Consumer behavior question

Use the attached articales and provide a brief summary related to consumer behavior, referencing the articles uses. required 2 pages. MLA format.

Celebrity Worship, Materialism,
Compulsive Buying, and the Empty Self
Robert A. Reeves
Augusta State University

Gary A. Baker
Champlain College

Chris S. Truluck
Augusta State University

ABSTRACT

This study tested common predictions from the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship and
the empty self theory. A sample of 171 university students completed a set of scales that included
celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying, as well as self-concept clarity, and several
other measures of well-being, such as boredom proneness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. As
predicted, materialism and compulsive buying were significantly correlated with celebrity worship,
extending research on the empty self theory. Celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying
were significantly related to lower self-concept clarity and to lower levels of well-being, supporting
both absorption-addiction and empty self theories. The results provide clear evidence for
absorption-addiction and empty self theory predictions of a compromised identity. Implications for
future research were discussed. C⃝ 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Celebrity and entertainment culture have become in-
creasingly prevalent in recent decades (Boorstin, 1982;
Gabler, 1998; Giles, 2000; Turner, 2010). For many peo-
ple, interest in celebrities goes beyond casual interest,
and even fascination, to obsession. Recently, empirical
research on the topic of celebrity worship has begun
to emerge (e.g., Maltby, Houran, Lange, Ashe, & Mc-
Cutcheon, 2002; Maltby, Houran, & McCutcheon, 2003;
McCutcheon, Houran, Maltby, & Ashe, 2004), and Mc-
Cutcheon, Lange, and Houran (2002) celebrity attitude
scale (CAS; see also Maltby et al., 2002) has been a cata-
lyst for this research. Celebrity worship has been linked
to a number of negative characteristics. For example,
high levels of celebrity worship have been related to
higher levels of social dysfunction, somatic symptoms,
anxiety, and depression (Maltby, McCutcheon, & Ashe,
2001). Additional studies have shown that celebrity
worship is associated with lower levels of religiosity
(Maltby et al., 2002) and certain cognitive deficits (e.g.,
lower levels of critical thinking, cognitive flexibility,
and creativity; McCutcheon, Ashe, Houran, & Maltby,
2003).

Although the CAS is a useful, overall measure of
celebrity worship, research has identified three factors
that assess progressively more pathological levels of
this trait (Maltby et al., 2002; McCutcheon, Lange, &
Houran, 2002). The lowest level of celebrity worship,

“entertainment-social,” refers to the value of celebrities
in enhancing social activities with friends or providing
entertainment. The second level, “intense-personal,” re-
flects more of a personal preoccupation with a favorite
celebrity and has mild obsessive-compulsive quali-
ties. Finally, the third and most pathological level,
“borderline-pathological,” defines more severe patho-
logical behavior of the type that indicates stronger
obsessive-compulsive tendencies that might lead in
some cases to actually stalking a celebrity or erotoma-
nia (Maltby, Houran, & McCutcheon, 2003).

McCutcheon, Lange, and Houran (2002) have devel-
oped an absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship
as an explanation of the different levels of celebrity
worship. According to this model, persons with a
poorly defined sense of identity attempt to gain ful-
fillment and a more complete identity by becoming ab-
sorbed with a celebrity. Absorption is defined as effort-
less, but full and complete devotion of attention to a
celebrity. Persons with higher levels of celebrity wor-
ship are also thought to have a weak boundary struc-
ture and may erroneously believe that they have a
special relationship or bond with a celebrity (Houran
et al., 2005). Related research has shown that patho-
logical preoccupation with public figures is related to
both absorption and dissociation (Sheridan, Maltby, &
Gillett, 2006).

Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 29(9):

674

–679 (September 2012)
View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mar

C⃝ 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20553

674

The addictive aspects of celebrity worship are as-
sumed to occur as persons habituate over time to their
level of absorption and need even stronger evidence
of their belief in the perceived relationship with the
celebrity. This need can strengthen erroneous beliefs
about the relationship and promote even more ex-
treme dissociative behavior. In support of this model,
Maltby, McCutcheon, and Ashe (2001) found that the
entertainment-social subscale of the CAS was most
strongly related to social dysfunction and depression,
while the intense-personal subscale was related most
strongly to anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms.
The relationship between the intense-personal subscale
and somatic symptoms was thought to reflect the addic-
tive quality of the more severe level of celebrity worship.

A more recent study offers additional, more con-
clusive support for the absorption-addiction model.
Maltby, Houran, and McCutcheon (2003) found that
scores on the CAS subscales were each uniquely corre-
lated with a brief measure of one of Eysenck’s three
personality factors (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk,
1992) in a pattern consistent with predictions from the
model. Specifically, the entertainment-social, intense-
personal, and borderline-pathological subscales were
most strongly and positively related to scores on
extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, respec-
tively. Intense-personal celebrity worship has also been
found to be related to a neurotic coping style and poorer
mental health (Maltby et al., 2004).

The absorption-addiction model (McCutcheon,
Lange, & Houran, 2002) is similar in some ways to
Cushman’s (1990, 1995) empty self theory (also noted
by McCutcheon et al., 2003). Both address behaviors
that are attributed to consumer and entertainment cul-
ture and to influential marketing and advertising prac-
tices (see Kasser & Kanner, 2004). Both also describe
a model of the self that includes a deficient, or com-
promised identity. According to Cushman, the “empty
self” is a version of the self that emerged in the West in
the last half of the twentieth century due to a conflu-
ence of sociocultural, psychological, economic, and de-
mographic changes. Cushman notes that since the late
1800s there has been increasing emphasis on the devel-
opment of a secular personality, rather than one based
more on religious character. The contemporary empty
self is characterized by strivings for self-contained in-
dividualism, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and attempts
to master the environment for one’s own needs. This
self-contained individualism comes with a price, how-
ever, as the self is expected to be able to soothe itself
in order to be able to function autonomously. Unfortu-
nately, the empty self is plagued by a loss of a shared
sense of community and meaning, isolation, values con-
fusion, depression, low self-esteem, and poor relation-
ships with others, among other characteristics. This
creates a nonspecific, chronic emotional need (Cush-
man, 1990, 1995), which the person attempts to rem-
edy by the ceaseless acquisition and consumption of
nonessential goods. This need can also lead to drug
abuse, eating disorders, a series of unsuccessful roman-

tic relationships, and even undue adulation of politi-
cians and celebrities, according to Cushman. Cushman
also suggested that the “lifestyle solution” offered by
advertising falsely promises that consuming certain
products and identifying with advertising models and
celebrities will create fulfillment by transforming the
person’s life.

Although Cushman (1990, 1995) offered no empiri-
cal support for his model, research on materialism and
compulsive buying is consistent with his views if one as-
sumes that the empty self is reflected in stronger mate-
rialistic and compulsive buying tendencies. High levels
of materialism and compulsive buying tendencies have
been related in many studies to a pattern of poor ad-
justment and well-being that fits the description of the
empty self, such as low self-esteem, depression, anxi-
ety, narcissism, and uncertainty and self-doubt, among
other negative outcomes (e.g., Chang & Arkin, 2002;
Dittmar, Long, & Bond, 2007; Faber, 2000; Kashdan &
Breen, 2007; Kasser & Ryan, 1993; O’Guinn & Faber,
1989; Richins & Dawson, 1992). We reasoned, there-
fore, that increasing levels of materialism and compul-
sive buying would characterize those who are suffering
from the empty self.

One purpose of the present study was to bridge the
research on the absorption-addiction model of celebrity
worship (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002) with
that on Cushman’s (1990, 1995) empty self theory.
Both models describe an unhealthy version of the self
that seeks external gratification to remedy and soothe
internal deficiencies and both models posit celebrity
worship as a means to accomplish this. Following the
reasoning above in which higher levels of material-
ism and compulsive buying tendencies are assumed
to reflect empty self characteristics, we predicted that
higher materialism and compulsive buying tendencies
would be related to higher scores on celebrity wor-
ship. The relationships among these measures have
not been examined in previous research, to our knowl-
edge, so examining these relationships will allow a test
of an important aspect of Cushman’s theory, as well
as an extension of research on celebrity worship and
the absorption-addiction model (McCutcheon, Lange, &
Houran, 2002).

A second purpose of this study was designed to ex-
plore a neglected, but essential, component of both
the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship
and Cushman’s empty self theory. The emerging re-
search on the addiction-absorption model has not yet
(to our knowledge) included measures that directly
assess deficiencies of the self-concept. Therefore, we
included measures of self-concept clarity (Campbell,
1990; Campbell et al., 1996a, 1996b) and self-esteem
(Rosenberg, 1965) to extend the research on celebrity
worship in this regard. Self-concept clarity measures
how clearly and confidently the self-concept is de-
fined, as well as the internal consistency and stabil-
ity of the self-concept. Low self-concept clarity has
been related to lower self-esteem and higher neuroti-
cism (Campbell, Assanand, & Di Paula, 2003; Campbell

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 675
Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

et al., 1996a). We predicted from both the absorption-
addiction and empty self theories that higher levels of
celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying
would be related to lower self-concept clarity and lower
self-esteem.

Finally, we included two other measures, boredom
proneness (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986) and life satis-
faction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), that
we believe are relevant to both the absorption-addiction
and the empty self theories. Boredom proneness has
been related to a variety of negative outcomes, includ-
ing depression, loneliness, hopelessness, and lower life
satisfaction (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986). Life satisfac-
tion has, similarly, been associated with poor adjust-
ment and lower well-being (Diener et al., 1985). We
predicted that celebrity worship, materialism, and com-
pulsive buying tendency would be positively related to
boredom proneness and negatively related to life satis-
faction.

METHOD

Participants

Participants were 171 students (63 males, 106 females,
and 2 who did not reveal their sex) at a small southeast-
ern university who volunteered for a study on “attitudes
toward celebrities.” All students were treated in accor-
dance with appropriate ethical guidelines (American
Psychological Association, 1992).

Procedure and Measures

Each participant completed a packet of questionnaires
during their respective class periods. The packets con-
tained the following measures and all have been shown
to have adequate psychometric quality: the 23-item
version of the CAS (celebrity worship; Maltby et al.,
2002), materialism (Richins & Dawson, 1992), compul-
sive buying (Faber & O’Guinn, 1992), boredom prone-
ness (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), self-concept clarity
(Campbell et al., 1996a, 1996b), life satisfaction (Di-
ener et al., 1985), and self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965).
After all data collection, participants were debriefed as
to the complete nature of the study.

RESULTS

All of the main scales appeared to have ade-
quate internal consistency, as seen in Table 1. The
borderline-pathological subscale of the celebrity wor-
ship scale, however, had poor reliability, suggest-
ing that correlations with that subscale be inter-
preted cautiously. The correlation matrix of all of
the scales used, shown in Table 2, reveals strong
support for our hypotheses. Celebrity worship, ma-
terialism, and compulsive buying tendency scores

were significantly correlated with each other and
with each of the other measures in the predicted
direction. It is important for interpretation to note
that the compulsive buying scale (Faber & O’Guinn,
1992) is scored so that lower scores on the scale re-
flect stronger compulsive buying tendencies. There-
fore, we predicted negative correlations between
compulsive buying scores and scores on the other
measures.

Consistent with Cushman’s empty self theory
(1990), higher levels of materialism and compulsive
buying tendencies were associated with significantly
higher scores on celebrity worship. Also as predicted,
materialism and compulsive buying tendency were sig-
nificantly correlated with lower self-concept clarity,
lower self-esteem, and greater boredom proneness. Ma-
terialism was also significantly related to lower life sat-
isfaction.

In support of the absorption-addiction model
(Maltby et al., 2002), higher celebrity worship scores
were significantly correlated with lower levels of self-
concept clarity and self-esteem. This result is the first,
to our knowledge, in which a deficit in self-concept
or identity has been directly linked to celebrity wor-
ship. The results also support predictions from the
absorption-addiction model in that celebrity worship
was significantly related to greater boredom proneness.

Separate correlation matrices for males (Table 3)
and females (Table 4) showed strong significant sup-
port for all predictions within the female group. In
fact, the results within the female group revealed
stronger support for the predictions than that observed
within the total sample. For males, however, support
for the predictions was less complete, possibly due
to low statistical power created by the smaller sam-
ple of males. Nonetheless, higher compulsive buying
tendency for males was related to higher scores on
celebrity worship and higher materialism was associ-
ated with lower self-concept clarity and higher boredom
proneness.

Notably, among the strongest correlations (Tables 2
& 4) were those observed between some of the measures
(e.g., materialism, compulsive buying tendency, and
boredom proneness) and the borderline-pathological
subscale of the celebrity worship scale. However, the
low internal consistency of the borderline-pathological
subscale (see Table 1) requires caution in interpreting
these correlations.

Comparisons of mean scores on each scale for males
and females revealed that males had higher mean
scores than did females on the celebrity worship scale
(M’s = 40.05 vs. 36.19, respectively, p < 0.04, one-tailed) and on two of the three celebrity worship subscales— entertainment social (M’s = 20.44 vs. 18.20, respec- tively, p < 0.05, one-tailed) and borderline pathological (M’s = 4.30 vs. 3.73, respectively, p < 0.03). Females, however, had higher mean scores than did males on self-concept clarity (M’s = 42.11 vs. 39.35, respectively, p < 0.04, one-tailed) and compulsive buying tendency (M’s = 0.85 vs. 1.42, respectively, p < 0.02, one-tailed;

676 REEVES ET AL.
Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

Table 1. Internal Consistency and Descriptive Statistics of Measures.

Measure Cronbach’s α N M SD

1. Celebrity worship 0.92 171 37.46 13.24
2. Materialism 0.84 171 52.36 11.1
3. Compulsive buying 0.65 171 1.04 1.51
4. Self-concept clarity 0.86 171 41.09 9.29
5. Self-esteem 0.85 167 34.53 5.34
6. Boredom proneness 0.74 167 10.91 4.64
7. Life satisfaction 0.82 170 15.92 6.01
8. Entertain-social subscale 0.89 171 18.93 7.58
9. Intense-personal subscale 0.81 171 12.80 4.76
10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.46 171 3.93 1.51

Table 2. Correlation Matrix of Measures for Total Sample.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship –
2. Materialism 0.26∗ –
3. Compulsive buying − 0.18∗∗ − 0.29∗ –
4. Self-concept clarity − 0.25∗ − 0.28∗ 0.17∗∗ –
5. Self-esteem − 0.19∗∗ − 0.17∗∗ 0.15∗∗ 0.47∗ –
6. Boredom proneness 0.24∗ 0.24∗ − 0.20∗ − 0.47∗ − 0.36∗ –
7. Life satisfaction − 0.13∗∗∗ − 0.21∗ 0.12 0.32∗ 0.44∗ − 0.28∗ –
8. Entertain-social subscale 0.96∗ 0.23∗ − 0.18∗∗ − 0.23∗ − 0.16∗∗ 0.21∗ − 0.11 –
9. Intense-personal subscale 0.89∗ 0.21∗ − 0.09 − 0.22∗ − 0.17∗∗ 0.20∗ − 0.13∗∗∗ 0.74∗ –
10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.71∗ 0.36∗ − 0.26∗ − 0.25∗ − 0.13∗∗∗ 0.38∗ − 0.11 0.63∗ 0.55∗ –

Note: Ns range from 167 to 171. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales
reflect stronger respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

recall that lower scores on compulsive buying reflect a
stronger tendency).

We also ran several stepwise regressions to examine
the relative strength of predictors of celebrity worship.
For the total sample, materialism (β = 0.20, p < 0.009) and boredom proneness (β = 0.20, p < 0.01) emerged as significant predictors. For females, materialism (β = 0.36, p < 0.01) and self-esteem (β = −0.27, p < 0.01) were the significant predictors.

DISCUSSION

The results support predictions from both the
absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship
(Maltby et al., 2002) and the empty self theory (Cush-
man, 1990, 1995) in that both theories explain celebrity
worship in terms of deficits in self-concept, poor ad-
justment, and low levels of well-being. Research on
the absorption-addiction model was extended with the

Table 3. Correlation Matrix for Male Participants.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship –
2. Materialism 0.06 –
3. Compulsive buying − 0.24∗∗∗ − 0.30∗∗ –
4. Self-concept clarity − 0.15 − 0.29∗∗ 0.11 –
5. Self-esteem − 0.03 − 0.07 − 0.02 0.44∗ –
6. Boredom proneness 0.12 0.24∗∗∗ − 0.14 − 0.48∗ − 0.33∗ –
7. Life satisfaction 0.08 − 0.07 − 0.02 0.23∗∗∗ 0.35∗ − 0.24∗∗∗ –
8. Entertain-social subscale 0.97∗ − 0.01 − 0.22∗∗∗ − 0.12 0.01 0.06 0.11 –
9. Intense-personal subscale 0.89∗ 0.07 − 0.18 − 0.12 − 0.05 0.10 0.03 0.76∗ –
10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.64∗ 0.31∗∗ − 0.29∗∗ − 0.26∗∗ − 0.09 0.42∗ − 0.01 0.59∗ 0.44∗ –

Note: N = 63. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales reflect stronger
respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 677
Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

Table 4. Correlation Matrix for Female Participants.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship –
2. Materialism 0.41∗ –
3. Compulsive buying − 0.24∗∗ − 0.29∗ –
4. Self-concept clarity − 0.31∗ − 0.24∗∗ 0.24∗∗ –
5. Self-esteem − 0.33∗ − 0.19∗∗∗ 0.24∗∗ 0.50∗ –
6. Boredom proneness 0.30∗ 0.20∗∗ − 0.33∗ − 0.44∗ − 0.38∗ –
7. Life satisfaction − 0.29∗ − 0.26∗ 0.19∗∗ 0.36∗ 0.49∗ − 0.26∗ –
8. Entertain-social subscale 0.95∗ 0.41∗ − 0.24∗∗ − 0.29∗ − 0.32∗ 0.28∗ − 0.29∗ –
9. Intense-personal subscale 0.88∗ 0.31∗ − 0.10 − 0.28∗ − 0.27∗ 0.26∗ − 0.26∗ 0.71∗ –
10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.74∗ 0.41∗ − 0.34∗ − 0.21∗ − 0.17∗∗∗ 0.32∗ − 0.18∗∗∗ 0.64∗ 0.62∗ –

Note: Ns range from 100 to 106. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales
reflect stronger respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

observation of relationships between low self-concept
clarity, low self-esteem, and celebrity worship. The re-
sults also extended the empty self theory via the rela-
tionship between materialism, compulsive buying ten-
dency, and celebrity worship.

Altogether, these results suggest that those who are
high in celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive
buying are lacking in internal resources such as a clear
sense of self and a positive self-regard. Such people
appear to need external stimulation, possibly as an es-
cape from aversive consequences of introspection, and
turn to external, yet ineffectual, sources of gratification,
such as celebrity worship and materialistic pursuits,
in an attempt to compensate for their deficiencies. At-
tachments to celebrities (Giles & Maltby, 2004; Thomp-
son, 2006), including those used in promotional efforts,
have been related to need satisfaction, but some such
attachments may contain an undesirable quality. Mild
degrees of celebrity worship are considered normal and
can enhance social interaction and enjoyment of enter-
tainment, but deeper levels appear to be pathological
(De Backer, Nelissen, Vyncke, Braeckman, & McAn-
drew, 2007; McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002). Fu-
ture research should include additional variables to
more carefully map degrees of celebrity worship to as-
sess both positive and negative, or pathological, aspects
of relationships with celebrities.

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Thompson, M. (2006). Human brands: Investigating an-
tecedents to consumers’ stronger attachments to celebri-
ties. Journal of Marketing, 17, 104–119.

Turner, G. (2010). Approaching celebrity studies. Celebrity
Studies, 1, 11–20.

We would like to thank Lynn McCutcheon for comments on an
earlier draft of this paper.

Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to:
Robert A. Reeves, Department of Psychology, Augusta State
University, Augusta, Georgia 30904 (rreeves@aug.edu).

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 679
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Children’s art: Work or play?
Preschoolers considering the
economic questions of their
theatre performance

Marleena Stolp
University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Abstract
During their theatre project, a group of 6-year-old children tried to pursue the role of active
actors, decision-makers and producers. For them their theatrical activity was viewed as work,
despite the fact that adults tend to count it as play. Children were also eager to earn from
their performance. Money was a sign of appreciation and status, and it determined for its part
children’s position as genuine actors in an artistic project. The article considers whether some of
children’s activity could be understood as work.

Keywords
children’s art, consumer culture, economy, play, work

Children’s own point of view has been absent in debates on finance and economy –
knowledge of these issues has usually been produced by adults, and even when children
have been asked, the questions have usually been framed from an adult point of view
(Zelizer, 2002: 377). Also Viviana Zelizer (2002: 383) states that ‘characteristically, and
unfortunately, we know even less about children’s production involving their peers’. In
this article I examine both the aspects children adduce in a peer group and the position
they try to reach with respect to financial decisions during a theatre project. I analyse the
conversations of the children recorded during the project. They indicate that children are,
and truly desire to be, an inseparable part of consumer society: not as consumers but also
as decision-makers, producers and active agents in an economy. I ended up focusing on
the economic theme after collecting the data: when going through the research material
I noticed that economic issues were often brought up by children themselves.

The data I use in this article were collected during a theatre project carried out in a
daycare centre in Jyväskylä, Finland, in January and February 2008. The project

Corresponding author:
Marleena Stolp, Art and Culture Studies, PO Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Email: marleena.stolp@jyu.fi

415556CHDXXX10.1177/0907568211415556StolpChildhood

Article

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252 Childhood 19(2)

involved a group of 6-year-old children writing a playscript and eventually putting on
a public theatre performance in which the children acted as well. The group of children
comprised 14 preschoolers, and we also had two directors, of whom I was one.
Children were divided into two groups and each of them created a performance: the
one was called Kolme miljoonaa leijonaa (Three million lions) and the other was
Sekoboltsi (Crazyball).

I worked with the children for six weeks before the public performance. We started by
getting acquainted and setting the rules. The Finnish storycrafting method (called sadutus
in Finnish) was used for creating the manuscript: a group of children would tell a story
in turns and director wrote it down. After finishing the story the children chose the characters
they wanted to play, and we negotiated with them in the case that no one was willing to
choose some crucial character in the story. There were no notable problems with that –
except for one boy who wanted to play a table made of potatoes, which was not exactly
a character in the manuscript. We accepted his wish and as a result the performance
included quite a lively table.

During the rehearsal, we used different types of theatre and drama methods for
rehearsing the actual performance. For example we used the method called ‘Hot chair’
for building the characters. Scenes were rehearsed one at a time and both children and
directors gave feedback to the actors. The manuscript developed and transformed during
the rehearsal process – as the children for example came up with better ideas for the
implementation, or the directors suggested some changes. The children designed their
own costumes on paper and the directors made them. The children also chose the music
and sound effects for the scenes from the directors’ preselected music collection. The
staging and lighting design were mainly done by the directors but the children partici-
pated in planning them.

