Contemporary Consumer Research Articles

Decolonizing the Sneaker: Sneaker Customization and the Racial Politics of Expressive Popular Culture

Epitomized by the athletic sneaker industry's lucrative mining of Black bodies and Black culture, the colonization of the racial “Other” by the forces of Western consumer culture has become a defining feature of late capitalism. However, we propose that contemporary consumer culture also offers possibilities for everyday decolonizing practices, specifically those associated with sneaker customization. Drawing on 15 interviews with racially-marginalized sneaker customizers, we explored how individuals used sneaker customization to initiate critical and creative dialogues with the sneaker industry and other late colonizing forces. We found that participants used sneaker customization to assert their humanity through: signaling their personal/group identity; articulating political subversions and solidarities; and seeking to uplift disadvantaged communities. We conclude by encouraging sport scholars to critically engage the possibilities for decolonizing politics as infused within everyday popular cultural practices.

Ben Hur Live as post-cinematic adaptation

Ben Hur Live was a live, arena-based version of the story from Lew Wallace’s novel Ben-Hur (1880), best known via the 1959 film version directed by William Wyler, that premiered at London’s O2 Arena in 2009. Meant as the start of a world tour, the show was a financial flop and its run was cut short. I argue that this show was in fact an early example of a small genre of oversized productions – Arena Spectaculars – that bring together live versions of screen material in a specifically post-cinematic way. Since Ben Hur Live’s financial failure there have been financially successful shows such as Batman Live and Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular; their very titles showing their contingent and intertextual nature. Although seemingly niche, aberrant or even ridiculous, the arena spectacular can actually illuminate many things about the contemporary consumption of texts in a post-cinematic, networked and franchised economy of images.

Brand magnification: when brands help people reconstruct their lives

PurposeThis paper aims to detail how consumers can harness the power of brands to reconstruct their lives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors followed five brand devotees over several years, using various data collection methods (long interviews, observations, videos, photographs and secondary data) to study how they reconstructed their lives with a brand.FindingsConsumers transform their existence through a distinctive form of brand appropriation that the authors call brand magnification, which unfolds: materially, narratively and socially. First, brand devotees scatter brand incarnations around themselves to remain in touch with the brand because the brand has become an especially positive dimension of their lives. Second, brand devotees mobilize the brand to craft a completely new life story. Finally, they build a branded clan of family and friends that socially validates their reconstructed identity.Research limitations/implicationsThe research extends more muted depictions of brands as soothing balms calming consumer anxieties; the authors document the mechanism through which consumers remake their lives with a brand.Practical implicationsThe research helps rehabilitate the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture. Organizations can use the findings to help stimulate and engage employees by unveiling the brand’s life-transforming potential for consumers.Originality/valueThe authors characterize a distinctive, extreme and unique form of brand appropriation that positively transforms consumer lives.

Hedonism, hedonistic shopping experiences and compulsive buying tendency: a demographics-based model approach

ABSTRACT Although consumer and marketing research has focused on identifying various precursors of compulsive buying behavior, little attention has been paid to more complex relationships examined from the perspective of hedonism as a personal value, hedonic shopping experiences, and consumer demographics. Thus, the present study postulates a mediation model in which the extent of hedonism<apos;>s relationship to compulsive buying via hedonistic shopping experiences is diagnosed, and proceeds to moderation effects based on consumer demographic characteristics (i.e gender, age, education). Using data (N = 1,245) from a representative survey, and based on structural equation modeling, results revealed that hedonism significantly influences compulsive buying via hedonistic shopping experiences, while moderation effects indicated that these relationships were stronger in younger individuals, mostly women. In contrast, these effects were nonsignificant with regard to consumers’ education level. The study<apos;>s findings are discussed in terms of the theoretical and practical insights to better understand and prevent contemporary consumerism trends related to hedonism, hedonistic shopping, and compulsive buying tendencies. The research also offers important public policy and retailing implications.

