Are you one of the Brand-Hunters?
In earlier patterning of consumption in England, British puritanism has involved in ascetic values. They were revealed as not spending much money on clothes, especially for men and boys. In now days, people would like to spend much money on clothes which does not only represent comfort or beauty, but also the Brand. There is a committed relationship between brands and us, the consumers. We would buy the loved brand repeatedly for a long time, or pursue to build up our own identities from brand. However, some people would like to queue overnight, in order to wait for the first opening for the shops. We can see after the excitement is gone, people would not be so obsessed with those fashion stores again.
Examples:
There are some typical examples shows that people are so obsessed with chasing those fashion brands insanely, the first store openings of Topshop, Forever 21 and H&M in Brisbane. According to the Brisbane Times report, hundreds of shoppers, especially teenagers have waited for 17 hours to get their hands on the Topshop goods in Brisbane, from 5:30 pm, the day before Topshop launched. They look like a hunter, when they see the prey come out, and then chase and hunt the prey down. At this stage, products from the shops will be the prey.
It might be an unforgettable experience to wait whole night for the first opening of your favorite fashion stores with your friends, or be the first one to buy and own the products. However, is it really worth it to be obsessed with a product which is plentiful, normalized, and is available online?
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The openings of Forever 21, Topshop and H&M[/caption]
Causes:
There will be different reasons to explain why people will be obsessed with those fashionable brands. Personally, I think “needs” and “wants” would affect people’s judgement intensely. In the previous days, people would pursue physical satisfaction for consuming. In now days, we can say people are also pursuing both physical and psychological satisfaction for consuming.
When people make their own buying decision, it depends on their needs and wants. When a person feels physiologically deprived of basic necessities, that’s what needs occur. On the other hand, a want is a felt need which is formed by a person’s knowledge, culture, and personality. Marketers would take advantage of this factor to influence what people buy. Effective marketing can clearly shape a person’s wants. The need and want factors may affect how people buying things. Social media is playing a significant role within this marketing campaign. We can see there are tons of promotions conducting through the brand’s social media platforms. As social media becomes part of our everyday life, audience will be easily attracted by those advertisements. They have already built up a fashionable and popular image for us. That’s why we would follow the trend which the marketers or brands want us to follow.
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Every brand has their own social media platform[/caption]
Who?
Teenagers, as they are now turning into the biggest spenders in the world. Now days, young people would have their own particular brands for wearing, using, eating and so on. Advertisements and campaigns can be
seen everywhere, smartphones, Internets, television or magazines. It is so easy and convenient for marketers to approach young people to build up the brand recognition to them. From those opening of fashion stores, teenagers have occupied a large proportion of the crowd. Sometimes, when young people purchase the products, it’s not because the products are practical or useful, it’s because of the brands. This issue can be reflected by those popular brands for young people, such as Apple, Beats, Forever 21, Topshop and so on. Young people just follow the trend blindly without considering what the reason they bought this product is. This happened when you see people around you are all using this brand. You will feel left out if you don’t have this brand’s product. It can be described as the peer pressure as well.
Following brands can be seen as a behavior which allows people to be active, self-constructing members of specific identity groups. Although, teenagers are not encouraged to consume products excessively, it is significant for us to build up our own perception, in order to increase the confidence. When we follow a certain brand, it may be the way we perceive ourselves and the way we believe other people see us. However, we will not be the Brand-Hunters.
People have their own point of view. We can not control what they think and what they do. There might be a different perspective to think about those Brand-Hunters. The important thing is you should have your own perspectives or judgement to see things, rather than follow other people’s lead.
