Book Description

We are at the beginning of a new era, a lifestyle revolution that will transform who we are and what we do, as people and as consumers. The predictable linear, chronological life pathways of past generations -- from school, to marriage, to work, to children, to retirement -- made sense when the average human life span was shorter. Now, life expectancy has soared to age seventy-seven and promises to rise further, and we are starting to make decisions based less on age and more on lifestyle and life stage. Maddy Dychtwald, a leading expert on generational marketing, offers a radical new view of how Americans live, work, and buy according to the new freedoms and responsibilities of our shifting age demographics, and the staggering implications for the marketplace, the workplace, and our lives.

Longer, healthier lifetimes have resulted in a dramatic change in the way we perceive our options. Highly educated and independent men and women are finding adventure, challenge, connection, and a sense of purpose at all ages. People now return to school at age thirty-five, have children at forty-five, start new careers at fifty, remarry at seventy. This cyclic approach to life, Dychtwald observes, has begun to replace the old linear path.

Drawing on her studies of demographics, Dychtwald examines how age is becoming less and less of a determining factor in our choices, and less relevant to how we are defined in our own eyes and by society at large. She brings into focus the wealth of opportunities opened up by the new cyclic approach. Providing examples of pioneers on nonlinear life paths, the author explores increasingly widespread phenomena such as lifelong learning, serial careers, the revamped institutions of marriage and the family, expanded recreational pursuits, healthy aging, and "nonretirement."

Based on her years of experience in generational marketing, Dychtwald also investigates how companies might best respond to the ways our new lifestyles are reshaping the workplace and the economy. How can a business satisfy and profit from the new ageless consumer? How can companies benefit from a cyclic workforce?

For individuals and companies alike, Dychtwald's groundbreaking book will open up exhilarating new possibilities. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Chockful of information and insight
Maddy Dychtwald's book Cycles arrived on my doorstep at a time of enormous change for my husband and me. We met in college and married a year after graduation. We supported each other emotionally through law school and graduate school. We then both got wonderful jobs and spent 5 years living life to the fullest, with no obligations except to each other. We built up savings and bought our first house. With the birth of our first son, after 7 years of marriage, we finally felt like grownups and set about the business of raising him and his brother, with all the ups and downs and joys and sorrows that parenthood entails. Now, 21 years later, we have made it through 3 life cycles together - that of students, young professionals and parents. When our younger son leaves the nest for college this August, we will be cycling into another phase of our lives - one that I couldn't foresee arriving at when I went out of my first date with him way back when. We have talked long and often about ways to structure this next phase of ours - both as individuals and as a couple. In addition, I am embarking upon a totally new career, after spending the last ten years trying to find my niche. I was pleased to see Maddy's remarks on distance learning, as the certification program that I am enrolled is given online through a major university. It is much easier to fit this kind of learning into a busy lifestyle. I am energized through taking these classes and love the learning they afford me. I greet this time with excitement as well as a bit of trepidation. Reading Maddy's wonderful book I find that I have lots of company - in both my journey through my marriage and my quest for a new form of identity. Cycles answered lots of questions as well as gave me lots to ponder. I recommend this book for all readers - no matter their age. Life is an incredible journey and this book serves as a wonderful road map to help navigate your way through it.

From an Ageless Perspective
Maddy Dychtwald has written a powerful and insightful analysis of modern American lifestyles that turns many of our traditional assumptions about successful marketing upside down. In Cycles, her comparison between the "linear" view of life from our grandparents' generation and the new "cyclic" patterns of life today profoundly changes how we view business decisions as well as our own lives. I found her chapter on emerging workforce trends particularly fascinating, with its provocative forecasts for free agent labor and cyclic careers. And her argument is convincing! The old attachments and expectations about life at a certain age are out. What is in? A spirit for personal reinvention at every age and unexpected business opportunities a thousand times over in the second half of life.

Cyclic Lifestyle Provides Exciting Opportunites
"Cycles", is an enticing, informative book with a positive message for an aging population.The book provides the Baby Boom generation with insight on leading a cyclic lifestyle instead of the linear one of past generations. This new lifestyle approach provides Boomers with a plethora of opportunites for living, working, and buying. Ms. Dychtwald assures us that we are living longer and healthier and that we can continue to have challenges, adventures and interesting career opportunites throughout our lives.

