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- The boundary between cultural information and our self-concepts are often managed through deliberate symbolic actions called “rituals”. In CB we are generally most interested when these involve consumption
- For this meaning transfer to happen via consumption, the first step is for consumer goods to take on meanings that are shared within a culture.
- This can happen through advertising – marketers will try to pair their products with images, and the public may or may not accept these, and pick them up
- It can also happen through what McCracken calls the “fashion system”, which is where everyone from media elites to cultural influencers to everyday consumers to marginalized groups can match products to meanings, and even come up with their own new meanings, that can be copied and absorbed to different extents
- Consumers can then transfer those meanings from products into their self via rituals (repeatable symbolically meaningful actions)
- Possession rituals are used to install the meaning of a new possession into oneself. This can be done by personalizing the product, or having a special first use of it
- Grooming rituals maintain the meaning of an owned product. Typical ones might involve using the product to groom one’s own appearance (putting it on, adjusting it, etc), or grooming the product itself (e.g., lovingly washing a car)
- Divestment rituals remove meaning from products – usually when then are disposed of or given away, but sometimes also to clean other people’s meaning from second-hand acquisitions
- Exchange rituals are about gift-giving. When we receive things as gifts they can receive a special status based on our relationship with the person who gave them. Also, the cultural meaning of the product might be made especially salient, because this other person chose to bestow this meaning on you (you may or may not like this)