#pinkbrides Who Extend Themselves with Conspicuous Consumption: A Netnography Study

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 40 - 59, 24.06.2020

Deniz Akgül

Abstract

Nowadays consumers expect to buy value more than products. Instead of rational purchases, people put their emotions at the forefront while shopping. At the same time, they create emotional bonds between the products they bought and themselves. Putting symbolic meanings on these products, they define themselves through those meanings.
People become a whole through friends, families, houses, cars, clothes, and other belongings alongside their physical and mental being. Consciously or unconsciously, people start to see the possessions that they have as part of themselves and define their identities according to those possessions. Every product that they have becomes a tool to extend their own selves. These tools help people to define themselves and other people to understand them. Because of this people start to acclimatize themselves to their social circles’ consumption patterns. Moreover, these people create a bridge between their own selves and group culture and this leads to conspicuous consumption because of the need for social cohesion. When it is considered that social media is used by virtually the whole society, this need for social acceptance and social cohesion appears not only in physical life but also in online groups.
Individuals create their ideal selves on social media platforms and they conform to the other group members when they act through their consumption patterns. In the last few years, the “new bride” identity has played a major role in newlywed women’s creation of their ideal selves. They seem to expect appreciation and approval from online groups via their belongings which are homes, furniture, and exaggerated decorative goods.
The main aim of this research is to define the “pink bride” phenomenon and to determine how these brides use social media as a tool in the self-extension process. This process aims to determine how they use this tool for social appreciation and social approval in conspicuous consumption.
Within this scope, a netnography research has been conducted to clarify the “new brides’ ” consumption habits via discussions with other members of the groups, posts in social groups, and visual presentations of their purchased goods. To do this, memberships were set up in specific social groups and the hashtags such as “#pembegelin[pinkbride], #sunumönemlidir[presentationmatters], and #yenigelin[newbride]” were followed.
The results obtained from the research were analysed with Atlas.ti. Results suggest that four themes emerged from the collected data titled “social status”, “social cohesion”, “unique identity” and “actualization of rituals”. The data show that social cohesion and social status are related to the unique identity that an individual has and the individuals who look for social cohesion have a high desire for the actualization of rituals. Also, “new brides” accept that it is a new status and extend their own selves adding new identities to their own unique identity which is “wife of the husband” and “lady of her house”. These newly created identities are extensions of the brides’ expectations of social approval. Earning the new bride identity becomes prominent as a requirement of the social group which they want to be in. Moreover, the appreciation of social media for houses and furniture gain importance for these women. This represents a self-extension to their ideal selves. Additionally the level of attention-seeking and social approval has an impact on the process of unique self-creation, in other words, the self-extension process. Consumerism is a phenomenon that grabs attention in the new brides’ unique identity creation process. Overconsumption tendencies play a major role in the process of self-extension of new brides who wants to gain social approval from the groups they want to fit in with. The admiration of other brides, their criticisms of their posts and houses create a need for more purchases. Because they do not want to be criticized by other members of the group they buy more luxury brands and more furniture.
This research as a result attempts to understand the #pinkbride phenomenon as well as the role of consumption in the process of new brides’ social cohesion, social status, and unique identity creation processes. 

