Despite extensive corporate responsibility research into both what products firm produce and how they produce them, research is lacking in one product category in which the what and how linkage create questionable corporate practice – luxury products. Luxury is in some cases created by companies controlling the so-called user imagery of their customers, i.e., by companies encouraging ‘desirable’ individuals to consume their products and obstructing ‘undesirable’ individuals from consumption. This chapter critically analyses the implications of this corporate practice based on a study of Sweden’s most luxurious nightclub. The study’s results show that the nightclub has organised its activities to allow categorisations of individuals into ‘desirable’ and ‘undesirable’ customers. Furthermore, the study shows that a creation of ‘misery’ for the vast majority of individuals (the ‘undesirable’) is essential for creating ‘enjoyment’ for the selected few (the ‘desirable’). The chapter concludes by discussing implications for practitioners interesting in altering this situation.
Reprinted in L.A. Parrish (ed.) (2007) Business Ethics in Focus. Nova Publishers; 275-288, and M. W. Vilcox and T. O. Mohan (eds.) (2007) Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics. Nova Publishers; 163-176.
In this dissertation I investigate the effects of user and usage imagery on brands and how businesses employ user imagery to build brands. Over four articles I present results that suggest that user imagery affects brand personality and that companies under certain conditions adapt their behavior to optimize this effect. Although both mass market fashion and nightclubs are susceptible to the influence of user imagery, out of the two only nightclubs actively reject customers to improve its effect on brand perception. I relate these practices to the practical and financial feasibility of rejecting customers, the character of nightclubs’ brands, and to their inability to differentiate their brands through any other brand personality influencer besides user imagery. In this dissertation, I also discuss the ethical ramifications of user imagery optimization through customer rejection. In one study, the role of conspicuous usage imagery on socially desirable consumer behavior is investigated. It is concluded that conspicuousness increases consumers' propensity to choose environmentally friendly products, and that this tendency is especially pronounced for individuals that are high in attention to social comparison information. The conclusion is that consumers use green products to self-enhance for the purpose of fitting in with the group rather than to stand out from it.