Psychographics

A more sophisticated way to divide consumers

What were the last three memorable

purchases you made?

What was your motivation for buying them?

Early Adopter

Mainstreamer

Vs.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Lifestyle Groups

This is a chart that divides consumers

into different categories based on

their motivations

Innovators

• Successful, sophisticated and have high self-esteem

• Mega-rich and receptive to new products.

• Set trends and change markets.

Thinkers / Believers• Mature, satisfied and

liberal.

• Well-educated.

• Engage with the world around them.

• Traditional and conservative, respects rules.

• Slow to adopt new technology.

• Chose familiar products and brands.

Achievers / Strivers• Hard working, with

emphasis on family & career.

• Enjoy status symbols.

• Already achieved successful.

• Trendy and fun loving

• Not much money and narrow interests.

• Stylish and try and emulate success.

• Love celebrities.

Experiencers / Makers• Appreciate

unconventional things.

• Act on impulse seeking stimulation from new products / experiences.

• Spend all their money on fashion, socialising and entertainment.

• Value self-sufficiency.

• Like D.I.Y / crafts.

• Prefers value to luxury.

Survivors• Have the least expendable income.

• Concerned mainly with safety and security.

• Brand loyal and buys discounted merchandise.

Applying the idea

Can you use the categories to name as many brands / high street shops / products that fit into each segment?

Uses & Gratifications

Information Personal Identity

Social Integration Entertainment

The VALS framework shows how people subconsciously use products to reflect

their Personal Identity

IdeologyAudiences and Ideology

What is Ideology?

• A system of ideas and beliefs promoted by dominant groups (governments, corporations, cultural groups) to reinforce their power.

• A way of seeing the world (a world view)

Passive audiences

• Early audience theory said that media messages were injected into peoples minds.

Active audiences

• More recent theory suggests that audiences Use media for different Gratifications, and that audiences create their own meanings.

Audience

Text

Reception Theory• Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model is the

idea that an active audience has to decode the meanings within a text, therefore different audiences will do so in different ways

Producer encoding

text

Audience decoding meaning

Preferred

Negotiated

Oppositional

Preferred Reading

• The audience accepts the worldview of the text

• They consume the text as the producer intended them to

Negotiated Reading

• The audience understands the ideology that is contained within the text but mostly rejects it

• Instead the audiences choses elements of the text to enjoy

Oppositional Reading

• The audience entirely rejects the ideology that is contained within the text

• Not because they dislike it, but because they oppose it

An Examplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

4ZCvydOxcq0

RastamouseDominant

(Preferred) Negotiated Oppositional

A positive program for children that

teaches morals and the benefits of helping others

A tongue-in-cheek look at Rasta culture with possible drug

references and music aimed at teenagers

and above

A racist stereotype of Afro-Caribbean culture that will

negatively affect the viewers that might

imitate the language

Important Ideologies

• Consumerism• Conservatism• Liberalism• Multiculturalism• Feminism• Environmentalism

Environmentalism

• Protection of the Earth

• Preference of natural and organic products

• Suspicious of Globalisation

Feminism

• Promotion of women’s rights

• Rejection of gender roles

• Promotion of fairness and justice

Multiculturalism

• Celebration of cultural diversity

• Rejection of all racisms

• Promotion of cultural relativism

Consumerism• Celebration of products and

businesses

• Solving problems through economic growth

• Individual freedom (to consume) most important value

Conservatism• Society has naturally created traditions that

should be respected.

• Authority keeps the peace.

• Citizens achieve freedom by conforming to established rules.

• Strong social groups (like religions and nations) protect ideals

Modern conservatism?

Liberalism• Individual rights are the most important human

ideal.

• Minorities should be protected from the oppression of the majority.

• Celebration of a progressive (changing) society

Modern Liberalism?

An Examplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

XqWig2WARb0

John Lewis AdvertDominant

(Preferred) Negotiated Oppositional

A positive allegory that reminds us all of

the importance of Christmas and the message of giving

Going to shop there

A nice attempt to remind us of the good times that Christmas. You might enjoy the song or the cartoon

but not the message.

Not going to shop there

Cynical corporate sentimentalism

wrapped in family friendly cartoon

Definitely not going to shop there

Another Examplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Yfr8ZKFXE

Boots AdvertDominant

(Preferred) Negotiated Oppositional

There are people in my life who deserve to receive a gift from

Boots

Going to shop there

A good message about young people

rewarding those around them, but highly unrealistic

Not going to shop there

Consumerist, middle-class propaganda

that uses guilt to sell products

Definitely not going to shop there

Summary

• Ideology is a worldview that is contained in media texts.

• Stuart Hall said that you can respond by negotiating or opposing this ‘coded’ ideology