Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We're here because your heightened awareness deserves heightened entertainment. The Last Show with David Cooper It's Valentine's Day, so you might want to get something sweet and romantic for your partner. Chocolate. Now, you might be a little embarrassed to buy cheap chocolate. You're embarrassed about what that means.
There's a sort of strange social math that goes on when the price of what you buy becomes a personality test. And cheap chocolate can seem to be a character flaw. You fail the test. Well, I'm here to discuss just this with C.T. Suwanda, a marketing researcher at West Virginia University.
Chapter 2: Why do people feel embarrassed buying cheap chocolate on Valentine's Day?
Hello, David. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited.
I know there's some deep marketing concepts that we're going to get to, like consumption stigma, but let's start here. If I buy my beloved, her name is Miranda, if I buy her just the cheapest chocolate I could find at the drugstore for Valentine's Day, what would most people think? What would be the default thought about someone receiving a gift like that?
Obviously, like many people, when they see you get Mirandelle like the cheapest chocolate possible, they would think, oh, my goodness, David, don't you love her? Why are you giving her the cheapest chocolate ever from the supermarket? So, yeah, they would think that way. And they would think that, oh, my God, David.
I need to do better. All right. But then on the other hand, like blowing at some of these fancy chocolate boxes can be like 80 bucks, 100 bucks. The prices can get really wild. On the other end, what would people think if I just blew all my money on chocolate and got her the fanciest gold leaf truffles, whatever? What would be the impression there?
Oh, they would definitely like applaud you for that. And somehow your love is equal with like the amount of money that you give them. But yeah, that's probably one of them for sure.
If we keep thinking this way, the corporations win. What should it communicate? Shouldn't I just buy her something like, hey, I think these chocolates are tasty. I think you'll think they're tasty. Who cares about the price? Shouldn't that be the way we look at it?
Exactly. I think the bottom line would be you should get any Valentine's chocolate that you want and you like and that is suitable for with your budget.
Okay, well, let's talk about consumption stigma. Is this the way we judge others and judge ourselves for what we buy really just based on price and nothing else?
Yes, exactly. So consumption stigma is when people feel judged or they can also judge themselves based on what they buy, use or avoid. So it's not about whether a product is good or bad, but it's more about the social meaning attached to it.
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Chapter 3: How do social perceptions influence our spending on gifts?
I actually, it started from my own experience. So I'm a pretty frugal person and I've noticed moments where I feel, where I would felt slightly embarrassed about perfectly reasonable choices, right? Like the earlier version of iPhones or using generic brands or not upgrading when others did.
So we kind of subtly, without even really realizing, create an in-group and an out-group. If you consume like me, you're cool, you're accepted socially. If you don't consume like me, you're someone else, you're an other. Does this behavior happen a lot? Like in little ways, we don't even realize it?
Oh yeah, definitely. So in this research, we actually reviewed 50 papers that talk about stigma arising from consumption stigma or consumption pattern. And so there are definitely... more examples in daily lives. For example, like when John Doe, when he goes to the food pantry and then his friends see him come into the food pantry and like, oh my goodness, why are you using the food pantry?
Or you're like poor or what? Yes, or even like when kids, they get bullied, quote unquote, because of their lunch that is just like, made out of generic brands instead of like the fancier brands so yep that's definitely it definitely happens in daily lives and
Not only is that like cruel and wrong, like judging people for not having as much money as you, there's another side to that where people sometimes spend outside their means. Like, let's suppose I don't have a lot of cash. I don't have a lot of income. And then I decide I need to buy a hundred dollar box of chocolates so that my beloved thinks that I'm a good Valentine's date.
Like that puts a lot of pressure on people just to try to dodge that stigma, which is not great. If you don't have a lot of cash, you're basically spending what you don't have.
Yes, that is exactly it. And sometimes I get so mad because there are so many people, for example, other than me, I am now, I feel comfortable about myself. I am a frugal, I am a proud frugal person. And I'm proud of my decisions. But there are so many others who don't get this. And that's exactly...
what happened like what just what you just said like they would buy some things that way above their price range way above their capability and that is that can also be um one like a cause for over consumptions and then they would uh you know be trapped in that amount of debt just because they feel like oh i shouldn't get this because i don't want other people to judge me whereas probably
Not that many people will care. And so this consumption stigma, again, like how we define it, like my team and I define it, it happens when other people feel judged or they can also judge themselves.
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