journal of the academy of marketing science

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Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

Official Publication of the Academy of Marketing Science

Academy of Marketing Science 2007

10.1007/s11747-007-0057-x

Original Empirical Research

Consumer creations of product meaning in thecontext of African-style clothing

Bent DeBerry-Spence1

(1) Liautaud Graduate School of Business, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 S. Morgan Street (MC243), Chicago, IL 60607-7123, USA

Bent DeBerry-SpenceEmail:[email protected]

Received: 26 December 2006 Accepted: 19 June 2007 Published online: 1 August 2007

Abstract In this article, the author conducts a multisite ethnography to examine how USconsumers construct product meanings and assign them to African clothing worn in different

consumption settings. Contextual product meanings both emphasize the changing role of the

consumption setting and reveal the consumers use of place. A model emerges from the data to

show that consumers establish contextual product meanings through the use of interpretiveframeworks, or meaning domains, and that the consumption setting influences this process by

affecting consumers use of meaning domains and their selection of potential influences on thatmeaning.

Keywords Product meaning creation - Consumption settings - Multisite ethnography - Africanclothing

As you can tell, the kente cloth itself, the way its worn, its for traditional different

occasions....Its normally used for occasions and festivals and weddings, and very, very

important things, but if you want to go out to a friends party...you dont want kente. If youre

invited to the White House, you wear kente cloth....Recently we wore it on the Fourth of July inPhiladelphia when Kofi Annan was giving a speech. We wear that to try to make him proud.

[Kente cloth] makes you feel like youre the chief, youre the king, everybody else is your

servant. This is our heritage, so to some extent I dont know what it involves, but it doessomething. Ive taken it to some all-white bars just to order a small beer, just for them to look at

it. Like Im daring them to say something, ...and everybody is looking. But it gives me thestrength and courage to do some stuff.African American man, in his early fifties
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.springerlink.com/content/e445w351247309x3/fulltext.htmlhttp://www.springerlink.com/content/e445w351247309x3/fulltext.htmlmailto:[email protected]


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The epigraph here begins to show the pluralism in consumer-derived product meanings and

demonstrates how meanings are contextually dependent. For the speaker, African clothingconnotes a sense of pride; at other times, its transformational abilities also yield meanings of

courage and power. Interpretations such as those expressed in the epigraph exemplify that

product meanings extend beyond mere form and function. The question is, how do consumers

construct personalized product meanings?

Marketers are increasingly interested in that question. As the marketing field has moved awayfrom examining solely how the marketer shapes the consumption experience (Kozinets et

al.2004), a host of studies in areas such as retailing, services, and relationship marketing have

emphasized the importance of marketerconsumer cocreation. In addition, studies of consumers

resistance to marketers efforts (e.g., Holt2002) explore consumer agency in the creation of

product meanings. Despite these efforts, current marketing theory would benefit from a better

understanding of consumers creation processes.

Researchers have most often examined marketing theories of consumers and product meanings

in the context of actual consumption (Wallendorf and Arnould1988; Kozinets2001; Mehta andBelk1991) and have established that meanings are never fixed (Hall1985). Instead, to interpretcommodities, they must be unpacked and the meanings and memories must be searched for

inside (Phillips and Steiner1999). Existing models of how consumers create meaning provide a

basis for discerning the movement, or directionality, of meaning. For example, McCracken(1986) establishes that for consumer goods, the meaning that consumers attribute to those goods

is in constant transit, but he also implies that meaning moves unidirectionally, from the culturally

constituted world to the consumer. This perspective seems to minimize the consumers role to

being primarily receivers in the meaning creation process. Thompson and Haytko (1997) moveaway from that passive view with their portrayal of meaning creation as a transformative,

consumer-centered undertakingin which consumers cocreate personalized meaningsbut they

do not explore the impact of the consumption setting (i.e., place), a factor that exposes howmeaning creation is both bidirectional and multidimensional.

Current models of consumers product meaning do not fully capture that the consumption settinginforms meaning. By implication, those models limit our view of meaning creation to a single

setting; in fact, marketers and consumers infuse the same product with various meanings across

places. The creation of product meaning does not have a well-defined beginning and end, whichsuggests two things: (1) theories should not be confined to observations or discourses in a single

consumption setting, and (2) marketers and researchers should not rely only on the consumers

ability to recount and reconstruct experiences of product meaning in multiple contexts.

In contrast, significant insight can be gained from examining the meaning-creation process as it

unfolds. To this end, I conducted a multisite ethnography exploring African Americans and their

consumption of African clothing, and I moved with consumers across multiple consumptionsettings, which enabled richer insights into how consumers create meaning than does single-site

research. The data give rise to an expanded model of how consumers create product meanings.

The model builds on claims that a clothing system is always in process, with meanings generatedin particular contexts (Hansen2000). The model also advances current theories of how

consumers develop product meanings by revealing consumers use of interpretive frameworks
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and by incorporating the influence of the consumption setting. The subsequent sections of this

article review key literature and discuss the methodology. Other sections then present

consumers contextual product meanings, discuss the model of consumers meaning creation,and offer conclusions and discuss possibilities for future research.