The starting-point of the project was child-centredness. Due to the fact that the concept
children’s culture refers, paradoxically, to the art made for children by adults (Mouritsen,
2002: 16), our project culminated in a public performance of the theatre production
advertised in the local media. The purpose was to make the art made by children under
the auspices of this project visible. Because of the advertising, the audience was assorted:
present were the parents and siblings of the children, but also friends, neighbours, staff
and students of the university I work in, as well as random spectators. The project was
conceived for the purpose of research. Both children and their parents were fully informed
about the research and they gave their approval for the project. The children’s discussions
which I cite in this article are selected from videotaped and recorded material. Each child
has been given a pseudonym.

The research made me encounter various challenges. It emerged fairly soon that the
research was going to move within diverse fields. Besides the fields of art and theatre, it
can be regarded as part of interdisciplinary childhood studies. The scientific tradition is
extensive but I see this also as a strength: when different fields of studies intersect, new
ideas and new types of knowledge may arise.

The purpose of the project was to see children as active, competent and remarkable
actors and this is also my ontological commitment as a researcher. Concerning the artistic
output in the theatre project this succeeded quite well, but as for the other issues, for
example the financial questions, children’s status was different. Even though the children

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Stolp 253

themselves showed an interest with regard to these questions, adults were the ones who
made the decisions. However, in this article I want to emphasize the children’s perspective.
The article starts with a general overview of the children’s complex connection with the
finances. Second, I present the extracts in which children take a stance on the financial
issues within the theatre project. Debate over economic issues is closely connected with
the classification of children’s activity either as work or play – which is what I go on to
discuss. Finally I sum up the main arguments and reflect on the results.

Children face to face with economy: Victims or victors?
EXTRACT 1
Vernon: I have a question.
(Joseph is trying to prevent Vernon from raising his hand.)
D2 (director2): Vernon.
Vernon: Well, well, well . . . well, are they gonna pay for our performance?

It seems that the appreciation of children’s art, as well as the appreciation of all art, may
be measured in currency – and even the children themselves recognize that. During the
theatre project, the children were aware of and interested in various issues of producing,
marketing and advertising. The children began spontaneously to discuss the finances of
our performance: they contemplated whether they should ask for an entrance fee and
how high it should be. They also suggested ways of marketing the DVD of their performance.
The financial questions came up at the children’s own initiative, as in extract 1. In this
article I use concurrently the concepts of economy, finances and consumer culture. I am
aware of the fact that they are not synonymous, but in this particular context it is not
relevant to separate them. The focus is on the way children encounter the world of econ-
omy, which includes the issues of marketing, advertising and producing.

In earlier times, the notions of child and childhood were determined for instance by
the church and the state, but at present they are mainly defined by consumer culture and
the media (Kenway and Bullen, 2001: 61). The world, it is said, is on the threshold of
what is variously described as the information society, consumer culture, or risk society
(Keller and Kalmus, 2009: 356). This has led to debates filled with anxiety and concern.
Consumer culture appears to be uncontrollable, immoral, superficial and unpredictable
by nature. Its impact on children can only be conjectured. A threatening image has
emerged: maybe childhood itself is disappearing (Buckingham, 2000). On the other
hand, the fear may arise out of the strangeness of this new culture that involves children
but easily leaves adults behind. Instead of panic, the positive aspects of the new culture
should be considered. Concerning the discussion regarding consumer society there is the
dichotomy between a passive, manipulated child and an empowered, creative child in
charge (Cook, 2008: 230; Keller and Kalmus, 2009: 355).

There is the view that consumer culture has the potential to empower children. It
seems, on the basis of my research material, that children have the motivation and
potential to achieve also an active role in the field of economy. Juliet Schor discusses in
her book Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
(2004) the downsides of this notion of empowerment. Schor points out that the core of

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254 Childhood 19(2)

the new discourse on child empowerment is the idea that advertisements and products
generate a feeling of power among children. There is also the assumption that children
need to feel independent and able to master their environments, which are usually con-
trolled by their parents. Schor wonders if this leads to undermining self-worth: getting
certain products may become vitally important to children’s happiness. Brands and
products begin to determine who deserves to have friends, fame, social status and so on
(Schor, 2004: 11, 179). Schor (2004: 203) ventures to claim that a dilemma exists in this
environment in which children have been set free – it is increasingly dominated by ‘a
toxic consumer culture’.

Another interesting dichotomy is in the discussion on the adult world’s relationship
with the one children are living in. The traditional authoritarian model is in the process
of transformation: this time children are the authorities on the new media and digital
culture since they know more about it than their parents (Tapscott, 1998: 251). This
transformation provokes reorganizations of social relationships and issues of power and
authority. It also questions the conventional terms of adults’ world and children’s world.
Typically there is a concern about the disappearance of the boundary between these two
worlds. The fear arises from the notion of a corrupting adult world which, in the romantic
understanding of childhood, threatens the purity of children (Buckingham, 2000; Schor,
2004). The fear concerns the issues related to my research data – the children are clearly
involved in the financial world of adults.

But the opposite interpretation is also worth considering. Jane Kenway and Elizabeth
Bullen argue in their book Consuming Children: Education – Entertainment – Advertising
(2001) that the duration of childhood has been extended and children have become seg-
regated from the adult world. This is a result of the power of advertising and media
which separate children both from adults and from one another by providing them with
temporary identities predetermined by the market economy. Kenway and Bullen are also
concerned with the fact that school education remains at the margins of children’s identi-
ties. According to them, this arises out of the polarization between adults and the young
and between youthful pleasure and school education (which includes adults). One strat-
egy for improving the situation might be to offer children ways of understanding how
they are using consumer culture as a resource in identity building and how they are used
by consumer–media culture at the same time (Kenway and Bullen, 2001: 61, 151, 168).
This is an aspect worth noting: instead of being horrified by the fact that the economy
invades children’s world, it might be beneficial to capitalize on the resources and let
children deal with and learn from it.

Positive aspects of the new culture have been proposed. In his book After the Death
of Childhood: Growing up in the Age of Electronic Media (2000), David Buckingham
pays attention to the fact that it is not necessarily childhood which is dying, but the idea
of childhood. By this he means the nostalgic fantasies in which childhood is the nest of
innocence and freedom. It is regrettable that the new media allow children to become
easily involved with the properties of the adult world: for instance sex and violence. But
as Buckingham points out, resistance to children’s passive rebellion against a controlling
adult world through the use of media cannot be the solution. It is the wrong direction to
begin to deny children’s active role in creating their own culture and to treat them as
simply passive victims (Buckingham, 2000: 35, 39). Helena Saarikoski (2009), focusing
in her study on Finnish Spice Girls fans, also emphasizes the positive aspects of consuming.

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Stolp 255

Saarikoski points out that fan consumption is not only about actualizing the logic of the
market economy or capitalism. It can also be playful, communal, physical, emotional
and enjoyable. Saarikoski suggests that the process of learning to become a consumer
can be seen as part of the initiation to adulthood with regards to finances and consumer
culture. In this kind of society, buying products is a prerequisite for social status and
participation (Saarikoski, 2009: 237).

It is not crucial to take sides on the question of children’s status either as victims or vic-
tors as regards economic issues. As Daniel Thomas Cook (2004) puts it ‘the question is
beyond either/or’. Children are certainly bounded by the consumer culture and finances,
involved in them, affecting them and affected by them. Quotations in the next section illus-
trate how.

Children as producers: Worth one euro or ten thousand?
I now take up examples in which children led discussions on finances. The following
situations began in the middle of a discourse on other issues concerning the theatrical
performance – it is worth noting that as a rule, the directors did not start to discuss
finances. In the first extract the directors nevertheless struck up a conversation about
marketing the performance:

EXTRACT 2

(Children and directors are discussing making a poster and a programme.)

D2(director2): So because of that . . .
Johanna: What is the performance called?
D2: We haven’t . . . we still have to decide that.
Joseph: Do the tickets cost?
D2: We haven’t decided that yet. But . . .
Vernon: Yes they do cost! But we kids need to get money too. Isn’t that so?
(Laughs)
D2: If the tickets cost, then you, then the money will be spent for you.
Vernon: Yeah. Yay! (cheers and rejoices)
(Children clap their hands.)
Johanna: Notes . . .
Emily: And coins!

In the extract above one of the children, Vernon, speaks out forcefully. He thinks that the
permission to charge is a self-evident fact. He also announces that the kids themselves
need to earn from the performance – this establishes the fact that children’s getting profit
from their own performance is not at all obvious. All children are excited about the prom-
ise of getting the earnings for themselves, and girls even begin to fantasize about the
concrete cash. Children appear here as actors who are aware of their right to both make
decisions and earn from their work.

In economics, four established functions for money are traditionally identified:
money as the means or medium of exchange, as a unit of account, as a standard of

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256 Childhood 19(2)

deferred payment and as a store of value. In popular culture and language money
stands for many things – it is a symbol of success, a source of crime and it makes the
world go round (Begg et al., 2003: 367). The dream about earning money is not unfa-
miliar to children. Minna Ruckenstein (2009) has been interviewing Finnish children
under the age of 7 about money and consuming. Ruckenstein emphasizes that chil-
dren separate very naturally money from its economic meanings and this indicates
how money is intertwined with cultural issues. The children interviewed stated that
they dream about getting more money. They felt that without money they cannot gov-
ern their own lives as much as they would like to. Money appears as something which
contains power and enables economically useless children to become useful
(Ruckenstein, 2009: 87–8, 100–1).

One distinctive issue is the notable lack of academic interest in the symbolic
meanings that both adults and children create around products they consume (Martens
et al., 2004: 158), and this concerns both the products and all other aspects related to
consuming as well – as we can observe from Ruckenstein’s (2009: 100–1) example.
Also in extract 2 from my research, data, money and the price of the tickets gain a
significance other than the literal meaning. Money is a sign of appreciation and sta-
tus, and marks children’s position as genuine actors in an artistic project. This tran-
spires indirectly from children’s emphasis on their need to ‘get money too’. It can
also be interpreted from the fact that children themselves constantly open the discus-
sions on finances. The next extract resumes the discussion on the price of the
tickets:

EXTRACT 3

(Children and directors are discussing practical issues concerning the

performance.)

Vernon: Can the tickets be chargeable?
D2: I’ll find it out.
Vernon: A movie . . . it can cost . . .
Joseph: Well if not . . . if some don’t want to pay for it, if they don’t come?
D1: Then they are not allowed to come.
D2: Yeah.

Vernon ponders on the price question on grounds of the fact that a movie costs money –
he compares their performance to any movie. His comment demonstrates how profes-
sional the children find their own performance. Joseph in turn is worried about the
possible scenario in which nobody wants to attend because of the entrance fee. He
acknowledges the implications of charging for the tickets: some people are price-conscious
or possibly cannot afford it, so that the price of the tickets could be a crucial reason in
considering whether to attend the performance or not. This shows how profoundly and
from how many different angles children can actually evaluate the consequences of their
economic decisions – they are not simply focusing on how to charge as much as possible.
The next discussion concerns the amount to charge:

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Stolp 257

EXTRACT 4

(Children and directors are discussing practical issues concerning the performance.)

Joseph: Will it cost or not?
D2: We still must find that out.
Johanna: Will it cost? How much? I want all of the money.
D1: One hundred euros per ticket.
(Hysterical screams and facial expressions. Laughter.)
Joseph: Well it certainly . . .
D1 (laughs): Well then it could be that nobody’ll get there.
Vernon: Well, no! It cannot be a hundred euros or something.
Emily: Well, it costs three euros or so.
Joseph: Five euros or so! Five euros.
Vernon: Ten!
Joseph (hits
a table with
his fist): Five euros.
Tobias: Fifteen euros.
Vernon: Hundred euros per ticket.
(Laughter.)
Tobias: Ten thousand euros!
Tobias: One euro!

Again the question is about the ticket price. The other director begins to joke about the
amount to charge, and the children respond to the joking by gesturing exaggeratedly.
Then the children consider the options seriously for a while, until Vernon starts to joke
about 100-euro tickets again. Tobias concurs with Vernon’s playfulness and raises the
charge to 10,000 euros. The last effort to go on joking is the suggestion that the price
should be 1 euro. In a joking way, the children are possibly acting in the role of trickster.
Helena Saarikoski (2009: 158–60) observed that children usually act as tricksters to
hedge the ominous questions of adults. On the grounds of extract 4 this may also apply
to positions in which children have to decide on the price issues, which may not be
overly easy for them. All in all, when children discuss issues concerning finances and
marketing, the nuances of playfulness and fumbling enter the scene. The children in a
way take a stab at experimenting with the potential power and the role of decision-
makers in the project.

In spite of their joking around, children seem to have quite a realistic understanding
of a reasonable price. Three euros could be a decent price for a small performance by
amateurs, and 15 euros could be quite a suitable price for a performance by profession-
als. Based on the discussions above, the children at the age of 6, or at least some of them,
are to some extent aware of the economics and of the ways in which consumer culture
works. They are capable of estimating, generating ideas and planning the details of mar-
keting their own performance. In this case the children are empowered, not objects but
active subjects of consumer culture: they have assumed the role of marketers, not the

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258 Childhood 19(2)

ones who are marketed to. The following extract gives another example in which
children share their marketing visions:

EXTRACT 5

(Sam, Tobias and director 2 are having a discussion after the theatre project.)

Sam: Well . . . we don’t have any videotapes, because it hasn’t been shown
on TV, that performance.

D2: I see.
Tobias: When will we be watching it?
D2: We’ll watch it right away after we have burned it onto DVD.
Sam: Well, can one rent it?
D2 (laughs): No, but we’ll bring it here for sure.
Tobias: Why won’t you take them to the shops?
D2: I don’t know. It’s a bit complicated.
Sam: Well, they could be made, so that they could make them with a machine

on and on.
D2: And then you would get some money . . .
Tobias: They would get, they would get a model.
Sam: Afterwards there would be a hundred of them.
D2: Oh, they would get a model, from what? A model, from where?
Sam: Would draw it.
Tobias: Of course from those videotapes.
D2: Yeah, I see.
Tobias: Or then from DVDs.
D2: Yeah, that’s true.
Tobias: There could be videotapes and DVDs.

The children are excited about inventing ways to keep their performance alive by the aid
of the world of economy. The director assumes that the aim is to earn money, suggesting
‘And then you would get some money’ but the children disregard the comment and keep
on talking about the practical implementation. The performance was videotaped, and
here the children would like to ‘take them [videotapes] to the shops’ and to video rental
places. They even plan how ‘they’ – I assume the children mean workers in the industry –
would use the videotape of the children’s performance as a model and then a machine
could manufacture a hundred videotapes and DVDs. The discussion has some amateur-
ish features, but it still follows roughly an economic logic. The children, again, are
selecting the role of active actors, makers and producers.

In prior studies, the discussion on the roles of children in economy is quite confusing
and divided. Some notice a problem, which can be formulated as a paradox about the
participation and role of children: at the same time as the ideas of the priceless and
economically useless child gain strength, children’s growing purchasing power strength-
ens their role as consumers (Keller and Kalmus, 2009: 357). Deborah Levison (2000)
argues in her article ‘Children as economic agents’ that in the world of economy chil-
dren are not being treated as agents and that economists generally ignore evidence sug-
gesting that children use what power they have to try to achieve outcomes they prefer.

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Stolp 259

Levison points out that economists sustain the invisibility of children by recognizing
them in particular, convenient roles such as recipients of care, but never as actors or as
givers of care (Levison, 2000: 125–6). But opposite points of views exist as well: it has
been claimed that children have become thought of and treated as social agents by mar-
keters, parents and academics because of their increasing participation in commercial
life as consumers (Cook, 2004: 151).

It is essential to see the circumstances also from the children’s perspective – instead
of concentrating on the marketers’ point of view only. As David Buckingham (2000:
203) writes about children’s participation in the media – and why could it not be generalized
to the whole consumer society – two types of participation can be identified. One is
participation in production itself, and the other one is participation in the formation of
media policy and the management of media institutions. Since children have an
intense relationship with consumer culture, it would be justified also to promote the
latter kind of participation. Based on the preceding extracts, could there be something
worth paying heed to in the knowledge, capacity, creativity and will children have
with regard to economy? Conceptualization is the key: children may be seen in the
artistic process either as players or workers, which shapes our attitudes towards
children’s position.

Children’s performance: Play or work?
There has to be a difference between amateurs, who do theatre as a hobby, and profession-
als, who make a living by doing theatre; but when it concerns children as makers of a
theatre performance, the issue goes beyond that. One spectator left us feedback: ‘It is
quite nice to watch children playing, but that is not yet a performance.’ The feedback
becomes intelligible if we reflect on the general perception of childhood. David
Buckingham (2000: 9) explains that the cultural representations of childhood say much
more about adults’ and children’s fantasies of the idea of childhood than about the
realities of children’s lives. According to Buckingham, they are also often filled with
nostalgia for a past Golden Age of freedom and play. On the grounds of this nostalgia,
it is not surprising that there is a tendency to prefer understanding children’s potential
work as play. The question whether children’s performance is about play or work is
essential when deliberating the economic value of children’s art as well. Vernon
touched on the issue in extract 3, in which he compares their performance to any
movie. Likewise in extract 5, Sam and Tobias consider that a videotape of their perfor-
mance could be sold in any store. They are not joking around – children really seem to
think that their performance is equal to any other performance or movie. Would they
believe that if they were ‘just playing’?

After the rehearsal process director 2 asked the children if they had been acting as
their characters during their leisure time. No one admitted to it. Listening to the inter-
views reveals that children systematically and without hesitation deny playing the char-
acters beyond the rehearsals, as Emily and Sofia do in extract 6. The interviews also
show that director 2 has difficulties in accepting this. She asks the children again, repeat-
ing herself, almost like trying to get an affirmative answer: ‘Elsewhere? Didn’t you ever
play [at being the characters]?’

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260 Childhood 19(2)

EXTRACT 6

D2: Then you, your characters were a veterinarian cat and . . . a big sister lynx . . .
Emily: And then that big sister lynx . . . I shouted there ‘who farted’.
(Laughter.)
D2: So did you ever play those [characters], elsewhere, besides the time we

were rehearsing?
Emily: No.
Sofia: No.
D2: Elsewhere? Didn’t you ever play [at being the characters]?
Sofia: No.

EXTRACT 7

D2: Since your character was a little lynx, did you ever play at being it
elsewhere?

Johanna: No!
D2: No. Merely in our performance?
Johanna: Mmm.
D2: And in our rehearsals?
Johanna: Mmm.

In extract 7 Johanna is interviewed individually. She likewise unambiguously denies
playing her character in her leisure time. After that director 2 asks ‘Merely in our
performance?’ Consequently director 2 is the one who determines implicitly that
when children were performing, they were actually playing. Johanna hesitates when
she answers ‘Mmm’ to the questions concerning her playing in the performance and
in the rehearsals. It is impossible to conclude, based on the data, that her hesitation
arises from the director’s rough assumption – this is only one possible interpretation.
It would be interesting to investigate the language the directors used throughout the
project, but unfortunately only part of the project has been recorded. However, the
directors used definitions in a disorganized fashion: they could say ‘Now we will
work on this scene . . .’ or they could assign children’s activity to childplay, as in
extract 6. It is also worth considering if children find it embarrassing to admit that
they are playing. Extract 8 takes up the issue of embarrassment:

EXTRACT 8

D2: So you are . . . you had your own characters . . .
Niles: Mmm.
D2: A rocket, a worm . . . no, I mean, a rocket, a table, a mother lynx and, and,

and, and a lion, erm, did you ever play being those elsewhere?
Niles: No we certainly didn’t!
Joseph: Why would I do that anyway?
D2: Okay, good.
Niles: And besides, I don’t have any toys anymore.

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Stolp 261

D2: Okay.
Joseph: I sold them all!
Niles: Me too.

In extract 8 Niles strongly denies the possibility of playing in his leisure time. Joseph carries
on and questions why he would ‘do that anyway’. The discussion reveals that for children
play is something very different from rehearsing, acting and performing a theatrical piece.
These cannot be compared. The possibility to categorize children’s activity as work is con-
siderable. Hilary Levey (2009) investigates child beauty pageants and after-school learning,
concluding that organized children’s activities could well be qualified as work. This is
because activities also ‘produce transferable use value and create capital that contributes to
the future production of goods and services’, as does schoolwork too (Levey, 2009: 195).
Following her definitions, the children’s theatre project could inevitably be defined as work.

In extract 8 Niles also argues that he doesn’t possess any toys at all. Joseph claims that he
has sold his toys and Niles concurs. The tone in the discussion is facetious – the children are
probably joking about selling their toys. It is hard to believe that 6-year-old children would
have, of their own volition, sold all of their toys. Instead they act as tricksters again (see
Saarikoski, 2009) and this could be the result of unwanted questions from adults. Maybe play
is something personal and secret for children, or maybe there is even something shameful
about it. In any case it doesn’t seem to be suitable to tell adults about it. In extract 8 the world
of economy replaces the world of play. Children treat playing and toys as a bygone period and
replace it with the operation of consumer culture: they claim to have sold their toys.

EXTRACT 9

D2: What about since you two were, you were a tiger and you were a worm, so
did you ever play being those at any other time?

Tobias: No.
Vernon: Nnn . . . no.
D2: Okay.
Vernon: I once played a tiger, I mean a leopard. (Vernon played a worm in the

performance.)

Vernon is obviously not ashamed about his playing. He really deliberates on the question
and remembers that he once played at being a tiger, which is Tobias’ character. Then
Vernon specifies that he played being a leopard, not exactly a tiger. For Vernon there is
nothing shameful in playing, but he just hasn’t played his own character. For Paulina and
Mindy there is nothing shameful in playing either, as extract 10 establishes:

EXTRACT 10

D2: I’m gonna ask you one more thing. Since you had those
characters, lions, wait just a minute, a mother lion and . . .

Paulina: A mother lion.
D2: A big sister lion.

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262 Childhood 19(2)

Mindy: No but a mother lion and a mother lion!
D2: A mother lion and a mother lion, so have you played these

mother lions like elsewhere?
Paulina and Mindy: NO!
D2: You haven’t?
Paulina: Next time when I go to Mindy’s, we’ll play that!

When director 2 double-checks ‘You haven’t [played being lions]?’, Paulina announces
that they will play that next time she goes to Mindy’s house. The point in time of the
interview was many weeks after the theatre performance, and based on the data, the chil-
dren evidently hadn’t played at being their characters during the period over rehearsals
and the performance. It is not a question of shamefulness about playing per se, but of
something else. Is it because children do not equate the acts of playing and acting? Based
on the extracts here, children seem to think that they were not playing when it concerned
the theatre process.

In this analysis, the dichotomy of play and work, the facetious and the serious, is in
the foreground, but does it have to be? In art theories it is largely admitted that playful-
ness is related to the process of making art, and making art as a professional is regarded
as work. The product that an artist generates is also called a work of art. John Dewey
argues in his book Art as Experience (1980 [1934]) that the opposition between play and
work is useless, and children themselves are not at all conscious of this contrast.
According to Dewey (1980 [1934]: 280), the dichotomy is a product of the adult life in
which some activities are entertaining due to their contrast with work.

