Body in the consumer society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Body in the consumer society - Essay Example According to the research findings before 1950s, scholars recognized that adoption of some tactics and strategies enhances a good relationship between the seller and the buyer, these tactics and strategies focused on selling more services and products and had little regard for customers’ needs. Such strategies meant embracing a ‘sell-as-much-as-possible’ philosophy by companies with no concern on the need to build strong and long-term buyer-seller relationship. Starting in 1950s, firms started realizing that old ways of marketing were becoming unpopular and were not effective. Competition in the markets and across industries was growing stiffer and companies were challenged to look at the buyer’s side of transaction particularly to improve the effectiveness of their marketing tactics and strategies. This brought the famous marketing concept that suggests that key factor in successful marketing entails understanding customers’ needs and seeking ways o f fulfilling them. The concept advocates that the first step should involve identifying the need of customers and then engaging in the process of production of the desired product or services and then marketing the products. This marketing concept has continued to be the root for the current marketing ideas and efforts. In the contemporary society, individual’s identity is deemed a construct of his or her consumption not only due to the non-physical and physical objects that an individual consumes but also due to the products’ symbolic nature.... 187). In the contemporary society, individual’s identity is deemed a construct of his or her consumption not only due to the non-physical and physical objects that an individual consumes but also due to the products’ symbolic nature. Some of the issues that have been linked to identity in the marketing include the body and especially the embodied self. Current marketing ideas have been linked with creation of identity whereby consumer buying behaviour has been related to the body, which includes the recent body modifications like cosmetic surgery and body art. One of the most popular body adornments that have long history in the body-related consumer behaviour is tattooing. Despite the growing practice in tattooing, there has been little attention among consumer researchers. Very few researchers have focused on tattooing as an industry in the service market. This study classifies tattooing as one of the service industries given that tattooing has service providers, clie nts, and it involves transactional business since it is a practice that is paid for. This study will therefore provide significant contribution by examine tattooing as one of the current ideas in marketing. This study seeks to identify the uniqueness of the object purchased in tattooing, in terms of practice and concept. The study will explore the factors influencing consumers’ choice in tattooing, nature of consumer experience as well as the enduring relationships (Stern 1995, p. 165). Body in the consumer culture Body can be consumed in two forms; one is the body as a canvass and in body modification like in tattooing, which has become an important part of service industry. The other one is dead body, which is also