Literature review

Studies on consumers and product meanings in various contexts have shown that researcherscannot understand the process of creating product meanings by simply tracing the product back

to its origins (Hall1985). Research in the areas of consumer acculturation (Pealoza1994),

cross-cultural consumption (Oswald1999), comparative cross-cultural inquiry (Wallendorf andArnould1988), and product transculturation [Appaduri1986; Mehta and Belk1991;

Steiner1994(aspects of this work are presented in the filmIn and Out of Africa, Barbash and

Taylor1992)] provide vivid demonstrations of how factors external to the consumer (e.g.,

marketing intermediaries) affect consumers experience and creation of product meaning. Such

research also reveals the various relationships that consumers maintain with products, as well asthe significance of consumer identity in product meaning. It also lays the groundwork for

viewing context as an important contributor to changes in product meaning over time and indifferent places. Still, questions remain about the specific role of the consumption setting in

meaning creation, and an opportunity exists to develop a model articulating consumers process

of meaning creation beyond the current dominant models of McCracken (1986) and Thompsonand Haytko (1997).

Building on the anthropological work of Douglas and Isherwood (1978), which establishes thatconsumer goods have the ability to carry and communicate cultural meaning, McCracken (1986)

presents a model of product-meaning creation in which meaning originates from the culturally

constituted world and is subsequently passed to individual consumers. Transfer instruments (e.g.,advertising, fashion systems) and rituals (e.g., possession, exchange, grooming, divestment)

facilitate the movement of meaning. McCrackens model acknowledges that the meaning of

consumer goods is in constant transit and outlines the flow of meaning among social locations

and individual social actors (e.g., designers, producers, advertisers, consumers); thus, it is a startfor future theories of meaning transfer that recognize product meanings as pluralistic and

influenced by multiple sources.

A major limitation of Mccrackens (1986) model, however, is that it does not concede that

meaning transfer may be bidirectional. This is most evident in its incorporation of traditional

trajectory transmittance: that meaning is drawn from the object and transferred to an individual

consumer (McCracken1986, p. 71). This suggests that meaning transfer is synchronic; in fact,they may be constitutively diachronic. Moreover, the model is limited in its ability to capture

fully the consumers involvement because it deemphasizes consumers creative role by depicting

them as passive receivers in the transfer process. Last, the model does not address consumerspost-possession meaning re-creation.

By analyzing the meanings that consumers use to interpret their experiences and ideas about

fashion, Thompson and Haytko (1997) develop a model articulating consumers appropriation of
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countervailing cultural meanings, which is an immediate acknowledgment of dynamic meaning

transfer. They extend theory by providing a consumer-centered account of meaning creation inwhich consumers draw from meaning influences (i.e., sources of meaning) to construct

personalized meanings. Here, consumers have heightened involvement in meaning creation when

the relationships between institutional structure and diffused meanings are discursive, rather

than direct (Thompson and Haytko1997, p. 36). The model successfully addresses somedeficiencies of prior research, such as unidirectional meaning transfer and consumers as

receivers of meaning, but several questions remain unanswered. The most striking of these is,

How does the consumption setting affect processes of creating meaning? Thompson and Haytkoidentify that consumers actively rework meanings, and they depict constructions of meaning

across diffuse consumption contexts, but they give limited attention to how the consumption

setting affects regenerative processes. Research has situated the consumption object in a context

of the informants choosing, often interviewing consumers in private offices in a process heavily

dependent on the consumers memory. Such context enables an understanding of generalizedmeaning-creation mechanisms but does not allow investigation of the impact of the consumption

setting. Murray (2002) cites context as an important element in meaning creation, but he

investigates the pertinence of context as it relates to a different type of informant base, notcontext as it relates to the consumption setting.

Extant research has paved the way for an extension of the investigation of product meaning

creation in consumption contexts and enables investigation of certain practices that consumers

employ to select meaning influences. The literature establishes that consumers draw oneveryday micro- and macro-societal influences to create product meanings, yet that process is not

without structure. This article responds to Thompson and Haytkos (1997) suggestion for further

research in social categories as a means to understand product meanings. This article also

extends current theory by ascertaining the existence of such structures and clarifying their use inthe creation of meaning in order to provide a deeper understanding of how consumers create

product meanings in certain consumption settings.

Method

Consumption object and research design

To investigate how consumers construct product meanings, this research examines the product of

African-style clothing, to mean clothing with African origins. Because consumers are often

highly involved in negotiating and redefining product meanings for cultural products in markets

outside the products culture of origin, African-style clothing is an appropriate research area. In

addition, in the United States, African and African-style fabrics are a multibillion-dollar market(Samuels1992), and the products commercial success has led to their diffusion into many

contexts. Dress, often defined as an assemblage of body modifications or supplements, alsoincludes clothing and behaviors (e.g., dieting, plastic surgery, cosmetics; Lynch1999). This

study focuses on outer garments, where the terms dress, garment, outfit, and wearare used to

mean clothing. Headgear of African-style fabric and form was included in the analysis asclothing, whereas jewelry was not analyzed on its own, but only when worn with African-style

clothing.
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As Rabine (2002) observes about African fashion, African American consumers often do not

distinguish among countries and cultures; this study confirms her observation. Thus,althoughAfrican-style clothing is a broad term (and it is not my intention to represent such

