior) (Solomon et al., 2010). Opinion leaders for this particular subgroup came from those that full embraced a do it yourself lifestyle and way of thinking. A key opinion leader within the punk movement was Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols (one the most popular punk bands of the era), who helped define their image, which then transferred down to consumer products such as clothing. (Moore, 2004)

However bands such as Crass attempted to move away from the commodification of punk by dressing all in black, as they felt it was diverging away from the original foundations and ethics of the punk subculture, therefore Crass are often viewed as having a higher authority of opinion leadership than bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash as they were seen as more authentic within the more hardcore members of the punk movement. (Thompson, 2004)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 A modern example of how opinion leaders have shaped the symbolic meaning of the suit can be seen how leaders of the Labour Party in the 1990s, specifically with Tony Blair branding his administration as New Labour wore the traditional uniform of a MP, a plain suit, however wore it in a different way going against confession. This was achieved by often not wearing a tie, the rolling up of sleeves and unbuttoned cuffs to communicate an image of approachability, casualness and that they were in touch with the general public. However John Seargent comments that this new take on the conventional dress code could undermine the leaders as opinion leaders, weakening their authority and status by aligning themselves the wider population. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

The consumer goods adopted receive an image transfer from the opinion leaders that adopt them. These are then transferred down to consumers who purchase these items. An iconic brand of recent times is Apple, who have successfully penetrated the creative industry, specifically film and music, thus those artists (who are opinion leaders) are frequently seen using Apple products, those consumers that have the same products are often see as more creative and productive than those who do not.

Therefore clearly the transfer of image value systems is important for the purchasing decision process. The purchasing decision process is the steps a consumer makes to consume a purchase; problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation. (Solomon et al., 2010)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 The initial stage, problem recognition is where the consumer has recognised a gap between their actual state and their desired state. Contextualizing this into the situation of attending a wedding, which societal codes require participants to dress formally, the consumer will have identified that their current image lacks formality. This also relates back to the notions of self-identity as the consumer will have lower self-esteem due to the gap between their actual-self and their potential-self will be high. (Solomon et al., 2010)

The second phase, information search can be short or extensive; the level of rational and emotional involvement heavily influences this. Rational involvement include factors such as financial implications, durability and usability, whereas emotional factors are the extrinsic values given from the branded article (Trott, 2012) that can bring happiness, feelings of accomplishment and social status. (Evans et al., 2006) Within the previously mentioned context, both rational and emotional levels involvement are likely to be high, this is because the risk of not conforming to societal norms of dress code would likely result in a negative public-self image, and that formal dress is usually significantly higher in price than casual. Therefore this high level of involvement will result in a more extensive information search than a lower level, routine purchase. (Evans et al., 2006)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 After completing the information search phase the consumer will then evaluate the alternatives set on their own criteria, as well as criteria set by opinion leaders and the reference group (other attendees at the wedding). (Solomon et al., 2010)

The final decision will based upon either a rational or an emotional decision, one will take dominance over another, for example a suit that has been mass produced can signal ubiquity and lower quality in contrast to a tailored suit, which would signal individualism, high status and high quality. Although a tailored suit is substantially more expensive than an off the peg alternative, the emotional factors hold a higher influence for a key social event such as a wedding. (Evans et al., 2006)

After the purchase has been made and the consumer uses the product, by wearing it at the wedding, they will seek to validate that they have made the correct decision through their reference groups. (Solomon et al., 2010) They will actively seek the opinions from members within this reference group, however those that carry the most influence will be others who are seen as an opinion leader within the group, or another member who the consumer has a high level of emotional attachment to. If there are positive comments about the purchase decision, it will result in the consumer feeling confident that they have made the correct decision and make them feel satisfied that they have achieved recognition from their reference group. Alternatively if the comments are negative and outweigh the previously perceived benefits of their purchase decision, this can result in post-purchase dissonance.

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 The consumer will attempt to rationalize their decision by focusing on the positive aspect and recognizing less the negative aspects, there is a higher danger of post-purchase dissonance with products such as a suit, which typically have high levels of involvement. (Solomon et al., 2010)

A criticism of this traditional approach to consumer decision-making is limited and linear, whereas it can be more cyclical. An example of this would be where the consumer has chosen a specific suit out of a selection of alternatives and it is unavailable, they would have to revisit the evaluation of alternatives stage. It is also depending on previous experience, if they have purchased a suit for a similar occasion before, they will recall elements of a previous information search from memory as a heuristic, thus reducing the overall time spent in this phase. (Solomon et al., 2010)

A main criticism that could be directed at the three discussed frameworks is that all of them refer to consumers as being passive, rather than an active with consumption of marketing messages. Therefore the extent to which advertising has a more than substantial influence on self-image, image meaning transfer and the purchasing decision process can be viewed with a degree of skepticism, as the decoding of these messages are more complicated than basic communication models portray.

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Stuart Halls model of encoding/decoding states that consumers can have three different readings of texts. A hegemonic reading where they accept the messages in a way that the encoder (sender) intended. (Hall, 2003) An example of this would be the adverts from the 1950s that showed the suit as a symbol of power and success. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

Another interpretation outlined by Hall is a negotiated reading, where elements of the message are accepted, however certain aspects are rejected or authenticity questioned from the decoder (receiver) (Hall, 2003). An example being in the 1970s where denim became adopted by the masses as a fashionable item of dress (The Perfect Suit, 2011), an advert that conveyed messages that the suit still had a cool appeal could be negotiated by the reader as partially true, however as denim rises in popularity it can be brought into question.

The final decoding state in Halls model is rejection, where the decoder dismisses the communication all together, disagreeing with the hegemonic meaning. (Hall, 2003) In the context of the suit, Kier Hardy in the 1880s defying parliamentary conventional dress code of a formal dinner jacket suit, the media reinforced this social norm, by wearing the lounge suit. (The Perfect Suit, 2011)

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 In summary the meaning attached to the suit has changed over time depending on the social context of the time, changing depending on the endorsement of opinion leaders and adoption of the mass population. At present the suit has multiple meanings attributed to it, which is a result of the suit being regularly adapted over time. The lines between the professional image, notions of coolness and authority have become blurred.
[ENDS]

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014

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Consumer Behaviour & The Suit By Jahruman Blakeston-Petch ~ P10522014 Thompson, , 2004. Crass Commodities'. Popular Music & Society , 27(3), pp.30721. Available online from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=670f5944-6ec24460-b0bb-65b7f292fe72%40sessionmgr4&vid=11&hid=120. Tran, M., 2010. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen dies aged 40. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/11/alexander-mcqueen-diesfashion-designer" http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/11/alexandermcqueen-dies-fashion-designer [Accessed 12 March 2012]. Tribic, B., 2009. American, Teaching Media: Social Values in "Mad Men" and "Revolutionary Road": Conformity and the Loss of the Dream in the Golden Era of. Screen Education, 1(54), pp.78-86. Accessed Online http://search.proquest.com/docview/2379807/abstract/1356EBA6E9C56299C 0F/1?accountid=10472. Trott, P., 2012. Innovation Management and New Product Development. 5th ed. Essex: Pearson Education. Yurchisin, J. & Johnson, K., 2010. Fashion and the Consumer. Oxford: Berg.

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