Dewey claims that both play and work enter the process of making art. Play appears
as an attitude of freedom from any ends imposed by external necessity, but it transfers
into work in the process of production. Dewey notes that no one has ever seen a play-
ing child without becoming aware of the presence of both playfulness and seriousness.
The philosophical interest and significance here lies in the opposition of freedom and
necessity, of spontaneity and order. Dewey points out the idea that aesthetic experience
is an escape from the pressure of reality: freedom seems to be found only when activity
is set free from the control by objective factors. But the very existence of a work of art
proves, according to Dewey, that there is no opposition between the spontaneity of the
self and objective order. Desire can be fulfilled only through objective material, and
that is why playfulness also involves an interest in an object. The opposition itself is
an illusion: Dewey points out that the spontaneity of art is not one of opposition to
anything but marks absorption, which is characteristic of aesthetic experience (Dewey,
1980 [1934]: 279–80).

Hans-Georg Gadamer has discussed play as the clue to ontological explanation in his
book Truth and Method (1985; originally Warheit und Method, 1960). After investigating
the concept of play and arguing against its subjective meaning, Gadamer separates play
from a theatre performance. The essential feature is that playing in a theatre is not repre-
sentation in the same sense as childplay. A theatrical performance is always representa-
tive of someone, while play is related to self-representation. Gadamer argues that play
loses its true nature by becoming a show (Gadamer, 1985 [1960]: 94, 97–9). Taking
Gadamer’s point of view into account, the children’s performance was no longer

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Stolp 263

childplay. It had an audience and during the process of rehearsal, the children practised
directing their performance to the viewers. The children were certainly working on it.

Even if we could define children’s performance as work based on Gadamer’s argu-
ments, the conclusion is not unambiguous, nor has it ever been so. In her book Pricing
the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children (1985), Viviana Zelizer
introduces the case of child actors in the USA. The debate dates back to the end of the
19th century. Zelizer (1985: 89, 92, 96) points out that child acting has been likened to
any other illegal child work and disapproved of because of its commercial aspect, immorality
and dangerous infatuation. On the other hand, its supporters have argued that unlike
ordinary child labourers, the children loved working in the theatre (Zelizer, 1985: 92).
Deborah Levison (2000) writes about children as workers in general terms and notes that
this policy fails to consider the benefits of work for children. Children themselves, just
like adults, value work that results in status, skills, responsibility and money. It is gener-
ally not acknowledged that children like earning their own money, and enjoy the inde-
pendence derived from work, and are also proud to be contributing to their families. One
of the reasons can be found from the definition of work: it is adult, therefore it is not-
child, and in that way children who work are violating the boundaries of the separate and
clearly defined adult/child spheres (Levison, 2000: 127–9; Ruckenstein, 2009: 91).

As Dewey has pointed out, the time for the opposition between play and work is over –
the very confrontation is somewhat futile. The theatre project was a real, serious and
work-like activity, and fun and play at the same time. Yet, what really matters is that
children themselves emphasized the work-like features of their activity. They wanted to
earn with their performance, they wanted to act as producers and they wanted to separate
their activity from childplay. Generally, work you should get paid for, or at least such
work that gives its doers the feeling that the earnings are indeed deserved. In the society
we are living in, the economy determines the value of our acts and regrettably, often
partially even the value of ourselves. What is essential is not necessarily the physical
coin, but the symbolic meaning it carries with it.

Discussion
In the discussions analysed in this article, childhood has appeared as a site of dichoto-
mies: the children could be seen as playing and working at the same time and could be
seen as victims or as victors with regard to financial issues. Nevertheless, the children
themselves pursued the position of active producers, decision-makers and earning work-
ers. Children’s own perspective is essential and worth noticing, but not always easy to
elicit (see Stolp, 2010). One important issue which marks my research as a whole is the
epistemological question about children as producers of knowledge. Alongside the main
goal of the article, I also hope to grasp and elaborate the specific nature of the knowledge
children produce.

Putting money into the centre of children’s economic activity doesn’t merely produce
knowledge about childhood and children, but also about money and economy, as Minna
Ruckenstein (2009: 102) suggests. Earning money seemed to be an important issue for
the children themselves in my research and they were enthusiastic about having conver-
sations about it – the children were also eager to play with financial and marketing

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264 Childhood 19(2)

questions. Economy and its mechanisms in turn seemed to be moderately familiar to the
children and their opinions for example on the price of the tickets were realistic. Money
also had a symbolic meaning: it signified appreciation, status and value to the children.
This did not emerge directly but indirectly, in the strength of the desire for profit.
Economy appeared as a field to practise, experiment and play with.

The discussions of the children relate to many cultural phenomena of our society, like
power, value, dignity and utility. The culture of money is also a culture of inequalities
between peer groups, generations and genders (Ruckenstein, 2009: 102). I want to disclose
that despite the child-centred basis of the theatre project, the adults – directors of the
performance – were the ones who eventually made the financial decisions. As one of the
directors, I could say that the reason for that was the lack of time, but actually I also
recognize that we adults took our authority for granted. We were trying to follow the
idealistic notion of child-centredness at first, but during the project we did not fully stick
to our principles. It seems easier to decide among adults than to take heed of the perspec-
tives of a group of children.

Eventually, adults decided not to have an entrance fee and instead to sell coffee and
pastries during the intermission. The children got the profit from the sale, but again the
adults decided to use the money for organizing a party for the children instead of distrib-
uting cash among them. Children didn’t question our financial decisions, but they were
constantly asking about money and our decisions and trying to articulate their opinions.
On the basis of the research material, it is obvious that if children are given power con-
cerning the artistic content of a project, they will also try for power concerning produc-
tive and financial decisions.

Consequently, the plans of the children concerning financial issues remained just
speculation and childplay, which did not lead to genuine implementation. This demon-
strates something about the position or in a sense even about the value of children’s
activity in our culture. Viviana Zelizer (2002: 383) raises the concern that multiple forms
of children’s production remain ‘invisible, catalogued as child play’ although as a matter
of fact many of these activities involve more than play by way of producing value.
Maybe understanding and conceptualizing some of children’s activity as work could
challenge existing conventions and help us to consider children also as active, productive
participants, as Hilary Levey (2009: 210–11) suggests.

Funding
The author received some funding for her PhD, during the course of this research project, from the
Academy of Finland, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Niilo Helander Foundation.

References
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Reframing brand experience: The experiential meaning of Harley–Davidson

Sharon Schembri ⁎
Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Queensland 4222, Australia

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:
Accepted 1 November 2008

Keywords:
Co-construction
Brand experience
Ethnography
Harley–Davidson
Postmodern

Beyond branding as a differentiation strategy, branding theory now recognizes the significance of social,
cultural, and political relationships relating to brand consumption. In focusing on the consumer’s experience
of the iconic brand of Harley–Davidson, this work reports on more than three years of ethnographic research
undertaken in Australia. The outcome is a description of the experiential meaning of Harley–Davidson for
Australian consumers. The findings confirm and extend previous research (Martin, D., Schouten, J.,
McAlexander, J., Claiming the throttle: Multiple femininities in a hyper-masculine subculture. Consum Mark
Cult 2006; 9 (3): 171–205.; Schouten, J.W., McAlexander, J.H., Subcultures of consumption: An ethnography
of the new bikers. J Consum Res 1995; 22 (1): 43–61.) investigating the Harley–Davidson subculture. These
findings are also particularly informative regarding the consumer’s brand experience. The article argues that
personal experience of Harley–Davidson embedded in a collective social act (in this case, the Australian HOG
community) is a spectacular (postmodern) symbol of freedom, where the rebel image of the bike and the
brand is consumed by (predominantly mainstream) consumers, thus highlighting the co-construction of the
consumer’s brand experience. Recognizing this co-construction of brand experience enables brand managers
and marketers an opportunity to manage and market brands from the fundamental level of what a particular
brand means to consumers.

© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Branding is an effective differentiation strategy that enables a
statement of identification for the product, the firm, and the
consumer. Understanding that brands constitute a form of identity
suggests brands hold more than the functional value of the product. In
contrast to a functionalist view, an experiential view of brand
consumption is emerging in the branding literature as a more
comprehensive way of understanding brand–consumer relationships.
More specifically, increasing numbers of people recognize effective
branding in the socio-cultural experience surrounding brand con-
sumption. Harley–Davidson is an exemplar case in this regard, as
demonstrated with Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) study of the
(American) Harley–Davidson sub-culture and later withMartin et al.’s
(2006) feminist re-inquiry. However, there is high regard for Harley–
Davidson throughout the world and yet Schouten and his colleagues
have confined their research to the USA. By investigating the Harley
phenomenon beyond American shores, this work both confirms and
extends earlier research efforts. Through an application of Holt’s
(1995) fourth dimension of consumption, consuming as play, as an
analytical frame, the findings illustrate how one can find the meaning
of Harley–Davidson in the consumer’s brand experience. This paper
argues that personal experience of Harley–Davidson embedded in a
collective social act (in this case, the Australian Harley Owners’ Group,
or HOGs) has become a spectacular (postmodern) symbol of freedom.

As this ethnographic description of the experiential meaning of
Harley–Davidson demonstrates, the consumers emulate and enjoy the
rebel image in consuming the bike and the brand. Through
consumption, therefore, users co-construct the brand experience
(Hackley, 2001), giving brand managers and marketers an opportu-
nity tomanage andmarket the brand from the depths of the identified
experiential meaning.

1. Review of branding literature

The proliferation of products gives rise to differentiation strategies,
including branding, that aim to achieve competitive advantage (Aaker,
1998). From this contextual need, various branding typologies depict a
range of brand concepts and various ways of understanding consumer
behavior. In terms of branding, McEnally and de Chernatony (1999)
explain that beyond a simple identification device, brands can develop
a distinct personality and even iconic status with a complex identity
aligned with social and political issues. However, as Holt (2002)
highlights, theoretical understanding of what branding entails
continues to evolve.

Similarly, in terms of consumer behavior, Holbrook and Hirschman
(1982) juxtapose Bettman’s (1979) rationally based information
processing model with the experiential view on consumer behavior.
In their study of the consumption of novels, movies, performing arts,
and sporting events, Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) highlight the
multisensory, fantasy, and emotive aspects of consumption experi-
ences. Holbrook et al.’s (1984) investigation of sports, games, and

Journal of Business Research

62 (2009) 1299–1310

⁎ Tel.: +61 7 5552 8713; fax: +61 7 5552 8085.
E-mail address: s.schembri@griffith.edu.au.

0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.11.004

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

other leisure activities, as well as Arnould and Price’s (1993) study of
the extraordinary experience of white-water rafting, and Celsi et al.’s
(1993) study of the high-risk adventure of sky-diving all give further
focus to the experiential aspects of consumption. Loroz (2004)
provides an exposé of casino gambling among older consumers to
show that the experience of gambling and other forms of experiential
consumption may reinforce and indeed enhance self-concept. This
view is in line with Holt’s (1995) theory of the evolution of how
consumers consume, where consuming is more holistically consid-
ered as experience, as integration, as classification, and as play. Holt
(1995) further delineates play as including the sub-themes of
communing and socializing. The experiential view of consumption
has therefore advanced and enhanced theoretical understanding of
consumption, indicating an experiential view of branding may also be
fruitful and worthy of investigation.

As symbols within popular culture, brands can effectively position
a product in terms of unique functional benefits (Aaker, 1991; Gardner
and Levy, 1955). This early functional view of branding is now
advanced as an organizational process to the point where it makes a
product meaningful (Kay, 2006; Klink, 2003). Raising consumer
awareness of the brand and communicating the brand image (Keller,
1993) enables consumers to engage with the brand, providing an
opportunity for the corporation to build brand equity. Yet, while a
functional but unique positioning may differentiate a brand in a
competitive field, the personification of brand attributes generates
brand personality (Patterson, 1999). Personalizing inanimate objects
(Aaker, 1997) and humanizing brands (Levy, 1985), infuses themwith
a distinct personality simplifying brand choice and encouraging a
preference for particular brands (Sirgy, 1982). Consumption constitu-
tes culturally what a brand means to consumers, with marketing
communications reinforcing the branding (McCracken, 1986). Con-
versely, brand personality may reflect those consumers consuming
the brand (McCracken, 1989). Either way, brand consumption serves a
symbolic function (Levy, 1959; Thompson and Haytko, 1997; Watta-
nasuwan, 2005) with the brand demonstrating who the users are
(Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998; Escalas and Bettman, 2005), or
maybe aspire to be.

As Belk (1988, p. 160) suggests, “We learn, define, and remind
ourselves of who we are by our possessions,” where possessions are
nurtured, groomed, and held in high esteem as part of the extended
self. For some brands, this view even extends to sacredness (Belk
et al., 1989) and a cult following, as Belk and Tumbat (2005)
demonstrate with the Macintosh brand. Holt (2003) also highlights
the mythical dimensions of brands such as Apple and Harley–
Davidson, focusing on the iconic symbolism of brands that go beyond
a conventional marketing approach. As Holt (2003) explains, iconic
brands evolve not by any distinctive feature, benefit, or product
innovation but because of the deep cultural connection they develop
and nurture. Elsewhere, Holt (1997) highlights the limitations of
focusing on lifestyle and values associating with consumption and
preference for particular brands. Instead, he advocates the impor-
tance of embedding socio-cultural context and consumption within
everyday life. More specifically, Rook (1985) shows the consumption
rituals embedded in everyday life in the simplest of tasks; so, for
example, personal grooming rituals become highly complex and
intense. Moving beyond the individual and looking at the collective
in terms of consumption rituals, Wallendorf and Arnould (1991)
adopt Thanksgiving Day as their text and interpret the symbolic and
semiotic meanings of this holiday. Effectively, consumption is more
than purchase decisions and brand choice. As Fournier (1998)
suggests, brand choice is not about choosing brands but rather the
meaning that brands bring to consumers’ lives. According to Fournier
(1998), the brand is an active relationship partner for consumers,
with the animation and personification of brands legitimizing this
partnership. Fournier (1998) recognizes the consumer–object
relationship as validated in the lived experience of a particular

product or brand. Demonstrating this point, Fournier challenges
brand loyalty theory suggesting rather than being loyal to brands,
consumers become involved with the brand and effectively define
what that brand means through action. Notably, this point differs
from the co-creation focus advocated by for example, Ramaswamy
(2008) and Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) where organizations
are learning to engage with informed consumers to ensure the value
of a product meets consumer needs. Differing ontologically from the
co-creation argument, the focus here is co-construction of the brand
experience. Through brand consumption, consumers define the
brand while simultaneously the brand defines the consumer. In this
way, the cultural authority of brands is shifting away from the firm
and towards the consumer. Through experiencing a particular brand,
consumers come to know what that brand means, even if that
meaning is outside of what marketers might originally intend (Firat
and Venkatesh, 1995; Holt, 2002), or recognize as a potential.

Fundamentally, as Firat and Venkatesh (1995) suggest, consumers
are actively producing modern culture through consumption. Con-
sumers are establishing a shared consciousness and (co)constructing
their world(s) and communities, through consumption, specifically
brand consumption. This shared consciousness surrounding brand
consumption is a recognized foundation of a brand community (Cova
and Pace, 2006; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001), which the shared
experience of various rituals and traditions helps to strengthen
(McAlexander et al., 2002). Social interaction then develops as a
linking value, in Cova’s (1997) terms, beyond the functional value of
the product. Taking this notion a step further, Cova and Cova (2002)
discuss postmodern consumption in terms of tribalism and suggest
postmodern consumers are not really interested in the objects of
consumption. Rather, the relevant social links and identities of a
particular object, like a Harley–Davidson motorbike, hold consumers’
interest.

The notion of tribalism derives fromMaffesoli’s (1996) investigation
of the emergence of new forms of social organization and interaction
present in everyday life. Arguing that institutions have lost the ability to
unify society and that identity based on aspects such as nationality,
occupation, gender, etc., are fast dissolving, Maffesoli (1996) identifies a
connection between dispersedmicro-groups, and develops the concept
of neo-tribalism. Understanding modernity as a predominance of
narrow rationality and rationalized “social,” Maffesoli (1996, p. 11)
suggests that anempathic “sociality”where relationsbetweenmembers
of the neo-tribe are largely non-rational, affectively charged, and rooted
in the moment is replacing the modern mass society. For Maffesoli
(1996), neo-tribes generate bonds rooted in experiential sentiments and
passions, which collective rituals, customs, and lifestyles reinforce.
Maffesoli’s (1996) theory of neo-tribalism therefore helps to explain
many prevalent features of postmodernism, especially the fragmented
and tentative nature of socio-cultural identity.

Also recognizing that people identify and connect via objects of
consumption, Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) investigation of the
AmericanHarley–Davidson subculture reports several themes including
structure, ethos, and transformationof self. The complex social structure
of the Harley–Davidson subculture that Schouten and McAlexander
(1995) describe reflects the social, political, and spiritual dimensions of a
broader biker ethos, with various factions uniquely interpreting these
dimensions within the subculture; some more closely aligned with
mainstream values than others. Regardless of a biker’s orientation,
however, in this communal fabric of relationships (Martin et al., 2006;
McAlexander et al., 2002), status and identity are predominantly gained
through experience and participation (Schouten and McAlexander,
1995). Through such cultural practices, newcomers become acutely
aware of their lowly rank in this commitment-based hierarchy.
Effectively, core members perform for both an internal audience
(newer members) and an external audience (outsiders) whereas
newer members perform as a means of transforming themselves and
their status.

1300 S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

Unlike the stereotypical biker with long hair and bushy beard, new
bikers are just as likely to be clean-shaven professionals (Schouten
and McAlexander, 1995), or even female (Joans, 2001; Martin et al.,
2006). While the traditional Harley (boys’) club continues to exclude
females other than as sexual objects (Hopper and Moore, 1990; Joans,
2001), mainstream clubs willingly encourage women to take control
of the throttle (Martin et al., 2006). Hypermasculinity is therefore part
of the socialization for women in this context, where apart from riding
as a pillion passenger, girls also ride their own bikes, or in competition
with boys (no boy wants to be beaten by a girl!), and for boys, as in
fulfilling their fantasies (Martin et al., 2006). Taking on these non-
traditional roles transcends biker and gender stereotypes, reminding
marketers and brand managers that consumers complicate and resist
dominant brand narratives.

More than a functional product, the dominant narrative of Harley–
Davidson is loaded with mystique, given the foundation of this
legendary brand in a rebellious history. In line with Woodside et al.’s
(2008) consumer storytelling theory therefore, consumption of the
brand enacts the outlaw archetype. Historically, this symbolic
representation of Harley–Davidson was confirmed on the big screen
in the 1950s and 1960s with Hollywood films, such as The Wild One
and Easy Rider; movies which remain popular today. These films and
others cemented the assumption that violent and dangerous gang
members are easily recognized by their Harley–Davidson and black
leather garb (McDonald-Walker, 2000), whether this is an accurate
portrayal or not. The Wild One, for example, loosely reflected a three-
day rally that (reportedly) turned ugly in 1947, Hollister, California.
Many of the 4000 rally participants suffered injuries (some serious)
and/or arrest, with authorities imposing martial law to regain control
(Dourghty, 1947). Attempts to ban the film failed and instead it stirred
the consciousness of a disaffected generation (Quinones, 1994), thus
defining a deviant image. Local (Australian) movies such as Stone; a
story of a motorbike gang seeking retribution for the murder of a

fellow member also reinforced the beginning of the outlaw genre and
Harley–Davidson’s leading role.

In contrast to the outlaws, the HOG movement (established by
Harley–Davidson in the United States in 1983) consists of predomi-
nantly law-abiding, mainstream members, better described as biker
enthusiasts. Globally, the HOGs uphold family values within a strong
community orientation (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), as is the
case within the Australian HOGs. Confusingly, however, while the
HOGs have a different cultural orientation from outlaws, the black
leather and denim uniform is largely consistent across the various
factions of Harley riders and owners, rendering them relatively
indistinguishable (to outsiders); much to the disdain of the outlaws.

Regardless of this symbolism of Harley–Davidson transcending
social and national boundaries, however, few attend to what this iconic
brand means for consumers outside of its native America (McDonald-
Walker, 2000; Schouten andMcAlexander,1995). Fromthe fundamental
assumption of context dependency and with the goal of describing the
Harley–Davidson experience in Australia, this work reports on more
than three years of ethnographic research. Given this research platform,
the context of inquiry and methodological details follows.

2. Context of inquiry

Owners and riders throughout the world understand the meaning
of Harley–Davidson through their experience of the brand, with many
observing and admiring from a distance. To understand the brand
therefore, the research focus is the people who experience Harley–
Davidson (see Fig. 1). As a social organization, the Harley–Davidson
Owners Group (HOG) are structured world-wide as district chapters,
with a formally elected committee running each one in conjunction
with the local Harley dealership. Membership comes through own-
ership of a Harley–Davidson and buyers of new bikes receive a
complementary one-year membership (valued at A$80, US$61). With

Fig. 1. HOGs down under.

1301S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

more than one million global members, Australia has around 7000
HOG members. And while the HOG context is only one aspect of the
Harley world, HOG is a window on this mainstream movement.
Sociologists study the deviant culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs
(Hopper and Moore, 1990; Wolf, 1991), whereas consumer research-
ers (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995; Martin et al., 2006) focus on
the (American) Harley–Davidson subculture of consumption. Yet, the
question of what this brand constitutes outside the USA, in Australia
for example, receives scant attention. This work therefore seeks to
address this gap for the purposes of further understanding a legendary
brand and effective brand management.

3. Method

While a positivist approach aims to measure objective reality, an
interpretive approach aims to interpret the socially constructed reality. As
Sidney Levy describes, “We [consumer researchers] are people thinking
about people giving a lot of emphasis to how they [consumers] perceive
themselves and their relations to the outsideworld and theproducts they
consume” (Levy, 2003, p. 345). From this perspective, Levy is a strong
advocate for interpretive research, which is the paradigm adopted here,
as have other researchers (e.g., Borghini et al., 2006; Lowrie, 2007) in
their interpretations of the complexities of human action.

Recognizing the experiential nature of the Harley–Davidson
phenomenon, this work begins with the consumer’s experience of
Harley–Davidson as the point of departure. The researcher generated
ethnographic knowledge from more than three years of fieldwork
within the Australian HOGs. Throughout these years and like Schouten
and McAlexander (1995), fieldwork included participant observation
together with informal and unstructured field interviews, all recorded
on a hand-held camcorder. Seeking to gain an initial overview of the
subculture, interviews began with marginal members and then
systematically moved to the key players to gather more detailed
information, thus ensuring the validity of the findings. Further cultural
understanding also came from various printed sources, such as the
monthly chapter magazine, which in this case was an impressive 30-
page glossy print production, professionally edited by one of the
members. However, unlike Schouten and McAlexander (1995)
operating as a pair of male researchers, as a sole female researcher,
acceptance from outsider to insider within this subculture necessarily
took a different path.

