Packaging of Identity and Identifiable Packages: A study of women–commodity negotiation through product packaging

Abstract

In the age of post-Fordist flexible production, a consumer realizes her/his identity in part through the act of consumption. The visual aspect of commodity–consumer negotiation acquires importance, as commodities must be visually differentiated to attract the gaze of a particular consuming group. The act of visual differentiation is achieved through symbolic packaging, which creates a cognitive link between commodity and consumer. I draw from Baudrillard, who states that in postmodern consumption the sign value of products becomes more important than their actual usefulness (use value). Baudrillard, however, overlooks the importance of gender, race and space in this visual mediation. Through an empirical study of the packaging of women's skin and hair products in two different stores catering to two different income groups in Worcester, Massachusetts, I indicate how gendered identities that are created are complex, porous and materially rooted in space. The geographic situatedness of the exercise checks overgeneralizations allowing it to be studied as an object–subject mediation in a particular spatial context.

En esta época de la producción flexible pos-Fordista, un consumidor entiende su identidad a través del acto de consumir. El aspecto visual de la negociación entre la mercancía y el consumidor adquiere importancia, puesto que se necesitan diferenciar las mercancías para que atraiga la mirada de un grupo particular de consumidores. El acto de diferenciación visual se logra por el embalaje simbólico, lo cual crea un vínculo cognitivo entre la mercancía y el consumidor. Hago uso de las teorías de Baudrillard, quien explica que en el consumo pos-moderno el valor de signo de productos vuelva más importante que el valor de uso. Sin embargo, Baudrillard deja pasar la importancia de género, raza, y sexualidad en esta meditación visual. Utilizando un estudio empírico sobre el embalaje de productos femeninos de la piel y cabello que se venden en dos tiendas diferentes que ofrecen servicios para dos grupos con distintos niveles de ingresos en Worcester, Massachussets, indico cómo la identidad de género producidos son complejas, porosas, y arraigados materialmente en el espacio. La ubicación geográfica del ejercicio controla sobre-generalizaciones y que permite que se estudie como una meditación de objeto-sujeto en un contexto espacial particular.

Keywords:

• Sign value
• commodity–consumer negotiation
• symbol
• packaging
• identity
• consumption

Keywords:

• Valor de signo
• la negociación mercancía-consumidor
• los símbolos
• el embalaje
• la identidad
• el consumo

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Professor Susan Hanson for driving and motivating me and also providing constructive criticisms on the drafts. My gratitude to Lily Ray, Matthew Huber, Susan Aragon Carrasco and Waquar Ahmed for going through my drafts so thoroughly and pushing me to think clearly. I am also grateful to the editor Linda Peake and three other anonymous reviewers for suggestions on earlier drafts, which considerably improved the quality of the present article.

Notes

1. The adaptation of Swahili by the Body Shop in giving an ethnic touch to their products was noted by Grossman & Cuthbert (1996).