A recent study has shed some light on the cultural life of Brazilians. According to the key findings, during the year 2007, there would appear to be a small group of consumers who are undertaking a number of cultural activities, whilst the vast majority of Brazilians appear to be excluded or self excluding. Unfortuantely the results do not indicate where and whether individuals are indeed taking part in a number of activities as opposed to just one of those listed below. Here are the headline findings.
- 55% of Brazilians did not participate in any of the following activities: reading a book, visiting the theatre or an art exhibition, going to the cinema or to a live music or dance event
- of the 45% who did
- 31% read on average 5 books
- 6%viewed on average 3 plays
- 8% went on average to 2 art exhibitions
- 17% went to the cinema on average 5 times
- 20% went to see an average of 4 music shows
- 7% to see an average of 32 live dance shows

Of those who were not reading books amongst social classes A and B, 59% reported that it was the lack of habit and 19% that they do not like to read or prefer other activities (13%). Results almost identical to classes D and E (58%, 27% and 8%). The high costs of tickets and books were an additional reason for exclusion cited by lower socio economic classes. Having previously posted here about the cost of books and access to literature in Brazil it was interesting to note that Brazilians believe that a fair price for cultural products should be as follows:
Book – $19 Reals
Cinema ticket – $8 Reals
Music event – $15 Reals
Theater ticket – $14 Reals
Art Exhibition – $11 Reals

The research was undertaken by Ipsos (on behalf of Fecomércio-RJ) in more than 70 locations across Brazil. More details on the research can be found at

http://marinhonoblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/mais-dados-da-pesquisa-sobre-consumo-de.html

A number of reports from across the globe this week have highlighted the power of the freebie in contemporary consumer culture. Much of this is the result of the impending launch of Wired magazines Chris Anderson’s new book ‘Free’, in which he outlines a number of the cultural trends driving the rise in giveaway culture. See him discussing the phenomenon here.

From free upgrades and downloads, none of this is particularly new. Current examples include free newspapers, airline tickets, photocopies and game downloads, free bike and car hire, free city guides and free wi-fi. And as the Brazilian Revista da Semana points out, someone, somewhere is paying and at present its largely advertisers.

This months trendwatching report summarises the contemporary context as follows:

• An all-out war for consumers’ attention: including various handout and sampling techniques.

• The online world, with its amazing capacity to create, copy and distribute anything that’s digital, with costs that are close to zero, forcing producers to come up with new business models/services, which are often purely ad-driven.

• The ever-decreasing cost of physical production makes it easier to offer more (nearly) free goods in the offline world too.

• The avalanche of free content created by attention-hungry members of GENERATION C.

• C2C marketplaces enabling consumers to swap instead of spend, making transactions cash-neutral.

• An emerging recycling culture.

And all of the above fueling consumers’ expectations to get online and offline stuff for free.

Does this apply to you???

What are the benfits and pitfalls for us consumers???

Let us know your thoughts