Developing Affective Brands: Paratextualization in the Entertainment Industry
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André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão
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Bruno Melo Moura
Abstract
Fans’ relationship with media product franchises is strongly based on the symbolic value and sense of belonging that nurtures their consumer practices, a fact that indicates the love relationship with these brands. Entertainment brands increasingly resort to paratexts in order to expand their relationship with fans. Thus, the aim of the current research is to investigate how the paratextualization of franchise productions by the entertainment industry is used to trigger love towards their brands. In order to do so, it applied the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to news reports and information published on websites of three of the most successful brands in the entertainment industry, namely: Star Wars, Wizarding World and Game of Thrones. Based on the results, these brands promote both the value and the continuity of the aforementioned sagas as means to develop an affective brand for their fans.
1 Introduction
The entertainment industry has been growing at global scale: whether due to the economic values it moves or to its sociocultural relevance (Argo, Zhu, and Dahl 2008; Toubia et al. 2019). If one takes into consideration that the entertainment industry has been one of the most profitable and popular market segments for a few decades (Currah 2006; Koku 1995), it is possible saying that the way its contents are assimilated and resignified by its public indicates that they are culturally consumed products (Cronin 2016; Feiereisen et al. 2020).
Thus, brands associated with these entertainment products are treated as cultural brands (Hackley and Tiwsakul 2006; O’Reilly 2005). Such aspect is in line with Holt’s (2004) understanding about brands: they are market agents capable of becoming iconic by incorporating elements of the culture they are inserted in. Therefore, some entertainment brands have turned into great cultural phenomena: their global popularity has legitimized one of the consumer subcultures that have gained room in recent consumer research investigations (Chen 2021; Fuschillo 2020; Kozinets 2001).
Fans’ relationship with brands is based on both the symbolic value and feeling of belonging nurtured by them through their consumption practices (Cova and Cova 2002; Guschwan 2012; Magrizos et al. 2021). The feature differentiating consumer fans of a given brand lies on the way they often engage with peers in order to publicly express their love for the brand (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Hook, Baxter, and Kulczynski 2018).
Thus, fans’ engagement can be understood as brand love, when they publicly talk about their consumption activities and attest their loyalty to the products consumed by them (Coelho, Bairrada, and Peres 2019; Derbaix and Korchia 2019; Konstantoulaki et al. 2022). No wonder fans’ engagement is often associated with brand loyalty positioning, since media products consumed by them are mediated artifacts of pop culture (Holt 2004; Obiegbu et al. 2019).
Both brand loyalty and consumers’ engagement in its values are brand love foundations, a specific type of brand attachment experienced by consumers (Gilal et al. 2019) when, among other factors, they meet managers’ interests. Accordingly, they publicly express the important role products consumed by them play in their lives, as well as reiterate their loyalty to, and legitimize their love for, the brand (Albert, Merunka, and Valette-Florence 2008; Batra, Ahuvia, and Bagozzi 2012; Rios, Riquelme, and Sinno 2020).
Brand love is a marketing management agenda; organizations often invest in relationship-oriented strategies in order to intensify the ways their customers interact with, and relate to, their products (Joshi and Garg 2020; Kazmi and Khalique 2019). In order to do so, marketing managers assimilate demands from their customers by implementing marketing communication processes (Arvidsson 2006; Cova and Dalli 2009).
In the case of entertainment brands, brand love is a quest to establish fans’ loyalty by providing continuous ways of consuming their productions (Derbaix and Korchia 2019; Jahn and Kunz 2012). Thus, notably, the marketing communication process of brands consumed by fans often involves producing complementary texts (Hackley and Hackley 2020; Hills 2015). These texts are also known as paratexts, whose contents are capable of expanding the original texts, which are massively mediated by the entertainment industry (Gray 2010).
Notwithstanding, entertainment brands increasingly resort to paratexts in order to expand marketing relationships between their main consumers – i.e. the fans – and their productions (Cruz, Seo, and Binay 2019; Hackley and Hackley 2020), since they see paratextualization as means to encourage the reaction and production processes of brands’ fans (Hills 2018), as well as to narrow the ways to communicate with their main audience (Aronczyk 2017; Scott 2017).
Therefore, the aim of the present was to investigate how the paratextualization of franchise productions in the entertainment industry is used to establish love for their brands. It allows expanding the discussion about paratext function as massively mediated marketing communication strategy (Aronczyk 2017; Hackley and Hackley 2019), by pointing out that franchises – brands –attach themselves to their consumers through complementary contents.
Although previous studies provided interesting explanations for paratext using for brand management purposes (Hills 2015), it is interesting analyzing paratexts as discursive practice that indicates how brands improve their market relationships and positions, from the sociocultural perspective. Thus, the current study focuses on analyzing documentary contents establishing marketing discourses (Tadajewski 2011; Thompson 2017).
Contents and discourses produced in the entertainment industry to promote movie and television productions stand out for continuously assimilating features that legitimize, engage to and make media products popular among their consumers (Baker and Schak 2019; Cronin 2016; Feiereisen et al. 2020). Three – Game of Thrones (GoT), Star Wars (SW), and Wizarding World (WW) – among franchises that echo in the movie or television market and that achieve great success in pop culture, have gained prominence in investigations addressing franchises that have achieved economic success across multiple media and cultural engagement, both globally and longitudinally (de Souza-Leão et al. 2020; Ferrandiz 2019; Javanshir, Carroll, and Millard 2020; Murphy 2017; Proctor 2018). The current study is justified by some important aspects. On the one hand, it addresses a construct (i.e. brand love) of increasing relevance in the brand studies’ field (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Joshi and Garg 2020; Kazmi and Khalique 2019; Wallace, Buil, and deChernatony 2017); on the other hand, it is innovative for incorporating the idea of paratextualization to this approach (Cruz, Seo, and Binay 2019; Sugihartati 2020). In addition, it focuses on the entertainment industry, which is a segment of great economic-cultural relevance that has been growing in recent decades (Feiereisen et al. 2020; Hackley and Hackley 2019) and aims at managing its relationship with its main consumers: i.e. the fans (Chien and Ross 2013; Guschwan 2012).