To assist acculturation as a new and marginal member, the HOG
Chapter Director assigned a core member to act as guide and
chaperone (see Fig. 2). As a strategy for an unattached female asking
many questions, this form of socializationworkedwell. The chaperone
was a complete gentleman and an active collaborator throughout the
project. However, not all members are extra large and hairy males, as
many girls choose this world too and take control of the throttle
(Joans, 2001; Martin et al., 2006), as did this author. To further
facilitate the study, the author invested in a 1200 cc Sportster, and
later upgraded to a 1450 cc Dyna. Shifting roles from riding bitch to
owner and rider, the author became more intimately aware of what
Harley–Davidson means. Cultural immersion also occurred through
participation in the monthly rides, annual rallies, social nights, and
various other activities/events. Active participation as a full member
developed credibility and showed the members’ wives and girlfriends
that there was no threat to their men. Slowly but surely, the members
and particularly the core members, began to relate to the author as a
fellowmember and rider. At that point, the mystique and seduction of
the Harley world began to disclose its secrets.

In essence, active participation and total immersion in the
Australian HOG culture generated and developed the author’s under-
standing of what Harley–Davidson means to Australian owners and
riders. The members engaged with the author to ensure the
documentation was accurate, often going out of their way to facilitate
the research process. As Belk and Kozinets (2005) advocate, the
members and author collaboratively negotiated the reality of Harley–
Davidson as this phenomenon occurs within the Australian HOGs.
Importantly, this collaboration served to reduce the distance between
researcher, informant, and the phenomenon of interest, thus reflex-
ively enhancing validity (Pink, 2001) and revealing the socially
constructed world of an unfamiliar culture (Sayre, 2001). With this
underlying philosophy, the research aim was to come as close as
possible to the experiential meaning of Harley–Davidson from within
the context of the Australian HOGs.

4. HOGs down under

During this ethnographic study, the researcher spent many hours
riding pillion and many more hours unveiled the exhilaration of
riding. Most rides meant riding in large groups and being acutely
aware of other riders and drivers, which demonstrated the notion of

Fig. 2. The researcher’s chaperone, Laurie (on left) and mates.

1302 S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

brotherhood in action. As Big Pete explained, brotherhood is about
looking out for each other on and off the road which translates to a
powerful connection and social code where members abide by “an
unspoken creed.” Although traditionally this creed might be primarily
evident between male riders, the author experienced this connection
regardless of gender and being pillion or rider. While the male
domination in this subculture continues, many Aussie girls find the
courage to ride a Harley and gain independent HOG membership (see
Figs. 3 and 4). Talking in a group of female riders, Helena, a flamboyant
personality who physically relabelled her Road King to a Road Queen,
highlighted that for girls, Harley ownership and rider skill is about
confidence. She stated, “gaining the confidence to ride is a serious
achievement for lots of girls. Once you’ve got the confidence you need
to throw a leg over, you can do anything.”More than that, the notion of
brotherhood translates just as well to sisterhood and indeed to all in
the community despite their gender identity. Getting to know many

HOG characters, showed this as a space that looks after its own, where
members are free to be as wayward as they choose. The organization
welcomes all to membership with unconditional acceptance on the
assumption that members willingly accept the priority values of
respecting the bike, time on the road, as well as respect for others,
including authorities. This is the freedom to ride with the Australian
HOGs. Yet, this experience of freedom occurs through regulation and
organization, with safety as a priority.

Owning a Harley–Davidson is ultimately about riding the bike with
the freedom to go where and when you choose. Whether riding with
50–100 HOGs in a monthly chapter ride or with 1000+ bikes in an
annual Thunder Run, the rider’s riding position on the road reflects the
chapter hierarchy. The elected Director and Road Captain take the
lead, along with other committee members and established members
holding informal status. New members ride further back with the
Safety Officer and nominated Tail-end Charlie (last bike in the pack)

Fig. 3. Doris (her HOG nickname), Ladies of Harley officer.

Fig. 4. Joyce, riding her first Harley.

1303S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

coming up the rear. Before each ride, the Director addresses the group,
the Ride Captain announces the route, and the Safety Officer reinforces
the need to ride safely in staggered formation. Staggered formation
entails a two-file formation where each rider follows the next, one
bike length apart and positioned in alternate files; never riders side by
side, as this increases the risk that more than one rider will be taken
out, should any one rider go down. The safety aspects associated with
this riding formation are also evident in otherways. If a rider drops out
for any reason, the rider behind pulls over to assist, as does the Tail-
end Charlie, and the riders behind move up to fill the gaps rather than
any rider changing files. Ride rules are explicitly stated in the chapter
magazine published monthly as well as regularly reinforced by the
Safety Officer for example. In the role of (Gold Coast Chapter) Safety
Officer, John Boy (who went on to be elected Gold Coast Chapter
Director), organized several rider-training days in conjunction with
the local transport authority. With regard to the risk of riding a Harley
he stated, “well there’s no two ways about it, this is a dangerous
occupation! So we have to do what we can to protect the members.”
This comment indicates that improved rider skill is not just for the
benefit of individual riders, but the group as a whole.

In line with this same philosophy and as a form of self-regulation,
any breach of ride rules or inconvenience to others receives a gentle
but public reprimand byway of ridicule and humiliation. This happens
in an Australian fun-loving tongue-in-cheek manner that works best
when one of the (trusted) chapter larrikins carries it out. As the self-
appointed police in the Gold Coast Chapter, Lethal and his wife are the
nominated Welfare Officers (see Fig. 5), who care enough to pull
members into line for the safety sake of other members. This is just
one way you know your fellow HOGs are watching your back, again
reinforcing the notion of brotherhood (sic). Effectively, the Harley–
Davidson brand presents as an organizing symbol and maybe
ironically, as a community stronghold, and a safe place to be.

A pack of bikes out on a HOG ride is an impressive sight and sound
and generates a serious road presence. People stop in their tracks as
the powerfully loud bikes and leather clad collective approach. This
spectacle is not a common sight and maybe even frightening to
some, given the legacy of the legend. Notably part of the co-
ordinated black leather and denim uniform is a (matte black) open-
face helmet. Helmets are compulsory throughout all states in
Australia, but members consider open-face helmets less restrictive

than full-face helmets and more typical in the HOG context.
Replacing the standard Harley pipes with (louder) Screaming Eagle
pipes (exhaust system) is also common practice within the
Australian HOGs. Riders justify these non-compliant pipes as safer,
given the higher decibels. There is evidence to this effect in the
popular patch (leather vest adornment) that reads “Loud pipes saves
lives.” Harley riders argue that it is easy to take out rice burners (i.e.
Sports bikes, Japanese bikes e.g. Yamaha or Honda), because they are
too quiet and drivers cannot hear them approaching. Whereas, the
loud and distinct Harley rumble assists other road users to be aware
of a Harley in their presence.

While an approaching HOG chapter may be intimidating to
outsiders, the HOGs are seriously harmless, as is the spectacle.
Those who stop, stare, and cheer are those who gain inspiration from
the free-spirited bikers. As a mainstream movement, the HOG
spectacle says to those on the sidelines, “you too can be in this
scene.” The distinct rumble of many Harley–Davidson engines
powering down the road, is a statement that attracts much attention.
Combine this with vibration of the engine and riding a Harley is an
experience that somehow seduces you to a place of peacefulness. The
echo of the engines through the quiet of the Australian rainforest,
together with the vibration and power of the machine and the intense
focus riders need to take the corners and stay with the pack, is the
embodiment of heart and soul of a community in action. Riding a 1942
Knucklehead, Big Al emphasized, “The history of the Harley is built
into the bike.” Acquisition of a Harley therefore includes more than
100 years of glory and legend and as such can fulfil a dream for many.
Consequently, investment in a Harley is more than financial and the
role of the bike is more than functional.

Above and beyond the assumed rebel image, every bike is a
signature of its owner. Through after-market additions, customiza-
tions, and elaborate paintwork for example, the bike comes to
personify the individual symbolically. Some members describe their
HOG (bike) as “artwork on wheels!” gearing customization efforts
towards achieving a bike that is distinct amongst the pack, where the
result is an authentic statement of self. Beyond the customization
effort, members give meticulous care and attention tomaintaining the
bike and polishing the chrome (often using Mr. Sheen, a brand of
furniture polish, as a quick fix). Prior to any public display for example,
riders ritualistically wash and polish the bikes, reflecting self-pride in

Fig. 5. Lethal officiating at the 2006 rally at Arlie Beach, Queensland, Australia.

1304 S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

the highly polished chrome. However, this machine remains an iconic
American brand, symbolizing the American way regardless of how
much Australian Harley owners and riders’ polish and shine their
pride and joy.

Many participants readily admitted their regret of Harley’s
American roots, but members also highlighted “Australia doesn’t
makemotorbikes.”Other informants suggested the American origin of

their treasured Harley–Davidson did not bother them, with some even
flying the American stars and stripes or a Confederate flagmounted on
the back of their bike. Many more Australians proudly fly the
Australian flag (see Fig. 6), while others counteract and balance this
aspect by flying both US and Australian flags, or their own creolized
version of flag bearing patriotism and loyalty. For some Australian
Harley owners and riders however, the American brand of their bike is

Fig. 6. Proudly flying the Aussie flag.

Fig. 7. Time off the road.

1305S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

a serious concern. A distinct example of action taken to counter this
concern is Oscar’s forearm tattoo. Oscar (the other half of Felix; an
odd, but not gay couple) deliberately replaced the American flag in his
Harley–Davidson tattoo with an Australian flag explaining he simply
did not want the American flag on his arm. However, despite any
resistance expressions to Americana or Americanism, bikers in
Australia overwhelmingly embrace Harley–Davidson, regardless of
its American origin and symbolism. More specifically, the Australian
distinction and patriotic orientation of this subculture, occurs in quite
subtle ways. Beyond the flag flying noted above, the rally organization
reflects the Australian flavor of this subculture. The Aussie HOGs who
have attended the large American rallies describe the Australian
version as a “bush bash in a paddock”.

Travelling to an annual rally in Australia, for example, could mean
travelling more than 600 km (approximately 370+ miles) per day for
five days straight, where the good times are asmuch about time on the
road as the destination. After the adventure of the journey and on
arrival at the rally, members park their bikes, set up camp, and party
together (see Fig. 7). Then there is the journey home again with some
even deliberately choosing the longer, more scenic route. In 2005, the
national rally destinationwas held in central Australia at Uluru (Ayres
Rock) in the Northern Territory (see Fig. 8). Getting to this rally
entailed a round trip of around 7000 km (or 4350 miles) for those
members travelling from the populated East Coast. Three days into the
rally, the entire rally population (about 1100 bikes and 1800
members) took a short ride up the road (500 km or 310 miles) to
Alice Springs for another three days of rally. Importantly, fuel stations
are few and far between in the Australian outback with just one fuel
stop along the way in this instance. During this spectacular ride, the
Illawarra Chapter avoided the long queues (up to a three hour wait!)
with a trailer full of jerry cans [fuel containers] purchased and filled
before setting out for the trek to Uluru (some 4000 km earlier).

Every year and from every direction, HOGs converge on the rally
destination, with many riders travelling with their families in tow. A
chapter in transit might include several back-up vehicles loaded with
wives and kids, for example. Or just as likely, the woman rides with
her partner following in the truck behind. As Jenny from the (now
disbanded) Shepparton Chapter, explained with reference to her
husband driving the back-up vehicle, “I ride with the boys and he
drinks with them — you’ve got to have someone to bring the esky
[cooler box] and carry the handbag.” Other riders will ride with their
kids as pillions ormaybe in a sidecar. The HOGs promote a kid-friendly
environment, with many families adopting the annual rallies as the
annual family holiday. The Richards family proudly proclaim, “…the
family that rides together stays together!” Being an active member of
the Australian HOG community involves a hectic social life and a
strong element of camaraderie. While some members choose to

participate as a family unit, there is a mechanism of escape for those
who prefer not to include their families.

Whether the chapter rides down the coast, up through the
hinterland, or over the plainlands, every kilometer distances the
rider from daily demands and constraints. Commitment to the culture
might begin with owning, riding, and socializing within the HOG
subculture, but this consumption choice becomes a way of life
documented on the members’ leather. From each event or activity,
riders collect buttons, pins, and patches, which they typically wear on
their leather vest. This HOG lifestyle involves regularly attending
social nights and other fun-filled functions and activities as well as
getting to know awide range of people from everydaymums and dads
who are taxi drivers and truck drivers to software designers and
nurses, many who are affluent empty nesters but all who emphasize
this as an ageless and classless culture. Regardless of age, wealth, and
professional status, big burly boys happily greet each otherwith a bear
hug and a biker handshake, while the girls get a friendly kiss and
cuddle.

The strength of this family and community orientation is also
reflected in their philanthropic efforts. Throughout the world, HOG
chapters raise money for various charities. In Australia, charities
supported include the Royal Flying Doctors, local Womens’ Shelters,
and the Make-a-Wish Foundation, as well as a range of others such as
the Leukaemia Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
In a typical charity ride, HOG members donate their time and fuel and
pillions pay for the seat. The Gold Coaster Chapter’s 2005 Leukaemia
ride raised A$24,000 (approx. US$18,458) in just a few hours, thus
demonstrating the depth of community experienced within the
Australian HOGs.

5. Discussion

The ethnographic knowledge here supports the view that Harley
owners and riders include mainstream mums and dads, clean-shaven
professionals (even lawyers and police officers!), some women, and
many colorful characters. For people to ride and socialize with other
Harley owners and HOGmembers generates a connectionwith others
of a similar mindset, congregating and engaging in a way of life that
revolves around consumption of Harley–Davidson. In this most basic
way, therefore, the Harley–Davidson brand experience comes from
within a social context. This finding from this Australian study
complements and extends the previous work focusing on the
(American) Harley–Davidson subculture (Martin et al., 2006; Schou-
ten and McAlexander, 1995). More specifically, this work provides
evidence of Holt’s (1995) fourth dimension of consumption, con-
sumption as play and the sub-themes of communing and socializing
(see Fig. 9).

Fig. 8. Uluru, Ayres Rock, Northern Territory.

1306 S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

As Holt (1995) theorizes, consuming as play involves more than
direct consumption of objects. From Holt’s (1995) perspective,
consuming as play means consumption objects become resources
through which consumers interact. For active Australian HOG
members, the social aspect is prominent and makes for a hectic
lifestyle. The many activities, events, and rallies to attend can require
extensive time and resources, hence the prevalence of cashed-up
empty nesters in this crowd. Associated ritualistic processes incorpo-
rate Harley machinery and paraphernalia, such as black leather and
denim. Interacting with the people, the brand, and associated objects
of consumption, Harley owners come to know the bike, the brand, and
the subculture more intimately. Fellow riders develop relationships
with others who have similar values and perspectives, indicating the
co-construction of the Harley–Davidson brand experience.

In line with Holt (1995), Cova (1997) argues that postmodern
consumption involves a communal dimension of consumption, or
linking value, evidenced here as a network with strong emotional
links. In this work, several informal interviews provided specific
evidence in this regard. One informant in particular, who learnt to ride
on a Harley in 1968 explained, “Harley–Davidson is an emotion and
intellectualizing that takes away fromwhat that is.” More specifically,
the experience of Harley–Davidson in the HOG context is a shared
emotion, where repetitive symbolic rituals bring into being a shared
way of life, and common values bind the members together. With the
simple aim to ride and have fun, a strong community orientation has
emerged within the Australian HOGs where experience and participa-
tion establish credibility. Within the context of these relationships,
riders learn the bike’s capabilities and limitations. The bike in motion
becomes part of the biker; the bike demands attention, the rider
blends with the power of the machine and the bike responds (Wolf,
1991). The most intense form of this experience is transcendental
(Pirsig, 1974). Riders experience a sensation of elation and enchant-
ment that takes them somewhere other than the road.

In addition to communing, consumption as play often becomes a
performance where consumers are entertaining each other (Holt,
1995). In this way, consumption is a socializing tool and the brand is a
symbol of that socialization. Sharing the emotional experience of
consuming Harley–Davidson embeds an individual in a communal
fabric of relationships (Martin et al., 2006; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001).
Riding with the HOGs and interacting with others who understand
this, further incorporates members into the HOG subculture. The bike,
specifically the brand of bike, as well as the people you ride with,
become part of who you are. This community is a collective of those
who understand this world connected by the Harley brand and the
experience of that brand in the HOG context. In this way, the
(Australian) HOG context constitutes a postmodern tribe (Cova, 1997;
Maffesoli, 1996), where the symbolic and ritualistic roles of indivi-
duals contribute to their constructed identity and extended self

(Ahuvia, 2005; Belk, 1988). In turn, this finding demonstrates the
collective values and beliefs of the Australian HOGs.

Harley–Davidson and the HOGs are independent brands. The HOGs
are an owners’ group, just like any other vehicle owners’ group. As a
social organization and well-established global subculture, the HOGs
are effectively a (modern) augmentation of the core product, the bike,
which has evolved into a (postmodern) neo-tribe. The tribal context is
evident in the strict conformity demanded of the members, where the
connection is primarily emotional and social. Unlike a modern mass
market, the HOGs are an ageless and classless social organization
driven by collective rituals, customs, lifestyles, and a common priority
of their Harley–Davidson bike. Maffesoli (1996) describes similar neo-
tribes in terms of postmodern sociality, where emergent forms of
social organization are often radically different to modern collective
behavior. More than that, the internal diversity of the micro (public)
groupings that constitute a neo-tribe further differentiates postmo-
dern tribes, such as the HOGs, from modern groups and clubs.

Unlike other owners’ groups, however, the Harley–Davidson
product is a legendary brand replete with meaning extensions and
rebellious image. The seductive leather and denim uniform, together
with the powerfully loud bikes, generates a road presence that is easily
confused with something other than a mainstream movement.
Regardless of such assumptions, 50 plus HOGs travelling down the
main street of a quiet Australian town on a Sunday afternoon creates a
spectacle that demands attention. This public display of a predomi-
nantly leather clad (mainstream) collective riding a brand of bikewith
a rebellious reputation is recognizably a postmodern spectacle. The
legend generates the mystique, the contemporary outlaws reinforce
the deviant image, but everyday consumers experiencing Harley–
Davidson en masse produce the spectacle. In effect, personal
experience embedded in a collective social act produces and
reproduces a modern symbol of freedom and a postmodern
spectacular activity (Firat and Venkatesh, 1995). The production of
the spectacle via the consumption of Harley–Davidson socially
constructs what each participant regards as the reality of that
moment. In effect, the focus becomes the self as symbolically
constructed through the Harley–Davidson experience and co-con-
structed within a community in action as a postmodern spectacle.

The consumer–object (in this case, rider and Harley) is symbolic of
the meaning(s) that constitute that moment. While spectators might
make certain assumptions as to what the bike, the collective, and the
spectacle symbolize, this may differ from the reality of the Harley–
Davidson experience riders and owners know. As Firat and Venkatesh
(1995: 251) explain, this reality is the ontology of contemporary
society, which implies “[I]t is not to brands that consumers will be
loyal but to images and symbols, especially to images and symbols
that they produce while they consume.” Effectively, consumers in the
collective act of consuming Harley–Davidson in the (Australian) HOG

Fig. 9. Consumption as play.

1307S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

context, become producers in the co-construction of the brand
experience.

6. Theoretical contribution

Efforts to document the Harley–Davidson subculture come from
both sociologists and consumer researchers. From sociology, knowl-
edge of Daniel Wolf’s (1991) ethnography of (Canadian) Rebels (i.e..
outlaws) is widespread, while Barbara Joans’ (2001) ethnography of
women bikers within the Harley culture of California is a more recent
female account. From consumer researchers, Schouten and McAlex-
ander (1995) focus on the (American) Harley–Davidson phenomenon
as a sub-culture of consumption, recently revisited with Martin et al.’s
(2006) feminist lens. Given the wide recognition of Harley–Davidson
as an iconic symbol of the American way, research to date
predominantly focuses on the American context. However, Harley–
Davidson is a global phenomenon requiring attention beyond
American shores (McDonald-Walker, 2000; Schouten and McAlex-
ander, 1995). Taking a step in that direction, this Australian study
extends previous (American) findings.

This work confirms several themes Schouten and McAlexander
(1995) identify including structure, ethos, and transformation of self,
as well as Martin et al.’s (2006) increasing emergence of female
participation. However, Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995)
research focus is on subcultures of consumptionwith the (American)
Harley–Davidson subculture of consumption as a context of
application and this focus continues with Martin et al.’s (2006)
feminist re-inquiry. Contrastingly, this ethnography has deliberately
set out to document and describe the experiential meaning of the
Harley–Davidson brand from within the Australian HOG context. In
so doing so, the article has applied as an analytical frame Holt’s
(1995) fourth dimension of consumption, consuming as play. As this
work illustrates, Harley–Davidson is more than a bike. A bike is a
functional vehicle, a consumption object, yet Harley–Davidson
comes over here as a resource through which consumers socialize
and interact. The idea and reality of the community in action,
demonstrates the strength of the communal dimension within the
Australian HOGs. The monthly chapter rides, the more frequent
social occasions, and the annual rally ritual, enables members to
emotionally connect and develop relationships with people of a
similar mindset. In this way, consumption of Harley–Davidson is a
socializing tool and the brand is symbolic of that socialization.
Effectively, brand consumption embeds consumers into a fabric of
relationships, thus co-constructing the brand experience. This study
here reinforces the theory of consumption as play.

The notion of spectacle extends previous research. Specifically, the
research describes public display of a predominantly leather clad
collective riding a brand of bike with such a legendary reputation as a
postmodern spectacle. The legend generates the mystique but the
experience of riding and consuming Harley–Davidson produces the
spectacle. Personal experience becomes an essential part of a
collective social act, producing and reproducing a modern symbol of
freedom and a postmodern spectacular activity (Firat and Venkatesh,
1995). This spectacle, produced via the consumption of Harley–
Davidson, socially constructs what each participant regards as the
reality of that moment. In this way consumption provides the means
of co-constructing the Harley–Davidson brand experience. Yet, what
and how consumers’ understand Harley–Davidson begins well before
purchase. Advertising efforts deliberately position Harley–Davidson as
away to escape the everyday. Evidence to this effect comes in themost
recent tag line of “So screw it, let’s ride.” The influence of advertising
on brand experience, however, has not informed the current study and
is therefore flagged as a limitation of this work. To uncover the
influence of advertising on brand experience, further research could
investigate how consumers experience a particular brand before
making a purchase. This information would deliver an experiential

view of market positioning and specific directions in terms of effective
brand strategy. Yet, in making this recommendation for future
research because few researchers understand ethnographic metho-
dology well or hold the relevant skills, circles in both academe and
industry routinely challenge ethnographic findings. Hence, the
following discussion specifically addresses some limitations of
ethnography and this work in particular.

7. Limitations

All and any research is subject to the question of validity and
effectiveness and ethnography is no different. Typically involving
participant observation and fieldwork, some observers view ethno-
graphic methods as overly informal and therefore invalid. Scepticism
may occur that ethnography provides nothing more than a casual
conversation. Yet, while ethnographic methods may seem straight
forward, this is not the case. This ethnography for example, includes
effort to acculturate and move from being a marginal member who
socialized with other marginal members to a full member who moved
amongst the core members. Within the (Australian) HOG context, this
process of acculturation entailed deriving credibility through active
participation in the rides, rallies, and various other activities. Necessarily
this occurred over a number of years. The author established,
maintained, and nurtured relationships throughout this time and
continues to protect them today. She documents interaction naturally
occurring during this process and time with the description presented
here as the findings of thiswork. Skilled ethnographers bring to thefield
the ability to read the context and look for patterns while simulta-
neously being hypersensitive to instances of cultural significance. Such
vigilance is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.
Ethnographic research requires a steep learning curve as well as some
managing serious politics occurring while in the field.