Keywords

Extended-self, Conspicuous Consumption, #pinkbrides, netnography

Gösterişçi Tüketim ile Benlik Genişleten #pembegelinler: Netnografi Uygulaması

Abstract

İnsanlar fiziksel ve ruhsal varlıklarının yanı sıra aynı zamanda onu çevreleyen arkadaş çevresi ve sahip olduğu ev, araba, giysiler ve eşyalarının bir bütünüdür. Her sahip oldukları yeni meta onların benliklerinin genişlemesinin bir aracı haline gelir. Bu araçlar, kişinin hem kendini tanımlamasına hem de başkalarının onu anlamasına yardımcı olur Bu da sosyal uyum ihtiyacından dolayı kendi benliği ile grup kültürü arasında bir köprü yaratarak bir gösterişçi tüketim davranışına neden olur. Bu çalışmada temel amaç, pembe gelin kavramını tanımlayarak, bu kişilerin benliklerini genişletme sürecinde sosyal medyayı bir araç olarak nasıl kullandıklarını tespit ederek; bu süreçte beklentide oldukları sosyal onay ve sosyal kabul için gösterişçi tüketimi nasıl bir araç olarak gördüklerini kavramsallaştırarak belirlemektir. Bu çerçevede sosyal medyanın kullanımını göstermek için sosyal medya mecralarında yer alan gruplara üye olunarak ve çeşitli etiketlerinin takip edilmesi ile “yeni gelinler”in kendi içlerinde yapmış oldukları görüş alışverişleri, harcamaları ve aldıkları ürünleri birbirlerine sunumlar aracılığı ile göstermeleri üzerine bir netnografik analiz yapılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular Atlas.ti nitel analiz programı ile analize tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırma sonucu elde edilen bulgulara bakıldığında, kişinin sahip olduğu özgün kimliğin sosyal uyum ve sosyal statü isteği ile ilişkili olduğu ve sosyal uyumu arayan bireylerin sosyal medyada ifşa etmek için ritüelleri gerçekleştirme isteklerinin yüksek olduğu belirlenmiştir

Keywords

Genişletilmiş Benlik, Gösterişçi Tüketim, pembegelin, Netnografi

References

• Ahuvia, A. C. (2005). Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(1), 171-184. doi:10.1086/429607
• Akturan, U. (2009). A Review of Cyber Ethnographic Research: A Research Technique to Analyze Virtual Consumer Communities. Boğaziçi Journal, 23(1-2), 1-18.
• Altuntuğ, N. (2010). Geleneksel Tüketim Olgusunun Kırılma Noktası: Yeni Bir Tüketim Paradigmasina Ve Tüketici Kimliğine Doğru Organizasyon ve Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi, 2(2), 111-118.
• Aytaç, Ö. (2006). Tüketimcilik Ve Metalaşma Kıskacında Boş Zaman Kocaeli Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 11(1), 27-53.
• Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2007). The Economic Lives of the Poor. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(1), 141-168. doi:10.1257/jep.21.1.141
• Başkale, H. (2016). Nitel Araştırmalarda Geçerlik, Güvenirlik Ve Örneklem Büyüklüğünün Belirlenmesi. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Fakültesi Elektronik Dergisi, 9(1), 23-28.
• Belk, R. (1990). The Role of Possessions in Constructing and Maintaining a Sense of Past. Advances in Consumer Research, 17, 669-676.
• Belk, R. (2016). Extended Self and the Digital World. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 50-54. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.11.003
• Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139-168. doi:10.1086/209154
• Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
• Catterall, M., & Maclaran, P. (2002). Researching Consumers in Virtual Worlds: A Cyberspace Odyssey. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1(3), 228-237. doi:10.1002/cb.68
• Cohen, J. B. (1989). An over-Extended Self? Journal of Consumer Research, 16(1), 125-128.
• Heinonen, K. (2018). Netnography as a Tool for Understanding Customers: Implications for Service Research and Practice. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(6), 657-679. doi:10.1108/JSM-08-2017-0294
• James, W. (2012). The Principles of Psychology: Dover Publications.
• Jorgensen, D. L. (1989). Participant Observation: A Methodology for Human Studies: SAGE Publications.
• Kozinets, R. V. (2002). The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(1), 61-72. doi:10.1509/jmkr.39.1.61.18935
• Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online: SAGE Publications.
• Özgören Kinli, İ. (2018). Elitlerin Gösterişçi Tüketimi Ve Elias'in Saray Toplumu. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 23(3), 1023-1037.
• Sabah, Ş. (2019). Kızım Olmadan Asla: Anne Kız Tüketim Pratikleri Ve Narsisizm Kapsamında Değerlendirilmesi. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 19(1), 137-154.
• Tosun, N. B., & Cesur, D. K. (2018). Tüketimin Paranormali: Gösterişçi Tüketim Ve Paranormal İnanç İlİşkisi. Marmara Üniversitesi Öneri Dergisi, 13(49), 167-186. doi:10.14783/maruoneri.vi.349988
• Veblen, T. (1965). The Theory of the Leisure Class. 1899: A. M. Kelley, bookseller.
• Veblen, T. (2005). Conspicuous Consumption: Penguin Books Limited.
• Vo Thanh, T., & Kirova, V. (2018). Wine Tourism Experience: A Netnography Study. Journal of Business Research, 83, 30-37. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.10.008