2 Brand Love in Fans’ Engagement to Entertainment Industry Productions
Marketing strategies implemented by the entertainment industry encourage its consumers to (re)signify their consumption practices through elements (e.g. spaces, scenarios, sets, plot devices, dramatic incidents, cinematographic technologies, props, storylines, characters and dramatic narratives) made available to them (Argo, Zhu, and Dahl 2008; Hackley, Hackley, and Bassiouni 2018). The three main approaches adopted to widen the reach of entertainment products comprise the content approach, which is based on assimilating how these products are received and likely accepted by the audience; the collaborative approach, which incorporates the understanding about the behavior of a set of consumers towards the media uniting them; and the hybrid approach, which combines the two previous approaches to define audience extrapolations and responses to the consumed media (Toubia et al. 2019).
These approaches are used by marketing managers working in massively mediated segments (e.g. cinema, television), since they produce transmediable contents that can be reproduced by pop culture consumers (Baker and Schak 2019; Cronin 2016; Feiereisen et al. 2020). This process can be seen in three major franchises in the entertainment industry, namely: GoT, SW and WW (Bolan and Kearney 2017; de Souza-Leão et al. 2020; Flotmann 2014). Each franchise, in its own way, turned into acclaimed brands (Baran and Öztel 2020; Proctor 2018; Young 2014) that hold products in different media and that, most importantly, have groups of consumers who resignify their productions, in their global convergence, even when they are globally dispersed (Ferrandiz 2019; Javanshir, Carroll, and Millard 2020; Murphy 2017).
Entertainment franchises’ consumers go beyond their passive reception role, since they often talk among peers or meet the interests of the ones managing the brands consumed by them in order to intensify their affective relationships with these brands (Moura and de Souza-Leão 2020; Zajc 2015). In order to do so, they publicly express their affective connection to the brands consumed by them (Japutra, Ekinci, and Simkin 2019; Malär et al. 2011). These connections are emotional bonds established by consumption practices; they can be, and often are, sustained by the symbolic value and by the feeling of belonging they foster among consumers (Cova and Cova 2002; Guschwan 2012).
According to Gilal et al. (2019), fans’ affective connection to brands is an overlap of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for consumption itself. Thus, in order to maintain this attachment, it is necessary establishing ways for consumers to interact with each other about the brands. According to Obiegbu et al. (2019), brand managers boost fans’ loyalty when they assimilate practices identified by them as echoing among their products’ fans and fandoms (e.g. involvement, socialization, identities).
Brands’ relationships go beyond the attachment expressed by their consumers (Magrizos et al. 2021; Moura and de Souza-Leão 2020; Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005); thus, they are often treated as brand love (Batra, Ahuvia, and Bagozzi 2012; Madadi et al. 2021). Brand love encompasses a set of emotional and passionate feelings that product managers seek to trigger in their consumers to establish their long-term commitment or loyalty to the brand (Albert, Merunka, and Valette-Florence 2008; Rios, Riquelme, and Sinno 2020). This phenomenon operates through a nomological network wherein marketing managers encourage customers’ familiarity with, connections to, attitudes towards, or pricing of, a given brand (Albert and Merunka 2013; Warren et al. 2019).
Moreover, brand love is often linked to great customer satisfaction resulting from direct consumption itself (Yeung and Wyer 2005); it is associated with positioning and social status (Connors et al. 2020; Reimann, Nuñez, and Castaño 2017) and even substantiates feelings of belonging to cultural clusters and contexts (Hansson 2015; Lane 2021). In addition, when brand love is encouraged, it invites customers to participate in the production process of what is consumed by them, by acting as co-creators of brand meanings to be spread by the managers of products consumed by them (i.e. firm-sponsored information), as well as by other consumers who spontaneously engage to this process (i.e. word-of-mouth) (Berry 2000; Roy, Eshghi, and Sarkar 2013).
Nevertheless, brand love works as significant mediator capable of intensifying customers’ involvement with brands at different relationship levels (e.g. brand image, brand prestige, brand trust) (Joshi and Garg 2020; Kazmi and Khalique 2019). Interestingly, the involvement generating brand love is one of the features capable of differentiating fans from ordinary consumers. It happens because fans always try to engage individuals they interact with about their love for the brand in order to increase the likelihood of relating to what they consume or to other people who share the same consumption practices (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Hook, Baxter, and Kulczynski 2018).
Sharing consumption practices among peers belonging to the same brand community is the way to establish the permanent involvement of its members. Therefore, brands can align their interests with those of the brand community, as well as encourage platforms and customer comments to be oriented to – or sponsored by – their proposals (Rossolatos 2021). Thus, brand managers should establish contents capable of encouraging consumers’ engagement, both at cultural and economic level (Obiegbu et al. 2019); accordingly, complementary texts – or simply paratexts – are an alternative to keep their audience continuously engaged to both the brand and its products (Hills 2015).
3 Paratexts: A Marketing Communication Tool
In broader terms, brand engagement is seen as multidimensional concept, when different activities (e.g. cognitive, emotional, behavioral) are positively associated with the one determined by consumers who interact with each other and with elements that enable consuming the brand (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Hollebeek, Glynn, and Brodie 2014).
On the one hand, it is possible assuming that the engagement exercised by fans is a kind of love for the brand, a continuous and public commitment that emphasizes their loyalty to peers, to the media and to the entertainment linked to their consumption activities (Coelho, Bairrada, and Peres 2019; Konstantoulaki et al. 2022). On the other hand, it is just a scenario conducive to experiencing love for the brand, although it needs to be constantly encouraged. It happens because fans’ interactions are mostly established in fandoms managed by themselves (Wallace, Buil, and deChernatony 2017).
Whatever the case is, fans’ love for the brand is based on a context wherein consumers can engage and give continuity to consumption experiences capable of attesting their loyalty to products consumed by them (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Hook, Baxter, and Kulczynski 2018). In order to do so, brand loyalty resort to a marketing strategy that overall plays fundamental role in consumers’ brand love, namely: the production of communication contents to narrow their likelihood of relating to what is consumed by them and of communicating with their peers (Berry 2000; Roy, Eshghi, and Sarkar 2013).
