OUGD601 - Subject Presentation

So my mild alcoholism over summer, combined with working in a nice bar got me thinking how can I incorporate something I love and know a lot about into my diss?












Beer? Gin? Rum?

The graphic design and illustration now surrounding independent craft beer?

- Gorgeous visuals
- Vibrant colours

How can I adapt this into a critical study/analysis style question?

Started looking at various books - looking at how the alcohol industry has developed alongside society - positively and negatively 

"Mud, Sweat and Beers" (2002) by Colin, T and Wray, V

It's always been present alongside sporting events - but now this is being restricted and less encouraged now.

"Brandwatching" (2001) by Lury, G 

- Psychology gone into the branding - why do we buy brands?

"Consumer Psychology" (2010) by Jansson-Boyd, C

- This book starts discussing more of the theories behind the (often subconscious) psychologies of the consumer and why we consume and conform to build our identities and feel like we belong within society.






Chapters to consider and look into..

- Identity & Possessions
- Social Categorisation
- Social Comparison
- Symbolic Meaning
- Symbolic Interactionism 
- Brand Identification
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
- Self-discrepancy theory 

Feedback:

Following the presentation I received pretty good feedback regarding where I was with my research at this point. Although my peers and tutor agreed that this has the potential to be an interesting research question, it is still way too broad and covers way too much content and various themes to be condensed down into 5000 words. 

Therefore my first tutorial with Simon Jones was crucial to clarify the direction I was wanting to go in with my research but also pinning down the actual essay question.

In the tutorial I finalised on the question to begin with - "How has brand and consumer psychology influenced the rise of independent craft beer?"