Essential Blueprint for Future Marketplace
Cycles is the essential blueprint for navigating the future marketplace. Ms. Dychtwald has done a great job in laying out what the challenges, opportunities and risks that may define Baby Boomers and society. She adds fresh insight into understanding how the Baby Boomers lives are changing and what executives, leaders and marketers need to know to turn these trends into competitive advantage. Cycles best part are the stories of individuals as they deal with the personal choices that will confront us all. As we all grow older we may be wiser from reading Cycles. This is an informative and engaging book that will give anyone from a personal or a professional viewpoint an in depth look at how to examine their life with more meaning and relevance. I would forecast that Cycles will be the New Passages, helping Baby Boomers--and those that would market to the Boomers--better understand the Cycles that will define our lives. ... Read more

Book Description

Many of those in charge of brand strategies are clueless as to why the old ways of marketing are no longer effective. They continue their Madison Avenue crusades with disingenuous fervor. Plan their strategies with reach and frequency projections and then continue to target their audiences with 30-second sound bites. Yet they're mystified, unable to explainhow it is they execute flawlessly, but still their market share declines.

From 1996 to 2000, the Big Three automotive companies increased their marketing cost per vehicle by 87 percent. Yet, their combined market share dropped by more than four percentage points! Detroit is not alone in its marketing futility. Nearly every product niche is experiencing the same.

Overwhelmed by brand overload, deafened by market din, and empowered by new technologies, the consumer is no longer a passive target simply awaiting directives from the marketing establishment.

With the ultimate desire to touch, and be touched, the consumer has taken control of when, where, and how they retrieve information relevant to their purchasing decisions. Whether it's the TiVo control that allows them to effortlessly fly past commercials, interactive DVDs that simultaneously engage and enlighten, or intelligent web sites that cater to their individual needs, the consumer has ascended the throne. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Marketers, solve your dilemma!
Finally, a book that addresses the myths and misconceptions of doing marketing "the old fashioned" way. Advertising as we know it is obsolete...this is the age of cyberspace and the consumer NOW controls the marketing dynamic. These contributing authors (who by the way are seasoned business professionals who have been there, done that), have assembled an anthology that is truly a survival guide for marketing professionals of the new millennium. ... Read more

Book Description

It is no secret that the world is being transformed at an alarmingly rapid pace, and that business today is not business as usual. But how do you keep track of what all this change is doing to your customers and their spending habits?

Harness the Future shows how to develop a full picture of consumer dynamics and spending habits by examining consumer behaviour using nine key drivers:

• Economy
• Technology
• Globalization
• Government
• Environment
• Demographics
• Consumer Psyche
• Wellness
• Retailing

Book Description

If Americans buy it, you can probably find out how much they’re spending on it in the eighth edition of Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What. Widely praised when the first edition appeared in 1991, Household Spending gives you dollar-for-dollar answers to the questions Who buys? What do they buy? How much do they spend? Based on unpublished data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, Household Spending examines how much Americans spend on hundreds of products and services by the demographics that count – age, income, type of household, region of residence, race, and Hispanic origin. The products and services are organized into chapters on apparel, entertainment, financial, food and alcohol, gifts, health care, home improvement and utilities, household furnishings, transportation, personal care, reading, education, and tobacco. Because there is a two-year lag time between data collection and publication, the data in Household Spending are from 2001. ... Read more

Book Description

Race and Ethnic Studies/Social Issues

An exposé of the realities facing poor black children in our consumer socieity.

What does it mean to be young, poor, and black in our consumer culture? Are black children "brand-crazed consumer addicts" willing to kill each other over a pair of the latest Nike Air Jordans or Barbie backpack? In this first in-depth account of the consumer lives of poor and working-class black children, Elizabeth Chin enters the world of children living in hardship in order to understand the ways they learn to manage living poor in a wealthy society.

In order to move beyond the stereotypical images of black children obsessed with status symbols, Elizabeth Chin spent two years interviewing poor children living in New Haven, Connecticut, about where and how they spend their money. An alternate image of the children emerges, one that puts practicality ahead of status in their purchasing decisions. On a twenty-dollar shopping spree with Chin, one boy has to choose between a walkie-talkie set and an X-Men figure. In one of the most painful moments of her research, Chin watches as Davy struggles with his decision. He finally takes the walkie-talkie set, a toy that might be shared with his younger brother.