Family identity construction: an interpretation of the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner consumption ritual

PurposeFamily dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve is the most important and most ritualized feast for families in China. It is the time for the entire family to reunite. Families gather together to reflect their past and talk about the future. Through the lens of consumer culture theories, this study explores how Chinese consumers construct family identity.Design/methodology/approachBased on constant comparative analysis of primary data including in-depth interviews and participant observation, and secondary data including historical archives, cultural tracing, documentary reports and essays, the authors deconstruct the consumption rituals of family dinner on Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve. The authors focus on four aspects, including participants, place, time and related activities, and analyze Chinese consumers' ritual experiences.FindingsThe authors’ findings show how young consumers construct and strengthen individual self-identity, relational identity and family identity in various ways through consumption and ritual practices during Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.Originality/valueThe study of family dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve helps the authors understand contemporary consumer culture in three aspects. First, it helps the authors understand the relationship between consumption and culture. Second, the study shows the changes and continuities of consumption rituals. Third, the research highlights the experience of “home” among contemporary Chinese consumers.

A Qualitative Study on the Importance of User Behavior Change towards Wellness Product Development

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards in modern life, people no longer only pay attention to the simple needs of eating and drinking, but begin to pay attention to the improvement of the quality of life, which increases the demand and consumption of healthy products, the environment in which people live is also deteriorating, and in the face of the pressure and pressure brought by life, modern people's health has also appeared various problems. The main research content of this paper is the qualitative research on the importance of user behavior change to the development of health products. The state has issued a number of policies, which clearly point out that the safety of health products should be regulated, and the health products should be guaranteed to meet people's needs and security. From the perspective of user behavior, and then study the impact of user behavior on the health industry. Based on this, it is a key task to develop related products that can meet the needs of the people's health services. What products consumers are interested in, which products should be developed, and which market segments can be entered have always been issues that health product companies should pay attention to. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the impact of user behavior change on the development of health products. The final results of the research show that massage and massage health products are the most selected option. A total of 116 people chose this option, accounting for 72.14% of the total number of people, indicating that contemporary consumers are more inclined to choose massage and other service items for maintenance.

A DISCUSSION OF STREETWEAR FASHION AS A CULT: A QUALITATIVE APPROACH

Clothing continues to be a symbolic consumer product with layers of meaning. Fashion has taken on social, cultural, and religious meanings. This study focuses on the new wave of streetwear as seen by millennials and uses fashion brands as cults and Goffman's theory of the internal and external self as a basis for analysis, with the aim of furthering the critical discussion of fashion. Qualitative methods were used in the analysis. First, key themes were identified from information posted on Twitter about streetwear, and based on this information, interviews with 18 participants were conducted, and thematic analysis was applied to the text data to visualize the connotations and values of street fashion in the consumer's consciousness. Text mining software, KH Coder, was used for the analysis. The results revealed that streetwear shoppers perceive streetwear as a tool to strengthen ties between shoppers of the same brand and as a cult value that encourages commitment to a particular brand. Streetwear shoppers, on the other hand, perceive the impact of wearing a particular brand of streetwear fashion as a communication tool that demonstrates their internal beliefs and ideas. And this study found that in the consciousness of street fashion-wearing millennials, they understand the concept proposed by Goffman's theory of dramaturgy, the consciousness of "getting on stage and performing," as a metaphor for wearing street fashion. To the theme of "fashion cults," which has already been established as one of the debates in fashion research, we propose an agenda for discussion that further extends Goffman's dramaturgy, provided by sociology, to shed light on the perspectives and behaviours of contemporary consumers, which will be useful for future discussions in the field of research.

Fate of Plastics in Cattle Digestive Systems

HighlightsTwo herds of cattle at a university teaching farm had plastic fibers in their fecal matter.The source was confirmed to be mineral supplements.When consumed, supplements caused some degradation or fragmentation of plastics. Abstract.Plastic products are a ubiquitous part of contemporary consumer products and can contain chemicals like plasticizers, colorings, flame retardants, and antimicrobials. When eaten, these substances can leech from plastics during digestion, and consequently, impact the health of the organisms that consume them. Here, we document plastic contaminants in the form of microfibers (0.5 to 15 mm), that we detected in the fecal matter of two herds of cattle on a college campus. Plastic incidence was similar (41%) for both herds, with a mean of 1 polyethylene microfiber occurring in every 2 g of feces. We confirmed the source of these plastic fibers was the mineral supplements that the cattle have access to year-round and detected the particles in two independent sources of mineral supplements. Despite minor visual changes in the plastic fibers (dulling of the surface) after being exposed to the digestive system of the cows, we were able to chemically confirm (using infrared spectroscopy) that the plastic found in the feces and mineral supplements were identical. To quantify degradation of consumed plastic particles, we performed a digestion study of plastics of similar composition (nylon used to tie square hay bales and polyethylene used to wrap round/rolled bales – not microplastics) used in the farm operations of the university. Following a 54-day exposure to the digestive system of a cannulated bull, we found that the weight of plastics did not change, but significant fragmentation (fraying) occurred. While the physiological consequences of microplastic degradation and potential inclusion among gut tissues are largely unknown, increased surface areas of microplastics from fraying and the leeching of toxic compounds accumulated over long periods of time should be considered as they could influence the safety of beef and dairy products intended for human consumption. Keywords: Livestock, Microfiber, Mineral supplement, Particle degradation, Plastic consumption.

