Introduction:
In a capitalist system companies and corporations play an integral role in life’s material experiences. For instance, the majority of clothing individuals purchase and wear are manufactured by a wide variety of popular brands varying greatly in size, popularity, and influence. These companies are commonly referred to as brands. According to the American Marketing Association (1995) a brand is defined as a:
Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller 's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." Further branding is explained as, a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand …show more content…
The research conducted detailed within the article attempts to demonstrate and challenge the self-brand congruity hypothesis, through the individualistic culture of the United States, and the collectively oriented South Korean (Sung and Choi 2012). The self-brand congruity hypothesis is very similar to the that of the previously discussed self-brand connection, as it is situated on the assumption that “consumers use brands to communicate their self-concepts and show a tendency to make inferences about others based on the brands that they observe others using” (2012:153). Authors Sung and Choi in addition, make note that an imperative aspect of the self-brand congruity hypothesis includes individuals use of branded products and symbols to express one’s socially constructed self-identity (2012). Notably, the article takes interest in theories and conjecture which disagree with the self-brand congruity hypothesis, which up until this point in my readings seemed to be a topic of low contention (Sung and Choi 2012). Sung and Choi implicate that prior cross-cultural studies suggest that those in collectively oriented cultures construct a self which is far more interdependent than those of an individualistic culture (2012). It is further suggested that this misinformation is a result of the western dominant focus of empirical studies on the subject (Sung and Choi 2012). Sung and Choi notably mention that greater consideration to the variability of the self must be given greater consideration, rather than that of the suggested stagnation of self
In a capitalist system companies and corporations play an integral role in life’s material experiences. For instance, the majority of clothing individuals purchase and wear are manufactured by a wide variety of popular brands varying greatly in size, popularity, and influence. These companies are commonly referred to as brands. According to the American Marketing Association (1995) a brand is defined as a:
Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller 's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." Further branding is explained as, a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand …show more content…
The research conducted detailed within the article attempts to demonstrate and challenge the self-brand congruity hypothesis, through the individualistic culture of the United States, and the collectively oriented South Korean (Sung and Choi 2012). The self-brand congruity hypothesis is very similar to the that of the previously discussed self-brand connection, as it is situated on the assumption that “consumers use brands to communicate their self-concepts and show a tendency to make inferences about others based on the brands that they observe others using” (2012:153). Authors Sung and Choi in addition, make note that an imperative aspect of the self-brand congruity hypothesis includes individuals use of branded products and symbols to express one’s socially constructed self-identity (2012). Notably, the article takes interest in theories and conjecture which disagree with the self-brand congruity hypothesis, which up until this point in my readings seemed to be a topic of low contention (Sung and Choi 2012). Sung and Choi implicate that prior cross-cultural studies suggest that those in collectively oriented cultures construct a self which is far more interdependent than those of an individualistic culture (2012). It is further suggested that this misinformation is a result of the western dominant focus of empirical studies on the subject (Sung and Choi 2012). Sung and Choi notably mention that greater consideration to the variability of the self must be given greater consideration, rather than that of the suggested stagnation of self