“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So, oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”
– Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin

Sometimes a song is all you need to understand the most complex of concepts. As the song makes it clear at the beginning, Joplin is talking to God and she begs him, not for love or health, but for a Mercedes-Benz. What matters is that she doesn’t just ask for a car; she specifically mentions a brand name. She also mentions the envy and social pressure she feels because all her friends are driving Porsches (another brand name), so she needs to do one better and get a Mercedes, and because she doesn’t have the money, she needs God to send the car her way.

There is a lot to unpack here, but ultimately, this song demonstrates the essence of consumer culture, where we don’t buy products to merely fulfil our needs; we buy them because we identify with them. It is not, as the song depicts, just about buying a car that takes you from point A to point B; it is about owning a Mercedes, a brand that represents clout and privilege. The product becomes indistinguishable from its customer.

So where, why and how did this consumer culture arise? The rise of a relatively prosperous middle class presented new challenges for brands.

How do you sell to an audience that has no immediate needs? How do you convince them to keep spending when their basic needs have already been met?

The answer was to create demand for products aimed at fulfilling desires and not just needs. The desire for status comes from standing out and displaying our values through the brands we buy. That is the essence of consumer culture. Where the products we consume become a part of ourselves and inextricably link our own identity with the brand’s identity. It therefore stands to reason that consumer culture cannot be uniform across the globe. Let us examine what differentiates Western consumer culture from Eastern or Asian consumer culture.

In the West, consumer culture is rooted in individualism, particularly in the US and much of Europe. Individual tastes, the quest for self-expression and the desire to stand out are what drive consumers to endorse a brand. For Western customers, brands reflect a part of their personality and their uniqueness; they are not just products but an extension of their own personalities at large. In the West, individualism expresses itself through a desire for novelty, making innovation a must to attract consumers who are looking for products that make them stand apart from their peers. This is what pushes companies towards developing new features and new designs.

In Asian and Eastern countries, collectivism rather than individualism drives choices. Rather than focusing on their own personalities or needs, the purchasing decision is filtered through a social, familial and communal lens. The need to stand out is superseded by a need to uphold social norms and expectations. Conformity rather than individualism takes precedence. In Eastern countries, consumption is motivated by social status, family approval and practical considerations. While there is a growing interest in innovation, the focus remains on quality, reliability and brand reputation.

Eastern consumers value durable products with a long-standing reputation. Family and societal approval influence choices that align with traditional values and social expectations.

In the West, brand loyalty still exists, but it is balanced with a willingness to explore brands that are innovative. Here, marketing strategies must focus on the individual benefits and uniqueness of brands and keep in mind that their target audience is looking for products that not only meet their needs but also reflect their personalities.

Brand loyalty is more pronounced in the East. Consumers place a higher value on established brands, often sticking to those that have proven their reliability over time. Trust and reputation are significant factors in brand choice, heavily underscored by family and social recommendations. Marketing in these regions emphasises the brand’s history, quality and endorsements by trusted figures.

Advertising in the West focuses on individual benefits, creativity and humour. Ad campaigns reflect individual aspirations and social media influencers are used to promote a lifestyle that reflects both the image of the brand and that of the influencers themselves. In Eastern countries, advertising emphasises community, family values and social harmony and campaigns are focused on how a brand fits in with the needs of the many instead of the few. The campaigns reflect family values and reinforce social norms and brand ambassadors tend to be more established celebrities.

Luxury goods in western markets emphasise rarity, uniqueness and discernment in taste. There is also a growing trend towards experience rather than possession; consumers are more focused on what a brand makes them feel rather than what it represents as a status symbol. In the East, luxury brands are seen as symbols of success and a way to promote social status.

Due to the growing awareness of climate change in the West, the emphasis is on sustainability and ethical practices. Western eco-conscious consumers are willing to pay more for products that align with their values and the pressure is on brands to highlight their sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives. Although sustainability is becoming a more important consideration in Eastern countries, it often takes a backseat in relation to profitability.

There is also a generational gap between young consumers who are more focused on sustainability and an older generation that may pay less heed to it.

As marketing professionals, it is important to understand these points of convergence and divergence amongst Western and Eastern audiences so that we can devise more effective marketing strategies rather than trying to force-fit ideas that simply do not work for our markets.

Tamoor Mir is ECD, The D’Hamidi Partnership.
www.linkedin.com/in/tamoormir/