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Consumer Culture Theory, Consumer Agency and the Importance of Brands

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Consumer Culture Theory, Consumer Agency and the Importance of Brands
Summary of the Importance and Relevance of Topic
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) refers to the classification of a certain approach to studying consumers and the way that they consume. It was first coined in 2005 by Arnould and Thompson, and it specifically addresses the sociocultural, symbolic, experiential and ideological facets of consumption. Their work is the culmination of over a quarter century of research that treats consumer behaviour as a phenomenon worth studying. As we have come to develop the field of CCT, so too are we developing our understanding of the consumer, and the broader economy. The work of Arnould and Thompson has provided students of consumer behaviour with the necessary environment to debate, innovate and advance the field of study.1
CCT is important within the scope of consumer behaviour because it places a focus on meaning and identity creation; it delves deeper in the mentality that surrounds consumers in the marketplace, and an understanding of this mentality is useful to all that engage the market (buyers, sellers, producers, etc...). “CCT explores how consumers actively rework and transform symbolic meanings encodes in ads, brands, retail settings, or material goods to manifest their particular personal and social circumstances and lifestyle goals.”2
In understanding CCT, we understand the market in a broad sense, for example, acknowledging that marketing symbols are significant to consumer culture, and the way
1 Eric J. Arnould & Craig J. Thompson. “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty years of research” Journal of Consumer Research 31: 868-82.
2 Ibid, 871.
1
that free choice is exercised alongside consumer culture. CCT focuses on meaning: what do brands mean to consumers, and what role consumption plays in the life of these consumers. Is there more to

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