Through personal anecdotes and compelling stories ranging from topics such as Christmas and birthday gifts, shopping malls, Toys-R-Us, neighborhood convenience shops, school lunches, ethnically correct toys, and school supplies, Chin critically examines consumption as a medium through which social inequalities-most notably of race, class, and gender--are formed, experienced, imposed, and resisted. Along the way she acknowledges the profound constraints under which the poor and working class must struggle in their daily lives.

Elizabeth Chin is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Occidental College in Los Angeles. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Review of Elizabeth Chin's Purchasing Power
When faced with the concept of "Black Kids and American Consumer Culture," I immediately turn my thoughts to the image of African American males killing each other for a specific brand of basketball shoe. Conversely, Elizabeth Chin defeats this myth of "combat consumerism" in her recent ethnographic study Purchasing Power. By studying a group of young African American children in Newhallville, Connecticut, Chin develops and explains a new brand of consumer culture that many previous anthropologists fail to recognize. Chin's research contradicts the stereotypical images in society and those portrayed by the media. She defines a new image of African American youth consumer culture-one that goes against commodity fetishism and the need for brand name goods. She discovers one that deals with the harsh world of being poor and black where opportunity and survival are major factors of consumer culture. Chin demonstrates the complexity of this issue by displaying how it is woven in with and affected by society. In this way, she relates consumerism to social injustices, race relations, class diversity, gender differences, cultural baggage and social relationships. Thus, Elizabeth Chin's book Purchasing Power is an informative and profound piece that intrigues the reader with an alternative image of Black Kids and American Consumer Culture.
Throughout her book, Elizabeth Chin does a tremendous job of blending anthropological research information (both others' and her own), and her engaging style of prose writing. This is evident from the onset of the book. In her first two chapters, Chin not only effectively conveys the purpose and results of her work (pp. 4-6), but also does so in a way that the reader is intrigued by the personal stories she tells about the children she interviewed in Newhallville. Her ongoing connections between theories and real life issues with Asia, Natalia, and Tionna are especially strong at the beginning of the book. In this way, readers are compelled to not only understand Chin's idea of the consumer sphere as a medium for social inequality (p. 23), but also to learn and discover what consumer life is like for the specific children interviewed.
In chapter two, Shadow of Whiteness, Chin briefly relates several different ideas from theorists such as Marx, Willis, Genovese and Fisk to her work. For some readers who are less familiar with these pieces, this section might seem somewhat confusing and a little burdensome. In this situation, more background information on the main ideas of the theorists' works would have been helpful. However, one must understand that Chin's overall purpose of the book is not to explain previous anthropological research, but to explain how her participant-observer approach to her ethnographic study of Newhallville children is important to consumer culture.
Chin's Shadow of Whiteness chapter is also very strong with the discussion of similarities between slavery and present-day consumerism. Chin illustrates how current stereotypical attitudes of black consumption have been deeply rooted in society since the time of slavery. Her discussion of slave fashion (pp. 39-41) is especially powerful and affective to her argument. Chin could easily build upon her ideas in this section and create a more in-depth anthropological comparison.
A final section in chapter two that was particularly strong was the analysis of "combat consumerism" and how society feeds on hyperbolized media stories and fraudulent police theories. Chin states several stories of juvenile violence where the media has portrayed the youth criminals as extremely brutal because of trivial material goods desired. Chin's reaction to this societal phenomenon is valid and influential in her overall argument of the book. Chin forcefully conveys her point when she writes,
The understanding that kids like those profiled above are somehow typical combat consumers not only misreads their consumer patterns at material levels but misinterprets the social impact and genesis of these patterns. It is a portrayal tapping a particularly insidious American myth: that the poor are highly susceptible to commodity fetishism, that they are addicted to brands, and that they are willing to acquire expensive things even at the cost of their own (or someone else's) health and/or well-being. Connected to this idea is a whole rat's nest of assumptions about poverty, money, and consumption: that the poor are poor primarily due to their own lack of discipline and self-control; that the poor do not know how to economize or prioritize expenses; and that the commitment of the poor to consume somehow ends up costing "us," whether through crime, welfare, dependency, teenage motherhood; that these depravities lead to murder, drugs, sex crimes. (pp. 56-57)
At this point in her book, Chin returns her focus to her work with the Newhallville children. A common theme begins to come forth throughout the next few chapters. Chin does a tremendous job of demonstrating how social relationships influence consumption. This is first evident in her section on "School Lunch," and later in the accounts of shopping sprees where children decided to spend money on family members. These sections have vast similarities to previous anthropological research on kinship and reciprocity, especially those who have completed fieldwork like Malinowski's research on the Kula. Chin could have enhanced her argument by examining the similarities in the research. In this way, Chin could have been able to generalize that the young African Americans in Newhallville are not a special case of consumer culture, but share similar characteristics of other cultures and societies.
As briefly stated in the previous paragraph, the idea of generalization seems to be one point that Chin fails to address adequately in her book. Although her research focuses on Newhallville children, it would not be out of her anthropological context to try and generalize from her results. Since she fails to sufficiently generalize her ideas, the sub-title of her book is resultantly problematic. Chin blatantly states that Purchasing Power will pertain to "Black Kids and American Consumer Culture." With Chin's choice to write specifically on black Newhallville kids, she consequently should not place them in the category of all black kids without stating the possible similarities or differences.