Marketing managers often use communication tools to nurture brand love (Arvidsson 2006; Cova and Dalli 2009). This practice has been enhanced by new alternatives made available for customers to relate to brands consumed by them through marketing communication in the digital environment (Ahuvia, Rauschnabel, and Rindfleisch 2020). It happens because the digital scenario expands brands’ opportunities to interact with their consumers, and vice versa; it opens room for new ways of co-producing meanings associated with different brand consumption circumstances (Batra 2019).
Overall, new digital media have been used by marketing communication as instruments to spread contents capable of enhancing the consumption of the most relevant products (Aronczyk 2017). Thus, customers play the role of stakeholders of contents received or resignified by them in their interactions to help the marketing communication process of products consumed by them (Rowley 2008). This factor has led brands to produce complementary contents to enable promoting, broadening and re-signifying the relationship between managed products and their audience (Hills 2015).
Such complementary contents have the potential to encourage marketing communication, either by expanding consumption horizons (Hackley and Hackley 2020) or by conquering new target audiences for what is produced (Cruz, Seo, and Binay 2019). These contents are known as paratexts: i.e. auxiliary texts capable of influencing both the choice of what will be consumed and the way consumption is to take place (Fathallah 2016; Hackley and Hackley 2019). According to Gray (2010), it happens because paratexts can perform important functions associated with media products’ supply and consumption: they create expectations, help better understanding these products, contribute to their enjoyment, and enable meaning negotiations, among others.
The term “paratext” was originally proposed by Genette (1997) and it was used to designate contents created to help better understanding literary works, either by presenting them or by contextualizing or adding meaning to their main content. According to the aforementioned author, paratexts are classified into two types: peritexts, which directly refer to the original content as the way to create anticipation and repercussion; and epitexts, which are discontinuously produced from the original text, by reverberating it and adding new layers of meaning to it.
Although paratexts are often used by entertainment industry products, they can be produced by both producers and consumers (Hills 2015; Steiner 2015). It happens because they are additional contents capable of affecting the enjoyment of reading, regardless of the source or time when the audience has contact with them (Fathallah 2016; Hills and Garde-Hansen 2017).
This process was explored by Gray (2010), who expanded the discussion about the role played by paratexts in the reception of products from the entertainment industry. According to his perspective, paratexts are categorized based on the time they are consumed, namely: entryway and in media res. The first time refers to paratexts preceding the consumption of the main text, which are used to establish audience expectations (e.g. information about releases, teasers and trailers). The other time – in media res – refers to contents accessed after or during the main text consumption and helps deepening its reading (e.g. post-credits scenes of movies, media repercussions and fan comments).
Paratexts change the way the audience receives and interacts with massive media products consumed by them, regardless of the time (Hills 2015). They work as auxiliary contents focused on helping better understanding and elaborating meanings that, consequently, configure the cultural scheme of massively commodified media texts. More than that, paratexts are interesting tools used for brand management purposes, since they enhance the reach of their products, as well as their relationship with consumers (Aronczyk 2017; Cruz, Seo, and Binay 2019).
Paratextualization carried out by the entertainment industry increases the extension and spread of its products, a fact that reinforces the importance of attributing new meanings to them (Gray 2010; Hills 2015). Thus, using paratexts to maintain the relationship between consumers and media products enables the co-creation of meaning construction layers, since they assume discursive functions (Mittell 2015; Steiner 2015). More than that, paratexts are contents used to spread and maintain discursive productions that represent individuals’ positions towards new media industry productions (Mittell 2015; Scott 2017).
4 Methodological Procedures
The theoretical foundations adopted to support the aim of the current research assume that paratext production by entertainment industry brands establishes market discourses, as presented in the previous section. Accordingly, the current study applied the discourse analysis approach to the investigated data. Therefore, because the aim of the present study is to investigate the conditions establishing and maintaining consumer discourses, we herein adopted a methodology capable of identifying discursive productions between social relations, such as the market ones. Consumer research studies have adopted the Foucauldian methodology to observe discursive regularities and epistemes produced in market relations (Denegri-Knott, Nixon, and Abraham 2018; Tadajewski 2011).
Thus, the present study is in compliance with lines of thinking that assume paratexts as discursive productions by taking into considering that they play key role in maintaining and spreading discourses referring to media objects (Mittell 2015; Steiner 2015). Therefore, Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) was herein adopted as methodology to investigate paratextual contents.
The aforementioned method was herein adopted based on Tadajewski’s (2011; 2016 suggestion about its validity for marketing research, since it gives semi-inductive profile to the study. Moreover, it enables both the theoretical background of the research a priori – at the time to elaborate its object of study –, as well as a posteriori – when it expands the results through the interpretation of findings. Thompson (2017) points out how the method developed by Michel Foucault allows researchers to assess the conditions producing discourses through documentary data and stimulating the expansion of consumer research perspective and marketing issues’ theorization.
The Foucauldian methodology leads to the conducive path used to explain and potentially theorize social practices based on its discourses (Deleuze 1988). This methodology is a research tool used to help better understanding the conditions enabling the production of different discourses and their implications, as well as to guide researchers to identify what is said, how it is said, and from which position it is said (Kendall and Wickham 1999).
In order to do so, the current investigation has focused on three emblematic brands in this market segment:
Game of Thrones (GoT) is the TV adaptation, produced by HBO network, from a series of books written by George R. R. Martin. The franchise holds several records such as specialized critics’ award nominations and winning (Feldman 2019; Mathews 2018); it has also become emblematic for popularizing avid consumers’ practices, such as avoiding spoilers and pirating episodes, at global scale (MacNeill 2017; Steiner 2015; Young 2014).
Star Wars (SW) was created by filmmaker George Lucas and is one of the most successful franchises in the entertainment industry (Benson 2020; Hills 2003). Although its first production dates back to the 1970s, the franchise’s products have established themselves as representative of pop culture consumers from different generations. It is not by chance that recent releases focused on expanding this fictional universe keep breaking records in terms of audience and repercussion (Proctor 2018; Scott 2017; Wood, Litherland, and Reed 2020).
The Wizarding World (WW) is the expansion of the universe created by J.K. Rowling, who wrote the “Harry Potter” book series, worked as producer in the homonymous movie saga and as direct supervisor of recent projects focused on expanding the brand (Baran and Öztel 2020; Martens 2019). Its notoriety established in literary market records has expanded to other media (e.g. movies, theater plays, video games, theme parks) that increased its representativeness in pop culture (Brown and Patterson 2010; Souza-Leão and Costa 2018).
