The Distant Consumer

In contrast to the social consumer, the distant consumer in the mall refers to urban men and women from upper middle income group that aim to

distinguish themselves there from the emulative consumption patterns of the nouveau-riche. The distant consumer is disturbed by what is happening in the urban public spaces. He or she feels a deep longing for the past when there was a rich social life at the city center. The distant consumer is both physically and socially distant from social life and its actors in the urban public space, such as migrants from the eastern parts of the country. The social distance between the distant consumer and the migrant springs from their lifestyle differences rather than where they came from. Lifestyle refers to patterns of behavior that distinguish people through the articulation of their acts as well as reasons for and meanings of these acts for the agents themselves and for others (Chaney, 1999: 14). Differences in lifestyle refer to shared, common activities that name and separate a group from another.

According to the distant consumer, what is common to people of Kızılay is a low level of education, a less developed aesthetic perception, an ambiguity about where to belong, and an over-interest in woman and football issues in their everyday life speech. Like many other people, the distant consumer also complains about the chaotic life in Kızılay. However, the disappointment with Kızılay is not restricted to its chaos; the distant consumer seeks to see order and aesthetics in his or her environment. The layout and architecture of buildings, the harmony of colors, an aesthetic urban plan and design are also what the distant consumer looks for in an urban public space. Also, Kızılay becomes a source of anxiety even for those who goes there out of necessity. Thus, the mall, as an appropriate setting for his or her gaze, provides a spatial-cultural distinction in the social life of the distant consumer. He or she thinks that the mall cannot be completely invaded by the others because visiting the mall is strongly related to purchasing power.

In addition, even if the visitor profile of ANKAmall gets closer to that of Kızılay, the distant consumer thinks that the mall transforms the attitudes and behaviors of its visitors, which is why the mall culture keeps remaining decent:

Kızılay is full of people who don’t want to accept the city culture. This disturbs me.

But there is an order in the mall. Even if it’s the same people who visit the mall and Kızılay, they do not behave as they do in Kızılay (55, F, MC).

While walking in the city, I mind the design of the place, the placement of buildings, harmony of colors, etc. These are absent in Kızılay; that is why I am disturbed from being there, whereas I walk comfortably in the mall because there is order and harmony (45, M, UC).

The distant consumers see the mall as a center where they can express their distinction most saliently. For them, visiting the mall is an ordinary activity.

They are as comfortable at the mall as though sitting at home. The general concern about physical appearance while going to the mall is not a relevant concern for the distant consumer. The distant consumers are comfortable with their appearance as much as with their behavior. Neither the security system nor other visitors can execute a social pressure on them. This seemingly cool attitude towards the mall is linked to their disinterested approach. At the beginning, the shopping malls were attractive and enchanting for them, too. We can argue that the distant consumer has already consumed the enchantment of the mall. As the frequency of visits increased, the experience of a similar environment in other malls of the city made visits to the mall an ordinary part of urban life. Therefore, the distant consumer visits the mall mostly for shopping purposes. From being an enchanted place once, the mall turns out to be an ordinary aspect of modern life:

At first , the mall was completely new. My wife and I always wanted to be in the mall.

But when their numbers increased, they became the necessities of modern city life (58, M, MC).

The weakening relation with the mall means more individualization for the distant consumer. While the social consumer finds freedom outside of home, the distant consumer feels comfortable at his/her suburban home. Shopping

in malls is a social activity for the distant consumer. The measurement of the richness of their social life in the malls is their economic power. They align themselves with rooted brands that determine their compass in the mall. The general tendency of the mall visitors is to make price and quality comparisons before the shopping decision; this, however, does not characterize the behavior of distant consumer. First of all, there is no strict shopping season for the distant consumer. Following the sales campaigns of the stores to buy cheap is not an integral part of the distant consumer’s shopping mentality. He or she may visit the mall any time, during lunch, after the work or on weekend. The mall is a practical place for the distant consumer, because it supplies the opportunity to stroll among one’s favorite stores in a short period of time. The visit of the distant consumer is shopping-based. It means that it is more likely for the distant consumer to do unplanned shopping. Moreover, the spontaneous purchases are seen as some kind of fun:

There are some stores that I like to stroll past in the mall such as Paşabahçe. When I go to the mall, I visit these stores. During these visits even if I don’t need a specific thing, I frequently buy something. This is the most amusing part of my shopping mall visit (34, F, UC).

As the carriers of cultural meaning, the branded commodities embody one’s consistent tastes. The distant consumer is conservative about brands in the sense that he or she often prefers the same brands. New popular brands, sales and promotional campaigns of the other brands have little effect on his or her brand preference. For the distant consumer, wearing or using a brand for long years shows that he or she is not a nouveau-riche. Thus, consistency in brand preferences is one of the most significant means of distinguishing oneself from the nouveau-riche. The distant consumer is a special customer of specific brands. He or she is informed by the brand managers about the new season’s products via catalogues that are mailed to him or her. The distant consumer’s tastes are not restricted to the stores of Ankara or even

Turkey. He or she also shops for other brands that cannot be found in Turkey. Through relatives who live abroad or by directly ordering from the Internet, the distant consumer becomes a cosmopolitan consumer:

I am a special customer of some of the stores which mail the new season’s products to my address… I follow the other countries’ stores, as well. Because I go abroad frequently, I buy some of my dresses from there. These foreign brands are what attract the others most about me (45, M, UC).

For the distant consumer, the mall provides a spatial-cultural distinction from the deteriorated culture of the urban public spaces of Ankara and a social distinction from the nouveaux-riches. For the distant consumer, the nouveau-riche refers to those who consumes excessively, despite their low economic and cultural capital. The distant consumer is disturbed by the blurring borders between social classes and complains about the emulative character of the nouveau-riche consumption patterns. The nouveau-riche is criticized for constructing a fake identity which rests on image rather than on deep-rooted values:

What one wears has been one of the criteria in assessing who he or she is for a segment of the population. But I think brands on their own do not show the quality of people.

As long as one’s consumption pattern is not related to his or her economic power, I think that he or she has a fake identity (34, F, UC).

For the distant consumer, the consumption pattern should be linked to and in accordance with economic power. Therefore, the nouveaux-riches’

excessive consumption with the help of credit cards sweep away this relationship. The distant consumer distinguishes himself or herself by making the enchanted the disenchanted, and the luxurious the ordinary.

Restricting the mall visit to shopping-based activities, giving more significance to sign value than exchange value, visiting frequently but staying only briefly at the mall, and having cool attitudes and behaviors in

the mall, the distant consumer builds a distance between himself or herself and the nouveau-riche.