Explain how cultural influences affect consumers

What will be an ideal response?

ANSWER: Of all the factors that affect consumer decision making, cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence. Cultural values and influences are the ocean in which individuals swim, and yet most are completely unaware that it is there. What people eat, how they dress, what they think and feel, and what language they speak are all dimensions of culture. Culture encompasses all the things consumers do without conscious choice because their culture's values, customs, and rituals are ingrained in their daily habits. Human interaction creates values and prescribes acceptable behavior for each culture. By establishing common expectations, culture gives order to society. Sometimes these expectations are enacted into laws. For example, drivers in our culture must stop at a red light. Other times these expectations are taken for granted: grocery stores and hospitals are open twenty-four hours, whereas banks are open only during "bankers' hours," typically nine in the morning until five in the afternoon.