Ironically, the effects of culture on consumer behaviour are so powerful and far reaching that this importance is sometimes difficult to grasp or appreciate. We are
surrounded by a lot of practices, from seemingly insignificant behaviours like pressing
the start button of our Walkman to larger movements like flying to an exotic honeymoon
in Thailand. What is important is that these practices have meaning to us, that we know
how to interpret them. Culture is basically this interpretation system which we use to
understand all those daily or extraordinary signifying practices
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around us. Culture as
a concept is like a fish immersed in water – we do not always appreciate this power until
we encounter a different environment, where suddenly many of the assumptions we had
taken for granted about the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the way we address others
and so on no longer seem to apply. The effect of encountering such differences can be so
great that the term ‘culture shock’ is not an exaggeration