4.1 Formation of Research Archive
It is necessary preparing the archive to be analyzed before implementing the FDA method; this process corresponds to the construction of the research corpus. The archive comprises knowledge produced about a given discursive event: the time interval between rupture, when a given event arises, and regularity, based on which, it becomes part of the investigated social arrangement (Foucault 2002). The herein analyzed archive comprised news reports published at the official Game of Thrones (GoT), Star Wars (SW) and Wizarding World (WW) websites.
Making Game of Thrones, StarWars and Pottermore were the herein analyzed official websites – later on, Pottermore was renamed to Wizarding World. Each of these websites started being used by their respective franchise in the 2010s in order to broaden their universe, launch their products and provide news reports when the sagas were on hiatus. The data collection period and number of collected news reports are shown in Table 1.
Period and number of news reports published at each website.
| Franchise | Period | N. of news |
|---|---|---|
| Wizarding world | Sep/15 – Mar/21 | 592 |
| Star Wars | Oct/12 – Apr/21 | 1694 |
| Game of Thrones | Jul/10 – Jul/19 | 681 |
| Total | 2976 | |
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Source: elaborated by the authors.
At this point, it is worth emphasizing that, despite the large number of data composing our research archive, their organization and analysis processes took over 12 months to be completed. In addition, the analytical effort was validated and triangulated among researchers in order to meet the proposals by Creswell and Miller (2000) – which are focused on qualitative research – when the present study validated the Research Archive as representative corpus and triangulated its findings to answer the research question.
4.2 Categories and Criteria of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
According to Foucault (2002), the analysis of a given archive makes the existence of discursive formations that cannot be dissociated from the arrangement of statements observed in social arrangement phenomena explicit. Therefore, FDA comprises five stages – explained in Figure 1 –, wherein statements converge to discursive formations.
Analytical stages of FDA. Source: elaborated by the authors, based on Foucault (2002).
Inferences deriving from statements arranged in the archive analysis are a typical coding process adopted in qualitative research, according to which, researchers adopt a pragmatic perspective during analysis processes. They represent how discursive practices observed in the archive coexist in a certain space and time.
Because it is a pragmatic approach, statements play certain role in discourse; thus, enunciative functions concern the way statements form the discourse. It is at this point that enunciative functions following the relations’ convergence logic are defined: the same statement can perform more than one function, just as the same enunciative function can refer to different statements.
Enunciative functions shared by statements meet four criteria. Analogously, four other criteria, which give clues about the regularities determining discursive formations, can also be observed. Associations among criteria enable establishing syntagmatic chains. Their definitions are shown in Table 2.
Criteria composing syntagmatic chains.
| Enunciative functions | |
|---|---|
| Referential | It concerns the topics and themes established in statements. |
| Associated domain | It refers to knowledge fields used to support statements. |
| Subject | It locates the social position based on which statements are produced. |
| Materiality | It corresponds to the way statements are produced. |
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| Formation rules | |
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| Object | It arises from delimitations and specificities set in the references. |
| Concept | It concerns concepts arising from the associated domains. |
| Modality | It refers to the ways discourses are produced by subjects. |
| Strategy | It is the purpose set by discourse materialities. |
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Source: elaborated by the authors.
Criteria of the first formation rule and its enunciative functions.
| Enunciative function | Referential | Associated domain | Subject | Materiality | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expanding the franchise | Promotions | Marketing | Fandom | Brand | Proud |
| Congratulating the fandom | Fans | Fandom | Brand | Proud | |
| Formation rule | Object | Concept | Modality | Strategy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saga’s value | Pop culture | Brand equity | Fans’ culture | Responsibility | Involvement | Reputation |
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Source: elaborated by the authors.
Syntagmatic chains also indicate how statements are associated with regularities that enable and rule discursive practices. Such regularities represent the next analysis stage – i.e. the definition of formation rules – which enables identifying limitations in discursive productions.
Finally, formation rules show the fundamentals establishing the conditions for discursive formations to emerge. Thus, the bundles converging in them guide the regularities that allow identifying discursive formations.
4.3 Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Featuring
Foucault (2002) indicates that his methodology attempts to “dig” into discursive regularities to help better understanding how discourses produce knowledge. Thus, a thorough and extensive phenomena description is necessary to help identifying the condition producing epistemes.
Accordingly, the research analysis has followed the chronological order of franchise-news publications. Furthermore, it is worth emphasizing that, although the collected data comprised three different franchises, they showed common issues when their paratexts were considered brand management content.
Thus, the 607th GoT news available in the research Archive is shown in Figure 2 to depict the herein performed analytical procedure. The analytical categories (i.e. statements, enunciative functions, formation rules) below are highlighted in bold, whereas criteria observed in the statements are pinpointed in italics.
A GoT example. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
On February 13th, 2019, Making Game of Thrones’ publication invited artists to produce a creative and collaborative campaign to publicize the final season of this TV series. It invited GoT fans to share their creations and to be likely included in a campaign feature.
Therefore, it is possible seeing a statement depicting the saga as an inspiring universe, since it inspires both artists and fans to produce creative content. From this perspective, they believe that their saga is also conceived by fans, and it evidences a brand equity (concept) that is fundamentally feasible through knowledge articulated in the fandom (associated domain). Therefore, the brand (subject) assumes a tone of involvement (modality) when it promotes the saga and summons its fans (references), a fact that specifies its media product as pop culture (object) phenomenon. Moreover, it allows the franchises to build a reputation (strategy) through the pride (materiality) of both audience and artists to produce content for this television series. Thus, they fulfill the function of congratulating the fandom and the rule that sets the value of the saga.
5 Results’ Description
The current analysis enabled identifying a discursive formation, which resulted from two formation rules, four enunciative functions and 14 statements (Figure 3). The following subsections describe this discursive formation based on its rules, as well as illustrate them based on strata deriving from research archive data. Subsequently, the following section reasons about how the identified discursive formation can be interpreted through concepts available in the literature.
Analytical map. Source: elaborated by the authors.
5.1 Saga’s Value
The first observed rule focuses on elements articulated by brands to reinforce the saga’s value between its consumers and the entertainment industry. It concerns the affective bond promoted by the fictional universe among its audience. In order to do so, brands publicize actions and contents to guarantee their continuity and prestige, either through upcoming productions or because of the importance it has, or has had, in its consumers’ lives.
