Abstract:

This paper addresses certain ways in which anthropology may be applied with relevance to market research. Four main topics are discussed: the development of semiology as a powerful potential tool for understanding the dynamics of advertising; the possible existence of certain cross-cultural beliefs which might bear investigation, again primarily in the field of advertising; the means by which an anthropology of consumption may aid market research especially in the segmentation of markets; and the power structures which exist in all societies and which need to be understood in order to reach the widest possible audience in the most correct way - branding and advertising which fail to obey such systems run the risk of rejection.