clothing as homogenous), it represents African American consumers perceptions of clothing

with African origins and the terms they use to describe this ethnic wear. With respect to

authenticity, this study does not differentiate between handcrafted textiles and manufacturedprints. Rabine (2002, p. 13) notes that there is a world of difference between African fashion

that JC Penny mass-produced in sweatshops in Asia and the authentic African print fabric

designed in Dakar for export, for the most part, consumers are unaware of such differences andunable to visibly distinguish between them (see also Pealoza2001). Similarly, for the most part,

consumers do not distinguish between formal and casual African-style clothing, except for

headgear, the use of which they consider dressing up. Thus, this study bases its understanding

and appreciation of consumer meaning on consumers interpretation of African-style clothing,

the focal consumption object.

This study builds on the idea that product meanings, as is culture, are generated in contexts and

as a result of consumers engagement with their surroundings (Wade1999). To this end, Iconducted a one-year multisite ethnography in a large Midwestern city to map interconnectionsamong personal aspects of the consumer experience (Caldarola1994), following the connections,associations, and relationships among paths, conjunctions, or juxtaposed locations

(Marcus1995). Ethnographic methods are well suited for exploring relationships in

underresearched contexts (Arnould and Jakki2005) and consumption phenomena. Also, mobileproduct meanings demand that investigative research methodologies be flexible, which renders

single-site ethnography inadequate (Holub1991). While US consumers wear African-style

clothing on various occasions and in various settings, this research focuses on three settings:

educational (e.g., schools), recreational (e.g., parties, celebrations, theater), and sacred (i.e.,churches). In the United States, these three settings are the most common ones in which

consumers wear African-style clothing and are consistent with settings for wearing African-style

clothing in prior research (Ross1998). Thus, the settings are good interpretive sites for

untangling consumers meanings of African-style clothing and investigating the process of

constructing those meanings.

Informant selection and data collection

The African American consumer base in this study reflects the current consumer base for

African-style clothing, as such products are worn almost exclusively by African Americans. Thestudy comprises depth studies of eight core informants (Appendix, Table2) and more than 70

single-interview informants (interviews lasted approximately 1015 min; interviewees were two

thirds female and one third male, with ages ranging from the midteens to the late fifties).Following a format similar to that of Coulter et al. (2005), in which the researcher and informantwent shopping after the interview, I met with and/or interviewed core informants and then

accompanied them to an identified consumption setting. The study required my extensive

involvement in the core informants everyday activities, so that I could observe them wearing

African-style clothing on multiple occasions in each of the three settings. I observed each of thecore informants on at least nine occasions, and observations in each setting occurred over a

period ranging from several days to more than a week. For example, I may have spent Monday
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through Friday at the informants workplace; the weekend at events, shopping, and church; and

the following Monday at a lunch meeting with the informant. I conducted depth interviews bothin context and off-site. Single-interviews involved discussion of the meanings of African-style

clothing in various settings. The final product included a compilation of single interviews with

different informants, a series of depth interviews with the same informant, and extensive

observational data.

For purposes of comprehensiveness and to enable triangulation across informants, studyinformants were both male and female of various ages and included three types of consumption

of African-style clothing: (1) pervasive consumption (i.e., consumers who rarely, if ever, wear

Western-style clothing), (2) everyday consumption (i.e., consumers who regularly wear bothAfrican- and Western-style clothing), and (3) episodic consumption (i.e., consumers who wear

African-style clothing only on special occasions, such as during Black History Month or only to

church). Informants in the study were recruited in several ways. I approached some informants

who I observed wearing African-style clothing in public forums (e.g., conferences, exhibitions,dance expositions) or retail settings. Consumers of African-style clothing, as well as informants

and noninformants, introduced me to others. The sampling practices intended to identify andinclude informants who met the study criteria (i.e., wearing African clothing in more than oneconsumption setting) and to maintain broad enough sampling criteria to enable triangulationacross informants.

Data recording and analysis

This study employs grounded theory and phenomenology. With grounded theory, the

investigation began with an open, flexible approach to observe and understand informants views

of themselves, their worlds, and how they give meaning to their own thoughts. I also conductedphenomenological interviews. This technique has been effective in studying experiential themes

in consumer behavior (Fournier1998) and enhances the researchers ability to become a part ofthe consumers world and understand the consumers perspective (Daymon and Holloway 2002).

Data were collected and recorded via multiple methods (e.g., audiotaping, written field notes,

photography) to encourage the building of ethnographic interpretations (Arnould andWallendorf1994). Cross-media triangulation also enhanced the thickness of description andsharpen[ed] the accuracy of researchers observations (Belk et al.1989, p. 5). Audiotapes and

nonverbal data were transcribed as written text and served as an autonomous body of data(Thompson et al.1989) on which interpretation and analysis was based. Data analysis was

ongoing, beginning with initial data collection and continuing throughout the study (Belk et

al.1988). The text was interpreted hermeneutically and analysis proceeded with the appropriate

use of bracketing (Thompson et al.1989, p. 140), coding, and close reading to analyze wordsand word groups in schematic fashion (Stern1989, p. 323). Data were coded according to single

words, word groupings, and themes. Subsequently, pertinent categories were formulated and

identified. Both within- and across-person analysis was necessary to identify general patterns

that helped structure insights into a detailed understanding of how consumers construct productmeanings (Fournier1998). To better capture the creation of meaning, data coding necessitated

that specific attention be given to context-specific derived meanings; thus, I documented the

specific meanings consumers assign in different consumption settings and analyzed the sources
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informing those meanings as well as changes in consumers perceptions of self across various

consumption settings. In the end, the data support all final interpretations. Member checks

were included to examine the viability of the interpretation (Belk et al.1988, p. 455), and key

informants were asked to review and comment on written research interpretations.

