Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

CHS Assignment
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Course title
BA (Hons) Fashion Buying and Merchandising
Unit title
Unit leader
CHS- Fashion and consumer culture
Serkan Delice
Date of submission
Student name
Vedika Fomra Udhavdas

08 / 12 / 2015
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UDH13407684

Year of study
Year 2

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Word count

3420 words

ESSAY QUESTION 1: HOW THE CULTURE INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER CULTURE

MANIPULATE CONSUMERS INTO MINDLESSLY CONSUMING COMMODITIES.

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

Introduction
Remarkable consumption and affluence are two phenomena that surround almost
everyone in the contemporary world. The world has witnessed a multiplication of material
goods, services, and objects. There is an unprecedented clamour for accumulation and
consumption of material goods. Material goods such as houses, cars, and electronics are used to
define social classes, and a majority of people accumulate them not for their utility but their
aesthetic value. The media has been at the centre of creating a material world. There is an intense
celebration of objects in mass media advertising. The mass media is the material machinery of
communication that churns out hundreds of messages daily promoting material goods and
consumption.
Also, the culture industry has made society lose its capacity to nourish individuality, true
freedom and the ability to achieve a real existence. The society has lost these elements because
the production of cultural products such as film, magazines, and radio has moved from an
artisanal stage to an industrial stage (Adorno and Horkheimer 1999). At the artisanal stage,
cultural products were produced by individual effort and with little or no investment. However,
at the industrial stage, cultural products are produced in mass through safe and standardized
means. Cultural products are produced in mass so as to meet the diverse demands of the
capitalistic world.
The essay intends to examine if the culture industry and consumer culture manipulate
consumers into the passive consumption of commodities. If so, how this consumer manipulation
happens will be examined. The exploration of consumer manipulation by the culture industry and
consumer culture will be heralded by the definition and explanation of important concepts. The
essay will attempt to support the view that mass popular culture manipulates consumers into
passive fashion victims who are unable to resist cultural products and material goods. The

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

authenticity of this view will be established by evidence gathered from cultural studies theorists
and academic texts. After that, specific examples will be analysed using relevant Cultural Studies
theories. The specific examples will be used to show how cultural products and clamour for
material goods feed fashion consumption.

Theoretical Background
Currently, we live in consumer societies. Our societies are characterized by immense
consumption of objects, material goods and services and the clamour to live in affluence. Slater
defines consumption as a question of how human and social subjects with needs relate to things
in the world which might satisfy them (material and symbolic goods, services, experiences)
(Slater 1997, p.101). Consumption is more than the fulfilment of needs and wants but extends to
how people relate to material goods, services and the experiences the material world elicits. The
assimilation of objects into the subjective experience of individuals in the form of culture and
production to meet human needs is what consumption all about. Consumption involves the
collection, using, making, owning and transforming objects such as houses and electronics as per
the aims, goals, desires and needs of human subjects such as shelter and entertainment (Slater
1997, p.102). Human beings view the world and assimilate it practically and intellectually to
fulfil their subjective desires and projects.
The consumption concept first emerged as a simple and natural way to satisfy needs and
wants. However, the concept evolved to refer to a structure that defines the social status of
individuals. This led to the categorization of consumption into various styles.
The five styles of consumption include conspicuous, symbolic, addictive, compulsive and
sacred consumption. Conspicuous consumption occurs when individuals consume products and
services for the singular purpose of impressing others (Baudrillard 1998). The desire to impress

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

others may supersede the necessity to fulfil psychological and security needs. Conspicuous
consumption is witnessed when people buy expensive clothes so as to impress others. Symbolic
consumption refers to the purchase and utilization of products assumed to carry a particular
symbolic value. Consumers purpose to own and use symbolic objects to convey something about
themselves. For example, sports cars are symbols of affluence, and a means to radiate the elitist
image. Addictive consumption refers to acquisition and utilization of goods such as alcohol, hard
drugs, and cigarettes. The products and services are consumed to fulfil physiological or
psychological dependence. In the current times, internet addiction has become one of the main
types of addictive consumption. Compulsive consumption refers to repetitive and overconsumption that borne out of boredom, depression or anxiety. Lastly, sacred consumption refers
to the categorization of products and services as containing a degree of awe and respect. The
creation of sacred places and sacred events from the non-sacred world and subsequent filling of
these synthetic places is done to fuel sacred consumption. Theme parks are regarded as mass
produced fantasy that present consumption activities in a sanctified manner to promote their
consumption.
Consumerism is also an important concept that shapes the discussion. Bocock defines
consumerism as an active ideology in which the meaning of life is to be found in buying things
and pre-packaged experiences that spread through modern capitalism (Bocock 1993).
Consumerism concept is founded on the view that the acquisition and use of material goods and
services in huge quantities is economically desirable. The consumerism concept emerged in the
early twentieth century during a time when the middle class had begun to bulge.
Thorstein Veblen is among the early critics of consumerism because it involved
consumption of material goods beyond the basic needs of human beings. Consumerism makes
society lose the true meaning of life as it directs human effort towards the over acquisition of

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

materials goods beyond their basic requirement.