Further research topics that should have been considered in Purchasing Power that would have enhanced the overall argument would have been to interview different ages of children. The choice of using third and fourth grade children might have been a slightly young age to examine. Unlike the Newhallville children, I personally grew up in an upper-middle class family in a middle-class community. However, at this age I did not really understand consumerism and what I truly desired. I found myself purchasing many material goods for other people, similar to the children in Chin's study. Chin possibly decided to use this age group because this could be a truer form of consumer culture, one before society was able to taint consumer choices. An older group of children might have been affected more by society. In either case, using different age groups would still be an interesting anthropological research topic to consider.
One final idea that would enhance the study would be to examine how a child from a socioeconomic situation like Newhallville would react when placed in a different socioeconomic position. For example, would his or her consumerism change when placed in the care of a family who was from a higher-class community? Would the child then begin to find commodity fetishism and the need for brand name goods important? Today in my small town community of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, many families host foster children. It is an amazing phenomenon to witness how children from lower class cities adapt to the consumer culture of the majority middle class population. They begin to shift their priority of buying necessary, conservative items to buying higher-priced brand name goods.
Overall, Elizabeth Chin's recent book Purchasing Power is an intriguing and thoughtful book that displays a different type of consumer culture. Unlike many previous anthropological studies and the media, her research shows how commodity fetishism and brand name goods do not dominant lower socioeconomic children of Newhallville, Connecticut. Instead there is often a great deal of prioritizing and economic discipline with their consumer choices. Furthermore, the social injustices, race relations, class diversity, gender differences, and social relationships around them shape their consumer culture. Chin uses an informative, yet almost amusing style of writing that effectively develops her argument. Although there are several areas in which her book could have been stronger, her ethnographic work with the children is tremendous and well worth the reader's time. Therefore, Elizabeth Chin's Purchasing Power is an engaging and alternative theoretical model of African American youth consumer ... Read more

Book Description

Skills for Consumer Success provides the users with information about their roles in the marketplace and how to sharpen their consumer skills. The text presents the process of opening a checking account, renting an apartment, applying for credit, looking for a job, buying a car, and paying taxes. Students learn the activities necessary for financial management and independence as they work through the text. ... Read more

Book Description

The wedding book you can take to the bank! Your wedding is the most special day of your life—and you can make it perfect without going into debt! The wedding industry is filled with people looking to take advantage, but The Everything® Weddings on a Budget Book arms you with what you need to maintain control of your money, your time, and your sanity. Whether your budget is modest, moderate, or luxurious, you’ll get the most of it every step of the way . . . and stay within it through your fabulous honeymoon.

