SEMBOLİK TÜKETİMİN LÜKS MARKALARA OLAN İZDÜŞÜMÜ: LOUIS VUITTON MARKASININ DERGİ REKLAMLARINA YÖNELİK BİR ANALİZ

Abstract

The phenomenon of luxury has a long history. It is a phenomenon closely associated with the increases in consumption that depend on the changing social and technological conditions of our time. In today’s world, where people self-actualize through consumption and shape their lifestyle in a consumption-oriented way, the concept of luxury has profoundly influenced the brands that are the most conspicuous symbols of the marketing world. Located at the center of production and symbolic consumption network, with their symbolic component, luxury brands, have come to the forefront as one of the dimensions of value in the concept of luxury. The literature review showed that concepts of luxury, luxury brands and symbolic consumption have been investigated in numerous studies, but there is little research on the relationship between luxury brands and advertisements, the marketing and communication tool, within the context of symbolic consumption. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to delve into the luxury brand products that cover all aspects of human life within the context of symbolic consumption and to identify potential associations between the cues in advertisements for luxury brands and symbolic consumption. To that end, the magazine advertisements of Louis Vuitton, the label with the highest brand value in the luxury category according to the data of BrandZ and Bloomberg in 2015, were analyzed using semiotic analysis. If a general assessment is made of advertisements on the basis of the Freudian model, conspicuous consumption theory and pseudo individualism theory, it can be said that the main points sought to be conveyed through symbols are not about the functionality of the advertised product, but rather the codes that direct people to symbolic consumption, such as being different, privilege, worth, status, exclusivity, feeling special, vanity, indulgence and identity.