Multiple Selves: Exam One

This is my written exam for the reason I write this blog. You may find the content interesting, you may not, but there is a new blog post to come before the end of the week :D

To please the physical self we buy staple foods or medicine when we don’t feel well, but other than that the only self we make purchases for is the ideal self. I look around my room and think to myself why do I own everything I have? I have a large movie collection because I like to see myself as a movie snob, I own books to make me look like I read more often than I actually do, and I spend why too much on clothes because that’s how I think I should look. I guess an argument could be made that I buy textbooks for my actual self, because in actuality I am not a movie critic, a literary expert, or a person who can afford the clothes I wear, but rather I’m a student.

Belk describes extension of the physical self in his work, Possessions and the Extended Self. Possessions details how people get so attached to items they own they no longer feel whole if those items were ever to be lost. In a person’s mind, these items become part of their physical selves. As consumers we “convince ourselves… that we would be a different person without them” (Belk 145). In a person’s psyche we have two selves the actual and the ideal self. As a marketer it is our job to bridge the gap between what is ones fantasy and their reality (Solomon 169). Most consumers will do as Meghan Daum did and “exert a great deal of energy trying to get realities to match fantasies” (Daum). In order to do so marketers will use the four “P’s” of marketing to create that fantasy for a customer. Dichter believes “ taps into hidden desires and urges”. I think these urges aren't so much hidden, but rather part of our ideal self that is not fully exposed.

Product creation is crucial to create an ideal self. For an easy example we can look at the Betty Crocker cake mixes for example. When women only added water to the product it was threatening to the women’s sense of self. She felt under valued and therefore the product did not sell. (Dichter) It is not that adding eggs instead of just water made women anymore of a baker than the other, but her perception of her ideal self was not being lived up to. When consumer’s put so much clout on a product and how the possession affects their value (Solomon 165) it opens a huge door for marketers to reach inside human psyche to produce a product that will help one create their ideal self.

Consumer’s start to develop immunities to advertisements (The Persuaders) and reaching them through the clutter becomes harder and harder everyday. Coming up with clever promotions are how to show people your product extends the physical self. Sex and the City was and still is a show with a cult like following. The show created characters likely to be your ideal self. Whether you’re a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha tuning in each week to see what you should be doing if you were your perfect self became a ritual for many women.

Absolut saw this show as a promotions Mecca. They wove a whole character’s story line into their vodka. At the end of a hard working day what did the women of SatC drink other than an Absolut Hunk. While it maybe a stretch to some that seeing your favorite T.V character drinking a certain cocktail means that is the cocktail you should also be drinking, to the women who saw themselves as say Samantha, it was a must. (The Persuaders) The placement and promotion perfectly tapped into the women who “chose some products… to help reach an ideal standard” (Solomon 168).

If reading Meghan Daum’s blog did nothing else it taught me people who have a strong sense of an ideal self will pay more to reach their ideal standard. Companies can charge more for frivolous goods because that is why you buy. “The increasingly common definition of getting by… has more to do with keeping up appearances than keeping things under control” (Daum). “Some people seem to be more sensitive in general to the image they communicate to other” (Solomon 172). The people like that, the people like Meghan or even me will pay large amounts of money for things we just don’t really need.

“Contemporary consumption also shows that the feeling of identify invested in material objects can be extraordinarily high” (Belk 144). That statement is truer now than 24 years ago when it was written. The physical, actual and ideal self become closer to one person as possessions become a stronger part of what defines us.