Barbara Cameron shows you how to:

·Determine your budget and set priorities

·Budget your time and save money

·Find a magnificent wedding gown at an off-the-rack price

·Haggle with confidence

·Ensure that you get the best service from caterers, photographers, florists, videographers, tailors, and musicians

·Avoid hidden expenses and add-ons

The Everything® Weddings on a Budget Book helps you get the wedding of your dreams at the right price—and allows you to save your energy for the big day! ... Read more

Book Description

This bestselling guide contains the most current information on ordering products and services online, by phone, and by mail at savings of up to 80 percent off the retail price. While finding the best outlets and sources for bargains, consumers will learn how to "shop smart" for every product imaginable-from caviar, gourmet coffee, and clothing to linens, snow tires, and carpeting. Full of large and small businesses that have found innovative ways to save consumers hundreds of dollars on the highest-quality goods and best-known brands, this tome of money-saving advice offers tips on how to minimize shipping and handling fees, keep credit card information secure on the Internet, and access sites and savings unknown to the common consumer. Meticulously researched and actively tested by 25 successful years on the market, this bargain hunter's classic is a resourceful and indispensable sourcebook for those shoppers who refuse to pay market prices. ... Read more

Book Description

As in many other sectors, in agribusiness major changes aretaking place. On the demand side, consumers are changing lifestyles,eating and shopping habits, and increasingly are demanding moreaccommodation of these needs in the supermarket. With regard to thesupply: the traditional distribution channel dominators -manufacturers of branded consumer products - are trying hard todefend their positions against retailers, who gather and useinformation about the consumer to streamline their enterprises andstrengthen their ties with the consumer. The agricultural producers,meanwhile, face increased regulations with regard to food additives,pesticides, and herbicides. Pressures rise as their business becomesmore specialized and capital-intensive than that of theirpredecessors. Finally, the larger political climate is not sofavorable to agriculture, which now has to compete in the globalmarket without significant government support. This title describes and interprets changes in the domain ofagriculture and food. The contributors develop the theme of taking aninterdisciplinary approach to coping with these changes, usingconcepts and methods developed in general marketing, which are adaptedso as to apply to the particular characteristics of the food andagriculture sector. This book is published to honor the distinguished career of ProfessorMathew T.G. Meulenberg from Wageningen Agricultural University, on theoccasion of his retirement in September 1996. As a scientist, teacher,and advisor to the agribusiness and the government, ProfessorMeulenberg has made an important contribution to the development ofmarketing, inside and outside the domain of agriculture. ... Read more

Book Description

Renowned historian Peter Stearn presents an original and ground-breaking study on consumerism as both an international and historical phenomenon. The book is a fascinating exploration of the world in which we live, and is compulsive reading for the general reader and students alike. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Is consumerism good or bad?
Before reading this book I was not consciously aware that consumerism is a movement with a history of many centuries. I also did not realise that mass consumerism in Western Europe started in the 17th century. This book will give you real insight in what consumerism is all about unless you are a specialist in consumerism. The book combines a good historical perspective as well as the good analysis of the forces that drive consumerism. The book also shows that in all countries there has been and still is tension between those promoting consumerism as good and unavoidable and those that oppose it.
A few points of detail. The book contains almost no statistics other than anecdotal information like the sugar consumption in Paris in 1790 and similar interesting figures. The historical perspective is rather incomplete when it comes to Greece, India and classic Rome. Buddhism is not described quite correctly. Buddha was not opposed to wealth but only insisted that it should be earned honestly and used properly. It is correct that prominent Buddhists such as the Dalai Lama and a prominent monk scholar in Thailand Payutto oppose mindless consumerism and are very concerned about the impact on the environment. However consumerism is flourishing in Thailand even though it is a Buddhist country. It is a typical example of a society moving in one direction and spiritual leaders pulling in another direction. One great merit of the book is that it is only 142 pages long and very readable. ... Read more

Book Description

Kidfluence details the latest research on the demographic and socio-cultural trends of young adults born after 1980--Generation Y. This "what works and what doesn't" book provides marketers and advertisers with sometimes-surprising findings on what information and products these kids really want, and how to reach them most effectively without turning them off completely.

Book Description

If you're in the business of marketing or developing products and programs for kids, What Kids Buy and Why belongs in your office.