Since it is necessary to keep the brand on the rise in the pop culture (object), saga’s value represents the effort to corroborate the reputation (strategy) of fictional universes in this segment. In order to do so, it is necessary creating a brand equity (concept) that can be associated with expectations, as well as promoting fans’ culture (concept) by encouraging their affective relationship with the saga.
Consequently, and respectively, brand managers assume that brand equity and fans’ culture (concepts) concerns both responsibility and involvement (modalities) to expand and promote a given media object for a specialized target audience. These two syntagmatic paths between concepts-modalities indicate how the rule represents two enunciative functions.
The brand equity-responsibility indicates that managing an emblematic pop culture saga requires expanding the franchise. This factor is observed both in the dissemination of efforts implemented by the brand and in the expansion, planning and plans aimed at productions focused on expanding fictional universes, although not in a random way: the new productions meet the quality of the previous ones, which have legitimated them in the pop culture. Therefore, when brands (subject) broadcast news reports about upcoming productions from the fictional universe, they focus on establishing their promotion (referential). This process reveals managers’ pride (materiality) in expanding a cultural object that has a consolidated audience and, simultaneously, its own space in the media. This finding is based on the understanding that brands’ actions must, simultaneously and respectively, serve the fandom and the marketing (associated domains) of the saga.
The other rule-related enunciative function that reflects the fan-involvement culture syntagma lies on congratulating the fandom. This function corresponds to the way brands disclose how sagas often have specific and positive meanings in their consumers’ lives. Consequently, it represents how they access and share fans’ stories or reports capable of attesting the important role played by the fictional universe at different times in their lives. It is the action, based on which, brands (subject) focus on legitimizing fans’ (referential) relationship with the fictional universe. In order to do so, they express their pride (materiality) of being responsible for contents that help and move the saga’s fandom (associated domain).
Table 3 explains how this rule’s criteria are similar to those of the function substantiating it.
Three statements substantiating both the rule and the functions similar to it are associated with the three investigated websites. The first two statements address aspects that complete each other (synchronous), since they deal with the important role played by the saga in fandom’s lives. One of them lies on encouraging fans’ commotion towards the new stories (S01) published on the website in order to engage their audience in both news reports and developments – extra videos, explanatory texts – of the original content – movies or television series. The other statement reinforces the importance of having fans devoted to the fictional universe (S02), by providing clues about previous productions or news detailing what is to come in the promoted releases. Both efforts are substantiated (received incidence) by another statement associated with marketing: the saga is consolidated in the pop culture (S03). It is so, because the management of each franchise expresses the records – in accesses to, or sales of, multiple media (e.g. YouTube videos, Blu-Ray extras, games) or exclusive products (e.g. collectibles, clothing line) – achieved to legitimize the approval of their productions and to justify the saga’s expansion.
On the one hand, this consolidation (S03) can be explained by (receives incidence) the statements observed in two of the analyzed franchises at a time. GoT and SW websites assume that the saga is an inspiring universe (S04), as well as invite and encourage their fans to share the important role played by the franchise in their lives. Consequently, S04 also focuses on promoting what is shared by fans (S05) of these two franchises. It happens when the websites publish reports of fans who have fulfilled their dream of working in the saga’s productions or in the production of contents generated through fandom interactions (e.g. fanfics, theories, fan videos and fanarts).
On the other hand, the consolidated space in the pop culture (S03) is explained (receives incidence) by the statement that highlights how the saga is nostalgic (S06) among its fans. This factor can be seen when they produce and promote contents that use emblematic elements of the saga (i.e. opening theme of the movies), remaster their media (e.g. movies, video games, books, comics) and re-broadcast the original franchise (i.e. binge watching in pay-TV channels, release of the new version in movie theaters). Most specifically for WW, this statement is explained (received incidence) by the fact that the fictional universe plays important role in its fans’ lives: the saga has popularized the habit of reading (S07). Thus, the website emphasizes that the fictional universe was the first – and, at times, the main – motivator for a large part of its audience to become avid readers.
The current study highlights one example taken for each of the analyzed franchises in order to illustrate the analytical convergence between statements, their enunciative functions and the formation rule referring to the value of the saga they are related to (Figures 4 –6).
GoT example of saga’s value. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
SW example of saga’s value. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
WW example of saga’s value. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
In its July 25, 2014 publication, the GoT website addressed how professionals and consumers who experience a pop culture event (i.e. Comic-con) resonate with the saga’s value. By disclosing the relationship of different roles with the franchise, the brand congratulates its fans. In the case of artists who also declare to be fans of the series, the fictional universe is the source of inspiration (S04) for contents (i.e. fanarts) that are part of their work (i.e. tattoo artists). On the other hand, in the case of fans who etch their appreciation for the saga on their own skin, the website emphasizes these actions in order to promote emblematic deeds taken by fans towards the series (S05).
It is worth highlighting the news about SW published on October 10, 2014, when the website emphasized the immeasurable value of the saga for its fans in its explanation that the franchise works as source of inspiration (S04) for the production of fan films. The publication has also shown that the saga guides the career choices of its main audience, since some fans decided to become filmmakers because of it. More than that, when it gives room for fans’ devotion (S02) manifestations, it also promotes what is shared by fans (S05) and features them as creative, inspiring and valuable in order to congratulate its fandom.
With respect to WW, it is worth highlighting the publication from September 22, 2015 posted at the previous website (i.e. Pottermore) – although it was removed at the time the website migrated to the new virtual directory. It was one of the publications titled “The Pottermore Correspondent”, which was made by portal envoys who visited, experienced and reported news about the saga. The saga’s value emerges in the message from three different perspectives. On the one hand, the correspondent reports fans’ devotion to the franchise (S02), since they are interested in having immersive experiences in the fictional universe. On the other hand, he highlights that consumers are nostalgic towards classic elements of original productions (S06). Both statements suggest that the franchise is consolidated in the pop culture (S03), and it enables expanding the saga to its audience, as well as congratulating its fans through different ways to consume it.
