[01] Ximena Ferro, College of Communications, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.

While walking around the cities in Ecuador, it is easy to notice a great influence of external cultures through the use of multinational brands, incorporation of traditions and the usage of English slangs in their language. Apparently, some Ecuadorians reject their own cultural roots and feel better when they show an international lifestyle. Well-known brands are found everywhere in all socio-economical levels. However, if you look closely, not everyone is using the real brand products. Usually creativity flourishes when hard times strike, so most brand products in the Southern part of Quito are fake or stolen and sometimes one can even find a product with two brands on it. In order to understand the real people and their brand and product preferences, I used 7 groups of students from my Consumer Insights class at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (private university in Ecuador) and sent them in an ethnographical investigation which consisted in taking public transportation that traveled from North to South of the city. The purpose of the investigation was to understand real “Quiteños” (people from Quito), I wanted to have a comparison of the different areas of the city according to their socio-economical class and see the differences.

Globalization, Brands, Consumer, Culture

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