How can you create outstanding products and programs that will win in the marketplace and in the hearts of kids and parents? Dan S. Acuff and Robert H. Reiher have invented a development and marketing process called Youth Market Systems that puts the needs, abilities, and interests of kids first. This system makes sure you won't miss the mark whether you're trying to reach young children or teens, boys or girls, or whether you're selling toys, sports equipment, snacks, school supplies, or software.

Based on the latest child development research, What Kids Buy and Why is chock-full of provocative information about the cognitive, emotional, and social needs of each age group. This book tells you among other things—why 3-through-7-year-olds love things that transform, why 8-through-12-year-olds love to collect stuff, how the play patterns of boys and girls differ, and why kids of all ages love slapstick.

What Kids Buy and Why is the result of Acuff and Reiher's almost twenty years of consulting with high-profile clients including Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Microsoft, Nestlé, Tyco, Disney, Pepsi, Warner Brothers, LucasFilm, Amblin/Spielberg, Mattel, Hasbro, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Quaker Oats, General Mills, Broderbund, Bandai, Sega, ABC, CBS, I-HOP, Domino's, Hardee's, and Kellogg's.

Special features include:

• an innovative matrix for speedy, accurate product analysis and program development
• a clear, step-by-step process for making decisions that increase your product's appeal to kids
• tools and techniques for creating characters that kids love

Here is the complete one-stop tool for understanding what children of all ages want to buy.

Reviews (7)

Just what I was looking for
I've been on a quest to figure out of the optimal youth age breaks based on cognitive abilities, and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for. I was fascinated by the content on both a professional and personal level...I would love to see the authors update the book with some more current product examples (it was published in 1997) and to see what further impact the growth of Internet usage since 1997 has had on the market.

Excellent book (even for software developers)!
I finished this book last night without regrets. It lit up many ideas that could be realized into revenue generating opportunities. Although the book doesn't encourage the sales of 'disempowering' products, services and programs for 0-19 year kids, it does give you insights as to why kids love 'bad' stuff too. I would have wanted more info on the 16-19 year olds though. But the author did state that these 'kids' consider themselves as adults and recommended marketing to adult books. Perhaps, the books The $100 Billion Allowance and Wise Up to Teens would help expand on what this book already taught me.

refreshing responsibility
Although this book approaches the child marketing area from a unique view (developmentally), what I found refreshing was the attention to responsible marketing according to children's ages (chpt. 2!

A must read for people in or around the kids business
Acuff and Reiher are two of the best practitioners in the kids market today. They combine tremendous experience across a number of kid categories with a discipline and method that are unique. Their book What Kids Buy and Why offers many of their important insights and trends about kids. Their approach is developmental and psychological. Their perspective is grounded in brain development with a sound underpinning of why kids behave as they do at specific ages and across gender. This is stuff that is critical to marketers in understanding how kids behave. Their work offers the long view of child development brought up to date with important marketplace developments that are showing how kids are changing even as the biology that shapes behavior has a constancy. There are too few books -- let along quality ones -- in the kids market today. Acuff and Reiher's offering is a must read for anyone interested in kids marketing. Paul Kurnit, President, Griffin Bacal Advertising, Kid Think Inc. and LiveWire: Today's Families Online.

Good overview of stages of child development
More interesting as a primer for what different age children are "into" (or could be into) than for the step-by-step how-to sections.

I agree with the reviewer who notes that it reads a bit too much like a sales pitch; I don't think it detracts too much from the observations. ... Read more

Book Description

Do tweens have economic power? At 20 million and growing, this group presents a serious opportunity for today's marketers, influencing as much as 20 percent of the $550 billion in household spending by the 8.7 million families in which they live.As part of Generation Y, tweens are the last offspring of the large and powerfulbaby boom generation and, like their parents, are a market force to be reckoned with.

No longer children and not quite teenagers, tweens-kids aged 8 to12 years-are one of the fastest growing market segments for corporate America.With significant influence on household and family purchases, the four key motivating drivers for tweens are fun, freedom, power, and belonging.The Great Tween Buying Machine will demystifythe newly discovered tween market using research findings and by discussing product development techniques and the latest marketing strategies in packaging, advertising, and promotions.

