Rituais de consumo e mascotes: um estudo do movimento dos significados na perspectiva experiencial do consumidor

Abstract

The present dissertation manifested itself in the following problem: how the consumption rituals move the meanings absorbed by the mascots after completing their journey in the consumer. Therefore, the present work aims to explore and understand through the rituals of consumption the circulation of cultural meanings after completing its journey in the local consumer. To achieve this purpose, this exploratory study of a qualitative nature began its investigation through a literature review, which based the proposition of expanding knowledge about the process of movement of cultural meanings in the perspective of the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) to understand the social relations of consumption. Then, a study of consumption rituals, the movement of cultural meanings of material goods for the final consumer was carried out, anchored in the models of McCracken (2010) and Perez (2020). In the next chapter, the concept of mascot, its expressiveness, characteristics and its connection with the senses were discussed when portrayed in Olympic and Paralympic souvenirs from 1972 to 2016. Then, twenty-one interviews were held to understand consumer rituals as the circulation of meanings occurs from the experiential perspectives of local consumers. The results support the occurrence of the circulation of meanings after completing their journey in the local consumer through the rituals of reuse, recycling and reframing. In addition, the data demonstrate the importance of search and exchange rituals in the consumption process, and a realignment in the rituals of purchase, use, expropriation and disposal. Therefore, this evidence motivated the construction of an analysis model based on the circulation of meanings and on the experiential perspectives of the local consumer. As a contribution to marketing, this dissertation expands the research on the process of movement of meanings and on consumption rituals, since it is a theme that needs research and theoretical deepening. Finally, the study of the meanings carried on the mascots from the experiential perspectives of local consumers, was an interesting example of a market resource used by marketing to bring the postmodern consumer closer to a brand that proposes a more social and cultural image