Findings

The findings reveal consumers product meanings for African-style clothing and show how

African-origin fashion has different meanings for African American consumers. I present dataaccording to consumption settings to reflect the various meanings of African-style clothing in

different settings and the changing role of the setting. Moreover, the emergent meanings and

themes reflect a broader relationship between product and place.

Sacred setting

The Black Church (a term most scholars use to refer to the plurality of US Black Christian

churches; ONeal1999) has historically played an integral role in the preservation of Africanculture in the African American community (ONeal1999), and dress is an integral component

of such preservation. High-effect colors and elaborate patterns make dress worn in the sacred

setting an exemplar of the African American aesthetic and a visual reminder of the cultural forms

of Africa, including traditional and contemporary African religions (ONeal1999). As revealed

in subsequent paragraphs, the product-meaning themes of spiritual engagement, connectivity,

and appreciation that consumers generate for African-style clothing in the sacred setting are

related to a desire among many African Americans to reaffirm African culture and their ownrelationship with Africa, where place is a medium for transformation or a conduit for connection.

Thus, use of African-style clothing in church corresponds to African Americans positive

affirmations about their lives and the lives of others, including unmet ancestors, weavers, and

sellersrelationships that are not confined to the present but may be grounded in a re-created orimagined past.

When consumers wear African-style clothing to church, they are spiritually engaged, using the

setting as part of the consumer process of reflection. At a local art show I attended, a Senegalese

designertailormarketer indicated that, when some of his African American customers

commission a piece to wear to church, they are taking the African spirit to the modern society.Thus, from its inception, African-style clothing destined for consumption in a sacred setting has

intentions of spiritual temporality. To further illustrate this, a male informant in his late thirties

recounted the funeral of his mother and described his use of African-style clothing in church:

I bought some [African cloth] on behalf of my mother when she died. I also got one [piece ofAfrican clothing]. I guess I wanted to have something I could connect to, to give back to mymomma since she brought me into the world. But what I really wanted [was] to be in touch with

myself.

Such comments capture one meaning of African-style clothing: spiritual engagement by letting

go of external concerns and events and focusing more on oneself. An important component of

this experience is the role of the sacred setting, which serves as a conduit of relocation,
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consciously grounds the consumer, and prevents complete spiritual detachment (which was

observed in the informants relaxed but pondering facial expressions as he talked about hisAfrican-style clothing). He further remarked, Im trying to get a perspective on things....Getbeyond whats going on outside of church, which suggests an awareness of self-obligation that

prevents complete transcendence. An informant in her midthirties acknowledged that wearing

African-style clothing to church allows her to feel my own spirit...how I should be and what Ishould be doing. Outside of church, consumers repeatedly state that African-style clothing does

not prompt such inspiration or that they are not motivated or able to enact changes for

themselves that they aspire to. An informant in his midforties addressed use of the sacred settingas a transformative medium as such:

Last Sunday I just wanted to lay around...but I needed [church]. I really need it and so I put on

my African stuff....You know I got there and you get into it....Im not saying [the clothing is]

magic....Im looking like Im ready for church and its just part [of it]. Im just feeling it. Before I

know it, Im looking and singing with the choir. And how you are, its better. Im much better.Maybe I should wear [African] clothes on other days? I need something for the other six days.

But it wouldnt work....Im not [at church]. But, isnt it the point? ....Were supposed to be likethat all the time.

As many people do, he became self-reflexive when discussing African-style clothing in the

sacred setting and perceives himself as a better personleading him to question whether betteris a continuous process or an end goal. Consumers aspire to experience the spiritual engagement

that occurs when dressed in African-style clothing but do not believe they can attain that outside

of church.

The sacred setting connects consumers and their relationships to the past. Specifically, the

transnational product (and symbol) of African-style clothing connects consumersparticularly

in church, where they can communicate with ancestorsto a romanticized world they long toknow and be a part of, one that never really existed (Rabine2002). A male consumer in his

midforties remarked, Sometimes Im like sitting there with [ancestors] ...just thinking about

them sitting with me and [Im] feeling good. This consumer finds comfort experiencing double

vision, whereby he is watching himself watch the past (Jones 2001, p. 379) and he re-members

himself a part of the African community. It also is a form of retro-consumption, as wearers are

consuming a form of cultural heritage (Franklin2002) or experiencing nostalgia or imaginednostalgic connections (Brown2001). However, African-style clothing is not necessarily a retro-

product, as it is often made in Africa and many styles are consistent with those currently worn in

West African countries. Still, because few consumers have knowledge about African clothing

consumption or styles, many believe their own clothing represents that which their ancestorswore. In this way, the sacred consumption setting both contributes to the meanings consumers

create about products cultural authenticity and connects consumers to their ancestors.

