Findings: Markers and Mechanisms
Our findings will be discussed in terms of the three traditional markers of community and the particularities of brand communities. In Fairlawn and beyond there is evidence of brand community. The brand communities are social entities that reflect the situated embeddedness of brands in the day‐to‐day lives of consumers and the ways in which brands connect consumer to brand, and consumer to consumer. Three essential markers of community (consciousness of kind, rituals and traditions, and moral responsibility) are present, but differences in their expression make brand communities something significant in their own right.
In our Fairlawn data, obvious examples of brand communities are not common, but neither are they rare. This is as expected. Five of the nine household informants are part of at least one brand community; others share less communal brand‐based affiliations. Some brands are particularly marked by community, with Saab, Apple Macintosh, and Ford Bronco being the most prominent examples. Evidence of additional brand communities is found in Fairlawn: Michelin tires, Zippo lighters, Coca‐Cola, Star Trek, and the X‐Files. Brand community members possess a fairly well‐developed understanding of their feelings toward the brand and their connection to other users. Members know it isn’t the most important thing in their lives—not even close—but neither is it trivial. They know they share a social bond around a branded, mass‐produced commodity, and believe it is reasonable to do so. They do not wish to be confused with indiscriminate zealots who are “weird nuts” occupying marginal positions.