Effective application of ethnographic methods therefore is intense
and time consuming. Yet, a shorter time period or less intense, less
expensive methodology (e.g. a questionnaire or focus group) could
not have achieved the depth of the findings reported here. Through
total immersion, this work has documented and described the
experiential meaning of a high profile brand and this investigative
approach is applicable regardless of the brand or the profile of that
brand. Research in general is a time consuming and expensive
exercise, so why go down the path of a suboptimal outcome? Given
that the customer is central to the modern conception of marketing,
any astute organization discouraging research that specifically aims to
get close to the consumer and understand the brand/product from the
consumer’s perspective is taking an unreasonable stance. However,
the fear of not being able to generalize ethnographic findings may
override such strategic thinking.

A basic assumption of ethnographic work, including the work
presented here is that of context dependency. Accordingly, therefore,
generalizability of the findings is not the goal. Rather, achieving an
accurate understanding of the world of Harley–Davidson through the
eyes of those who consume Harley–Davidson was the goal. Notably,
while theHOGsarenot theonlyconsumers ofHarley–Davidson, limiting
this work to the HOG context did enable a window on the mainstream
consumption of what otherwise is understood as an outlaw brand. The
active collaboration of the HOG members throughout the research
process, in part, generated the validity of this work. The synthesis and
concurrence of a variety of perspectives from within the HOG context
adds to the validity of the findings. In the Harley world, the
documentation and description of the experiential meaning of Harley–
Davidson makes sense. Where else should this experiential meaning
make sense?Where else do thefindings need to achieve generalization?
If the answer is other brands, then this is a flag for further research. This
ethnographic approach is applicable to other consumption contexts as a
means to identify and describe the experiential meaning of any brand/
product/organization.

1308 S. Schembri / Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 1299–1310

8. Managerial implications

The legendary status of the Harley–Davidson brand suggests brand
managers and marketers can learn much from this brand’s success.
However, the legendary success of this brand is a global phenomenon,
hence the need to investigate the experiential meaning of Harley–
Davidson outside of the American context. Venturing beyond American
shores for this study has highlighted aspects of the Americanism of
Harley–Davidson that hold in the Australian context and other aspects
that do not. This is highly informative for those organizations seeking to
achieve or enhance their global presence.

As symbolic of the essence of freedom, Harley–Davidson includes
unique design features such as the distinct Harley–Davidson (engine)
rumble. Beyond the functional aspects of the bike and the brand,
Harley–Davidson has more than 100 years of history in each bike and
a rebellious image that can challenge marketers. As Holt (2004)
highlights, the material markers of a brand take on meaning over
time and in effect users consume the history of the product along
with the product itself. As this Australian ethnography of the iconic
American brand of Harley–Davidson shows, consumers engage with
the image as much as they do with the bike, the brand, and brand
community members. Effectively, consumers consuming co-con-
struct the brand experience. From the brink of bankruptcy in the
early 1980s, Harley–Davidson gave the few devoted followers still
bravely riding a Harley what the consumers wanted with the
formation of the HOGs — a means of simply riding and having fun.
From there, the organization has strategically facilitated a global
mainstream movement that acts at a locally relevant level. They have
also not disregarded the rebellious history but rather sought to
reinforce the freedom of riding, effectively drawing in an active base
of mainstream members who not only buy bikes but also thousands
of dollars worth of accessories (with high retail margins!). Harley–
Davidson celebrates members’ experience by way of the annual
rallies, for example. More than building a brand, therefore, Harley–
Davidson has enabled the meaning of the Harley–Davidson brand to
evolve and undergo construction by the community in action. Taking
these lessons on board and understanding the co-construction of the
brand experience in this way gives marketers and brand managers a
strategic avenue by which to authentically strengthen the credibility
of a brand. This avenue starts with the consumer’s experience of the
brand and develops in the (contextually dependent) co-construction
of the brand experience. Managing and marketing the brand from
this fundamental level of experiential meaning in essence, begins
with the consumer and continues to evolve and transform through
the consumers’ brand experience. In terms of practical brand
management, therefore, the implication is to facilitate brand
experience through brand communities, but more importantly, the
message to managers and marketers is to enable the negotiated
space of the consumer’s brand experience.

Taking this point further, brand managers and marketers have
the responsibility to allow consumers to complicate and resist
dominant brand narratives. As this work shows, mainstream
consumers have appropriated the outlaw mystique of Harley–
Davidson to better match mainstream values. In reframing the
brand experience, the rebellious history of Harley–Davidson is
reconciled with the reality of the HOGs. While elements of the past
play a role in what a brand means to consumers, history is just one
aspect of the consumer’s brand experience. There is a process of
interplay between the past and the present in contextualizing brand
meaning, just as there is between managerial intent and consumer
action. In choosing to consume a particular product or specific
brand, consumers have the right to construct what a brand means.
At this fundamental level, therefore, the co-construction of brand
experience directs brand management and marketing strategy and
confirms that the consumer is necessarily the central focus of
marketing.

9. Conclusion

The role of brands in everyday consumption is pervasive, and
contemporary marketing wisdom suggests branding is an effective
differentiation strategy. While this view may have some validity,
the way scholars understand the role of brands is evolving away
from a functional focus and towards recognition of the relation-
ships that consumers have with consumption objects and specific
brands. The experiential meaning of brand consumption is emer-
ging as an important and effective means towards better brand
management and marketing. In recognizing the experiential mean-
ing of brands, the co-construction of the brand experience and the
direction that offers for effective brand management begins to
emerge.

Acknowledgment

I acknowledge Colin Mackerras (Department of International
Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University, 4222, Queensland,
Australia for his insightful comments in reading this manuscript.
Email: c.mackerras@griffith.edu.au).

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Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings: A Critical Ethnographic Exploration of the
Consumer Acculturation

of Mexican Immigrants

Author(s): Lisa Peñaloza
Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jun., 1994), pp. 32-54
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings:

A Critical Ethnographic Exploration

of the Consumer Acculturation

of Mexican Immigrants

LISA PENALOZA*

This article critically examines the consumption experiences of Mexican immigrants
in the United States. An empirical model of Mexican immigrant consumer acculturation
is derived that consists of movement, translation, and adaptation processes leading
to outcomes of assimilation, maintenance, resistance, and segregation. By drawing
attention to the ways in which international movements of people, companies, and
products intersect within existing subcultural relations, this research provides a
more satisfactory account of the complex dynamic processes through which Mexican
immigrants adapt to the consumer environment in the United States.

The most potent political force shaping the
civilization of the future may well be one
that has no place in any ideology: the sheer
movement of people from one place to an-
other. It is changing the face of the world,
rendering old boundaries and policies ob-
solete, and laying the foundation for a “new
world order” quite unlike anything foreseen
by any political leader or theorist-a
boundary-less world in which people live
where they choose. [WALTER TRUETT AN-
DERSON 1992]

I n the United States of America, a nation born of
colonial expansion and mass migration, immigrants

have played a key role in the formulation of the national
culture and character. The assimilation, or melting pot
model, in which people of many different nationalities,
colors, and creeds would unite and form one nation,
has been the hallmark of this country. In the social sci-
ences, the degree to which immigrants have integrated
into U.S. society has been of central concern for over

60 years (Park 1928), and the assimilation framework
has been predominant in studies of consumer subcul-
tures (see, e.g., O’Guinn and Faber 1986; Wallendorf
and Reilly 1983).

Yet both similarities and differences are fundamental
to the study of immigrant consumer behavior. The
construct nation functions as a receptacle that “fills the
void left in the uprooting of communities and kin” and
“transfers the meaning of home and belonging across
those distances and cultural differences that span the
imagined community of the nation-people” (Bhabha
1990, p. 291). Yet there is a troublesome unity within
the discourse’ of the nation as the result of in-group
and out-group distinctions that are “as much acts of
affiliation and establishment as they are of disavowal,
displacement, exclusion and cultural contestation”
(Bhabha 1990, p. 5). Mexican immigrant consumer ac-
culturation involves both this process of transference
and in-group-out-group relations.

In many ways, Mexican immigrants in the United
States are the nation’s “other.” Foreigners, people from
another country and another culture who speak another
language, Mexican immigrants are outside the “imag-
ined community of the nation people” (Chavez 1991).
Yet Mexican immigrants share a number of funda-

*Lisa Pefialoza is assistant professor, Department of Advertising,
College-of Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-
paign, 119 Gregory Hall, 8 10 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61820. Support
from the Consortium on Mexico and the United States at the Uni-
versity of California, from California State University, San Bernar-
dino, and from the University of Colorado is gratefully acknowledged.
The author thanks R. Belk, R. Faber, M. Gilly, T. O’Guinn, B. Robles,
A. Rubel, A. Venkatesh, M. Wallendorf, and the reviewers for their
constructive comments. She also thanks her family and the partici-
pants in this research and wishes them well in their search for the
good life.

‘The term “discourse” refers to narratives about the world (Aron-
owitz 1988) and draws attention to the way a topic or issue is talked
about, its disciplinary location(s), and the way it is defined in terms
of the framing of research questions. Foucault (1977) spoke of dis-
cursive practices as regimes of truth that both constituted and reg-
ulated aspects of the social world.

? 1994 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc. * Vol. 21 0 June 1994
All rights reserved. 0093-5301/95/2101-0002$2.00

32

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 33

mental qualities with the U.S. mainstream population,2
many of whom are the grandsons, granddaughters, sons,
and daughters of immigrants. Mexican immigrants are
similar to previous immigrants who have come to the
United States in search of economic opportunity and
to join other family members. They share aspirations
for the future and they work hard toward attaining
a better way of life, qualities referred to as the
“American way.”

Despite these similarities, there are a number of dif-
ferences that set Mexican migration apart from other
migratory movements: the geographical proximity of
Mexico, the historical and continued presence of people
of Mexican origin in the southwestern United States,
constant reinforcing migration, frequent trips between
Mexico and the United States, and Spanish-language
usage (Gomez-Quin-ones 1984; McCarthy and Valdez
1985). The influence of these factors on the consumer
acculturation processes of Mexican immigrants in the
United States is discussed in this article.

I began this research with the question, How do Mex-
ican immigrants learn to buy products in the United
States? Drawing theoretical guidance from the literature
on consumer socialization, acculturation, and cross-
cultural consumer behavior, I developed an a priori
model of immigrant consumer acculturation to guide
this research. In the a priori model Mexican immigrants
of various demographic and psychographic character-
istics come to the United States, where they are influ-
enced by dual sets of agents aligned with their culture
of origin and of immigration. Through processes of
consumer learning, they exhibit consumption patterns
associated with the existing culture, their previous cul-
ture, or a third, hybrid combination of the two cultures.

A critical ethnographic design was employed in this
research. The design consisted of three components: I
examined in detail several field sites, conducted inter-
views with 23 Mexican immigrants from 14 households,
and documented my observations and experiences in
the research process. During the course of the study the
a priori model was modified to render it more consistent
with the ethnographic data. As I spoke with informants,
I learned of key similarities and differences between
their previous consumption patterns in Mexico and
their current consumption patterns in the United States.
They spoke of difficulties with the language, the cur-
rency, and social relations. As I accompanied infor-
mants and spent time at the field sites in the United
States, I began to realize that the environment played
a critical role in the acculturation process, in that mar-

keting activities targeting the Latino market in the
United States, with its annual expenditures of $188.9
billion (Fonseca 1992), influenced Mexican immigrants’
consumption patterns.

With these data, I had to rethink the nature of Mex-
ican immigrant consumer acculturation. Gradually, the
theoretical framework guiding this research shifted in
emphasis from the socialization orientation that pre-
dominates the consumer learning literature to the
transcultural orientation that was more consistent with
the data. The constructs consumer movement, trans-
lation, and adaptation more accurately described Mex-
ican immigrants’ consumer acculturation processes.

Regarding outcomes of the consumer acculturation
process, there were some paradoxes. Mexican immi-
grant informants assimilated consumption patterns as-
sociated with U.S. consumer culture, yet they also
maintained aspects of the consumption patterns they
had acquired in Mexico. At times their consumption
patterns suggested assimilation, yet the products and
services were used in ways that maintained ties to their
previous culture. Informants also expressed concerns
about getting caught up in U.S. consumer culture, and
they actively resisted its pull, as well as the pull of their
previous culture. The majority of informants inhabited
sites in the United States that were physically and so-
cially segregated from the mainstream.

Crossing borders is a central theme in this research.
Mexican immigrants initiated the consumer accultur-
ation process by crossing the national border between
the United States and Mexico, yet, once here, subcul-
tural relations came into play. Intranational boundaries
within the United States that delineated Latino and
Anglo “market segments” were evident. Yet transna-
tional similarities characteristic of a borderless world
were also evident in that Mexican immigrants gravitated
to physical sites in the United States where there were
other Mexican people and a thriving Mexican consumer
culture.

Marketers, like Mexican immigrants, were key cul-
tural agents whose activities transcended subcultural
and national boundaries and who influenced immigrant
consumer acculturation processes by stimulating cul-
tural contact. Segmentation strategies targeting Mexican
immigrants in the United States reproduced subcultural
borders in the United States, just as international mar-
keting strategies lowered national boundaries between
the United States and Mexico.

INTERDISCIPLINARY FOUNDATIONS
OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION

The term “consumer acculturation” is defined as the
general process of movement and adaptation to the
consumer cultural environment in one country by per-
sons from another country. In approaching this topic,
this article draws from and contributes to studies of
consumer subcultures and consumer learning in the

2The terms “mainstream,” “Anglo,” and “white” are used inter-
changeably to refer to the dominant cultural subgroup within the
United States. Currently, whites represent 80.3 percent of the U.S.
population (U.S. Department of Commerce 1992b). It is important
to note that, while Mexican Americans are officially tabulated in this
mainstream, we are considered a minority subculture in the United
States.

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34 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

consumer behavior literature, studies of assimilation in
anthropology and sociology, and studies of consumer
culture in cultural studies.

Consumer researchers have long noted differences
between the consumption patterns of Mexican
Americans3 and Anglos in the United States. For ex-
ample, Sturdivant (1969) reported that Mexican Amer-
icans preferred to shop where Spanish was spoken.
Hoyer and Deshpande (1982) found that Mexican
Americans were more likely to buy the brands their
parents bought and brands they perceived to be more
prestigious than were Anglos. Saegert, Hoover, and
Hilger (1985) reported that Mexican Americans were
more price conscious and preferred familiar stores to a
greater degree than did Anglos.

Researchers turned to the literature on assimilation
to explain these differences. The assimilation frame-
work, which examines the degree to which a subcultural
group becomes similar to the dominant culture in a
nation over time (Gordon 1964), has become the dom-
inant conceptual scheme guiding studies of consumer
subcultures. Many of these studies have divided Latinos
into groups on the basis of their similarity to the Anglo
subculture in the United States. For example, O’Guinn
and Faber (1985) developed a scale of consumer ac-
culturation. In other studies, more assimilated Mexican
Americans were found to use less Spanish-language
media (O’Guinn and Meyer 1984), to be more inclined
to identify themselves as Hispanic (Deshpande, Hoyer,
and Donthu 1986), and to accord less importance to
product attributes than did less assimilated Mexican
Americans (Faber, O’Guinn, and McCarty 1987).

While these studies have documented gradations in
differences between the consumption behaviors of An-
glos and Latinos, there are some noteworthy limitations.
First, researchers have not investigated the nature of
the assimilation process, although they have indirectly
addressed the process in attempting to explain their
findings. For example, Wallendorf and Reilly (1983)
compared the consumption patterns of Mexicans in
Mexico to Mexican Americans and Anglo-Americans
in the southwestern United States and noted that for
some products such as meats, white bread, sugared ce-
reals, and caffeinated products Mexican Americans’
consumption patterns measured well beyond those of
Anglo-Americans or Mexicans. The authors concluded
that assimilation was not a simple linear progression
and attributed their results to a time lag effect in which
Mexican immigrants tried to assimilate the consump-
tion patterns of Anglo Americans but assimilated an

outdated version that did not reflect contemporary
health concerns.

Second, previous work has conflated the study of im-
migrant and subcultural consumers. While subcultural
consumers may reside next to immigrants, as in the
case of Latinos, their consumer adaptation is markedly
different as the result of international migration. There
have been few studies of immigrant consumers. One
exception is Mehta and Belk’s (1991) examination of
the favorite possessions of Indian immigrants in the
United States. Many of these items were brought from
India and served to symbolically affirm ties to home-
land, family, and culture, which was very important in
a land where their culture was less prevalent. The
maintenance of Indian culture took place primarily in
homes, religious and social clubs, specialty stores, and
national publications.

Mexican immigrants differ from Indian immigrants
in their social class, geographical proximity, and mi-
gration history. Whereas Indian immigrants’ consumer
acculturation processes reflect their upper- to middle-
class background and relatively small numbers, Mexi-
can immigration has been characterized as primarily
working-class,4 and represents the single largest group
of people legally admitted to the United States. From
1971 to 1990, 438,700 Indian immigrants were legally
admitted to the United States, representing 3.7 percent
of the 11.8 million legal admissions, while 2.3 million
Mexican immigrants were legally admitted to the
United States during this same time, representing 23.1
percent of legal admissions (U.S. Department of Com-
merce 1992a). In addition, the southwestern United
States was once part of Mexico and to this day has a
strong Mexican cultural tradition (Acufia 1988; Massey
1987). In the state of California, Mexican Americans
represent one-third of the population (Strategy Research
Corporation 1991). The presence of Mexican Ameri-
cans and a discernible Latino consumer culture in the
United States may offer structural reinforcement to
Mexican immigrant consumers, which would enable
them to continue consumption patterns acquired in
Mexico.

Finally, previous research has not investigated the
influence of marketing strategies on this process, al-
though O’Guinn and Meyer (1984) suggested that
Spanish-language media may offer Latinos a validation
of their ethnicity and cultural heritage. By targeting La-
tinos with specially tailored products and services,
marketers not only offer Mexican immigrants a poten-
tially powerful validation of their culture, but also may
facilitate the maintenance of consumption patterns as-
sociated with Mexican culture in the United States.

Assimilation studies have been based on a modernist
view of the nation that was socially integrated and ho-
mogeneous with discrete national boundaries and cul-

3Mexican Americans include Mexican immigrants and people born
in the United States of Mexican descent. Of the 24.9 million Latinos
in the United States, 58.9 percent are Mexican American (Strategy
Research 1991, p. 59). The term Latino is used in this article to refer
to persons from Central and South America. the Caribbean, and Spain,
because it is the preferred term of members of this group (de la Garza
1992).

4There has been a brain drain in the past decade (Vernez and Ronfelt
1991).

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 35

tures. These are not accurate characteristics of the con-
temporary United States (Jackson 1992; Lamphere
1992), nor was this an accurate characterization at the
time of the classic assimilation studies.5 Marketers’ ac-
commodation of cultural difference in the United States
may well be linked to its increasing heterogeneity and
diversity.

In conceptualizing consumer acculturation processes,
I turned to the literature on consumer socialization be-
cause it explicitly focuses on processes of consumer
learning (Moschis 1987). Modeling, reinforcement, and
social interaction were identified as the central behav-
ioral processes through which consumer skills, knowl-
edge, and behaviors were transferred by acculturation
agents, which include family, friends, and institutions,
such as schools and churches.

The extrapolation of this work to a transnational
context required modifications, however. Immigrants
may have two conflicting sets of consumer acculturation
agents: one corresponding to their culture of origin and
one corresponding to the existing culture. Previous work
has suggested that minority consumers may experience
the competing pulls of two cultures (O’Guinn and Faber
1986). Further, consumer acculturation processes are
not limited to the actions of immigrants; also important
are the ways immigrants are viewed and treated by the
U.S. mainstream (Berry 1980). Thus, in addition to the
importance of immigrants’ attitudes toward the culture
of origin and immigration, the degree to which the im-
migrant group was accepted by the existing culture was
anticipated to play an important role in their accultur-
ation.

The previously mentioned dual pull, situated in the
context of mainstream/immigrant social relations, po-
tentially impacts immigrant consumer acculturation
processes and outcomes in several ways. Mexican im-
migrants may internalize the stigma of being main-
stream’s “other.” They may denounce themselves and

their culture, decreasinA their differences by assimilating
products in an attempt to fit in. They may ignore or
reject pressure to assimilate, instead cultivating social’
structures within which aspects of their previous culture
are maintained (Gordon 1964; Padilla 1980). They may
reject aspects of the culture of origin and/or immigra-
tion (Berry 1990), and they may express combinations
of these strategies.

On the basis of a critical review of this literature, I
developed a conceptual model to guide this research
(Fig. 1). I use the term consumer acculturation rather
than assimilation in an attempt to advance this research
stream beyond the question of the degree to which im-
migrants validate American culture. The model begins
with individual differences likely to be factors differ-
entiating immigrants’ acculturation processes. Demo-
graphic differences in age, social class, and gender were

anticipated to be relevant, along with Spanish- and En-
glish-language ability, recency of arrival, ethnic identity,
and the nature of the environment. Two groups of con-
sumer acculturation agents that consist of family,
friends, media, and social and religious institutions were
featured in the model, one aligned with the culture of
origin, and the other aligned with U.S. culture. Con-
sumer acculturation processes included modeling, re-
inforcement, and social interaction. In regard to out-
comes of the consumer acculturation process, Mexican
immigrants were anticipated to either assimilate U.S.
culture, maintain their previous culture, or express a
hybrid combination of the two cultures.

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY

Ethnographic research techniques were selected for
this research because of their long-standing tradition of
studying “other” cultures and cultural phenomena
(Clifford 1988). In recent years ethnographic studies
have made significant headway in the field of consumer
research as researchers have gone to the field to inves-
tigate consumers’ experiences and to explore the social
significance of consumption (see, e.g., Arnould 1989;
Belk 1991; Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1988; Hill
1991).

This research is positioned in the emerging tradition
of critical ethnography (Clifford and Marcus 1986;
Rosaldo 1989; Thomas 1993). Critical ethnography, like
more traditional forms of ethnography, is characterized
by the use of participant observation data collection
techniques and interpretive analysis. It differs in its
concern with issues of subjectivity and relationships of
power affecting both the researcher(s) and those under
investigation. Concerns of critical ethnographers in-
clude (1) relations between the researcher and the re-
searched, (2) the agency of those being investigated, that
is, how people were treated during the course of the
study, how they were represented in the written account,
and whether the study incorporated their interests, and
(3) the importance of situating our work within the
global economy.

Researcher Subjectivity

Let me begin by saying I am not a Mexican immi-
grant, I am a tenth-generation Mexican American from
San Antonio, Texas. I differ from informants in my
color, gender, class, and residence in relation to that
imaginary line, the United States-Mexico border. In
my family I am called giiera, a Spanish term for women
who can pass as white. Because I do not physically re-
semble Mexican Americans, I am seldom identified as
a member of this group, yet this is the group with which
I identify. I grew up in an Anglo neighborhood and
learned Spanish in graduate school.