In the sacred setting, consumers who wear African-style clothing also connect with craftspeople

(e.g., weavers, tailors), and informants mentioned imagining that they were present when the

clothing item was made. By connecting with craftspeople, consumers distance themselves from

the activities of marketers and others they associate with todays contemporary, commoditizedmarketplace. For example, an informant in his midfifties commented: Im not talking about that
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marketing and selling. Thisis about African clothing and my brothers and sisters making it?

Such statements show that the meanings consumers construct for African-style clothing areintended to be free of the marketplace and more in line with perceived ideals of church as a

sacred setting.

The sacred consumption setting is also a way to connect with others, with dress a tool forengagement. One informant in his midfifties noted that his clothing brings him the attention of

younger church members, who then listen to him and learn about African American history.

After speaking with teens outside the church, the informant stated: Im teaching the kids thatthis is whats its about....[W]e need to let them know that [African-style clothing] is OK...a

beautiful thing. In this setting, clothings communicative abilities are key (McCracken1989):African-style clothing brings message senders and receivers together through a common

language, where generational differences may become less pronounced.

Historically, African Americans have emphasized dressing up for church (Starke et al.1990).Similarly, in this study, informants were more aesthetically pleased in the sacred setting than in

any other setting. Consumers infused function and sacredness (Levy and Czepiel1974) intoproduct meanings of appreciation and admiration. The remarks of a male informant in his early

twenties captured these sentiments: Church looks like some art....Were like [in our Africanclothes] a work of art here. Both the consumer wearing African-style clothing and the place

become pageantry on display for individual and collective admiration (Sherry et al.2001). Coloris a main factor of this admiration, as the high-effect colors and patterns prompt people to

become more aware of the features and physical elements of the sacred setting. This informant

also shared:

When you see all those colorful outfits, then you look around....You see the stained glass and all

the decorations and its just a sight to see... [African-style clothing] makes me see how beautiful

[my church] is.

Consumers feel obliged to see and appreciate their surroundings as if the place would not exist,

vanish, or become dull were it not for their African-style clothing.

Recreational setting

In recreational settings, enjoyment is a main outcome; thus, it is not surprising that in this

consumption setting, consumers assign African-style clothing meanings that reflect the self and

the experience of pleasure. Because consumers choose their own recreational settings, those

settings have more personal significance, leading consumers to magnify self-interests, intentions,

and desires such that product-consumer relationships become intimate and personal.Subsequently, product meanings of beauty, individuality, and fantasy emerge to reflect how

consumers use African-style clothing in the recreational setting for self-fulfillment, to createexperiences they desire, and to be the person they want to be; that is, to be themselves in the

recreational setting.

As for many Africans, African American consumers in African-style clothing experience a

symbiotic, harmonious relationship with nature (Asante1983), and often attribute to the clothing
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meanings associated with beauty, such as being natural orMother Earth. For the individual,

this is revealed in statements such as that of an informant in her late thirties who said she is able

to touch earth, unlike with Western-style clothing where she must fit into the clothing, versusthe clothing [fitting] me. Another informant in her early fifties noted, the natural fabric....Ive

had it now 20 years and I still get the same compliments on it....It still has the same shape. This

informant talked about fabric durability, but her comments extend beyond fabric preservation.Further discussion revealed she perceives that in the midst of the changing world around her,

African dress allows her to maintain a relationship with herself. In this way, consumers express

their coexistence with nature and attribute to African-style clothing meanings they believe arewholesome and not corrupted.

In conjunction with product meanings associated with nature, meanings associated with beauty

also include self-esteem. One informant in her early fifties noted: I had confidence...because it

was just a wonderfully made outfit. It was beautiful and so I felt beautiful in it. As Schouten

(1991) notes, body image is also important. Most informants wore oversized African-styleclothing but frequently commented on the beauty of their figures in such clothing, despite that

their figures were hardly discernable. One informant in her early 40swho has an ideal figureaccording to Western standards but dresses in loose-fitting African-style clothing, thus resistingWestern media that often ridicules and devalues African beauty and attire (Franklin2001)commented that in African-style clothing, all of [my] black beauty shows. In the recreationalsetting, she self-assuredly exposes her beauty, the intangible elements she associates with being a

black woman. Thus, consumers in the recreational setting use African-style clothing to becomfortable and to call attention to beauty in terms of self-esteem and body image.

When African Americans wear African-style clothing, it is not just imitation of African fashionor traditional wear (Hansen2000); it means being different, one of a kind, unique. At a poetry

reading, an informant in her midtwenties commented: I change myself from the norm. I dont

want to have on thesame things they have in all the stores. This distinction, though, should not

be mistaken for the desire to merely look different; consumers also yearn to feel different.

Relaxed and confident in the recreational setting, consumers dressed in African-style clothing

achieve a sense of uniqueness much deeper than their clothing. Talking about her clothing, an

informant in her early forties said she feels like the sun or a star, ...bright and theres only one.Creating a personalized comfort zone within a public place, she uses the consumption setting to

feel good about herself and her uniqueness.