5.2 Continuity of the Saga
The following formation rule identified in the current study refers to how contents produced at the investigated websites aim at enabling the continuity of the saga. On the one hand, it starts from the perspective that the production and promotion of information about the fictional universe can complete the narratives established in the original media. On the other hand, it indicates the increasing interest of organizations in associating elements of new saga productions with contemporary sociocultural demands.
It is a context wherein fans’ culture (concept) leads brand managers to fight for their reputation (strategy) through actions that expand both the media object and its resonance in social causes. Therefore, there are two syntagmatic relationships that point towards two enunciative functions associated with this rule. On the one hand, the canon (object) established in previous productions is referenced to ensure (modality) the quality of the upcoming ones. On the other hand, reality (object) is pointed out as means to involve (modality) the saga with its audience.
These syntagmatic paths explain the articulation between the rule and the two enunciative functions, as shown in Table 4.
Criteria of the second formation rule and its enunciative functions.
| Enunciative function | Referential | Associated domain | Subject | Materiality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expanding the story | Productions | Social causes | Continuity | Social life | Brand | Proud |
| Connecting to the real world | Productions | Social causes | Social life | Brand | Attachment | |
| Formation rule | Object | Concept | Modality | Strategy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuity of the saga | Canon | Reality | Fans’ culture | Gatekeepers | Involvement | Reputation |
-
Source: elaborated by the authors.
The enunciative function analogous to the canon-assured syntagmatic relationship aims at expanding the story. It indicates the effort to present details of recent productions that can be assimilated to, or meet, the quality of the previous ones. These details expand the narrative of the fictional universe by assuming that the franchise can address the sociocultural demands of the context it is produced in (e.g. greater representativeness in the entertainment industry) or by using its space in the media to address political agendas (e.g. solidarity campaigns).
Through this action, brands (subject) express pride (materiality) for conveying aspects and novelties of both the productions and the social causes (references) produced by them, a fact that reinforces how continuity and social life (associated domains), respectively, enable the saga to gain resonance.
The other enunciative function analogous to the syntagm of the reality-involvement rule refers to connecting to the real world. Whenever websites publish reports from both their collaborators and fans about the importance of the fictional universe they are connected to, they highlight positions in social causes that go beyond the relationship with the saga. With respect to collaborators, it is essential knowing how the franchise supports them, as well as their engagement or participation in political and social movements. As for fans, it is unique that, although it is a fictional universe, the franchise addresses political and social issues that are seen as source of conflicts and failures in contemporary society.
The two possibilities of this enunciative action reflect how the brand (subject) simultaneously focuses on social causes (referential) its collaborators support, or are part of, as well as on productions (referential) considered representative for their fans. In both cases, they suggest the existence of a link (materiality) among different individuals who associate the saga with social life (associated domain).
One of the statements sharing this formation rule was already presented in the current study, namely: the fictional universe is an inspiration for its fans (S04). It is (synchronously) equivalent to two other statements observed in the news published at all investigated websites: i.e. how the recent saga construction process is successfully carried out (S08). It is about publicizing the acknowledgement of public (i.e. record audience) or specialized critics (i.e. award nominations and winnings) about recent productions of the three franchises.
This statement is influenced by, and has influence on, the next two, which are both exclusive to WW and SW. It indicates that spoilers are avoided (S09) and explains (has incidence on) how the saga expansion process has been successfully carried out (S08). The demand for the continuation of the franchise (S10) can be explained by it. Such a demand is observed in the assumption that the new productions of these two franchises still manage to surprise their fans, despite the large amount of official disclosure contents about the movies (i.e. trailers, teasers).
The understanding that the saga expansion process has been successfully carried out (S08) is also synchronous to another statement: i.e. how it is capable of promoting social causes (S11). It happens because all three websites indicate how these franchises publish texts about the movements of, and align to, social causes focused on solving real-world issues. This statement is equivalent (is synchronous) to the one – exclusive to GoT and WW – according to which, the saga is capable of raising awareness in its audience (S12) towards social causes. By taking into consideration the resonance of topics addressed in the fictional narratives and their importance in fans’ lives (e.g. assuming sexuality, female empowerment, fighting bullying), this statement generates identification with features of the events, difficulties or characters. This factor can be explained (received incidence) by the following statement, since the SW and WW websites present similarities of the fictional universe to real-world topics and issues (S13). Although SW and WW are fictional works – focused on entertaining through intergalactic battles and schools of magic, respectively –, they also explore situations that can be, and are, often experienced by their fans and collaborators, as in the case of affective relationships (i.e. love, friendship and family). This understanding also explains (has incidence on) the last statement observed in all three franchises: the saga reflects political topics (S14) by bringing up real political discussions (i.e. racism, misogyny, intolerance and sustainability).
The examples highlighted below (see Figures 7 –9) illustrate the association among the described statements, their enunciative functions and how they fit together to support the formation rule, evidencing how brands give continuity to the sagas through publications at the analyzed official websites.
GoT example of continuity of the saga. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
SW example of continuity of the saga. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
WW example of continuity of the saga. Source: Organized by the authors based on the research archive.
On March 8, 2019, GoT website informed that the series would participate in the pop culture festival called South by Southwest (SXSW), held in the state of Texas (USA). The post explained the ways fans could experience aspects of the show’s final seasons, since the website informed that its upcoming conclusion would be successfully accomplished (S08). In addition, it took advantage of fans’ engagement to promote a blood donation campaign on behalf of the American Red Cross. Therefore, in a single post, the website simultaneously gave continuity to the saga and expanded its stories into actions capable of connecting it to the real world.
The publication from May 20, 2013 at the official SW website has evidenced the continuity of the saga which attests to the franchise’s performance towards expanding its stories. The aforementioned post announced the launching of the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels in order to meet the demand of a legion of fans for the continuation of the franchise (S10). Thus, it indicated that the expansion of the saga has been successfully carried out (S08), since it explained the qualification and renown of professionals in charge of the project.
In the news reports published on August 22, 2018, WW has proposed to list information obtained straight from the set of the movie “The Crimes of Grindelwald”, which was under production– at the time – as sequel to the Fantastic Beasts franchise. This continuity of the saga enabled both expanding the stories of the saga and connecting it to the real world. On the one hand, the website aimed at presenting novelties, although avoiding spoilers (S10) of the upcoming productions; on the other hand, director David Yates declared that the movie would address political topics that could generate identification in the fandom (S12).
