Global brands and cosmopolitanism: Building cosmopolitan attitudes through global consumers in São Paulo

Abstract

In order to identify cosmopolitan attitudes within the experiences that form ‘cosmoscapes’, we develop a study of global brands consumption. We analyse the relations between global brands consumption and their ‘brandscapes’ that lead to a building process of a world view, as well as the representations of local and global cultural symbols that are present in these imbrications. The study was conducted in São Paulo with young people through in-depth interviews (N = 40), two focus groups, and the analysis of interaction with brands in digital social media. The selected individuals interact with the global brands physically or virtually, through different consumption practices. Through them, they may build a global, a glocal, or a local perspective, as well as they may connect to Others and reproduce a cosmopolitan lifestyle, or maintain their own values and lifestyles.