During the research period, I never observed two informants wearing the same outfit in one

place, which may be because most retailers do not carry large quantities of the same item. But in

recreational settings where many consumers wear African-style clothing, do they continue to feeldistinctive? An informant in her early sixties confirms that difference is indeed possible in the

context of sameness:

Im still an individual....[My sister] did an African-themed party and asked all her guests to wearAfrican garb. No two garbs were the same. Youre just differentinit. Different colors, its just

cheerful. It looked awesome. It was awesome!
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Being distinctive is an important consumer objective sought outwardly in the display of colors,

patterns, and styles of African clothing and inwardly as pleasant feelings of individuality.

Consumers also attribute meanings of fantasy, magic, or mystical powers and spirits to African-

style clothing, despite that it is widely available in the market (Miles et al.2002). In the

recreational setting, African-style clothing helps consumers see their surroundings andthemselves differently. For example, a teenaged informant who attended a dinner given by her

mothers employer said: [I am a] Queen...in a castle. I walked in and it was like a royal

entrance. The place was an old castle. Consumers fantasize and indulge their own self-

importance through enhanced perceptions of both the physical environment and ones self. After

an African dance performance in an auditorium, an informant in her early fifties recounted that

she felt like one [of] the elders sitting outside in Africa watching the young dance around a

fire. For this consumer, being an elder is about age and respect; she elevated herself to a

position of importance that she desired. Thus, in the recreational setting, consumers create a

fantasy place. In the recreational setting, as in the sacred setting, relocation takes place, but hereit is focused on the self and driven by recognition of the temporality of experience.

Educational setting

In the educational setting, consumer relationships with African-style clothing are less focused onthe self and more focused on the broader society with the public message of cultural awareness

and racial pride. In the United States in the 1960s, there was a surge in consumption of African-

style clothing and the educational setting was no exception. Media coverage showed students inAfrican-style clothing at campus protests and national marches increased exposure of African-

style clothing (Starke et al.1990), and consumers wore such clothing to express social

disaffection (Hebdige1988). Todays consumers are mindful of the clothings social andpolitical significance, and the consumption setting serves as a forum for knowledge sharing and

historicized consumer interpretations that allow for the emergent product meanings ofcommunion, performance, and creativity.

Even though consumers may not know the meanings of symbols on African-style clothing, their

dress connects them to the past (e.g., Africa, the 1960s) and they come to recognize that theirbackground is important for locating where they are on this planet (Rabine 2002). Frequently, the

researcher observed that consumers asked about the meanings of symbols displayed on outfits,

and these encounters reminded them of their clothings ancestral linkages and how they are partof that history. For example, an informant in her midforties who did not know that the sankofaadinkrasymbol on the boubou she wore translates to knowing your past to know your future

remarked, I dont really know the meaning. I know that its my culture, ...thats what Im more

interested in. Possession of this knowledge is less important because she enjoys the feelings ofAfrican American-ness that this encounter provides. Consumers take advantage of the learning

exchanges encouraged within an educational setting; thus, place is a natural backdrop for

communal experiences to occur and together with clothing represents a means of sharing feelings

of racial pride (White and White1998) and visually communicating a newly felt identity (Starkeet al.1990). As Jones (2001) notes, a present-day artifact (e.g., African-style clothing) brings

together a group of people who confronted similar conditions in a particular period and makes

the journey less lonely and more communal. In addition, consumers become aware of themselves
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as national entities (Kemper2001) and together form a new whole greater than the sum of its

parts. Thus, in the educational setting, people and places join together through African-styleclothing, which makes for such powerful product meanings (Tselos2000).

In contrast with the fantasy product meanings in the recreational setting, in the educational

setting, meanings pertain to the quotidian: consumers can play out their individual and collectiveroles and actions (e.g., student, teacher, administrator) (Goffman1959). A college-student

informant in his early 20s explained that distraction comes easily, but his African-style clothingreminds of him of what he is in college to do. However, being a student is not simply studying,

listening, and learning; it means fulfilling perceived social expectations of ones own race. Also,

because previously African-style clothing was a public display of ethnic consciousness (Whiteand White1998), informants expressed the need to live up to the importance of their clothing.

For example, an informant explained that his father was the first in his family to attend college,

in the 1960s, and pursue postsecondary education. When the informant wears African-style

clothing to school, it reminds him of his fathers struggles and those of African Americans. Thus,the educational setting is a forum for historicized consumer interpretation and enactment, and the

individuals goal of a college degree is also a social obligation to fulfill. Another informant inher mid 20s noted that she does not want to disappoint herself or other African Americans. Thus,cognizant of their surroundings, consumers in the educational setting use African-style clothingto play parts and to fulfill responsibilities and their perceptions of social accountability.

