Consumer Behaviour

Brands...Brands...Brands...

We are all addicted to a brand or five... but why?
Well there are many factors but that main one is the relationship that we build with them.
In post 16th Century, there was no distinction between the culture, the economy and there was no individualism
From the 1600's to the 1800's the culture and economy became separate as the turn of industrialisation began
Post modern has now changed where culture and the economy are intrinsically linked.

"Buying behaviour is not only a function of the product: it is also, and in some cases perhaps more so, a function of the consumer, his social environment and that of other consumers, the competing products in the marketplace, and the brand marketing strategy." Thorsten Veblen wrote about conspicuous consumption in “the theory of the leisure class” in 1899

By brands building a friendship, customers will return again and again. They get to understand the brand, it's language and WHAT it communicates.
Coming into that is the comfort of the brands semiotics, its packaging and store layouts etc.

"Unattractive packages change activities in areas associated with uncertainty, disgust and risk" (Stoll et. Al 2008)  

 It seems we do judge books by their covers after all...