I approached this work with the desire to access and
portray the consumption patterns and adaptation ex-

5See Glazer and Moynihan (1963) and Gordon (1964) for discus-
sions of ethnicity as a persistently divisive feature of American life.

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36 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

FIGURE 1

AN A PRIORI MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION

Antecedent Consumer Consumer Consumer
Variables Acculturation Acculturation Acculturation

Agents Processes Outcome

Dimensions

1. Demographic
variables

Culture of Origin

Family Assimilate

Friends Culture

2. Language Media of Origin
Spanish/English Institutions

3. Recency of _ Modeling Maintain
Reinforcement Culture
Social Interaction of Immigration

Identity amily Express l
Friends Hybrid
Media Culture

5. Environmental Institutions/
factors

periences of Mexican immigrants from their perspec-
tive. I went to the field to investigate the environment
inhabited by Mexican immigrants and to learn what
their lives were like in the United States. For the first
six months, I found it difficult to establish rapport. In-
hibited by doubts about my appearance and my ability
to speak Spanish, I kept my distance, observing and
cataloging the people, the stores, and the merchandise.
I was mostly ignored, except by those who offered as-
sistance in the stores or those who whistled at me or
offered to sell me illegal merchandise. After a few
months I began to initiate conversations, to meet peo-
ple, and to request interviews. The interviews provided
further opportunities to develop rapport. Speaking
Spanish was instrumental but did not ensure trustwor-
thiness. I had to prove that my intentions were earnest,
which I did by sustained contact, focused interest, and
by doing things for informants, such as providing trans-
portation and translations.

Evidence of increasing trust included referrals and
invitations to accompany informants in their daily lives.
Alma, Rene, Maria Inez, Carolina, Gloria, and Rolando
allowed me to see them in various encounters with the
new culture. On these occasions my involvement was
not limited to observation; I took an active role where

appropriate, conversing, eating, praying, and playing.
This work has been challenging and rewarding. During
its course my experiences ranged from awe and respect
at informants’ courage and hope for the future, to anger
at the inferior treatment I observed and heard them
relate, to amusement and joy at their accomplishments,
their stories, and the times we shared. I reexamined my
relation to my culture, noting that my claims to our
common cultural heritage gave me an advantage in es-
tablishing trust yet invoked in me a sense of responsi-
bility to represent informants accurately and to integrate
their concerns.

Emergent Design

The research design was adapted during the course
of the study (Belk et al. 1988). This involved an iterative
process of reading and conceptualizing the “issues,”
collecting and analyzing data, reconceptualizing, col-
lecting and analyzing additional data, writing, and re-
writing. As previously mentioned, I began this work by
developing an a priori model. I then went to the field
to become familiar with the marketplace. After two
months of recording field observations of people, stores,
and merchandise, I began to develop and pretest the

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 37

interview guide. In the three pretests, informants
jumped spatially and temporally as they spoke of their
lives on this side and that side of the border between
the United States and Mexico. I modified the interview
guide to distinguish more carefully people’s previous
consumption patterns in Mexico from their current
consumption patterns in the United States. Questions
were added to investigate more directly behavioral pro-
cesses linking the two consumption patterns. I went
back to the field for more fieldwork and to initiate for-
mal interviews.

The first phase of interviews began in the fifth month
of fieldwork and consisted of six households; the re-
maining eight interviews were conducted over the next
year and a half of fieldwork. Interviews averaged an
hour and 15 minutes to complete and all interviews
were transcribed verbatim. In analyzing these interviews
together with the field data, I began to appreciate the
many differences and similarities between the United
States and Mexico and the influences of marketing
strategies and others’ immigration on acculturation
processes.

Over time, field activities and objectives shifted from
observation to participation, from describing the sites,
agents, and activities to accompanying informants as
they negotiated the new culture. Participant-observation
activities with informants included sharing meals, going
shopping, going to the beach, making a court appear-
ance, aiding a release from the hospital, and conversing
with an employer, legal counsel, and several hospital
administrators. In addition, informants invited me to
some of their cultural activities. I attended church with
Rene, went to the rodeo with Maria and Gloria and
their families, and celebrated cinco de mayo (May 5)
and dieciseis de septiembre (September 16) festivals.6
-These activities were instrumental in providing me with
a sense of their values and of what being a Mexican
immigrant in the United States entailed.

Mexican Immigrant Informants

Mexican immigrants are not a known population in
the United States.7 According to the 1990 census, 13.5

million persons reported being of Mexican descent or
origin in the United States (U.S. Department of Com-
merce 1992b). These figures do not include undocu-
mented immigration, which has been estimated to ac-
count for two-thirds of all Mexican immigration since
1980 (Warren and Passel 1987). In the state of Califor-
nia, where this study was conducted, estimates of the
number of Mexican people range from 2 million to 4
million persons (McCarthy and Valdez 1985; Strategy
Research Corporation 1991).

Informants were purposely selected, with variety and
contrast used as criteria (Miles and Huberman 1984),
to yield a varied perspective on the experiences of Mex-
ican immigrant consumers in the United States. I met
some informants while doing fieldwork. I met Melinda
and Lucia on separate occasions when I stopped to buy
from the grocery vans where they worked in the neigh-
borhoods. I met Emir while walking down the street,
and I met Rene on the bus. Referrals were also impor-
tant in enabling me to identify and access informants
with target characteristics. I met Victor and Graciela
with help from one of the local retailers. Rene, a key
informant, introduced me to Carolina and her husband
Alberto, Maria Inez, Jorge, Sra. Marta, and Sr. Adan.
As a result, subgroups of informants reflected their ac-
tual social support networks.

I interviewed 23 individuals from 14 households, at
times speaking with multiple members of the house-
holds, those who were present at the time and agreed
to do the interview. Informants varied in their age, gen-
der, social class, English- and Spanish-language ability,
recency of arrival, and household composition (Table
1).8 Eight households were interviewed entirely in the
Spanish language, four predominantly in Spanish, and
two predominantly in the English language, as deter-
mined by informants’ preferences. Sixteen informants
were interviewed in their homes, five informants were
interviewed at their workplace, one informant was in-
terviewed at the home of his friends, and one interview
took place at a local fast-food restaurant.

In the interviews informants were asked to describe
their experiences crossing borders and getting settled,
and to describe and compare their consumption pat-
terns and the consumer environments in the United
States and in Mexico. Questions regarding consumption
of food, clothing, the telephone, an automobile, finan-
cial services, and media were included to address a wide
array of market offerings (i.e., durable and nondurable
products and services). Questions regarding social ac-
tivities were used to assess informants’ contact with
Anglo-Americans and how they were treated by others
in the United States.

6Cinco de mayo commemorates the victory of Mexican troops led
by General Ignacio Zaragosa over an occupying army of French troops
led by Emperor Maximilian Hapsburg in Puebla, Mexico, on May
5, 1862. While this holiday is seldom celebrated in Mexico, it is cel-
ebrated by Mexican Americans in the United States and receives
tremendous corporate sponsorship. Dieciseis de septiembre com-
memorates Father Miguel Hidalgo’s oration, the Grito de Dolores,
on September 16, 1810, which marked the beginning of the Mexican
Revolution for independence from Spain. This holiday is celebrated
in both Mexico and the United States (Acufia 1987, 1988).

7There are currently no accurate, verifiable data on the total number
of Mexican immigrants currently in the United States or on those
who enter this country every year. All figures are estimates because

of a number of data collection problems, which include multiple
trips between the United States and Mexico, fear of deportation, mis-
trust of social scientists, illiteracy, use of Spanish language, and in-
consistent use of terminology (Penialoza and Gilly 1986).

8All informant names appearing in this work are pseudonyms in
order to maintain informants’ confidentiality and anonymity.

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38 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

TABLE 1

INFORMANT CHARACTERISTICS

Household

and Mexican Arrival Years in U.S. household
pseudonyms Sex Age Education residence datea Mexico U.S. occupation compositionb Language ability

1: Alma F 40 Graduate school Rural 1966 17 High school 2, female roommates Bilingual
teacher

2: Graciela F 35 Universityc Urban 1978 25 Travel agent 6, extended family, Bilingual
boarder

3: Victor M 33 Three years of Urban 1989 18 Travel agent 4, male roommates Bilingual
college

4: Emir M 24 Sixth grade Rural 1985 20 Yard worker 5, male roommates Spanish
5: Genaro M 40 High school Urban 1978 17 Manager, 1, single Spanish

fast-food (some English)
restaurant

6: Ignacio M 26 High school Urban 1988 24 Cosmetology 5, female and male Spanish
Enrique M 24 Veterinary Urban 1988 22 Cosmetology roommates
Josefina F 20 Business school Urban 1987 18 Secretary
Samanta F 27 University’ Urban 1987 25 Teacher
Joel M 21 High school Urban 1987 19 Student

7: Melinda F 22 Sixth grade Rural 1989 15 Grocery van 7, two extended Spanish
attendant families

8: Chela F 34 University Urban 1989 25 Gas station 4, nuclear family Bilingual
cashier

9: Rene M 45 First grade Rural 1988 42 Woodworker 9, one extended, one Spanish
Miguel M 18 High school Rural 1990 17 Student nuclear family

10: Lucia F 11 Sixth grade Rural 1987 8 Grocery van 9, nuclear family Bilingual
attendant

1 1: Maria Inez F 36 Sixth grade Urban 1987 32 Seamstress 9, two nuclear Spanish
Gloria F 28 Eighth grade Urban 1990 27 Seamstress families, boarder
Rolando M 30 Sixth grade Urban 1990 29 Welder

12: Marta F 58 Third grade Rural 1989 58 None 9, extended family Spanish
Adan M 60 Second grade

13: Carolina F 26 University Urban 1987 20 Woodworker 4, nuclear family, Spanish
Alberto M 25 High school Urban 1985 19 Welder boarder (some English)

14: Jorge M 40 Ninth grade Rural 1988 39 Mechanic 12, three families Spanish

aWhen they came to live in the United States.
bTotal number of persons, type of household.
‘Graduate.

Field Settings

Field sites consisted of an urban shopping street, two
neighborhoods where informants lived, and informants’
dwellings. These particular sites were selected on the
basis of four factors: (1) the presence of a large number
of Mexican immigrants, (2) an urban area, since 88
percent of Latinos reside in urban areas in the United
States (Strategy Research Corporation 1991), (3) the
centrality of these sites to the lives of Mexican immi-
grants in the United States, and (4) the existence of a
wide variety of commercial ventures and activities.

Objectives varied by site. In the neighborhoods, I fo-
cused on their density, the type of dwellings, the people
in the area, and their activities. In the dwellings, I ex-
amined furnishings and personal space. At the mar-
ketplace site I investigated the types of stores, their
clientele, the products and services offered, and mar-
keting practices. In addition to these main field sites, I
accompanied informants to peripheral field sites that
included two churches, the beach, a rod&, the Califor-

nia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the county
courthouse, and local cultural festivals.

Data Analysis

The output of data collection efforts consisted of
maps of the field sites, 300 photographs, 50 artifacts
(brochures, business cards, flyers, and local newspapers),
and 839 pages of text. This included a set of field notes
(311 handwritten pages compiled from 223 hours of
field observation), transcriptions of the tape-recorded
interviews (141 pages typed), and a journal of personal
reflections (387 handwritten pages).

Field notes and journal entries were divided into data
units (i.e., separate pieces of information) and then
classified in an iterative, hierarchical process that in-
volved first dividing the units by data type (e.g., stores
at the site, Latinos at the site, incidents, ongoing activ-
ities, events) and then categorizing units within each
data type. Interview summaries were developed as a
data reduction technique to facilitate comparisons

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 39

across types of informants. Data were analyzed by
means of coding patterns and themes with use of the
constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss
1967). Findings were triangulated across data types and
sources.

Credibility assessment of this research consisted of
member checking and memoing with informants and
academic colleagues (Wallendorf and Belk 1989). This
involved my providing all or part of the data and interim
research findings to informants and to academic col-
leagues during the project. The task for informants was
to assess whether the findings were consistent with their
experience; colleagues were to ascertain the logic of the
analytical categories and assess whether the findings
were well grounded in the data.

ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT

Immigration Experiences

Informants were exposed to the idea of living in the
United States before setting foot on its soil. In Mexico,
stories abounded regarding life in the United States,
and seeing people go to the United States to live was a
common occurrence. Noted Sr. Adan, “Alla hay sen-
timientos que mucha gente va a E.U., esta aceptada”
[There are feelings that many people go to the U.S., it
is accepted].9 Yet, at the same time they were told that
jobs that paid better than in Mexico were available in
the United States; they were also told that jobs were
difficult to find and they had to speak English. The sto-
ries changed with changes in the U.S. economy.

For informants, positive expectations regarding their
lives in the United States served as powerful motivators.
Reasons given for moving to the United States included
to take advantage of greater job availability and buying
.power, to reunite family, and, for those with children,
to further their children’s education. We came “para
trabajar y comprar” [to work and to buy], explained
Carolina. Chela and Gloria noted that, while it was
cheaper to live in Mexico, it was also more difficult for
people there to “salir adelante” [get ahead, have dis-
cretionary funds for spending or saving]. Jorge recalled
seeing people return to Mexico from the United States
with more possessions than they left with and expected
that he, too, would be able to do so. The difference in
earnings in the two countries is graphically described
by Victor: “Para ganar una persona 250 mil pesos, o
sea 100 dolares en Mexico, tiene que trabajar un mes,
cuando aqui cien dolares en tres dias o dos dias se gana.

Por eso, es que hay un correria para venir, L no?” [To
earn 250,000 pesos, or $ 100 in Mexico, one has to work
a month, when here one earns $100 in two or three
days. That is why so many people come].

Not all informants’ expectations or experiences were
positive. Miguel expected to see only Anglo-Americans
in the United States but was comforted to see many
Mexican people on his arrival. Informants’ two greatest
fears were that they would not find a job and did not
know what would happen to them.

Yet, while all informants were enthusiastic about
their move to the United States, their feelings about
leaving Mexico are best described as bittersweet. They
had left family and friends behind and related sorrow
at these losses. They also reported missing their lan-
guage, food, holiday celebrations, and, as Victor put it,
“la tranquilidad, la seguridad en el aspecto de que uno
podria caminar conociendo la mayor parte de la gente”
[the tranquility, the security in the sense that one can
walk around knowing most of the people]. Their sorrow
was combined with the uncertainty and difficulty of the
transition.

Informants moved to the United States legally and
illegally. Four informants came to the United States by
airplane, 10 by bus, and four by private car. Samanta
came by train for a vacation that she has extended in-
definitely. Jorge, Sra. Marta and her husband Adan,
and Melinda and her two sons, ages 4 and 6, came over
with the help of a coyote (guide). As was customary,
they paid the going rate of $300 per person after having
arrived in the United States. The coyotes’ services var-
ied: Jorge, Sra. Marta, and her husband Adan were
brought to the door of family in the United States, while
Melinda and her sons were merely assisted across the
border. Six informants reported multiple trips to the
United States.

Mexican immigration was described as “una cadena”
[a chain] by Genaro, who explained that one man
comes, then sends for his brother, who sends for his
brother, who sends for his wife. All informants knew
someone already living in the United States when they
arrived, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were
helped by these people, although most were. Victor an-
grily recalled a door slammed in his face, “Eran mis
amigos en Mexico, pero aqui no son mis amigos” [They
were my friends in Mexico, but in the U.S. they are not
my friends].

The chainlike social network Genaro described was
consistent with other informants’ experiences. Two
general patterns of migration were noted; informants
came to the United States as a part of a group or alone.
Those who made the journey alone were reunited with
family members, friends, or others from Mexico who
are now in the United States. Soon after making their
separate trips to the United States, Alberto was joined
by his wife, Carolina, and Rolando was joined by Maria
Inez. Chela and Graciela, who had come to the United
States as children with their mother and aunt, respec-
tively, returned to Mexico only to come back to the
United States years later with their husbands and chil-
dren. Once in the United States, Emir, a solo traveler,
joined up with four others from his hometown in Mex-

9Excerpts of interviews appearing in this paper reflect the language
informants used. Translations of Spanish language excerpts are in-
dicated by brackets and were done by the author with the help of
bilingual informants.

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40 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

ico. In a similar way, Ignacio, Joel, Josefina, Samanta,
and Enrique formed another household in the United
States.

Social networks of family and friends were an integral
part of the consumer acculturation process. These net-
works served as coping social structures in and through
which informants adapted to the consumer environ-
ment in the United States., They facilitated the physical
move and the transition by providing key sources of
information and support, which ranged from advice to
money and places to stay.

On arrival, informants who could not speak or un-
derstand English experienced tremendous problems
with the language. For example, in the following passage
Genaro relates how his first attempts to use the tele-
phone were thwarted because he did not speak English:

Queria marcar de a , y me habia dicho que
costaba quince centavos el telefono-hace pocos afios-
y puse el dime, el nickel, y era larga distancia, y la op-
eradora me decia que pusiera mas dinero, y yo colgaba

el telefono, y iotra vez! Esto hacia como cinco, seis veces,
hasta que le pregunte a una senora que si ese telefono no
funcionaba, y esa sefiora me dijo que si, y salio, y me
dijo que adonde yo queria marcar, entonces, yo le dije
que a Los Angeles, y me dijo que era larga distancia, y
yo no sabia nada de ingles, y por eso no entendia.”

[I wanted to call from and I had been told
that it cost fifteen cents to use the phone-this was several
years ago-and I put in a dime, a nickel, and it was long
distance, and the operator told me to put in more money,
and I hung up the telephone and tried again! This hap-
pened like five or six times, until I asked a woman if this
telephone was working, and she said yes, and then asked
me where I wanted to call, and I said -and she told
me it was a long distance call, and because I did not
understand English, I did not understand.]

Of the 23 informants, 19 were monolingual Spanish
speakers. Their language difficulties were lessened in
many areas because of the availability of Spanish lan-
guage materials. Despite English’s having been legislated
as the official language in the state of California, Span-
ish-language driving tests, ballots, and income tax forms
were readily available at city and county agencies. Fur-
ther, even at sites where English was prevalent, such as
the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the
courthouse, and the hospital, Spanish translators were
available. Nevertheless, all 19 said they wanted to learn
English because it was a big advantage in the workforce.
However, because of work, family commitments, and
transportation problems, only Genaro, Rene, and Me-
linda reported attending English classes.

Confronting The New Consumer
Environment

Housing. In Mexico, most informants inhabited
single-family dwellings. Informants from rural areas in

Mexico described their homes in Mexico as having dirt
floors, with no electricity or running water. They raised
crops, tended a few animals, and shopped for food daily
by walking to nearby small corner markets. Those from
urban areas were used to cosmopolitan surroundings
and reported shopping at department stores and in the
mercados (markets comprised of shops and stands of
various sizes). In rural and urban areas in Mexico prod-
ucts were also sold door-to-door and on the street.

The neighborhoods where informants lived in the
United States featured a dense array of duplexes and
apartment buildings situated in between older houses
and condominiums. One or two vans were a common
sight parked along the curb or circulating through the
neighborhoods, announcing their arrival with loud
Latin music. These “convenience stores on wheels”
(Fig. 2) offered particular arrays of food and household
items-dried beans and rice, tortillas, chilies, fresh fruits
and vegetables, instant coffee, and personal grooming
supplies.

In these colonias (neighborhoods), the dominant
presence of Mexican people and their use of the Spanish
language were evident. Small groups of young and older
men typically congregated outside the buildings and in
between the cars parked along the street. The cars were
in various states of disarray, and there were bars on
many of the windows and doors of the buildings. Chil-
dren played on patches of dirt for lawns, and tomato
and chili plants grew in between brilliantly colored
flowers in the gardens.

Informants’ household furnishings varied consider-
ably. Carolina and Alberto had a matching sofa and
love seat, coffee table, entertainment center, and a new
dining room set in their new condominium. In Rene’s
apartment a detached seat from a car served the dual
purpose of sofa by day and bed by night. A full-size bed
served a similar purpose in the apartment where Maria
Inez and Gloria and their families lived. Household
adornments included family photographs, children’s
drawings, religious crosses and candles, promotional
calendars from local retail outlets, and plastic flower
arrangements atop lace doilies.

Informants established their households in the United
States in a highly transitory manner influenced by fam-
ily and friendship ties, the viability of their jobs, and
trips to Mexico. With the exception of Graciela, Car-
olina, and Alberto, all informants lived in rented dwell-
ings in the United States. It was typical that informants
shared less space with more people than in their homes
in Mexico, which partially explains why so many people
were observed in the neighborhoods. Graciela, Melinda,
and Sra. Marta lived in extended-family households.
Chela, Carolina, and Lucia lived in households com-
posed of nuclear families with children, and Alma, Vic-
tor, Emir, and Ignacio shared housing with roommates.

There were multiple families in three of the other
households. Jorge shared a two-bedroom apartment
with three families; he explained that one family oc-

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 41

FIGURE 2

A MOBILE GROCERY STORE

……….

F.i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ …….

cupied each of the bedrooms, and the other family slept
in the living area. Two nuclear families lived in Maria
Inez’s apartment, each with a full-size refrigerator in
the kitchen, and a single man rented one of two beds
in the living room. Rene shared a two-bedroom apart-
ment with two families; he kept his belongings in the
hall closet and slept on a couch in the living area. Only
Genaro lived alone.

The household served as an important social context
and agent of consumer acculturation. Here informants
displayed artifacts of Mexican and U.S. culture. The
household also brought together individuals of various
characteristics, resources and skills, who provided each
other with social support and some tensions. House-
holds composed of mixed levels of English facilitated
their members’ efforts to learn English; those whose
members spoke only Spanish reinforced the sole use of
Spanish. Chela reported tensions in her family because
her teenage daughter resented being less able to speak
English than her four-year-old sister. Because these
children learned English at school and were generally
better able to use English than their parents, they were
relied on to help negotiate U.S. culture-which they
resented at times. Finally, whether informants’ families
were united in the United States influenced the length
of their stay. Informants whose families were in Mexico

gave that as one of the reasons they returned to Mexico.
During the two. and one-half year period in which this
work was done, seven households moved; three returned
to Mexico.

Shopping. At the marketplace site two-hour parking
spaces lined the urban shopping street, a four-block
plaza of various types of retail stores and city offices,
including the Mexican consulate. There were jewelry
and pawn shops, clothing and shoe stores, restaurants,
and two discount stores. Some of the retail establish-
ments were from Mexico, including a bank, two shoe
stores and two electronics stores. One store featured
Mexican curios (souvenirs). Many of the products were
also from Mexico and included cassette tapes, foods,
soaps, and laundry detergents. Services offered included
travel arrangements, money orders, formal-dress and
tuxedo rental, rental videotapes, photocopies, income
tax preparation, and check cashing. Here, retail em-
ployees handing out flyers competed with sidewalk dis-
plays of merchandise and street vendors for the money
and attention of the many people walking by. Spanish
was the lingua franca. Store names and advertisements
were prevalent in Spanish, although many signs were
bilingual and some were in English.