In the educational setting, African-style clothing also takes on meanings of creativity and

performance. In a postmodern marketplace where the roles of consumption and production are

reversed (Firat and Venkatesh1995), informants emphasized their ability to create. An informant

in his early twenties commented: When I bust out in [an African shirt], its like hey, ho! Im

feeling like making something happen. African-style clothing also helps break the monotony of

every day, and one night student in his late 40s noted that his African-style clothing lets him

express himself: I wear [African-style clothing] to school just for...expressing who I am. I canbe more creative. The colors, patterns, and symbols on African-style clothes leave one feeling

empowered and at times are accompanied by an emotional rush or high. I noted on several

occasions that in even the very act of recounting the experience consumers showed signs of

excitement. Thus, as ethnic wear, African-style clothing permits the rediscovery of individualityand represents transferred creativity (Dichter1985). In the educational setting, African-style

clothing expresses consumers imaginations and desires to express creativity, even though they

may not consider themselves artists or creative (Dichter1985).

Discussion

The previous section revealed the meanings of African-style clothing in various contexts andaffirms that product meanings are dynamic, not static. With the aim of more fully examining the

role of place in the creation of product meaning, it also showed how the role of the consumptionsetting changes (e.g., transformation and connection in the sacred setting, self-fulfillment and

self-elevation in the recreational setting, forum for knowledge sharing and historicized

interpretations in the educational setting) and informs consumers use of place. The data revealthat consumers attribute different meanings and relationships to the same product in different
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places. These findings have important implications for how consumers construct product

meanings. Consumers exert agency not only in selecting sources of meanings but also inselecting their use of place. Thus, consumers do not passively abide the social constraints of

public spheres, but inject personal intentions. This suggests consumers may use the same settings

differently and different settings in the same way, which brings about different meanings for the

same product.

To provide a more comprehensive view of how consumers construct product meanings, I deriveda model based on interpretations of African-style clothing that includes two additional elements:

(1) consumption settings, and (2) meaning domains, or interpretive frameworks. I begin with a

descriptive overview of the model and then discuss theoretical extensions (i.e., meaning domainsand the consumption setting) with examples from the data.

Overview of model

The developed model, which comprises consumption setting, meaning domains, and meaning

influences (see Fig.1), situates the consumer at the center of meaning creation and leveragescurrent knowledge of consumer relationships with institutional and individual structures

(Thompson and Haytko1997), the consumers role in meaning creation and appropriation

(McCracken1988; Belk et al.1989; Wallendorf and Arnould1988; Hannerz1992; Thompsonand Haytko1997), and the importance of consumer agency in the production of self-image (Firat

and Dholakia1998). Furthermore, the model extends existing models of consumer meaning

creation by incorporating the consumption setting as an agency element.
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Figure 1 Model of consumer meaning creation process.

The consumption setting is the place in which consumer and product are situated. Consumers usethe three meaning domains identified herein (i.e., material, social, and spiritual) to guide

selection of meaning influences. Meaning domains contain strong links among clothing, culturalproducts, and self, and thus are based on social psychology literature that addresses the concepts

of self and social. Meaning influences are the societal and individual sources that consumers

draw on to construct product meanings. This study identifies five influences: (1) macro-societal


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(i.e., broader social factors; e.g., references to the 1960s and black power), (2) individual (i.e.,

aspects of consumers personal life; e.g., goals and experiences), (3) other products (i.e., productinterrelationships that help assign meaning to African-style clothing; e.g., comparisons to

Western-style clothing), (4) other consumers (i.e., meaning exchanges to use learned new

meanings to create ones own product meaning; e.g., discussion of adinkra symbols on anothers

clothing), and (5) material intermediaries (i.e., efforts of cultural intermediaries; e.g., marketers,advertisers).

In creating product meanings (see Fig.1), the consumption setting affects the extent to which

consumers apply different meaning domains, which in turn affects the construction of meanings

due to the level of importance consumers give to different meaning influences. Consumerscombine meaning domains and meaning influences to yield contextual product meanings (e.g., in

the educational setting, the setting is a forum for knowledge sharing, the meaning domain is the

social, and the meaning influences are macro-societal and other consumers).

In consumers process of negotiating various meaning influences, the model recognizes that at

any time certain influences may be more or less pronounced and positions meaning as a processof interruptions and reorganizations (Hall1985). The data indicate that, with respect toconsumption setting, consumers also may emphasize certain meaning domains and influences to

create contextual product meanings. This acknowledges that consumers and their environments

are mutually constitutive and reveals patterns of actions in this dynamic relationship(Ingold1995), which improves our understanding of the product meanings assigned to African-

style clothing. More important is the broader theoretical finding that consumers use of setting

and the existence of meaning domains affect creation of product meanings and lead to different

meanings in different contexts.

Theoretical extensions

Consumers product meaning creation occurs as consumers operate selectively across richcontextually derived discourses, exert agency over use of place, and use meaning domains to

help navigate and interpret information acquired from meaning influences. As a result, different

consumption settings encourage different selves (Mead1913) and meaning domains.