Therefore, consumerism legitimizes capitalism

in the everyday experiences or daily lives of people. Consumerism is not good for society
because it motivates human beings to be consumers in reality as well as in fantasy as is the case
with theme parks (Sassatelli 2007).
Consumption and consumer behavior have also been influenced by cultural aspects. The
influence of culture on consumption and consumer behaviour has led to a concept called
consumer culture. Cultural factors such as belief and value systems, rituals, symbols,
communication system, language, and artefacts influence the decisions people make; and this
extends to consumer behaviour. Consumer culture can be viewed in three perspectives as
proposed by Featherstone. First, satisfaction is derived when goods consumed satisfy particular
socially constructed meanings. Consumption is considered to be a source of differentiation as
human beings use goods and services to build particular social bonds or to classify themselves
into distinct social classes (Featherstone 1991). The second perspective of consumer culture
involves the expansion of the capitalist commodity production that fuelled the deployment of
consumption and leisure activities in the contemporary world. Consumption and enjoyment of
leisure activities were viewed by some as a way to exercise individual freedom and equality
while others considered the emergent situation as increasing the capacity for people to be
ideologically manipulated (Featherstone 1996). The third and final perspective about consumer
culture considers consumption as a source of pleasure and fantasy. Consumption is celebrated in
particular sites such as malls and images that mass media projects to be representing consumer
cultural imagery (Featherstone 1996).
Particular sites such as shopping malls are considered to generate aesthetic pleasure and
direct physical excitement. Many people are attracted to shopping spaces because of the aesthetic
pleasure and physical excitement they generate. The various characteristics of consumer culture

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

include the transformation of needs to desires, commodity fetishism, and conspicuous

consumption. Others include adherence to cultural values, alienation, aestheticisation and
differentiation in consumption patterns.
Commodity fetishism is an important characteristic of consumer culture. Commodity
fetishism is an idea that was conceptualized by Karl Marx. The concept refers to the mental
connection of material objects beyond the value gained from using them (Ritzer and Jurgenson
2010). Commodity fetishism makes people purchase objects because of their symbolic meaning
rather than just their utilitarian value. Mass production of goods ensures that symbolic
consumption spreads across all socio-economic classes. Commodity fetishism is what leads
people to use consumption as a way of distinction from others. People in upper classes and
privileged groups have an advantage because they easily find new ways to distinguish
themselves through consumption and this breed inequality in society. The extensive
aestheticisation of everyday life functions as a tool to create distinctions among people because
of their different perceived value. The cultivation of self is akin to consuming cultural products
in a similar manner as an artist experiences himself (Bocock 2004).
Alienation is another idea that arises from the characteristics of consumer culture.
Slater defines alienation as a meditation on how the modern world of goods holds dominion
over the world of men and women, both in their everyday life and in the global processes that
structure it (Slater 1997, p.10). The increase in wealth is associated with the satisfaction of
human needs and wants.
However, consumer culture assumes that there is should be no end to human needs so as
to ensure continuous consumption. The mass production system requires human needs to be
insatiable and for human beings to look to material goods and services for their satisfaction.
Therefore, consumer culture presents a paradox for human beings. The system of mass

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

production of commodities enhances the ability of humans needs and wants to be met hence
promote human development but at the same time requires the human needs to remain insatiable
so as to extend consumption. Therefore, the contemporary material world dominates the world of
men and women (Storey 1999).
Besides consumer culture and alienation, capitalism is another important term that
enriches the discussion on how culture industry and consumer culture manipulate consumers into
the passive consumption of commodities. Capitalism is an idea that was conceptualized by
economic socialist of mid-nineteenth century. Capitalism entails the private ownership of factors
of production and the creation of material commodities and services purely for profit-making
purposes. The characteristics of capitalism include individual accumulation of capital, private
ownership of property, a free market and payment of wages in exchange for labour.
Consumer capitalism is a theme that has emerged from the original definition of
capitalism. Consumer capitalism has its origins from the cultural shift in advertising and
marketing in America. The cultural shift involved the deliberate and sustained depiction of
consumer demand as insatiable to spur continuous consumption. Consumer capitalism involves
the deliberate and extensive manipulation of consumer demand through sustained massmarketing that target consumers but profit the producers (Ritzer and Jurgenson 2010).
Capitalism has fuelled the growth of consumerism and ultimately the emergence of consumerist
societies. Capitalists engage in the safe, standardized and mass production of commodities.
At the same time, capitalist ventures such as banks increase the circulation of capital
through the provision of credit in turn fuelling consumerism. Capitalist producers also engage in
extensive mass-marketing initiatives that spur consumption and in turn bring in profits.
Consumer capitalism has become a global phenomenon as capitalists aim to extend their global
reach by supplying their commodities and services to new markets. At the same time, people are