In describing their first shopping experience in the
United States, informants noted the larger quantity,

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42 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

greater variety, and lower prices. Alberto recalled, “Me
sentia como que iba entrado a una pelicula, ,no? Y yo
iba hacer el protogonista y yo iba a los Estados Unidos
y yo iba hacer lo que queria . . . y a mi me sentia bien,
es bonito conocer un pais tan fuerte, tan potente, ,no?
tan avanzado y tantas cosas” [I felt like I’d entered a
movie, you know. And I was the main character and
I’d come to the United States, and I could do what I
wanted. I felt good. It is good to know a country so
strong and powerful, you know, so advanced with so
many things]. Maria Inez described the merchandise as
beautiful, while Marta noted how clean and orderly the
stores were.

At the marketplace, the problems informants expe-
rienced with language were rare. Not knowing English
was of little consequence for informants shopping at
the field sites because most retailers accommodated
their Spanish-speaking customers by maintaining a
Spanish-speaking workforce. This is not to suggest that
language was not an issue in Mexican immigrants’ con-
sumer acculturation. Inability to speak English affected
informants’ selection of stores and purchase and use of
products and services in the United States. It precluded
them from using some products and services and more
favorably disposed them to shop at stores, such as those
at the site, where employees spoke Spanish and that
carried products and services they had purchased and
used in Mexico.

Informants also reported experiencing difficulties
with U.S. currency that were not so easily overcome.
The exchange rate was 3,000 Mexican pesos to the dollar
at the time of this research. In the following passage,
Joel related his initial experience with U.S. currency:
“No conocia la moneda, el cambio, y entonces, para
mi, era muy difilcil cuando me decia son tanto por tanto,
a mi, me parecia muy barato realmente, porque decia
dos cinquenta, uno cincuenta, cincuenta centavos.
6Que es eso, no? Porque en Mexico se habla de miles”
[I was not familiar with the money, the change, so for
me it was very difficult when someone would say how
much things cost, prices appeared really cheap to me,
because they would say $2.50, $1.50, 50 cents. What is
this? Because in Mexico one speaks in thousands].

Gloria reported problems shopping and taking the
bus because she was confused by U.S. coins, and re-
mained so a year after her arrival. Exasperation was
heavy in her voice as she said, “In Mexico, well, I don’t
know, the money goes in order,” and, “Who would
think that the little one (a dime) would be worth more
than a nickel?” When her heuristic assigning greater
value to larger coins failed, she concluded that it was
“un sistema bien estrania” [a very strange system].

In the next passage, where he recalls a trip to a large
shopping mall in the United States, Joel articulates how
he learned to decipher the new code. He established a
standard of conversion in terms of the amount of time
he would have to work at his pay rate in the United
States to buy a particular item, yet added that this

translation was not really meaningful to him until he
had begun to save some of his earnings and had gained
an understanding of the cost of living in the United
States. “Este mall era muy grande . . . , entonces entra
uno y se queda fascinado de ver todo eso. . . y, a mi,
se me ocurre imposible decir cuando yo podria comprar
una camisa . . . si yo ganaba tres trienta y cinco la

hora, L,como iba a gastar uno la mitad del sueldo de
una semana en comprar una camisa? ,verdad? En-
tonces, es una cosa que uno va viendo hasta que la
persona empieza a trabajar, empieza a organizarse de
tal manera de vivir, y de ser, cuando ya empiezas a
agarrar de lo que estas haciendo” [This mall was very
big, and when someone entered, they would be fasci-
nated to see all this . . . as for me, it struck me as im-
possible to say when I would be able to buy a shirt .
if I was earning $3.35 an hour, how would anyone be
able to spend half their weekly salary on a shirt? True?
These are the things one begins to see when a person
begins to work, begins to organize one’s way of life and
oneself, when you begin to save some of your earnings].

These vignettes highlight the tremendous amount of
translations that immigrants make as they move from
one consumer culture to another. Learning the new
consumer culture involved becoming adept at both its
elements and relational rules. Cultural signs and heu-
ristics drawn from the previous system were applied
logically to the new system through a process of trans-
lation. Informants learned to render intelligible signs
inscribed in the new cultural code by first resituating
them within the previous code with which they were
familiar and then by returning their equivalent to the
terms of the new code. When the application of previous
rules to the new system did not work, as illustrated in
Gloria’s experience of deciphering the currency, the
rules were modified in an iterative process of repetition
and retrial. Over time, informants began to learn what
many cultural signs meant and their value in the United
States.

This experiential consumer learning was a difficult
process compounded by the social pressure to perform
in any given moment. To be wrong risked personal em-
barrassment, as avoided by Miguelito, Alma’s nephew,
who was visibly uncomfortable at the ice cream counter
when his turn came to order. He quickly asked me to
order vanilla for him.

Particular Products and Services

Food. Food is more than a means of nourishment
and sustenance; it is also a key cultural expression. For
informants, eating the foods they ate in Mexico in the
United States provided them with a taste of home and
served to reaffirm ties to their culture of origin. Infor-
mants from small villages in Mexico reported shopping
for food daily by walking to small corner markets or
buying from vendors. Many had no refrigeration and
would grow their own food-corn, beans, chilies, and

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 43

melons. Informants from the city reported shopping
for food once a week or so at large supermarkets and/
or the central market, where they compared prices and
looked for the best deals. Despite these apparent dif-
ferences between rural and urban residents, all infor-
mants reported that food cost less in Mexico and that
they preferred fresh produce and freshly cut meat.

In the United States, informants noted similarities
in the ways they shopped for food in the United States
as compared to Mexico. Informants reported shopping
mainly at large supermarkets for the prices and at small
corner stores (Fig. 3) and vans (Fig. 2) for convenience.
As in Mexico, large grocery stores and small corner
markets in the United States included a carniceria
(butcher shop) where meat was specially cut to order,
thinly sliced, with all of the visible fat removed.

Yet informants also noted differences in the ways
people shopped for groceries in the United States. They
rejected some of the consumption patterns associated
with U.S. culture, particularly packaged, prepared, and
frozen foods. They simply could not understand why
Americans bought produce in cans and meat that was
already packaged and frozen since “you don’t know
when,” as Graciela described it. Informants consistently
said they had not changed their food consumption very
much since they had moved to the United States, with
the exception of Alma, who said she no longer ate beans.
Victor noted that he and his roommates took turns pre-
paring “comida tipica mexicana, un carne de puerco
en chile” [typical Mexican food, pork cooked with chili].
Even working mothers Marla Inez and Gloria continued
to shop daily for meat and produce.

Their statements were consistent with my observa-
tions. Stores at the site offered many products from
Mexico in anticipation of and in response to the pref-
erences of their Mexican clientele, items such as fresh
meat and produce, canned chilies and salsas, spices,
cookies, and soft drinks. Many of the products directed
to this group were produced and supplied by U.S. firms.
In the neighborhoods, the grocery vans also provided
Mexican immigrants with ready access to “Mexican”
foods. These “convenience stores on wheels” were typ-
ically run by other Mexican people and catered to a
Mexican clientele. In my journal I wrote, “here you
don’t have to go to the products, they come to you.”
Because so many of the foods eaten in Mexico were
available in the United States, Mexican immigrants did
not have to change their food consumption very much.
Their accommodation by marketers both validated the
presence of Mexican immigrants and legitimized Mex-
ican culture in the United States.

Clothing. Clothing serves as bodily protection, but
it is also a means of cultural expression that imperfectly
indicates style, gender, social class, and even nationality.
Informants uniformly reported that clothing sold in
Mexico was of less variety, lower quality, and higher
prices than clothing sold in the United States. Infor-

mants from small towns and villages noted that in
Mexico people would go door-to-door with clothing for
sale, and they would accept partial payments over time.
This manner of doing business was described by Alma,
who lived in a small village in Mexico until she was 17:
“People would come and bring us things, people would
go house to house with clothes to sell, you could buy a
dress with payments, every week this woman would
come, she carried stuff in a plastic bag. . . and people
would tell her, yes, that is what I need, and they knew
each other.”

Door-to-door clothing sales were also described by
informants from urban areas in Mexico. Joel added that
U.S. brands were available in Mexico, but you had to
look closely because people would sew the tags of name
brands into items of clothing prior to their sale. In ad-
dition, Ignacio noted that clothing was brought from
the United States to people in Mexico to help them
enter this country.

I observed door-to-door clothing sales similar to those
described in Mexico in the United States. During my
interview with Sra. Marta, she was describing her pre-
vious purchase of T-shirts for $5 from a door-to-door
salesperson, when a young woman came to the door
selling pots and pans. Marta welcomed her inside, we
looked at the pots, chatted with her a short while, and
then continued the interview. Marta explained, “Aqui
se vende y se puede pagar poco a poco . . . o luego, si
no tenemos dinero” [Here one sells and one can pay a
little at a time . . . or later, if we do not have money].

Informants readily assimilated clothing in the United
States, especially where compatible with their previous
styles of dress. Yet style and brand awareness were more
pronounced for the young. Few of the adults, as com-
pared to most of the young people, reported a favorite
brand of clothing. Apparently, brand awareness and
discrimination are skills acquired more rapidly by the
younger adults than by their elders.

For adult men, similar styles were worn in the United
States and Mexico, although there were some genera-
tional differences noted in informant reports and in my
observations. Older men wore western-style polyester
slacks or jeans, boots, and wide leather belts with big
buckles, while younger men wore jeans or shorts, high-
top sneakers, and T-shirts.

For adult women, the incidence of wearing pants was
reported to be much less prevalent in Mexico than in
the United States. Some Mexican women informants
retained the more traditional female attire of dresses
and skirts in the United States, while others wore pants
and even shorts. But even in the United States many
considered women’s wearing of pants socially unac-
ceptable. Jorge lamented that Mexican women who
wore pants in public in the United States were “sin
vergiienza” [without shame]. The younger women in
his household giggled at his criticism. I noticed they
were wearing pants.

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44 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

FIGURE 3

A SMALL CORNER MARKET

._1 .. rS.gS……..

, … …. .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.s.g._……….. ‘ ‘ , ,’.. … .~ ,4 .

Because clothing was sold at a cheaper price in the
United States than in Mexico, and because informants
made more money here, clothing was quite a bargain
for them. More importantly, by literally putting on this
aspect of U.S. culture or by refusing to do so, informants
assumed and asserted their place in this country.

Automobile. The automobile is a powerful symbol
of status and success in Mexico, where they are expen-
sive and few people have one. Informants reported that
a car was a luxury in Mexico, where automobile prices
were almost double prices in the United States and fi-
nancing was not available. Only two of the 14 house-
holds reported having a car when they lived in Mexico.

In contrast, 10 of 14 households reported having cars
in the United States. In addition to using their cars for
local transportation, informants used them to bring
others to and from Mexico. Further, most informants
linked their ability to purchase autos in the United
States to a secondary market for used cars. In this mar-
ket, one person sells his/her car to another and, not
infrequently, accepts monthly or weekly payments, such
as those reported by Carlos Velez-Iban-ez (1983). Rene
paid $50 a week for seven weeks for his 1977 Mustang.

While this informal market rendered the auto more
accessible, and driving manuals and written tests were

available in Spanish, language barriers still existed for
informants operating an automobile. Language prob-
lems triggered the following incident in which Rene re-
ceived an $80 traffic citation. Infuriated, he explained
to the officer-a translator was called to the scene-
that he had received permission from the California
DMV to move his car. Unfortunately, that officer and
a clerk at the DMV agreed that this permission did not
serve as a valid California driver’s license, which he did
not have. A few weeks later I gave Rene a ride home
from the DMV; he had just received his license.

For informants, the automobile was a powerful sym-
bol of success in the United States. Here, the automobile
offered autonomy and mobility to people no longer de-
pendent on a bike, the bus, or other people to get
around. Yet, while the auto has been credited with less-
ening our reliance on others and enabling individuality
(Glasser 1967), because the automobile was a resource
shared among immigrant household members, it par-
adoxically furthered their interdependence.

Telephone. The telephone is a lifeline that enabled
and maintained important social contacts, including
ties to loved ones and job prospects. Yet the telephone
was not just a means of communication; its cost struc-
ture affected the way informants communicated and

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 45

changed the makeup of their social networks. In Mex-
ico, the telephone was a luxury, according to infor-
mants. There it cost as much as $800 to get connected,
which could take years, yet informants reported that
the telephone was relatively cheaper to use. Four
households had a telephone in Mexico.

Twelve of 14 households reported having a telephone
in the United States. Here the phone was described as
“una necesidad” [a necessity]. The telephone enjoyed
this high rate of assimilation among informants in the
United States because of the high value of the connec-
tions it enabled among family, friends, and job pros-
pects, and its relatively lower connection costs, which
were rendered even less expensive when shared among
multiple household members.

As with the automobile, language barriers rendered
use of the telephone difficult at times for informants.
Yet, counter to Genaro’s experience over 15 years ago,
virtually all of the language barriers have been over-
come. Telephone companies now provided Spanish-
fluent operators to accommodate their Spanish-speak-
ing customers. For informants, the telephone was a vital
means of communication, given their distance from
loved ones, and significant amounts of money were
spent to maintain ties to people in Mexico. Informants
reported that they tried to minimize their bills by calling
at off-peak hours and on weekends, but that their calls
in the United States were expensive, especially when
they called Mexico. Informants’ monthly telephone bills
ranged from a low of $30 in Graciela’s household to a
high of over $500 in the household Miguel Concepcion
shared with two other families.

Financial Services. For informants, discussing their
use of financial services raised issues regarding their
ability to make ends meet, their values and priorities,
and their degree of experience and trust regarding fi-
nancial institutions. In Mexico seven of 14 households
reported having either a checking or savings account
when they lived in Mexico. Informants noted that, while
they did not have much money in Mexico, the cost of
living there was also much lower.

At the time of the interview, seven households main-
tained a bank account in the United States, and three
households maintained accounts in Mexican banks to
take advantage of higher interest rates there. While in-
formants were involved with informal credit networks
in the form of loans and financing sales of products in
the United States and in Mexico, few had become a
part of the formal credit system in the United States.
Only Genaro and Alma had major credit cards. While
their limited income was a factor, the fact that infor-
mants with stable work histories and steady jobs that
paid well (e.g., Graciela, Chela, and Carolina) did not
have credit cards or interest in getting them suggests
that other issues were operating.

Factors influencing use of financial services in the
United States included level of discretionary income,

spending patterns (including sending money to Mexico),
and perceptions of lower interest rates paid by financial
institutions in the United States. Informants noted with
disappointment that, while they made more money and
had more possessions in the United States, they also
had more expenses here and experienced pressure to
pay bills. All informants reported sending money to
family members in Mexico and/or sending money to
help others come to the United States at one time or
another.

Knowledge of financial options and terms, and trust
with regard to financial institutions, also affected their
use of financial services. There was much confusion
between bank and retail store credit cards. With the
exception of Graciela, who had left Mexico during the
peso devaluations of the 1980s and expressed her dis-
trust of financial institutions, informants did not express
concern about the impact of inflation. In addition, Alma
expressed a very negative attitude toward commercial-
ized credit, which may also explain its low rate of adop-
tion. Although she had two credit cards, Alma typified
credit as the “American way” and did not like to use
it. She explained, “You owe something to someone,
and I don’t like it.” Alma associated credit with Amer-
ican materialism, of which she disapproved. Alma was
not the only informant concerned with resisting aspects
of U.S. culture. Joel, Genaro, Ignacio, and Rolando
shared Alma’s anxiety about impending materialism
and debt.

Media. In Mexico, media broadcast in Spanish, and
many programs were produced in Mexico and Central
and South America, although many American programs
were also broadcast on privately owned Mexican sta-
tions. Graciela noted that advertisements were more
indirect in Mexico, where they “rodean para llegar a
punto que tiene que anunciar” [go around before ar-
riving at the point one has to announce]. This is con-
sistent with previous research comparing Spanish and
English languages (Hall 1977).

In the United States, the media served as a bicultural
lifeline for Mexican immigrant informants, enabling
them to “plug into” U.S. or Mexican culture with the
turn of a dial. Informants noted that there were more
television stations in the United States than in Mexico.
English-language media provided low-risk access to the
mainstream, even for those not fully bilingual. Yet, as
Lee (1989) noted, televised images provided immigrants
somewhat distorted lifestyle and behavioral information
on U.S. culture. Spanish-language media offered infor-
mants reinforcement and validation of their culture.
Television programs, music, movies, and advertise-
ments in Spanish, especially those using recognized ce-
lebrities and other cultural signs, were a reassuring dose
of the familiar that welcomed Mexican people to the
United States.

Informants’ media use in the United States could not
be cleanly divided into English or Spanish formats, and

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46 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

varied with age and across generations. Combinations
of English and Spanish were exhibited. For example,
bilingual Graciela preferred Spanish-language television
programs but listened regularly to “easy listening” En-
glish-language radio, while Spanish speakers Maria Inez
and Melinda expressed their preferences for Spanish
and English television and radio. Lucia and her six
brothers, all bilingual, preferred English-language top-
forty radio, while their parents, Spanish speakers, pre-
ferred Spanish-language media. These findings, while
generally consistent with those of O’Guinn and Meyer
(1984), suggest some limitations to the use of general-
ized media preference and language ability as indicators
of media use.

Intercultural Contact

Informants were first exposed to the idea of life in
the United States while they were still in Mexico through
word of mouth, media, international trade, and tourism.
This preimmigration contact, much of which was com-
mercial in nature, is contrasted with my observations
and informants’ reports of little personal contact with
Anglo-Americans in the United States.

At the marketplace and in the neighborhoods, Mex-
ican immigrants were the dominant presence. Mexican
retailers and clientele easily outnumbered the sprinkling
of Anglos I observed at the marketplace. Spanish lan-
guage was dominant on store signs, in the newspapers
and magazines circulated there, in the music, and in
conversations in the stores and on the street. In the
neighborhoods, Mexican people and other signs of
Mexican culture, including the grocery vans, the music,
and use of the Spanish language, were readily visible.
Whites were so noticeable by their absence that I was
stopped by police on suspicion of possession of illegal
drugs. ‘

Mexican culture was also evident in the households
in the language spoken, the food, the customs, and the
decor. All household members were from Mexico, with
two exceptions, a Cuban woman who shared an apart-
ment with Alma and a Puerto Rican man who rented
space in Gloria and Maria Inez’s household. Exposure
to U.S. culture through the children in the household
was a primary, although indirect, source of contact with
U.S. culture for informants with children. As previously
mentioned, informants’ children learned English
through the schools, which they attended with Anglo
children, whereas adults tended to have more problems
with the English language. Melinda admitted that she

and her brothers would speak English whenever they
wanted to keep things from their parents.

All informants reported that their friends were from
Mexico, except Chela and Alma, who claimed both An-
glo-American and Mexican friends. That most of their
friends were also Mexican helped reinforce ties to Mex-
ican culture. It is likely that these friendships were based
on shared experiences of distance from home and family
and adaptation to U.S. culture.

The job site was also an important source of contact
with mainstream American culture, and working im-
migrants initially appeared to have greater contact with
the mainstream than their nonworking counterparts.
However, informants’ jobs varied in the degree to which
they provided such contact. Only Alma, a high school
Spanish teacher, Chela, a cashier at a gas station, and
Genaro, manager of a fast-food restaurant, had sus-
tained contact with Anglo-Americans at their job sites.
While language ability was an issue, it did not determine
the extent of their contact. Both Chela and Alma were
bilingual, yet Genaro was Spanish dominant. Maria
Inez acknowledged that she was learning some English
at work, but it was mostly work related.

Given the nominal contact with U.S. culture and the
predominant contact with others from Mexico de-
scribed by informants, together with my observations
of their physical separation in the neighborhoods and
at the marketplace, it was evident that Mexican im-
migrant informants inhabited a marginalized consumer
culture in the United States. At these sites, Mexican
culture was strongly present in the United States but
was segregated from the mainstream.

Individual Subjectivity

Informants reported a number of changes they had
noticed in themselves since moving to the United States.
In general, rural informants experienced more changes
than did urban informants, yet all reported some
changes, such as working harder and having more
money and more possessions, while also having less
time, experiencing more financial pressure, and be-
coming more self-centered and less trusting of others.

Overall, Mexican immigrants spoke about their lives
in the United States very positively. Graciela com-
mented about living here, “Trabajando bastante es
agradable porque uno alcanza lo que uno desea”
[Working so hard is agreeable because one achieves what
one desires]. She spoke with pride about her house and
the travel business she and her husband had started here,
yet admitted that she had much less recreation time
than when she lived in Mexico.

While moving to the United States offered informants
many benefits, it fell short of expectations. Miguel,
Juan’s brother, poetically described life in the United
States as “una jaula de oro” [a golden cage]. He ex-
plained that, while Mexicans had more money and pos-
sessions in the United States, they were not free to go

101 had just taken Rene home from the hospital. We had stopped
by his house before going to fill his prescriptions when a police car
pulled up behind us. The officer asked what I was doing there, he had
seen me quickly leave the apartment. I handed him my university
card and explained my work. He told me there had been some com-
plaints about drugs in the neighborhood and counseled me to be
careful.

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 47

back and forth to Mexico because the trip was dangerous
and expensive. Informants also expressed surprise that
they worked so much in the United States. They com-
pared this to a way of life in Mexico that was more
relaxed and enjoyable, with more time to go out with
family and friends to dance or to see a movie, in spite
of having less money. Victor tellingly described the
faster pace of life in the United States, noted by many
informants, in the following passage: “Pues, aqui la vida
es rapida, muy exitada-nada mas que tengo cinco
minutos para ir a comer, cinco minutos para esperar
mi camion, cinco minutos para entrar a trabajar, es
cuestion de estar moviendose y de estar mirando el reloj
ante todo . . . y corre, jcorre!” [Well, here the life is
very fast paced, very agitated-nothing more than I
have five minutes to eat, five minutes to wait for the
bus, five minutes to get to work, it is a matter of always
moving and always looking at the clock before you do
anything . . . and run, run!].

Informants acknowledged the pulls of both countries.
They expressed nostalgia for their past and their pre-
vious culture, such as that observed by Lowenthal

( 1985). They missed knowing people and being known,
and having more time to spend with loved ones, as well
as the food, and the fiestas. Yet, informants also criti-
cized their previous culture. All lamented their coun-
try’s economy. Informants also noted cultural limits on
their autonomy, such as traditional family roles and
limits on women’s attire. Genaro remarked that he
could not get ahead because he felt obligated to take
his family to dinner every Sunday, while Rene was crit-
ical of the large amounts of money spent on quincianera
celebrations. ”

Informants reported conflict and pressure to adjust
to the way of life in the United States. In the following
passage, Victor described his adaptation to the individ-
ualism of U.S. culture:

Aqui tengo que ser ma’s egoista, tengo que cambiar, y a
mi, no me gustaba este tipo de si stema, de ser egoista,

pero aqui la gente es asi, nada m’as que yo, yo, yo, y iyo!
Y es todo. Nadie le ayuda a la gente por lo cual, y tambien
tengo que cambiar de esa manera . . . pienso que es ne-
cesario cambiar, estoy viendo las cosas de otro punto de
vista, y ahora si que no voy a preocuparme con un vecino,
me voy a preocuparme con nada mas que mi mismo.