Consumption settings When consumers wear African-style clothing in sacred, recreational, or

educational settings, they play different roles and recognize different identities, both personaland social (Goffman1959,1963). Often they use settings in different ways, and moving among

settings enables them to recombine and reemphasize different sources of meaning, such that the

meanings they attribute to African-style clothing continuously transform. However, there is some

consistency across domains; this study shows that in certain settings, consumers emphasizecertain meaning domains or influences (see Table1).Table 1 Meaning domains and meaning influences emphasized by consumption setting

Consumptionsetting

Consumer use ofconsumption setting

Key meaningdomain(s)

Meaninginfluencesemphasized

Contextualmeanings

Sacred Medium for Spiritual Individual Spiritual
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Consumptionsetting

Consumer use ofconsumption setting

Key meaningdomain(s)

Meaninginfluencesemphasized

Contextualmeanings

transformation engagement

Social Other consumers ConnectivityAppreciation

Recreational

Means for self-

fulfillmentMaterial

Individual Beauty

Elevate self-interests Other productsIndividuality

Fantasy

Educational

Forum for knowledge

sharing

Social

Macro-societal Communion

Stage to enact

historicized

interpretations

Other consumers

Performance

Creativity

An informant in her midtwenties illustrates the core model components in the creation of productmeaning:

[At church] I do feel different. I sort of feel distant. Im reflecting some...on whats going on inmy life....But, you see the choir members are wearing [African-style clothing] too, so you kind of

feel like youre with them....We like the way we all look together with all the colors and what

not, but theres something to it....

[At school] I wear African clothing when I want to show power...when I want people to know

my power as a black woman. [African clothing] sends a signal to people. Im from the hip-hopera, raised in hip-hop, so Ive got a little of that goin on in how I dress and look too....So atschool Im going to just simmer up something.

Because this informant uses the sacred setting as a medium to connect with others and she

remarks of admiration and recognition by others, the social meaning domain prevails. The

spiritual domain is also evident in her sense of reflection and detachment. She derives othersources of meaning from both other consumers, when they discuss their clothing, and from

personal differences, when she reflects on her own life. Thus, appreciation emerges as a product

meaning through fusing functional aspects of sacred consumption with aesthetic concerns (Levy

and Czepiel1974). In the educational setting, however, she enacts powerful performances and

contextual meanings pertain to her ability to create. She is able to communicate racial pride(White and White1998). Her product meanings reveal her use of the social meaning domain and

emphasis on macro-societal and other consumers as key meaning influences.

Notably, when consumers create meanings for African-style clothing they do not emphasize

material intermediaries. Although such textiles are multibillion-dollar commodities(Samuels1992), they are not mass marketed to the general public. In fact, for African-style

clothing, there is little evidence of well-orchestrated marketing efforts typical of other product
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categories of this dollar size. The research informants most often purchased their African

garments from small boutiques, at cultural festivals, or at other public exhibitions, and fewpurchased their clothing online (although this channel is growing). While the product meanings

assigned to nonbranded African-style clothing make it appear that consumers do not rely on

marketers conveyed meanings, denial of marketers involvement may show consumers desire

to invoke their own creativity and maintain the products special attributesstriving for a typeof market emancipation.

Meaning domains Meaning domains are based on research in social psychology and sociology

that documents how people use frameworks to structure their lives (Berger and Luckmann 1967;

Goffman1974), to make sense of the world (Moscovici1984), to make sense of public issues(Benford1994), to clarify specialized domains of existence (Becker1982), and to make sense of

information they encounter (Fisher1997). Research has applied interpretive frameworks to

studies of how consumers structure consumption experiences (Holt1995), and both culture and

structure are linked to how people interpret events (Swidler1986). Thus, the incorporation ofmeaning domains into theories of consumers construction of product meanings implies that a set

of meaning influences may articulate various product meanings (Hall1985) depending on theconsumption setting and the emphasized meaning domain. That is, meaning domains suggest that

consumers use schemata to construct product meanings.

Consistent with prior literature linking ideas of the self and clothing (Solomon1985; Thompsonand Haytko1997) with consumption of cultural products and identity construction

(Oswald1999), in this study, meaning domains reflect the selfparticularly the material, social,

and spiritual selvesin line with Jamess (1890, chapter 10) definition: the empirical self or me

of each of us [is] all that one is tempted to call by the name of me. Informant narrativesillustrate the three meaning domains identified in this study.

With respect to the material meaning domain, James (1890) defined the material self as the loveone has for body, clothes, family, home, friends, and things deemed intimately ones own.Similarly, informants in this study exhibited strong affection for their material possessions,

cherishing their clothes and expressing happiness in terms of their look and their body. Aninformant in her late thirties described the small details on a pantsuit, from the flowing sleeves to

the silvery trim, and her strong sense of ownership with respect to her material existence

indicates the material meaning domain:

African clothing is easy. Its just fabric, so its not as complicated....When Im in Africanclothing its just something to cover up with and its not so much about Oh do I have this in

place. ....I value the material that comes from Africa. I have a higher value on it....I want [theAfrican outfits] tobe special, because thats a special part of me and I feel comfortable with it.

She emphasizes the simplicity of her African-style clothing, but also believes that it shifts

attention from her outer appearance to her inner self. Such a belief shows how African-style

clothing may signal worth and well-being (Martin1994). With her clothing, the informant

reflects the need to safeguard nonphysical elements (e.g., feelings of peace and beauty).Exemplifying the material domain, she humanizes and elevates her clothing to the level of a

cherished friend or close relative.
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The social meaning domain is what James (1890) referred to as ones acknowledgment and

recognition by peers, the consumers socially perceived self. When informants talk about othersreactions to and interpretations of their African-style clo

journal of the academy of marketing science

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