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

attracted to consume the products and services so as to reap the advertised rewards and benefits.
Consumer capitalism has led to the creation of a global market where profits can be maximized
through increased consumption, and insatiable needs of consumers can somehow be met.
Elsewhere, the term culture industry was coined by Theodor Adorno and Max
Horkheimer, German intellectuals who had immigrated to German following the ascension of
Nazism to power. The term was adopted to designate the processes and products of mass culture.
Adorno and Horkheimer found out that mass culture was homogeneous and predictable. Cultural
homogeneity refers to the uniformity of mass culture and entails the marketing and selling of
cultural products in standardized forms to an undemanding public (Adorno and Horkheimer
1999). Cultural products such as film and music are also predictable because the consumer can
foretell the entire plot or what is coming next. The mass production of commodities has led to
the subsequent commodification of culture. Mass production involves immense standardization.
This is also true for cultural products. The homogeneity of cultural products and the ability to
standardize their production enabled culture industries to produce them in masses.
The cultural industry breeds commodity fetishism as commodities are used to turn life
into a work-of-art. Commercial manipulation is a concept that is used to describe the constant
reworking of desires through images. Manipulation involves the aestheticisation of reality and
creation of dream-images that speak to desires in people through advertising and marketing
(Featherstone 1991). Consumerism appeals to people who have been fed dream-images that
directly speak to their desires. To fulfil these reworked desires, people engage in overaccumulation of material goods more than their basic requirement.
Discussion
Cultural factors influence the decisions made by people hence ultimately impacts their
consumer behaviour. Culture industry refers to the safe, standardized mass production of cultural

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

products to fulfil the larger demands of the capitalist economy (Adorno and Horkheimer 1999).
Cultural products are produced in masses to meet the insatiable needs of people. The mass of
production of cultural goods is done by capitalists who are focused on earning profit. The desire
to earn profit has led to innovations in advertising and marketing resulting in the emergence of
consumer capitalism. Consumer capitalism has been characterized by the deliberate and
extensive manipulation of consumer demand through sustained mass-marketing that target
consumers but profit the producers. Consumer demand has been marketed as insatiable needs to
spur continuous consumption. Advertising and marketing have been characterized by
aestheticisation of reality and creation of dream-images that speak to desires of people. The
reworking of desires spurs consumption of commodities by people. Therefore, people passively
engage in consumption of advertised and marketed cultural products and material goods to fulfil
the desires the created dream-images arouse in them.
An example of an industry that manipulates consumers buying decision is the fashion
industry. The fashion industry uses personality and socio-cultural factors to induce buying
behaviour of the consumers. For instance, the apparel companies uses celebrities as their brand
ambassadors. Since these are people that the public look up to, the celebrity endorsement
strategy allows these companies to ignite interest from the consumers on their brands thereby
influencing their decision to purchase the products even though they might be expensive
(Kankamange & Dinesha 2014). The consumer believes that when they purchase that product, it
creates a personal connection with the celebrity. Ultimately, the consumers reference this group
referred to us opinion leaders of fashion when making a buying decision. These celebrities
include stylists, models, sports personalities, designers, fashion bloggers, editors, and magazine
writers among other renowned figures. For example, Burberry, a fashion house based in London
has used several actresses as its brand ambassadors to influence the buying decisions of the

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10

consumers. The list of the actresses used by this fashion house consists of Rosie Huntington
Whitely, Emma Watson, and Cara Delevingne. Similarly, Calvin Klein has used actors and
actresses including Diane Kruger, Eva Mendes, Ed Burns, and Zoe Saldana among others.
Taking advantage of the following that celebrities enjoy, some artists such as Kanye West have
also utilized this strategy to start their fashion lines and designs. With their popularity, they
influence consumers who are desperate to associate with them to buy their products. Another
strategy used by the fashion industry is the glorification of the human body especially the female
figure (Kankamange & Dinesha, 2014). The fashion industry advertises fashion products using
models with figures to die for. As such, consumers are made to believe that when they purchase
that particular product, they will look just like the model. This especially has a great influence on
the teenage girls who additionally believes that the figures glorified by the fashion industry are
the ideal figures in the society. As a result, this group even goes to greater length to diet to
achieve what they consider an ideal figure. Hence, the fashion industry influence buyer behavior
through celebrity endorsement and advertisements, which taps into the subconscious mind of the
buyers and stimulate their buying decisions.
Popular music is an example of a cultural product that manipulates consumers into
mindless consumption. First, popular music is a standardized cultural product. The cultural
industry can exploit musical patterns or lyrics and produce it in masses for commercial gain.
Second, the details of one popular song can be interchanged with details from another.
Essentially, the creation of popular music has shifted from an artisanal stage to an
industrial stage. The production of popular music is mechanical in nature. The popular music
industry conceals standardization by engaging in false individualization of songs. Popular music
is consumed as a form of entertainment. The consumption is mainly passive and repetitive since
consumers do not participate in its production (Storey 1999). Since cultural products are