The Great Tween Buying Machine reveals key information on how to expand a company's marketing base now, recognizing that an early investment in the tween market is an investment in a company's future. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is made up of short, medium, and long decision oriented and analytical cases that help explain consumer behavior. Most cases feature a real, live (but disguised) person—and none of the cases are published anywhere else.A wide range of topics range from lifestyles (vampyres) to collecting (Dale Earnhardt) to values (St. Timothy's) to rituals and symbolism (Princess for a Day). ... Read more

Book Description

This revision of a classic book retains the market segmentation approach that has set the standard for consumer behavior study through 6 editions. Emphasizes the role of technology: the impact of technology on consumers and how they make their buying decisions is integrated throughout the text. For anyone interested in Consumer Behavior. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent standard textbook
I have used this textbook for 5 years for my marketing diploma students. The book has proved itself in South Africa and used by hundreds of students with success. My only wish is that the authors change the attiutude measurement section and add clearer examples.

Fickleness of Consumer Behavior Defined and Described
The textbook used in my Graduate Diploma in Marketing course, it gave me great insights in the fields of Consumer Behavior. I especially enjoyed the many interesting ads used throughout the text to illustrate certain learning points. Very readable. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Fun for non-marketers
I find myself recommending this book to friends with no interest in marketing. Good, fun info that puts into perspective why you and your parents see things so differently. Highly recommended.

Great way to approach sales
Rocking the Ages is a beautifully writen book. It takes historical events and explaines how they formed the personality of each generation. This book helped me to curve our marketing and advertising techniques to reach our customers with a positive response. It clarifies how the generations view their lives and what they buy, how and why. It has helped me to understand my customers in a more personal manner. It is easy to get trapped into the needs of one own gereration, but this book clarifies the needs and desires of all generations, and how to approach them on a marketing level.

I'm highly suspicious
I'm pretty suspicious of the review from the the reader in Harrisburg, PA. It just sounds too much like promotional speak from the Walker Smith and Clurman Public Relations company.

As for the book, I'm only just thinking of reading it. I'll use my local library to find a copy, however.

Wonderful sociology and history of the consumer economy
An incredibly quick, fun read. Plenty of insight into consumer habits and attitudes based on extensive research. The three categories (matures, baby boomers, and X-gen) may seem overly broad, but this is the first treatment of generalizations about the generations that resonates with me personally.

(As a 27-year-old, it gets a little tiring to be told you're X-gen and to constantly think that the categorization doesn't reflect anyone in my age group I've ever met, never mind me personally. This book explains why the assumptions are generally incorrect, and their X-gen data and interpretations of the data correlates - to a startlingly large degree - with my own experiences and attitudes. This lends great credibility to their insights on matures and boomers beyond the data they've gathered.)

Great reading for anyone in marketing, but also useful as a slightly twisted historical analysis of the last 70 years of U.S. history (if history can be reduced to events that influence consumer behavior).

It gets a bit repetitive towards the end, but there is a new spin on the data in each chapter. The only real downside is that it's completely U.S.-specific. I got so much out of this book that I wish there was a version for other markets in our global economy.

You must read this book if you are in business!
Smith and Clurman review and synthesize thirty years of generational data gathered by the Yankelovich organization, identifying key similarities and differences among matures, boomers and gen xers. If you don't know what these terms mean, get the book now!

Not just for marketing types!

A must-read for business leaders, managers, recruiters, marketing professionals, HR professionals, parents or anyone (especially matures and boomers) who has to reach across generational boundaries to be more effective in their job or personal life.

An easy and enjoyable read with many "Aha!'s." ... Read more

Book Description

In this book, one of the leading social theorists and cultural commentators of modern times, turns his gaze on consumption. George Ritzer, author of the famous McDonaldization Thesis, demonstrates the irrational consequences of the rational desire to consume and commodify. He examines how McDonaldization might be resisted, and situates the reader in the new cultural spaces that are emerging in society: shopping malls, casino hotels, Disneyfied theme parks and Las Vegas, the new `cathedrals of consumption' as he calls them. The book shows how new processes of consumption relate to globalization theory. In illuminating discussions of the work of Thorstein Veblen and the French situationists, Ritzer unearths the roots of problems of consumption in older sociological traditions. He indicates how transgression is bound up with consumption, through an investigation of the obscene in popular and postmodern culture.

Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption will be required reading for students of sociology, cultural studies and anyone interested in the pattern of consumption processes in contemporary society.

