emotional attachment

[twiglet]

its dissertation time and im trying to find out about emotional associations to products for a friend of mine. the question is:

is there a product you cherish because of a story or memory behind it?

and what is that story or memory

[99Flake]

Products or items? I take it you mean this in a consumer way as there are many items that I am emotionally attached to but not because of what they are but why they are.

[mikerr]

Talk to TiVo owners ?

..or how about Mac or iPod owners ?

[twiglet]

what i want is the reasons behind why you become attached to a product, doesnt have to be because of what they are, it could be totally unrelated to the products function or purspose

[Optical668]

My Specialized FSR mountain bike, its my baby because i painted it myself and built it myself from every single part. And weve been everywhere together from Scotland, Wales and Cornwall and gone through some of the roughest terrain.

Its pure case of man and machine at its finest.

[99Flake]

The only things I can really think of are my Denon AVR1800, had it 8 years and it cost me £500 at the age of 18. Would never get rid of it, has been through fire and flood (literally), been moved around from house to uni to house to flat etc and has never let me down (unlike the numerous girlfriends I have had during its time!).

The only other things are my random collection of Mr. Men stuff. Have a Mr. Happy mug and glass that my parents got me for my 18th and a little miss sunshine soft toy. The other half gave it to me before she went travelling and she had the Mr. Happy version. Sad I know but that sort of thing really does give attachment.

[CMC]

My guitar... its about 6 years old, i had a crap guitar before this, but this one is a good guitar, it has a few chips and scrapes... that have arisen because of use over the past few years with some friends all around ireland... its my baby... lol


oh and i have my macbook, and being a mac user of course i want to marry my laptop

not actually though

[99Flake]

See this is what I was trying to ask. Is a guitar a product or an item? If CMC had said my Tanglewood TW5 or something and gave a specific reason for that model and manufacturer then that would be fine but as it stands he hasn't pointed out a product just an item.

Not saying it is wrong, just wondering if that is the angle that you are looking for?

[twiglet]

he hasn't pointed out a product just an item.

whats the difference between a product and an item? by product i am talking about any tangible object

[CMC]

an item would be My guitar

a product would be a Takamine EG510SC Electro Acoustic guitar

[Guy]

Id have to say my car.... most ppl describe it as a banger! When I first got it home it was in such a state and literally every1 family and friends didnt expect it to go 10 miles without blowing up!

6 Months later Just over 10k miles, still going strong! Well apart from a new set of shoes!
Ive grown atached to it, I know exactly how to drive it, how to get the most from it etc, and il be sad when she finally gives up on things!

[funke_munke]

I was having a conversation about emotional attachment to possesions the other day... How strange.

Anyway, I was emotionally attached to a computer game called Panzer Dragoon Sagafor the Saturn, because my dad (who I don't see much) scrimped and bought it for me when I was a kid when he was seriously skint, and we played it to death together, many times, over a matter of years.

HOWEVER.

I have just sold said game on Ebay for near enough £100, after having a chat with the old man about how he is getting rid of all his old possesions which he is never going to use again, and was keeping them for memories sake. We decided to get rid of old stuff and keep the important part, the memory itself. You don't need the product to keep the memory, and I think some of us forget that (I did).