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11

produced in masses to meet the insatiable needs of the capitalist economy, popular music targets
office and factory workers. Working in offices and factory floors is strenuous hence deny people
the opportunity to engage in productive leisure time. The capitalist economy is exhausting and
makes people not to invest effort in their leisure time. Therefore, people passively consume
popular music as a form of entertainment after a hard days work.
Also, popular fiction is an example of a cultural commodity that is consumed passively.
Popular fiction leads to the aestheticisation of reality and creation of dream-images that speak to
desires of the consumer. Popular fiction is also produced in large masses to meet the large
demands of the capitalist economy. Popular fiction lacks the recreational benefit it is marketed
for. Instead, it disengages the consumer from reality. Popular fiction is marketed under the
auspice of recreation and enjoyment. However, the fiction does not strengthen and refresh the
consumer for living but instead implants weak evasions in the consumer making him or her
unable to face reality. Popular romantic fiction can result in creation of fantasies in the reader
making it hard for to adjust to the realities of life. Popular romantic fiction is produced to create
dream-images that speak to the romantic desires of the consumer. To meet these desires, a person
will engage in continuous consumption of the popular romantic fiction. Unknown to him or her
is that the fiction does not bring the recreation it is supposed to. Instead, the culture industry
earns profit from the high consumption of the popular fiction.
Cultural consumption is considered manipulation by some cultural studies theorists while
others deny the same. The Frankfurt School comprising German intellectuals Theodor Adorno,
Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse are proponents of the view that cultural consumption is a
form of manipulation. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer used film to illustrate how culture
industry manipulates consumers into passive consumption. The theorists say Under the regime
of the Culture Industrythe film industry leaves no room for imagination or reflection on the

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

12

part of its audiencethe film forces its victims to equate it directly with reality (Storey 1999,
p.19). They believe that audience does not actively production of film but are merely passive
consumers not given a chance to integrate their imagination. Herbert Marcuse argues that
capitalism works through cultural industry to promote consumerism and in the process generate
false needs. The false needs act as a mechanism that lures consumers. Therefore, consumers are
manipulated into consumption to meet the false needs.
Moreover, theorists such as F.R Leavis, Q.D. Leavis, and Denys Thompson also propose
that cultural consumption is manipulation. Q.D. Leavis equates popular fiction to a drug
addiction to fiction (Storey 1999, p.25). The comparison shows that people are lured into
consuming cultural productions such as popular fiction. There are theorists who disagree with
the proponents of cultural consumption as manipulation. John Docker describes Q.D. Leaviss
view to be an old-style colonialist ethnographer, staring with distaste at the barbaric ways of
strange and unknown people (Storey 1999, p.31). He proposes the in-depth establishment of
evidence to the view that cultural consumption is manipulation. Michael Denning opposes the
view of Frankfurt School theorists because it has failed to put into consideration the questions of
agency and structure. Also, Docker disagrees with Adorno and Horkheimer because they have
failed to inculcate ethnography in their view.
Conclusion
People passively engage in consumption of advertised and marketed cultural products
and material goods to fulfil the desires the created dream-images arouse in them. Manipulative
advertising and marketing are done deliberately to spur consumption and in the process earn
profits for the capitalist producers. The purported rewards and benefits that cultural commodities
are purported to carry are never met but instead the products create more desire for consumption.

Culture Industry and Manipulation of Consumers

Culture industry and consumer culture manipulate consumers into mindlessly consuming
commodities.

13

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14

Reference List
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. [1944] 1999. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception in During, S. (ed.) The Cultural Studies Reader. London/NY: Routledge, pp.
31-41.
Bocock, R. 1993. Consumption. London: Routledge.
Baudrillard, J. 1998. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. London: Sage.
Featherstone, M. 1991. Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage
Kankamange, P. and Dinesha, C. 2014. Influence of culture on consumer behaviour in the
fashion industry. Business and Law
Ritzer, G., and Jurgenson, N. 2010. Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of
capitalism in the age of the digital prosumer. Journal of Consumer Culture, 10(1),
pp.13-35.
Sassatelli, R. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London: Sage.
Slater, D. 1997. Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge: Polity
Storey, J.1999. Cultural Consumption and Everyday Life. London: Arnold.