5.3 Developing Affective Brands
The overlapping of the herein described formation rules enabled identifying a discursive formation capable of legitimizing the use of paratexts by brands to encourage readers to nurture feelings for the entertainment products consumed by them. This discursive formation was called affective brand, since management efforts to establish elements capable of producing the conditions for customers to attach to products consumed by them were observed.
Based on the current results, these elements are arranged in the rules attesting to how entertainment brands produce paratexts in order to elaborate or provide meanings to enable them to be loved by their target audience. On the one hand, there is the context explaining the value of the saga by addressing brands’ interest in promoting the means for consumers to get attached to the new productions promoted by them. On the other hand, there is the rule indicating how the continuity of the saga encourages or promotes feelings that can be experienced by its audience, which connects to the fictional universe under construction.
Based on the first formation rule, the examples of saga’s value (Figures 4 –6) reveal the effort made by entertainment brands to highlight the elements that can be re-signified as fans’ attachment to the fictional universe and to its productions. The effort made by the investigated websites is attested by paratexts highlighting the aim of brands to expand the fictional universe, since they acknowledge that they are dealing with consumers eager for contents capable of broadening their consumption practices (Fuschillo 2020; Jenkins 2008). It is also possible seeing the focus on celebrating the longevity of, or close relationship among, brand’s productions, when they produce paratexts acknowledging that fans of the investigated franchises are interested in productively acting in the promotion of products consumed by them (Chen 2021; Souza-Leão and Costa 2018).
Together, these paratexts indicate how brands incorporate the participatory practices of their main consumers in their paratext production process. It is an approach, according to which, they access the autonomous practices of the interactional context of this proactive audience and incorporate these features to their communication and marketing strategies. It happens because, according to marketing managers, fans’ performance emulates the function of engaged illocutionary forces to enable such a positive perception and intense consumption relationship about to be incorporated by a new audience (Schau, Muñiz, and Arnould 2009; von Wallpach et al. 2017).
Consequently, the observed value of the saga is a movement wherein brands attest to their interest in producing contents capable of encouraging affective relationships between their fans and the fictional universe managed by them. It happens when they acknowledge the participation of a loyal and distant audience, as well as when they provide the means for new viewers to identify themselves with their productions. In order to do so, they resort to paratexts to emphasize the space these franchises give to their fans in order to establish an affective relationship with their brands.
Based on the second formation rule and on its examples (Figures 7 –9), it is possible inferring how brands produce paratexts to expand the likelihood of having fans relating to the franchise, either through actions aimed at expanding their narratives or through propositions on how the saga connects to the real world. The expansion of the fictional universe story through paratexts reiterates the understanding of brand managers who deal with products that already have loyal fans and need to guarantee their continuity (Fernandes and Inverneiro 2021; Wallace, Buil, and deChernatony 2017). The articulation of social issues in paratexts produced and promoted at the investigated websites reinforces brands’ attention to the sensitivity of their fans in committing to different aspects associated with their consumption practices – e.g. brand elements, media, social relationships (Fuschillo 2020; Moura and de Souza-Leão 2020).
Thus, entertainment product managers resort to paratexts to create the conditions to encourage consumers to commit to brands – either through their internal elements or through the external relationships they are associated with. It is an effort made by brand managers to ensure that their consumers can intensify their relationships with what is consumed by them, while they maintain their new productions and position in the market (Burmann and Zeplin 2005; Iyer, Davari, and Paswan 2018).
Therefore, this is exactly what the continuity of the saga is about: paratextual productions confirming the legitimacy of the fictional universe in the pop culture, as well as its ability to be representative in the contemporary social context. In order to do so, they attest to the upcoming productions to guarantee the continuity and resonance of the brand in the entertainment segment and the way it incorporates the growing demands of the sociocultural environment it is inserted in.
Thus, the discursive formation encompassing the two regiments reveals how entertainment brands use paratexts to promote meanings capable of boosting customers’ affective bond to their productions. In order to do so, brands must continuously attest to their value through new elements, as well as maintain the conditions to ensure such prestige among their customers. This process leads brand managers to produce marketing communication pieces – i.e. paratexts – to nurture or publicize the elements they consider capable of establishing affective bond to their target audience – i.e. the fans.
Although communication tools play fundamental role in the continuity of brand love (Ahuvia et al. 2020; Batra, Ahuvia, and Bagozzi 2012), they are not the means for marketing professionals to encourage their consumers’ loyalty (Burmann and Zeplin 2005; Wong, Kwok, and Lau 2015), since consumers love contents capable of expanding their affective relationship with the brand, mainly those produced and promoted in the virtual environment (Sukunesan, Selvarajah, and Mellstrom 2020). Moreover, consumers are continuously looking for – or encouraged to look for – contents to be shared with their peers, to engage in fan-based communities and to show how their interests represent the values of brands consumed by them (Obiegbu et al. 2019; Rossolatos 2021).
Brands must acknowledge consumers as leaders in building their market credibility to give continuity to the affective conditions highlighted by them. Thus, brand managers can and should incorporate customers, who publicly declare their affection for what is consumed by them, to communication strategies focused on using feelings to expand and consolidate their products position in the market (Rather and Sharma 2016; Wali, Wright, and Uduma 2015).
Nevertheless, the paratextualization aimed at amplifying the resonance of media franchises guarantees the conditions necessary to enable fans’ affective bonds. It happens because paratexts are capable of communicating brands’ attention to likely emerging demands that can be touchy subjects for their customers. Therefore, paratexts both communicate/produce meanings established by brand managers and incorporate – as discursive productions – the expectations and intense interest of their customers in deepening the ways of consuming any production of that brand.
This factor indicates that paratextualization goes beyond the function of marketing communication medium, since it reflects strategies focused on aligning managers and customers’ interests by encouraging customers to commit to the brand. It is the way of establishing convergence among conditions capable of guaranteeing customers’ affective bond to the brand, as well as of managing and marketing communication actions aimed at giving continuity to such relationships.
6 Reflections and Study Contribution
The paratextualization of entertainment industry productions is performed to encourage the affective bond among their customers, who guarantee the emblematic position of these productions in the market context they are inserted in. Because paratexts are communicative contents, they are capable of aligning and adjusting the interests shared by brand managers and consumers, who are considered brand love practitioners.
