The Dynamism of Genre- The Consumer Profile Several years ago genres were seen as classifications.

They were seen as a set of rigid criteria that were used to classify different types of writing. Often, the word genre was associated with very broad categories, like comedy or business. In recent years, though, the concept of genre has changed. Genres are no longer broad categories- they are dynamic and specific. Genres are now seen through a variety of different ways. They can be social actions. They can be situated. They can be dynamic. They can include form and content. They can even revolve around the idea of community ownership. However the question still remains: so what? While it is nice that the idea of genre has been redefined, what does it mean? What is so important about understanding what makes up genre? The reason is that by understanding what makes and defines a genre, a person can then, in turn, learn how to write for the genre. Genres, using the more modern understanding of them, change over time. As Carol Berkenkotter and Thomas Huckin boldly state in their article Rethinking Genre From a Sociocognitive Perspective (1993) genres are dynamic rhetorical forms that develop from responses to recurrent situations and serve to stabilize experience and give it coherence and meaning (p. 479). To put that in simpler terms, genres change over time in order to meet the needs of the user. Going hand in hand with the idea of dynamism is the idea that genre have community ownership. This idea of community ownership states that the community that uses the genre defines the genre. Therefore, genres, by being both dynamic and community owned, do not define how a certain type of writing is done in a field but, instead, is determined by those who write in the field. This analysis takes a look at the consumer profile genre, which is used primarily by account planners and those who are in advertising. It is primarily looking at how the consumer

genre profile has changed over time to meet the needs of those writing and using consumer profiles and also takes a look at how the genre is defined by those groups of people. A consumer profile is a document that is extremely important in the advertising world. It can tell a person anything and everything they would ever want to know about a given demographic of people. A consumer profile is used by those in the advertising and marketing fields in order to target certain demographics. For example, say a person was trying to target soccer moms; in order to properly target them the person would have to know everything about them, even things they themselves do not know. What are their hobbies? Why do they do what they do? What do they worry about? What is something that they enjoy and support? These are all questions the person would want to know the answer to. That is where the consumer profile comes into play- it is a product of extensive research into a given demographic. The consumer profile must be able to answer three questions: what does the chosen demographic want, what do they really want, and what do they want that for. The consumer profile must be able to answer all of these questions, plus any other questions that may arise. By understanding exactly what consumer profiles are, it is not difficult to see that they are extremely dynamic. Because the groups that a consumer profile defines are always changing, the genre must always be changing as well. The consumer profile genre mirrors society, so, as society changes, the consumer profile genre must also adapt. A consumer profile from the 70s would look radically different when compared to a consumer profile from today. For example, in the 70s, there were no such things as internet or cell phones while, however, those are a huge part of todays culture. A consumer report today would have to account for all of those habits, whereas one from the 70s would not even consider them and likely focus on things, such as what is the consumers television watching habits.

Additionally, the way consumer profiles are used change depending on the person who is using them. An advertising agency may want to know how to sell a product to a certain demographic, whereas someone who is just using it for a cultural study would only use it to help get a basic understanding of the group of people. Even though these different groups want different information, the consumer profile must be able supply both. If there is anything missing or anything that the community wants to know, the consumer report needs to figure it out. A consumer profile, titled The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom, authored by Marissa Miley and Ann Mack looks at what American women want when it comes to family, work, and life in the 21st century, well after the womens liberation movement. It takes an in-depth look at mothers from the Millennial Generation and Generation X and looks at how they differ from their older counter parts. Specifically, this consumer profiles goal is to examine this new wrinkle to an old consumer demographic and tell how the two are different. The profile includes many things: It has age ranges for the different groups, it includes profiles of some of the mothers polled, and it includes what drives a 21st century woman. As far as consumer profiles go, this information if pretty standard- all writings in the genre need to provide this basic information. What this profile does that makes it special, however, is that it takes everything known about the real mom, up until the point the profile was written, and updates it. The genre of the consumer profile needs to be able to be understood by a large amount of people, so there are a few criteria that all good consumer profiles need to be able to meet. Consumer reports need to be very direct- the do not use an abundance of creative language. They also need to be able to put information into easily understood contexts, which means that they avoid using a lot of technical speak and will frequently put information into charts and graphs to help make it more digestible. Perhaps the most important criteria, though, is the art of the

headline and the subheadline. The headline draws the readers attention and then the subheadline tells the readers why they should read the consumer report. Miley and Mack meet all of these criteria in their consumer report. They understand their target audience and they write in a way that can easily be understood by their audience. They also use graphs and charts to summarize the information on the page so that if a reader only wanted the bare bones of what the section was saying, all the reader would have to do is look at the graphs on the side. Miley and Macks use of graphs is extremely effect as they put them in a logical order and also place them in the correct context in the sense that they appear next to the info they are referring to and also present the information in a way that is easily understood. Perhaps the most underappreciated aspect of their article, though, are the headline, or title, and the subheadline. The headline, The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom, gives you a general idea of what the report is about. The subheadline for the report is Still targeting supermom? For younger generations of mothers, having it all doesnt mean doing it all. This is fantastic because it challenges the readers and makes them wonder if, perhaps, they are using outdated information that is no longer effective. Now to tie Miley and Macks report back into the context of the genre of consumer reports and their dynamism and community ownership. The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom displays all of the characteristics of the genre the make it dynamic and shows community ownership. The report shows community ownership because of the way it is formatted: it is written in a way that relays all the info in a way that can be understood by a large range of people while it also presents the information in other, possibly more easily understood, contexts, such as graphs. The report actually includes profiles of mothers they interviewed that include a picture of the mother and a quick summary of the mothers personality and what is

important to them. This consumer report is a good example of the genres dynamism because it takes a demographic that has always been targeted and updates it. The report takes a look at the modern mother and tells the reader what she is interested in and how this generation of mothers is different from the last. To sum everything up, the genre of consumer reports is a genre that is both dynamic and owned by the community. As Berkenkotter and Huckin say in their article, claiming a link between a genre and a community is a risky move, but, through careful analysis, it is a conclusion that can be easily reached (497). By analyzing the consumer report genre and specific samples from the genre it is easy to see the dynamism and community ownership. Consumer reports are dynamic because they are always changing to reflect society and its ever changing standards. Consumer reports show community ownerships because of the way in which they are written to appeal to a large group of different people, which is what the community says must be done.

Appendix The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom, (2009) AdvertisingAge White Paper PDF of Consumer Profile attached separately in email

Works Cited Berkenkotter, c. and Huckin, T. (1993) Rethinking genre from a Sociocognitive perspective. Written Communication, 10(4), 475-509