Book Description

Perhaps you've had problems with credit. Or perhaps you haven't, but your credit report says you did anyway, nearly 70 percent of credit reports contain errors.

Either way, a less-than-flattering report can hurt your chances of qualifying for a credit card, mortgage or any other kind of loan, it can even get in the way of renting an apartment or finding a job.

But a bad credit report can almost always be improved or corrected. In plain English, Credit Repair shows you how to fix your credit situation quickly, easily and legally. Learn how to:

*avoid overspending

*establish a realistic budget

*get out of debt now

*build a financial cushion

*read and understand your credit report

*get mistakes on your credit report fixed

*protect your social security number

*avoid credit discrimination

*get positive information added to your credit report

*negotiate with creditors

This edition of Credit Repair provides new information about your liability when your credit card is used without your permission, and how to close a credit card account properly. It also includes sample credit reports and lists of agencies and organizations to turn to for additional help. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

This book is not getting enough Credit!!!
This book was so helpful, I just can't uderstand the bad reviews! Thanks to Credit Repair I've gone from being up to my ears in debt to having near perfect credit! Of course this kind of result isn't going to happen over night, any one who tells you otherwise is lying or doing something illegal. THERE ARE NO LEGAL QUICK FIXES!!! I've tried many different methods to improve my credit but following the advice in this book is the only one that worked for me. It even contains a CD-ROM with pre-made forms and letters that help to make the process as easy and painless as possible. Credit Repair was worth every cent!

Helped Me Too
I used this book and cd, in 1 day my credit score went up after I disputed several items

This book is all theory- Not worth it!
It is obvious Ms Leonard gets her information from outside sources: i.e. legal reseach, fellow colleague, libraries, other credit repair books. All the new additions is a rehash of old, obsolete credit information. Half of the books consisted of regulations of various sorts to add pages to her book. On chapter 5/11, about removing bad credit, she mentioned bad credit has to stay for 7-10 years as long as it is correct - which is false; any negative information can be removed if the dispute is done correctly. She probably got her information from the credit bureaus themselves. As we know, the credit bureaus wants to brainwash consumers into thinking the no one can legally remove bad credit. On one passage the book said "Even if the credit bureau removes information that a credit bureau had the right to include in your file, it is no doubt only a temporary removal. Most correct information reappears after 30-60 days, when the creditor that first reported the information to the credit bureau re-reports it". This is false, most (98%) of items actually removed never comes back on. This is based on 13 years of credit repair experience. Please delete this passage from your future editions. It is obvious Ms Leonard does not practice what she preach! If she has she would have known that. Also, if she is a practitioner, she would have more practical tips about restoring credit. Instead, she takes credit for publishing other people's ideas! This book is not worth it.

Not worth reading!
I purchase every book on Credit Repair that I find, so far I've read approx. 15 books on the subject, and this is by far the worst! In fact, I believe if the methods suggested in this book were followed, your credit situation may become even worse, or at the very least, make 'Repair' impossible to accomplish without waiting 7 years for the marks to fall off themselves. The book contradicts the methods that are used by professionals. If someone were to tell me that the author was a Credit Bureau cohort, I wouldn't hesitate to believe it! Basically, if you want to get a lecture about being a deadbeat who needs to be punished, or hear the rhetoric about it being impossible to remove bad marks on your credit if you actually owe money, or actually DID make late payments, then this is the book for you. But, if thats what you want to do, then I still suggest not spending the money on this book and just call your creditors and ask what they think you should do.

Dispite what this book tells you, rest assured "Credit Repair" DOES WORK if done correctly. All you have to do is use common sense, and you can do it all WITHOUT lying or doing anything illegal. The best book on this subject that is available right here at Amazon.com is "The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair..." by Todd Bierman & Nathaniel Wice. The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair is half the price of this book, and worth 10 times it's price!

I don't normally review books like this, but I was so disgusted with this book and the fact that I wasted 20 bucks on it, that I felt the need help others not blindly fall into this book and end up getting a raw deal in the end.

Sure helped me!
This book got me started and slowly and surely my credit reports are getting better and better! We are on our way to buying a house and this is making it happen! It takes time but it is definately do-able! ... Read more