Therefore, paratextualization produces and promotes a discursive formation capable of intensifying the affective brand’s position, since it makes productions resonant and highlights the existence of customers engaged in guaranteeing their position in the entertainment segment. According to entertainment brand managers, paratexts are ideal contents that satisfy fans’ proactive and eager consumption activities. In addition, paratexts enable them to legitimize the value of the saga, as well as to give continuity to it by going beyond its main productions.
Thus, the herein investigated paratextualization aimed at working (i.e. developing, nurturing, expanding) on the brand love of media products’ fans. It happens because, on the one hand, paratexts suit to the continuous search by fans for additional contents to engage in (Jenkins 2008) and, on the other hand, they are a specific communication medium type capable of strengthening the relationship between brand consumers and managers (Roy, Eshghi, and Sarkar 2013).
In broader terms, the current findings have indicated that paratexts produce value among customers and maintain brands’ position in the market context they are inserted in. Aspects underlying managerial outcomes are the ones producing brand love (Albert and Merunka 2013; Warren et al. 2019). Consequently, paratexts point towards the consolidation of affective relationships between customers and brands. When it comes to the management of fictional universe productions, brands must maintain their status in the market, as well as their ability to get involved in social issues and in their customers’ personal lives.
In other words, when brands promote a given media object with global exponent within the entertainment industry, they simultaneously acknowledge the role played by their fans as resonant elements in the pop culture as a whole. However, using paratexts increases the likelihood of giving continuity to the narrative through the explicit affection of its audience, since it strengthens the relationship between fans and the fictional universe.
This aspect seems to be in line with Hills’ (2015) understanding about different benefits achieved by brands or by the media through the production of paratexts focused on their engaged audience. Thus, in addition to expand the media object content, paratextualization produces events that unfold and enable the audience to commit to the brand or media.
Consequently, the current results have established that brand paratextualization is a marketing strategy capable of engaging different market agents based on the affection shared by them. This affection for the brand seems to be encouraged by consumers’ growing interest in collaborating and co-producing their marketing relationships. Paratext is a marketing content capable of driving consumers’ interest to read, and to intensify their relationship with, the consumed brand.
Moreover, it is possible reasoning about the role played by social networks and official platforms as brands’ affective source. Thus, whenever brands resort to paratexts, their managers invite consumers to re-signify their products through sentimental aspects that go beyond the economic scope. This reflection is the major contribution of the present study, since it proposes brand paratextualization to embody consumers’ feelings into marketing communication strategies.
7 Final Considerations
Based on the current study’s results and contributions, it is possible suggesting that paratexts work as broad marketing communication strategy (see Aronczyk 2017; Hackley and Hackley 2019). More than being a tool to outspread or complete the process to read cultural objects, paratexts emerge as likely to set the way to establish brand love relationships with their consumers. At this point, the herein explored paratexts allow managers to maintain their relationship with consumers based on additional content capable of reflecting and enabling their affection.
By analyzing the creation of brand love through paratextual productions, the present research proposed an innovative approach to the branding theory. Although it was limited to the analysis of paratextual productions of three brands, it was an important initial effort in this field. Furthermore, it is worth noticing that these brands are emblematic of the investigated phenomenon. Further research of this nature can help broadening the current theorization. In addition, this line of investigation can also address brands acting in other markets.
Accordingly, if one takes into consideration a theorization in compliance with the herein presented findings and conclusions, it is possible seeing the relevance of conducting further investigations focused on paratexts’ echoing as marketing strategy used to drive consumers’ behavior. These investigations could focus on fans’ consumption, as well as on consumers of other product types, mainly of products with high symbolic value. Thus, this expansion should be based on investigating other paratext types, such as advertisements, among other marketing communication actions.
Funding source: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃ-fico e Tecnológico
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Rise of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Market in Turkey: The Effect of Social Media Interaction and the Need for Uniqueness on NFT Purchase Intention*
- Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes: Fan Group Behavior and Rivalry in Sport and Athletic Footwear Brands
- Dynamic Formation of Quality Expectations: Theory and Empirical Evidence
- A Systematic Analysis of Higher Educational Content Over Social Media for Engagement Optimization
- Developing Affective Brands: Paratextualization in the Entertainment Industry
- How Does Social Media Impact Consumers’ Sustainable Purchase Intention?
- Packaging Global Warming Products: The CIS Strategy as a Driver of Gen Z’s Satisfaction and Loyalty
- How to Improve the Performance of Email Marketing Campaigns? A Field Experiment Using the Authority Principle to Improve Email Performance
- Marketing Journal Rankings: Active Scholar Assessment
- Further Insight into the Usage of Bank Cards Over Cash at the Point-of-Sale?
- Exploring Must-know Criteria for Effective Customer Segmentation in Online Market Using AHP
- The Impact of Customer Perceived Justice on Target-Based Customer Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Customer Trust and Affective Commitment
- Unveiling Brand Convergence in Consideration Sets: The Effects of Purchase for Self or Others and Product Nature
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Rise of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Market in Turkey: The Effect of Social Media Interaction and the Need for Uniqueness on NFT Purchase Intention*
- Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes: Fan Group Behavior and Rivalry in Sport and Athletic Footwear Brands
- Dynamic Formation of Quality Expectations: Theory and Empirical Evidence
- A Systematic Analysis of Higher Educational Content Over Social Media for Engagement Optimization
- Developing Affective Brands: Paratextualization in the Entertainment Industry
- How Does Social Media Impact Consumers’ Sustainable Purchase Intention?
- Packaging Global Warming Products: The CIS Strategy as a Driver of Gen Z’s Satisfaction and Loyalty
- How to Improve the Performance of Email Marketing Campaigns? A Field Experiment Using the Authority Principle to Improve Email Performance
- Marketing Journal Rankings: Active Scholar Assessment
- Further Insight into the Usage of Bank Cards Over Cash at the Point-of-Sale?
- Exploring Must-know Criteria for Effective Customer Segmentation in Online Market Using AHP
- The Impact of Customer Perceived Justice on Target-Based Customer Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Customer Trust and Affective Commitment
- Unveiling Brand Convergence in Consideration Sets: The Effects of Purchase for Self or Others and Product Nature