Changing Religious Affiliations: Factors Affecting Denominational Changes In Nyambene Synod, Kenya

AbstractThis paper explores the interaction between the Methodist Church in Kenya (MCK) and the neo-Pentecostal churches in the Nyambene Synod, Kenya, together with the influence of this interaction on the religious landscape. It examines changes in denominational affiliations affecting the Methodist Church, where a substantial number of (particularly young) members have moved to Pentecostal churches and movements in the region. This identifies factors affecting religious affiliation in the Nyambene Synod and the impact that changing affiliation has on the Methodist Church. Through qualitative empirical research, the study identifies three main factors that increasingly influence movements of Christians between churches: the contemporary consumer culture that emphasises personal choice, the understanding of ecclesial identity, and the relevance of the church to contemporary (Kenyan) society. The research challenges the MCK to reassess its offer within the contemporary religious marketplace, not by imitating Pentecostal churches, but by rediscovering its Wesleyan social holiness heritage.

The Logic of Gig Economy (Origins and Growth Prospects)

Abstract The 2007+ crisis led to an increase in occasional and task work, which unleashed the potential of new technological and organizational solutions. The advancements in digital technological platforms stimulated the growth of the segment referred to as gig economy. The article aims to apply a systematic approach to the driving forces behind the emergence of gig economy and its success to date and to assess its development prospects. It argues to confirm the thesis that gig economy has its own inherent logic, while it remains part of the multi-stage process of the evolution of employee-employer relations, from the industrial stage to the digital era to platform-mediated work. Based on the analysis of the current world literature, the article posits that gig economy, as the next stage of development, has significantly reduced the quality of work, but it may also not meet the individual needs of the contemporary consumer. This increases the likelihood of the need for its change. The article also envisages the direction of this change towards post-platform economy based on distributed market spaces and provides the characteristics of its determinants, including social capital and a sense of individual entrepreneurship. The primary methods used in the study involved analysis and critique of the current world literature as well as the method of analysis and logical construction.

Hyperaccumulation of fucoxanthin by enhancing methylerythritol phosphate pathway in Phaeodactylum tricornutum.

The established human health benefits of carotenoids along with the contemporary consumption of natural carotenoids bring the necessity to sustainable production of carotenoids. Among, marine diatoms have emerged as the potential biological resources for carotenoid production; however, their relatively lower yield in native strains provides the impetus to genetically improve the diatoms to cope with the burgeoning demand. In this study, we genetically improved the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum by overexpressing key carotenogenic genes involved in methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. The genes with lower relative transcript level under optimum conditions such as CMK and CMS were selected and overexpressed in P. tricornutum individually. Both CMK and CMS overexpressing lines exhibited elevated growth and photosynthesis. The expression of key carotenogenic genes such as PSY, PDS, ZDS, CRT, and LCYB was significantly upregulated. Furthermore, total carotenoid content was significantly increased; particularly, fucoxanthin content was increased by 1.83- and 1.82-fold in engineered lines CMK and CMS, respectively. Together, the results identify the potential metabolic targets and also uncover the crucial role of MEP pathway in redirecting metabolic precursors towards carotenogenesis. KEY POINTS: • Low abundant genes CMS and CMK of MEP pathway were overexpressed in the diatom • Total carotenoid content was increased, particularly fucoxanthin • Critical metabolic nodes were uncovered to accelerate fucoxanthin biosynthesis.

