Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures - Pearson Canada

CHAPTER 15
Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures
483
This limited offer from Club House, peppered
with its playful bilingual tagline,
“For La Serious Griller,” taps into icons of
Canada’s summer season: steak barbecues
and the Calgary Stampede.
Courtesy of McCormick Canada.
✧
Canadian
Dimensions
Absolut Vodka commissioned Canadian artist Justin Broadbent (to add to its cadre
of 300 participating artists around the world) to create a (party) installation that
appeals to young, smart, and hip consumers and that embodies the tagline, “In an
Absolut world, opportunities pop up.” 172
The uniquely Canadian dimension of our geography is preserved by our
national parks (e.g., Kluane, Jasper, Grasslands, Riding Mountain, Georgian Bay,
Forillon, Fundy, and Cape Breton Highlands). In fact, marketers find opportunities
in the parks located in many cities, towns, and villages throughout Canada. Parks
are places connected to many situational purchases—for example, wedding photos,
food for picnics, and equipment for photography and wildlife enthusiasts—and
are a major point of interest for tourists.
An interesting and potentially useful way to define Canadians is through their
value system. In his book Sex in the Snow, Michael Adams suggests that there are a
dozen social value “tribes” in Canada that are defined partly by age groupings:
• The Elders: Rational Traditionalists, Extroverted Traditionalists, or Cosmopolitan
Modernists
• The Boomers: Disengaged Darwinists, Autonomous Rebels, Anxious Communitarians,
or Connected Enthusiasts
• The GenXers: Aimless Dependents, Thrill-Seeking Materialists, Autonomous
Postmaterialists, Social Hedonists, or New Aquarians (Security-Seeking
Ascetics emerged as a new tribe in the late 1990s)
Because Adams describes the motivators, values, icons, and words each group
lives by, there is potential to extend the descriptions to include likely purchase
behaviour. For example, because the New Aquarians seek experiences, value ecologism,
and believe everything is interconnected, 173 they likely have an interest in ecotourism,
vacation packages, travel, and international cuisine.
A study of the influence of country of origin on consumer behaviour suggests that
Canadians appear to have trouble identifying Canadian-made products. Labelling,
such as “Think Canadian” and “Canada—Buy Into It,” might be one way to serve
Canadian independent music has received
national and international attention in
recent years. One study examined the influence
of social identity on the consumption of
Canadian indie music among the Net Generation.
Indie consumers were classified as
Strong Identifiers (SIs) and Weak Identifiers
(WIs) with the music. SIs were more likely to
purchase 10 or more recordings over eight
months and to spend more than $50 annually
on merchandise, were much more likely
to listen and shop for indie music alone and
with friends, and were more likely to buy
indie music at music stores. Interestingly,
the narratives of SIs and WIs when describing
their favourite indie artist or group illustrate
in an exemplary way the difference in
the strength of identification found between
the two groups. SIs used descriptions such
as “I love their music; it’s a lot of fun to
dance around to,” while WIs used descriptions
such as “Cuz he’s really good.”
By understanding the strength of identification
with indie music, indie musicians
and promoters can target SIs and increase
their sense of belonging, for example, by
increasing exposure and interaction with
Canadian indie musicians. To deepen the
connection with indie audiences, this interaction
can be extended online through support
for communication networks, such as
blogs, artists’ websites, and other electronic
peer-to-peer platforms, which promote
tours, merchandise, and music. 174