Visual Culture - Consumption Lecture

Visual Culture as Rhetoric 1:

Theories and Ethics of consumption:

Consumption is a means to an end

Use up resources to satisfy needs

A consumer decides what to spend income on



18th Century - Age of Manufacturers 

Purchasing goods became an important part of life

Shop fronts with  lights attracted customers attention

Falling prices and purchasing power lead to a rise in demand for new products 

Colonialism key driver of consumerism - increased profits, new markets, cheaper production

21st Century consumption has changed with the use of new technology



Torstein Veblen, Neil McKendrick, Colin Campbell. Grant McCraken

The Theory Of The Leisure Class, 1899, Torstein Veblen:


  • notions of conspicuous consumption
  • Modern consumption at one and the same time created and fed the leisure class


The Birth Of A Consumer Society. Neil McKendrick, 1983:


  • Modern consumer culture in 18th century
The Romantic Ethic and The Spirit Of Modern Consumption, Colin Campbell, 1987:

  • Protestant work ethic
  • 18th century consumption
Culture and Consumption, Grant McCraken, 1990:

  • Modern Consumer Culture - Elizabethan Era
  • experience of power
  • age of exchange
Problems:

  • What do consumers buy?
  • What determines demand on goods and services?
Aim of consumption = Satisfaction

Concern of modern consumption - sheer availability

Brand Consumption - Lifestyle, aspiration, politics, conscience

Consumption to occur a need is created 

Bundles of selection - Substitute, Same level

Consumer Preference

Turn wants into needs

Conspicuous consumption - gain superiority by being seen spending

Emualatuve Spending 

Invidious Spending - inspire envy by spending 

Cultural Capital - Spending on culturally and purchases to show how cultured you are

Retroactive need - creating a want on consumers mind by manufacturing and advertising

Target Marketing 

Market Segmentation



Journal Of Design History, Colin Campbell, 1998

The Sustainability Narrative

Silent Spring, Rachel Carlson, 1962

Peak Stuff

The Story Of Stuff

Consumed - Inside the belly of the beast

An inconvenient truth

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