Social media art and/or interactive art? Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream by Ye Funa and Bei Ou

In December 2015, three artistic events of the Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream Series were held, initiated by Ye Funa (b. 1986) and Bei Ou (b. 1987). The artists and other participants took part in a performance, which was shown live online. The artists used social media and live streaming to make the work. Viewers were invited to post their comments about it and their statements became part of the artistic project. For the artists, their intent was to break down boundaries between daily display and art exhibition, and to reduce the distance between the public and contemporary art. The Series raised questions about contemporary consumerism, sexual identity, the aesthetics of Camp, and stylizations derived from Japanese pop culture. The essay also considers if Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream should be regarded as ‘social media art’, a genre of interactive art, or an ‘interactive spectacle’. The article highlights the innovation of Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream as an artwork created on the border of art and daily life and indirectly continuing the artistic tradition of Fluxus.

Considering taste after gamification: collective selection, cultural intermediation, and casual gaming

ABSTRACT In the past few years, Covet Fashion and Redecor have emerged as popular options in the invest/express genre of casual games, where players create outfits and decorate rooms, respectively, to be judged by other users. This paper considers how such gamification—by turning taste considerations into a literal game—can impact judgments in everyday life. Drawing on symbolic interactionism, this paper positions taste judgments as being constructed through communication and social position. As such, by altering who players are in communication with, these games have the potential to rework learned taste and aesthetic judgments, thereby modifying sociocultural considerations like cultural capital. Taking a phenomenological approach, this paper finds these games frequently support the negative aspects of contemporary consumer culture, but have the potential to be more empowering.

Comparative study of the antioxidant activity of talinum triangulare (Jacq) willd leaves and stems. (João Gomes) / Estudo comparativo da atividade antioxidante das folhas e caules de talinum triangulare (Jacq) willd. (João Gomes)

Contemporary consumers have sought to consume foods that not only satisfy their taste buds, but that can also add something to their health. In this sense, functional foods, especially those rich in antioxidants, have gained prominence due to their ability to fight free radicals, which in turn favor the emergence of various diseases. In this context, there is João Gomes, a vegetable that is easy to grow, rich in various minerals and promising in antioxidants, widely consumed in Maranhão cuisine in dishes such as chicken stew, meat, rice and stir-fry. In order to provide more information about this vegetable, a comparative study of the antioxidant activity of João Gomes leaves and stems was carried out using the DPPH method. The antioxidant activity of Talinum triangulare (jacq) willd was determined from the obtainment of methanol extracts from the leaves and stems of the species, using Rutin as standard. The results obtained showed that the João Gomes stem extract presented a higher percentage of DPPH inhibition, with 70%, compared to 50% inhibition obtained by the leaf extract, and the rutin pattern presented 60% inhibition. Thus, it can be considered an important source of antioxidant in food.

Emancipatory Politics at its Limits? An Introduction

Emancipatory politics and the very idea of emancipation have come under pressure. Feminist and post-colonial critiques, the appropriation of emancipatory ideals by right-wing populists and the crises triggered by the transgression of planetary boundaries all expose emancipatory paradoxes and raise questions about the further suitability of emancipation as a regulative ideal guiding any socio-ecological transformation of contemporary consumer societies. With this article, which introduces a Special Issue entitled The Dialectic of Emancipation - Transgressing Boundaries and the Boundaries of Transgression, we are working toward a research agenda that acknowledges the current impasse of emancipatory politics and explores its ambivalences and further potentials. Following an outline of the emancipatory paradox and a review of how emancipatory movements have continuously contested – and redrawn – restrictive boundaries, we scan sedimented understandings of the two key terms, emancipation and dialectic, feeding into the concept that we are suggesting as an analytical lens for investigating the current impasse and future prospects of emancipatory politics: the dialectic of emancipation. We preview how the contributors to this Special Issue make use of these terms as they are engaging with this research agenda and conclude by reflecting on the dangers and pitfalls associated with the concept dialectic of emancipation.

Consumer Determinants of Purchasing Decisions on the Dairy Products Market

Purpose: The aim of this study was to try to define the basics and various factors that determine the purchasing behavior of consumers on the modern milk and milk products market. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study used the results of the author's empirical research in which 464 respondents were selected for the study in a purposeful manner. The main selection criterion was the respondents' declaration of regular purchase and consumption of dairy products in households. The research tool was a standardized questionnaire, which consisted of closed questions, both single and multiple choice, and it was fully anonymous. The obtained results allowed to draw conclusions and compare them with the general market trends taking place in the analyzed sector as well as with the results of research published by other authors dealing with related issues. Findings: The obtained results show that most of the purchasing decisions of dairy consumers are routine decisions. The main reason for consuming dairy products is the fact that they are suitable for direct consumption without their prior preparation, as well as the fact that the respondents have long become accustomed to the dairy diet in their households. In the hierarchy of factors determining the purchase of dairy products, the most important were sensory and functional impressions and the use-by date, but also various marketing stimuli are an important element. Practical Implications: The article contains information as well as guidelines for producers of dairy products, both for production and marketing. Thanks to the conducted research, the main directions of changes in the interests of buyers following contemporary consumer trends on the global market, which will become increasingly important in the future, have been shown. Originality / Value: The study contains significant findings regarding the variables affecting the direction of future consumption of dairy products on the market.