[Here, I have to be more egocentric, I have to change.
As for me, I have never liked this kind of system, to be
egocentric, but here people are like that, nothing else but
me, me, me and me! And that is all. Nobody helps each
other, and I, too, have to change like this . . . I think it
is necessary to change, I’m seeing things from another
point of view now, and from now on I’m not going to be
concerned with a neighbor, I’m going to be concerned
with myself.]

Informants only reluctantly described incidents of
bad treatment they had experienced in the United
States. For example, Gloria recalled being humiliated
at work by co-workers because she did not speak En-
glish. When these incidents were reported, they were
often rationalized. Maria and Victor quickly explained,
“Living in the U.S. is like everywhere else, there are
good and bad people.” Yet other informants linked the
discrimination they experienced to their status as Mex-
ican immigrants in the United States. Rolando noted
that many Americans did not “see Mexicans well.”
Rene explained, “Te ven bien mientras de que tu. est’as
haciendo sus servicios . . . pero cuando t(u te reclamas
algun interes que te pertenese, entonces, ya no te ven
bien” [They see you well when you are doing work for
them, but when you try to claim rights that belong to
you, then they do not see you so well].

Informant identity was another important part of
their subjectivity. Informants identified themselves on
the basis of their Mexican nationality, and this desig-
nation was attributed to them by others. Notably, only
five of 23 informants responded when asked their eth-
nicity; they were not familiar with the Spanish equiv-
alent for this word. Alma identified herself as Latino.
Alma, Genaro, Josefina, and Graciela accepted the term
Hispanic but noted that they did not use it and identified
it as a term used in the United States.

It is significant that informants identified themselves
as Mexicans. They were expressing their identification
with their country and culture of origin, both of which
were outside the U.S. mainstream. Informants’ difficulty
answering the ethnic identity question likely stemmed
from differences in the social categories used in the two
countries. Alma insightfully described the differences
between the two cultures in the following passage, “I
didn’t know I wasn’t Caucasian until I came here (to
the U.S.) . . . In Mexico I was Caucasian, in the U.S.
I am brown.”‘2 While ethnicity was not a familiar con-
cept for most informants, they soon learned that it was
a fundamental distinction in the United States.

Reviewing the testimony of informants revealed a
third important translation in addition to the language
and the currency. Learning one’s place in society, that
is, how people see each other and attribute membership
in particular social categories, was an integral part of
consumer acculturation. The assimilation model has
simplified the complex experience of cultural difference,
especially the recognition and management of the
stigma of otherness. Mexican immigrant informants
experienced cultural difference in their relation to
themselves, to others, and to their culture, as they
learned that being Mexican meant being part of a stig-
matized, subordinated group in the United States. These
were the sentiments expressed by Rolando when he said
that Mexican people were not “seen well” in the United
States.

“The quiincianiera is a coming-of-age ritual for young women that
is celebrated on their fifteenth birthday. ‘2Technically, Alma is both (see n. 2).

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48 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

FIGURE 4

AN EMPIRICAL MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION

Individual Consumer Consumer Consumer
Differences Acculturation Acculturation Acculturation

Agents Processes Outcomes

1. Demographic Culture of Origin
1.Deoriaphic Family variables l ll | Friends

Media

Institutions f

Commercial Assimilation
2. Language Educational
Spanish/English Religious

Maintenance

l3. Recency of / | Movennent | p R
| | { \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~Adaptation 1| Rssac

4. Ethnic Culture of
4.dEnthity Immigration

Identity ~~~Family
Friends Segregation
Media

Informants’ subjective experience of cultural differ-
ence influenced their identity and shopping patterns.
On one hand, informants in the United States had
“made it.” Those with jobs earned more money than
they had in Mexico, and they were active consumers
here, buying food, clothing, cars, and telephones. Yet
informants’ words and actions belied the conviction that
they were part of the U.S. mainstream. For informants,
the stigma of being Mexican in the United States pre-
sented a double bind that was not easily reconciled, for,
as Belk (1988) noted, to a certain degree people are
their culture.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

An Empirical Model of Immigrant
Consumer Acculturation

Individual Differences. Mexican immigrant con-
sumer acculturation was not a monolithic experience;
informants were a diverse group of people who came
to the United States with a wide range of resources and
skills (Fig. 4). Demographic differences in age, social
class, rural/urban residence, gender, work status, and
length of stay in the United States provided informants

with differential skills to adapt to the consumer envi-
ronment in the United States. In terms of age, older
informants were more habituated to their previous cul-
ture and had more difficulties in the United States, while
younger informants appeared to adapt more readily.
Those of middle-class backgrounds seemed to have an
advantage over those with working-class backgrounds;
however, many professional credentials were not valued
in the United States, and social class overlapped with
English-language ability and rural-urban status.

Informants from urban areas experienced fewer dif-
ficulties than did their rural counterparts because they
had inhabited a consumption environment in Mexico
that more closely resembled that in the United States.
Women informants generally had to work to help pro-
vide for their households in the United States, which
created some role tension for men and women accus-
tomed to men being the sole provider in Mexico. Work
status provided some opportunity for contact with An-
glos, although jobs differed in the degree to which they
facilitated such contact. Those with longer tenure in
the United States appeared to have less difficulty adapt-
ing; however, it is emphasized that, given the degree to
which Mexican culture is present in the United States,
length of stay did not necessarily determine adaptation.

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 49

Contact with and acceptance of Anglo culture were also
factors.

Language ability was also important in distinguishing
informants’ abilities to adapt. Both age and generation
were important factors in distinguishing informants’
language experiences in the United States. Informants
who came to the United States as adults were less able
to grasp the new language than those who came as chil-
dren, with the exception of those who had learned En-
glish in school in Mexico. Further, informants with En-
glish skills had an advantage in the workplace, yet this
advantage was leveled in venues where Spanish was the
dominant language.

Agents. Dual sets of consumer acculturation agents
aligned with Mexican and U.S. culture served to me-
diate the two cultures by representing them and helping
to reproduce them in the United States. Agents included
family, friends, media, retail businesses, schools, and
churches. Of these, informants’ family, friends, Spanish-
language media, the church, and retail businesses were
primarily aligned with Mexican culture. Informants re-
lied on social networks of family and friends from Mex-
ico to get a job, to find a place to live, to learn their
way around, and to learn English. Spanish-language
media, the church, and retailers catered to Mexican
people with programming, Spanish-language masses
and cultural events, and products and services, respec-
tively. Schools and English-language media were the
predominant sources of informants’ contact with Anglo
culture.

Processes. The consumer acculturation process was
initiated by people’s movement from one country to
another. Both push and pull factors motivated immi-
gration. Informants left conditions of job scarcity and
low pay in Mexico. They came to the United States to
take advantage of available jobs, higher pay, and an
education for their children. Of most critical impor-
tance, their anticipated earnings and consumption pat-
terns were powerful incentives for immigrating to the
United States.

On arrival, informants experienced some difficulties.
They were accustomed to their previous consumption
patterns, and many of the skills, knowledge, and ex-
periences they had acquired in Mexico no longer were
applicable in the United States. Key translation skills
were required to develop faculties in three new cultural
exchange systems, the language, the currency, and social
relations, with the old systems serving as bridges to the
new systems.

Informants reported their adaptation to the many dif-
ferences between their lives in the United States and
Mexico. Through experiential trial-and-error learning
processes, informants adapted to the new consumer en-
vironment in the United States. They established new
consumption patterns in housing, use of the telephone,
financial services, clothing, food, and media. Informants
also reported that they personally adapted to life in the

United States. They experienced changes in themselves,
in their sense of who they were, in their language, and
in their culture. Yet informants also noted that many
things had not changed. They had moved to a thriving
Latino consumer subculture in the United States that
was similar to their previous consumer culture in Mex-
ico. Similarities were noted in stores, products, ways of
doing business, foods, styles of dress, and media.

Outcomes. Mexican immigrant informants ac-
quired possessions fairly rapidly on their arrival in the
United States. Characteristics of the market offerings
that affected the degree to which they were accepted by
informants included their cost structures, degree of lan-
guage dependence, social visibility, how well they fit
into informants’ lives, and product symbolism relative
to both U.S. and Mexican consumer cultures.

Informants assimilated many products and services
associated with U.S. consumer culture. Most readily
adopted were low-cost, high-visibility items, absent of
any language barrier, such as clothing. In addition,
market offerings that maintained social networks and
enabled shared financing among multiple household
members exhibited a high rate of acceptance, particu-
larly the telephone and the automobile.

Yet informants also maintained aspects of Mexican
culture. Many aspects of informants’ consumption pat-
terns in the U.S. were linked to the maintenance of ties
to their culture and families. Informants maintained
these ties through telephone contact, the foods they
prepared and ate, their use of Spanish media, and leisure
activities. In addition, analysis revealed that some of
the products and services associated with U.S. culture
that had been adopted by informants (e.g., telephone,
auto, and financial services) were used in ways that par-
adoxically maintained ties to Mexican culture.

The ways in which Mexican immigrants adapted to
the new consumer environment were much more com-
plex than simply buying and using products associated
with American or Mexican culture. Informants also re-
ported experiencing pressure to change, such as that
articulated by Victor, and they resisted the pulls of both
Anglo and Mexican culture. American culture did not
have solely positive value and significance for infor-
mants, and this important critique of U.S. culture from
the immigrants’ perspective has been effectively silenced
by the assimilation framework. Informants disliked and
resisted to varying degrees the materialism, time fixa-
tion, isolation, and discrimination they associated with
U.S. culture. Informants also resisted aspects of Mex-
ican culture, such as its limits on individual autonomy
and elements of its holiday traditions. The elements of
Mexican culture informants considered undesirable
were evident in the conflicts they expressed regarding
their spending patterns and priorities.

Finally, informants inhabited sites in the United
States that were physically segregated from the U.S.
mainstream. At the marketplace, and in the neighbor-

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50 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

hoods and households, Mexican culture was the dom-
inant presence. At these sites I observed a thriving La-
tino consumer culture, situated apart from mainstream
U.S. culture.

Impact of the Environment

Mexican immigrant consumer acculturation was
profoundly affected by the environment. Environmen-
tal opportunity originally drew informants to the United
States. Once here, informants purchased and used many
products and services associated with American culture
(e.g., clothing, cars, telephones, and money in a bank
account). Yet many aspects of their new consumer en-
vironment in the United States, such as the stores,
products, and ways of doing business, effectively facil-
itated their maintenance of consumption patterns as-
sociated with Mexican culture in the United States.

Crossing borders is a central construct in this re-
search. The consumer acculturation process began with
people crossing the border between the United States
and Mexico. The border also served as a key construct
organizing informant narratives, as they spoke of their
lives on this side and that side of the border. Borders
influencing Mexican immigrant consumer accultura-
tion were not limited to the international border be-
tween the United States and Mexico, however. Mexican
immigrant informants also encountered boundaries in
the United States in a number of aspects of their daily
lives. Intranational borders in the form of subcultural
differences were evident in the segregated neighbor-
hoods where Mexican immigrants lived and at the mar-
ketplace where they shopped in the United States, in
the predominance of Spanish spoken at the various sites,
in informants’ consumption patterns, and in their
identities.

Impact of Marketing

Recognizing the direct influence of marketers on
consumer learning processes is a key contribution of
this research, as their influence has been limited to in-
direct, mass-mediated influences in the literature
(Moschis 1987). Marketers were critically important
agents of consumer acculturation, for marketers “saw”
Mexican people in the United States very well, even as
they were invisible in other contexts. Marketers were
shown to impact Mexican immigrants’ consumer ac-
culturation processes in two ways, via segmentation
strategies in the United States and international trade
between the United States and Mexico. By targeting
Latinos with market offerings associated with Mexican
culture, marketers facilitated the institutionalization of
Mexican culture in the United States. Informants at the
field sites were met more than halfway by marketers
who provided particular assortments of merchandise
and employed a Spanish-speaking workforce. However,
marketers at the sites did not deal solely with merchan-

dise associated with Mexican culture. Retailers also
made available products and services associated with
U.S. culture. By providing user-friendly access to
mainstream products and services for Mexican immi-
grants in the United States, marketers facilitated their
assimilation of those items.

Nor was consumption of Mexican culture limited to
Mexican people in the United States; it has become
increasingly targeted to and consumed by the U.S.
mainstream. The success of marketing Mexican culture
has become readily discernible in the mainstream con-
sumption of foods, fashions, entertainment, architec-
ture (e.g., “Spanish” tile and adobe), southwestern de-
cor, and in language colloquialisms.”3 The influence of
Mexican culture is so notable in the Southwest that
geographers have predicted it will eventually become a
nation in its own right (Wright 1992).

International trade between the United States and
Mexico also influenced Mexican immigrants’ consumer
acculturation processes. Informants did not see U.S.
products for the first time on their arrival. They had
become acquainted with American companies and
products in Mexico. Examples of stores included
Woolworth’s, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken;
products included Colgate toothpaste, Coca-Cola and
Pepsi sodas, Nike tennis shoes, and Levi’s jeans. 14 Thus,
in addition to stories about life in the United States,
another important source of preimmigration contact
for informants was supplied by American companies
doing business in Mexico.

In addition, many of the stores informants had fre-
quented and products they had consumed in Mexico
were readily available in the United States, stores such
as Dos Hermanos and Canada Shoes, Dimex stereo,
Orlandi Valuta monetary exchange house, Don Roberto
jewelry, and products including Ariel and Roma laun-
dry detergent, Pefiafiel soda, Gamesa cookies, Herdez
salsa, and Tecate beer, to name a few. Mexican com-
panies have found a successful extension of their do-
mestic marketing strategies targeting Mexican people
and other Latinos in the United States. In doing so,
these companies helped institutionalize Mexican cul-
ture in the United States.

Impact of Immigration

Mexican people have had and continue to have a
significant impact on both the U.S. Latino market and
on mainstream U.S. culture. The historical legacy of
immigration from Mexico, only partly the result of
Mexico’s proximity, has had a tremendous impact on

‘3Mexican art, film, and music have garnered “crossover appeal,”
that is, support among mainstream U.S. consumers (Lacayo 1988),
and in 1991 salsa outsold ketchup in the United States for the first
time (O’Neill 1992).

‘4Many of these “American” products are increasingly assembled
in other countries, including Mexico, yet that does not seem to impact
attributions of their country of origin (Han 1989).

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CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 51

U.S. culture, especially in the Southwest. Immigration
and birth rates have fueled the development of a thriving
Latino consumer culture in the United States, and the
growing power and presence of the U.S. Latino con-
sumer subculture is changing the face of the U.S. mar-
ket. In southern California, where this work was con-
ducted, Spanish-language station KLAX recently
earned Arbitron’s highest rating for that area (Adelson
1993).

Intercultural Contact and Change in the
Global Economy

The ethnographic data did not support a clean na-
tional distinction within individual or collective con-
sumption patterns. Instead, a complex overdetermined
combination emerged for each individual and for each
product/service category, in which market offerings
took on different meanings when situated relative to
the dual consumer cultures. Informants’ consumption
patterns were inherently eclectic, drawn from both U.S.
and Mexican cultures, and are more accurately viewed
as the result of rather complex dynamics of cultural
influences, marketing strategies, and individual agency
than as culturally determined or determining.

Mexican consumers not only crossed the border be-
tween two nations, they were border consumers, as are
many consumers in a global economy. People are will-
ing and able to move to enhance the quality of their
lives, yet, as this work demonstrated, they experience
many trade-offs when doing so. In the global, post-
modern era consumer behaviors increasingly presup-
pose border crossings as consumers, products, and
marketers transcend national boundaries (Featherstone
1990). Further, given the increasing occurrence of in-
ternational trade, it is increasingly difficult to speak of
the United States and Mexico as independent, auton-
omous cultures.

More and more, consumer behavior involves ele-
ments of strategic cultural display within an environ-
ment characterized by interdependent, overlapping
cultural domains. For informants, consumer accultur-
ation entailed the performance of appropriate signs,
such as language, clothing, and foods, tailored to the
particular situational contexts of their homes, work-
places, schools, and shopping centers. Thus, cultural
influences on consumers’ behaviors were more than a
link between informants’ subjective cultural identities
and the cultural identities ascribed to various products
and services. Culture was a variable commodity that
was exchanged-divorced from previous referential
cultural domains and reattached to new ones.

These findings suggest important extensions to
McCracken’s (1986) theoretical framework of the
movement of cultural meaning of consumer products.
As McCracken noted, consumption patterns are not
ends in and of themselves, but take on meaning depen-
dent on their cultural context. However, extensions of

his model are required to reflect multiple cultural
groups, interrelations between them, and contestations
of cultural presence and meanings in an increasingly
global arena.

This research also sheds light on global dynamics of
cultural interpenetration (Andreason 1990). The dy-
namics of intercultural contact and change observed in
my research were not satisfactorily addressed in terms
of generalizations of either increasing cultural homo-
geneity (Levitt 1983) or increasing cultural heteroge-
neity (Douglas and Wind 1987). Instead, dynamics of
intercultural contact and change occurred simulta-
neously in both directions and resulted in greater market
similarities and differences. The presence of Latinos in
the United States, together with marketing strategies
targeting us, are changing the character of the U.S.
market.

These alignments of national and subcultural do-
mains offer marketers attractive economies of scale, yet
they entail a serious challenge to consumer researchers.
While marketers have exhorted the benefits of tailoring
a product or service to a particular group of people on
the basis of their unique characteristics for over 20 years
(Engel, Fiorillo, and Cayley 1971), the impact of these
segmentation strategies on market structure is an im-
portant, yet underinvestigated, consumer research issue.
Marketing segmentation strategies are not only predi-
cated on cultural differences; they can effectively re-
produce and/or neutralize them. By targeting Latinos
in the United States, marketers helped bring down the
border between the United States and Mexico. Yet these
same marketing strategies also helped raise cultural
borders between Latinos and Anglos in the United
States. Thus, the market fragmentation noted by post-
modern cultural theorists (Baudrillard 1988; Jameson
1983) is at least partly the result of marketers’ zeal to
target increasingly specialized market subsegments.

Further, developing international alliances of com-
patible subcultural market segments and national mar-
kets has been identified as the next frontier in marketing
(Hassan et al. 1991). In the global economy, immigra-
tion and trade pacts and alliances among nations call
into question our traditional unit of analysis, the in-
dividual consumer in the nation-state. This research
points to the increasing importance of rethinking our
categories as we investigate consumer behavior that
transcends national borders, as well as our own discur-
sive conventions.

In this sense, the persistence of the assimilation model
in studies of consumer behavior may disclose more
about researchers’ assumptions concerning the nature
of cultural interpenetration and the important role the
immigrant plays in our national ideology than it does
about the nature and direction of change in immigrants’
consumption patterns. Bhabha (1990) has argued that
forgetting the past is not a question of historical memory
but rather an intrinsic part of national discourse that
functions to smooth over and render historically passe

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52 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

conflicting ideas of national culture and the social
cohesion of the many as one. Analogously, the assim-
ilation model has been used in ways that have smoothed
over options other than assimilation and has rendered
unintelligible the increasing heterogeneity of the U.S.
market. By attending to similarities and differences
within and across national boundaries, this research
disrupts totalizations of the U.S. market and interjects
in their place a highly differentiated amalgam of con-
sumer cultures that are geographically located and in-
herently interrelational.

Yet, even as consumer behavior becomes more
global, its significance necessarily remains anchored in
terms of local codes (Friedman 1990). Particularities
will continue to command attention because consump-
tion behaviors are unavoidably localized and culturally
defined. Thus, situating our research within the partic-
ular social and historical context in which it is embed-
ded remains crucial to advancing our knowledge of
consumer behavior.

This work is not without its limitations. Immigrant
consumer acculturation is a phenomenon that occurs
over time and spans two nations. The first limitation
of this research is its use of informants’ testimony to
investigate aspects of their lives in their country of or-
igin. Ideally, ethnographers draw from events as they
occur; that is, I would have lived in the previous country
(Mexico), accompanied immigrants to the new country
(the United States), and established a life with them
here. Recall measures are inherently problematic, yet
arguably less so in the case of major life events, such as
moving to a new country.

Other limitations of this work stem from the partic-
ularities of informants and of the field sites examined.
While the 23 Mexican immigrant informants were
carefully selected to present a wide and varied range of
experience, no claims are made as to their representa-
tiveness of all immigrants or all Mexican immigrants
in the United States. Southern California remains a fas-
cinating area of study, given its history, geography, and
demographic patterns, yet events there are not neces-
sarily generalizable to other places or peoples.

While this work has shed some light on the consumer
adaptation experiences of Mexican people in the United
States, it remains a tentative glimpse into its subject
matter. Many questions remain. Further research that
follows informants over time is necessary. It is likely
that immigrants’ consumption patterns change over
time and with passing generations, and express varying
combinations of assimilation, maintenance, resistance
and segregation. Further research is also called for that
investigates the historical shifts in cultural presence that
have occurred in this country. The field sites investi-
gated shifted from Mexican to American national status
in 1849 (Acufia 1988). Yet, while most of the buildings
at the sites were built in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, when the area was a center of Anglo

culture, Mexican immigrants currently maintained a
dominant presence here.

Finally, further research is also called for that inves-
tigates other immigrant and subcultural groups in the
United States and in other nations. Belk (1993) has ar-
gued that it is the framework, not the findings, that are
generalizable in ethnographic research. Research on
various consumer subcultures in multiple nations is
crucial to the development of theory pertaining to the
nexus of subcultural and international consumer be-
havior. It may be that the legacy of postcolonial relations
remains in the form of global markets consisting of
shared “cultural” traditions and other cultural influ-
ences on consumers’ behavior.

[Received June 1992. Revised September 1993.]

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• Contents

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• Issue Table of Contents

Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, No. 1, Jun., 1994
Front Matter [pp. i – v]
The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How People Cope with Persuasion Attempts [pp. 1 – 31]
Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings: A Critical Ethnographic Exploration of the Consumer Acculturation of Mexican Immigrants [pp. 32 – 54]
Hermeneutics and Consumer Research [pp. 55 – 70]
Consumer Knowledge Assessment [pp. 71 – 82]
Restructuring: Constructive Processing of Information Displays in Consumer Choice [pp. 83 – 99]
Incorporating Choice into an Attitudinal Framework: Analyzing Models of Mental Comparison Processes [pp. 100 – 118]
A Model of Perceived Risk and Intended Risk-Handling Activity [pp. 119 – 134]
Accepted Risk and Alcohol Use During Pregnancy [pp. 135 – 144]
The Moderating Effects of Message Framing and Source Credibility on the Price-Perceived Risk Relationship [pp. 145 – 153]
The Impact of Audiovisual Information on Children’s Product-Related Recall [pp. 154 – 164]
Adolescent Skepticism toward TV Advertising and Knowledge of Advertiser Tactics [pp. 165 – 175]
Advertising Repetition and Variation Strategies: Implications for Understanding Attitude Strength [pp. 176 – 189]
How Ambiguous Cropped Objects in Ad Photos can Affect Product Evaluations [pp. 190 – 204]
Message Order Effects in Persuasion: An Attitude Strength Perspective [pp. 205 – 218]
Back Matter