Brands (part D)
by
Charles Lamson
Brand Groupings: Subcultures, Communities and Tribes
Reference groups form an important context for the understanding of brand consumption. We now consider how different descriptions of brand-user groups can allow new understandings of experience of brands.
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Brand Subcultures
The notion of a 'subculture' of consumption moves beyond cognitive psychology and into the realms of social psychology and sociology. On this view, while the brand is central, it comprises one aspect of an entire subculture of consumption. The 'sub-culture' is marked off from the mainstream through key elements in style, or the way in which a person comports himself. Dick Hebdige describes the emergence of 'Mod' and 'Rocker' subcultures in England in the 1950s and 1960s. Each group differentiated itself from the other primarily in terms of the bike they rode: Rockers straddled heavy British Triumph or BSA motor bikes; Mods sleek, streamlined Italian Vespa scooters. The groups also differentiated themselves from each other in terms of the clothing they wore, where they liked to hang out and their choice of music and recreational drugs.
Hebdige also noticed that within each group a pecking order was established according to how well one could handle the machine, distinguishing oneself from 'inauthentic' riders. A more recent study by Schouten and McAlexander (1995) which focuses on the Harley-Davidson user illustrates how the organization of this subculture is layered like an onion, with the 'Easy Rider' or 'Electra glide on Blue' leather-clad, tattooed aesthete forming the center and day trippers acting as outriders to the culture. The brand positively plays a role in establishing and maintaining a sense of separation, cohesiveness and solidarity necessary for the formation of the subculture, in addition to providing resources for the identity work of members.
Brand Community
McAlexander and Schouten (2002) have since revised their terms, arguing that the term 'community' is more appropriate than that of 'subculture'. Their subsequent research indicated that, in particular, the notion of subculture overplayed the role of the white male leather-clad biker and underplayed that played by others such as women and minorities who also owned and rode Harleys. Muniz and O'Grinn (2001) define community in terms of the following:
Consciousness of kind means that, although brand users feel a strong attachment to the brand, they feel an even stronger attachment to each other. They refer to a sense of 'we-ness', whereby owners of Saabs or Apple Macs refer to themselves as 'Saabers' or 'Mac' people. Muniz and O'Guinn (2001) found that each community formed a kind of hierarchy based on the extent to which the brand was used authentically and legitimately. For example, many Saab owners disparaged 'yuppies' who bought Saabs because they were rich but who were not really committed to them. A sense of community was sustained through oppositional brand loyalty; Saab owners defined themselves as not-Volvo owners (which they associated with tractors); Mac users were definitely not PC users. The authors found evidence of the exercise of rituals and traditions in the groups which they studied, including Saab drivers. While these rituals may at first glance seem to be insignificant, they function to create consciousness of kind. It was considered important to know the history of the brand, which often distinguished the 'true believer' from the acolyte, and to circulate stories or myths. Finally, these groups were infused with a sense of moral responsibility to the community as a whole. The obverse of this was indicated, e.g. when a Mac user who switched to using PCs was regarded as being 'morally reprehesible', 'Mac turncoat'. owners helped each other by providing assistance and advice on how to use the brand. The notion of community enables one to think of a brand as being the common property of those who work for the company and those who form the 'community'.
The idea of brand community may convey a sense of warmth but also carries the whiff of saccharin to some. For example, one blogger asked, in noting Schouten's 'handsome sum' for his work on brand community, and how film maker Adam Berman had won an award for his film 'Biker Dreams', what did the bikers get out of it? She answers her own question; 'they are robbed of their bad-boy/tough-chick/Hell's-Angel image by a homogeneous, warm-and-fuzzy portrayal' (Melander, 2005). In any event some might take the ascription of the word 'community' in relation to brands to be a step too far. The traditional word 'community' can be taken to represent something much deeper by referring to those who share not only their daily food in common (communion) (Falk, 1994).
Brand Tribes
The idea of a brand tribe is looser and has a more dangerous feel to it than that of the brand community described above; there is something here that is beyond the influence of brand managers. A tribe does not necessarily refer to a bounded group. For example, a large enough proportion of the Coca-Cola 'tribe' were outraged when managers changed the Coke formula some years back, before telling them that they done so, that they forced the company to retract. The entire story is interesting. It is suggested that you follow it up on the Internet if you can. As described by Mafesso (1996), the neo-tribes consist of configurations of members who are connected by loose bonds of 'common affect'. The idea of a tribe enables us to think beyond the idea of those who support the brand to those who actively identify against it. There is the possibility that for every brand community out there, there is also likely to be an anti-community, anti-McDonald's, anti-Nike, anti-Harley group. The idea of tribal identities accords with the romantic vision which many anti-consumers have of themselves, as guerillas who hollow out 'temporary autonomous zones' or crevices in the monolithic space of commodity consumption, which become the sites of a never-ending guerilla war. George McKay's work (1998) provides an excellent summary. One might argue that it makes more sense to view those excluded from consumption as constituting a number of different marginalized groupings: the aged poor, immigrants and vagrants.
*SOURCE: FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING, 2007, MARILYN A. STONE AND JOHN DRSMOND, PGS 215-219*
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