Striving to strengthen the ecosocial framework in social work in Finland

AbstractThere is no economic or social sustainability without ecological sustainability, yet the latter can hardly be achieved without the other forms of sustainability. While contemporary consumer societies are still today fundamentally unsustainable, advancing the overall sustainability transition as well as mitigating and preventing the ecological crisis should be high on the social work and community development agendas. On one hand, this is because the ecological crisis both causes and increases social inequality and vulnerability. On the other hand, aspiring sustainability requires profound social and cultural changes, bringing about which belongs to social work and community work’s areas of expertise.Asking how to respond to the socio-environmental crisis and its ramifications in social work education, this article focuses on the currently evolving ecosocial framework in Finnish social work education and practice, paying special attention to the opportunities and hindrances in its realization. The inquiry is based on thematic analysis of advanced level social work students’ views on these issues, as presented on a 5 ECTS (credits as per the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) course Social Work in Ecosocial Transition, part of the University of Jyväskylä’s social work master’s degree curriculum. In countries like Finland, where community development has a marginal role, adoption of the ecosocial framework would inherently strengthen the community based and political orientation in social work.

Proteins in Food Systems-Bionanomaterials, Conventional and Unconventional Sources, Functional Properties, and Development Opportunities.

Recently, food companies from various European countries have observed increased interest in high-protein food and other products with specific functional properties. This review article intends to present proteins as an increasingly popular ingredient in various food products that frequently draw contemporary consumers’ attention. The study describes the role of conventional, unconventional, and alternative sources of protein in the human body. Furthermore, the study explores proteins’ nutritional value and functional properties, their use in the food industry, and the application of proteins in bionanomaterials. Due to the expected increase in demand for high-protein products, the paper also examines the health benefits and risks of consuming these products, current market trends, and consumer preferences.

Exploring adolescent computer gaming as leisure experience and consumption: some insights on deviance and resistance

ABSTRACT The popular media and some aspects of social science research view computer gaming either in disruptive pathological terms or through one-dimensional notions, such as violence inducing or as simple escapism. These singular perspectives create gaps in the research and skew our understanding of computer games as a social phenomenon. To address this, we examine computer gaming as a leisure experience in the context of contemporary western consumer culture. The paper presents a conceptual investigation which critically analyses selected themes on gaming, designed to offer an interpretation of the adolescent gaming experience and its links with self–identity. Outcomes indicate that gaming has the potential to create resistance to commodifying processes and adult modes of the self but can be convalesced by the market to attract the purchase of and engagement with games. Adolescent self-identities, analysed through the lens of leisure experience in consumer culture and within the ambivalent experiential consciousness and leisure spaces of everyday life, may provide alternative perspectives on gaming. In this view, gaming can create experiences that lead to the formation of self-identity through social interactions and relations that have the potential to build social and cultural capacities for adolescents while also enabling resistance to social norms.

Liberation and limitation: Emancipatory politics, socio-ecological transformation and the grammar of the autocratic-authoritarian turn

Despite decades of emancipatory mobilization, there is no realistic prospect for any profound socio-ecological transformation of contemporary consumer societies. Instead, social inequality and ecological destruction are on the rise and an autocratic-authoritarian turn is reshaping even the most established liberal democracies. In explaining these phenomena, the struggle for autonomy and emancipation is an important parameter that has not received sufficient attention so far. This article investigates these phenomena through the lens of the dialectic of emancipation – a concept that I have suggested elsewhere and that I here further elaborate, placing particular emphasis on the relationship between the rule-transgressing and the rule-setting capacities of the emancipatory project. The article specifies constitutive dimensions of the emancipatory project, explores their ongoing reinterpretation and reconfiguration and thus explains how the emancipatory logic itself has come to obstruct the socio-ecological transformation and to nurture new forms of authoritarian governance.