Using introspective self@narrative to analyze consumption: Experiencing plastic surgery

Using autoethnography, this paper approaches consumption through a consumer's introspective narrative. Presented according to the three stages of Gould's (1993) Product Use Cycle, plastic surgery is connected to the writer's past using artifacts and photographs to elicit significant memories of potential motivations for purchase. Next, influences for purchase choice and the purchase experience are described from diaries and audiotaped transcriptions. Finally, the author reflects on purchase effects to identify significant revelations, reversals and themes involved in the gestalt of a facelift purchase process.

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* Professor, Department of Communication, California State University, Fullerton, CA; E‐mail: Ssayre a fullerton.edu