eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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The aim of this study is to form an understanding of the lived experiences of consumers throughout their lives. This is done by presenting a framework that considers consumption as a lifelong journey. Through the use of consumers' own narratives, I introduce their life worlds to the reader in a Consumer Culture Theory context. While I have organized those consumer stories by themes, they are left open for further interpretations.

In each of the four main chapters, I challenge how previous consumer research has defined consumers and consumption. In the first chapter I show how consumption and communication of identity is not unproblematic. The second chapter looks at consumption as a lifelong social and individual experience. The third chapter challenges the idea that postmodern consumers are in what some would call a schizophrenic state because of trying to embody various differentiated meanings and styles simultaneously. And the fourth chapter presents how consumers are able to express their individual tastes and styles through endless customization and according to their own developing aesthetic.

Tattoo consumption offers a truly unique research ground due to various distinctive characters such as permanency of the act, their concurrent personal and public nature, and the interactions between craftsmen (tattooists) and consumers. Social, cultural, and psychological elements are inseparable subjects of analysis in tattoo consumption, which makes it an area of interest to every marketer wanting to understand people.