Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

for understanding the production and circulation of cultural meaning through
consumption goods. It is important to notice that cultural consumption is not about
the consumption of cultural objects (books, music, etc.) but is applied to all
consumer goods that are regarded as equal circulators of meaning.
Pivotal in the theory of cultural consumption is the notion of culture and
consumption operating as a system. This cultural consumption paradigm acknowl-
edges that goods not only have a utilitarian character, they are also able to carry
and communicate cultural meaning. The cultural meaning is mobile, flowing and
always in transition. Meaning is transferred from the culturally constituted world
into consumer goods and through the consumption of goods integrated into the
lives of consumers. In this fashion, cultural meaning is integrated into the lives of
consumers through consumption.
Cultural meaning from the culturally constituted world is incorporated into
consumer goods by the advertising and fashion system. The idea is that the adver-
tising system and the fashion system pick fragments of meaning and bestow them
on products through advertising and the media. These fragments are found in the

Culturally Constituted World

Movement of meaning

Consumer Goods

Individual Consumer

Key Location of Meaning

Instrument of

Meaning Transfer

Advertising/

Fashion System Fashion System

Possession

Ritual

Exchange

Ritual

Grooming

Ritual

Divestment

Ritual

Figure 10.4The movement of meaning; from McCracken, Culture and Consumption
(1988), reprinted by permission of Indiana University Press

The cultural approach 215