How Consumer Culture And Brand Consciousness Are Linked To Each Other

The literal definition of consumer culture, according to Wikipedia, is that it is a medium in which an economy focuses on selling consumer goods and spending consumer money. It is basically a form of capitalism. In the past 75 years, most of the parts of the world have fallen prey to this filthy business. Brand consciousness, on the other hand, is a sickness, I would say. It is a feeling inside you that makes you believe that you will only look good if you wear clothing from famous brands. In this article, we are going to enlighten our readers about brand consciousness and its adverse effects on people, the role of media in inducing this culture among people, how consumer culture and brand consciousness are linked to each other, and its effects on the people of Pakistan and Pakistani brands.

In the past, people weren’t that aware of brands, but now, due to numerous factors, people are very aware of a variety of brands. At that time, people mainly believed that price was the basic entity to be kept in mind before buying a product. People weren’t aware of brands in the past, and hence, they were less conscious, too. People are now very familiar with the brands that exist in the market. Brand awareness is responsible for making people think and become conscious of the brand. With the increase in the number of different brands in the market, their consciousness has also been at the top. The inactive consumers have been converted into active consumers. They do not compromise with the brand, after all brand matters at a large.

The role of media is very vital in backing the brand culture. First, when print media was introduced, there came a need of how the newspaper industry would earn money for their existence, there came brands, they made a collaboration with the print media that; you sell our products, we pay your salaries. So, on this basis, the print media began to advertise the brands to their readers, and the sales of those brands became largely increased. That, in a controlled way, was beneficial as it helped a lot of people, provided jobs, and provided people with what they needed. Gradually, as this culture progressed, it somehow induced the concept of brand loyalty. This concept was basically built on consumers who became loyal to a brand, and then they would not buy anything but that brand.

Actually, this phenomenon in a more wicked form was then named brand consciousness. Second came the electronic media, and as it was established, the film industry was also in continuous progress. The brands then introduced a new concept of making video adverts; these advertisement videos had big stars and movie heroes in them who people looked up to. And when they watched their favourite heroes wearing a Gucci or Levi’s shirt, they were also compelled to buy that shirt even though it cost way more than non-branded apparel available at the very same store. Third, in the past decade, as computer science flourished and social media was introduced in the market with the largest ever audience, branding companies had a great deal of interest in advertising their products on social media where even by spending less amounts of money, they could reach their type of audience by using different algorithms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., have a huge monthly audience of more than 2 billion people, which comprises a big portion of the whole population of the world. So, we can say to an extent that their reach is almost to every person now. Hence why, people are becoming more and more brand-conscious.

Some people around us fall prey to an inferiority complex, and others fall to a superiority complex due to brand consciousness. We’ve seen many people around us who are not that wealthy, but due to the enormous advertisement, they are tempted to have that product as shown in the advertisement, they can’t buy it, and as a result, they feel inferior to people who can wear that same product, even though it is not their mistake. Still, it is a dilemma for our society. On the other hand, we’ve also seen examples of people who think that they will look good if the shirt they are wearing is of Louis Vuitton and not of a local brand. Hence, they feel superior to people who do not wear any brands, which is becoming a social problem on a large scale.

Brand consciousness in Pakistan has also increased since the dawn of the media. In a country where millions of kids don’t go to school, where many people sleep starving to death, where people wear torn clothes, there are people who buy a single watch or a shirt that is more expensive than a family’s whole year expense. There have been cases reported in which women fought over buying designer clothes on a sale day. What a thing to fight for! Despite living in a place where millions are deprived of basic necessities. We’re not so strict about not being brand-conscious at all because sometimes it becomes a necessity, too.