Consumer Consciousness
From Sensation to Digital Perception
Will be published approx. on 3. December 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-19-890905-7 (ISBN)
Description
How do people experience products, brands, and digital environments through their senses and awareness?
Drawing on philosophy, psychology, marketing, and neuroscience, Consumer Consciousness examines how our engagement with everyday consumption and digital experiences can be enhanced or disrupted by technology. Conscious awareness through touch, sight, sound, and even virtual experiences shape our perception, decision-making, and well-being.
Central to this argument is the concept up the conscioumer: an ethically aware, reflective, and engaged individual, whose market choices align with personal, societal, and environmental values. Olivia Petit and Carlos Velasco highlight the role of unconscious mechanisms by tracing the historical and philosophical evolution of the consumer, advocating for a renewed focus on conscious experience as a tool for empowerment. Multisensory marketing, sensory ecosystems, and immersive technologies are shown not only to influence perception, but also to expand the possibilities of reflective and meaningful engagement.
Emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence, IoT, XR, and robotics, are reshaping consumer consciousness, creating hybrid human-technology assemblages which challenge traditional notions of agency. The ethical stakes of these developments are high: Petit and Velasco make the case for responsible design, meta-cognitive capacities, and societal frameworks that foster well-being and sustainability. More than a theoretical exploration, Consumer Consciousness offers a practical and philosophical guide to understanding and cultivating conscious consumption.
Drawing on philosophy, psychology, marketing, and neuroscience, Consumer Consciousness examines how our engagement with everyday consumption and digital experiences can be enhanced or disrupted by technology. Conscious awareness through touch, sight, sound, and even virtual experiences shape our perception, decision-making, and well-being.
Central to this argument is the concept up the conscioumer: an ethically aware, reflective, and engaged individual, whose market choices align with personal, societal, and environmental values. Olivia Petit and Carlos Velasco highlight the role of unconscious mechanisms by tracing the historical and philosophical evolution of the consumer, advocating for a renewed focus on conscious experience as a tool for empowerment. Multisensory marketing, sensory ecosystems, and immersive technologies are shown not only to influence perception, but also to expand the possibilities of reflective and meaningful engagement.
Emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence, IoT, XR, and robotics, are reshaping consumer consciousness, creating hybrid human-technology assemblages which challenge traditional notions of agency. The ethical stakes of these developments are high: Petit and Velasco make the case for responsible design, meta-cognitive capacities, and societal frameworks that foster well-being and sustainability. More than a theoretical exploration, Consumer Consciousness offers a practical and philosophical guide to understanding and cultivating conscious consumption.
Reviews / Votes
Consumer Consciousness: From Sensation to Digital Perception is essential reading as AR/VR, spatial computing, and multimodal AI turn marketplaces into immersive environments. Petit and Velasco show how sensory, affective, spatial, and temporal cues don't just influence users in these worlds, they construct what consumers notice, feel, and value. If you build or study immersive experiences, this book offers a rigorous framework for designing meaningful-and responsible-interactions in a reality that is increasingly blended. * Anders Gustafsson, Professor of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School * This book offers a timely and deeply reflective exploration of what it means to be a conscious consumer. The concept of the "conscioumer self" is both fascinating and illuminating, opening new perspectives on the relationship between perception, behaviour, and meaning. Both intellectually stimulating and practically grounded, it combines rigorous reflection with thoughtful exercises that foster greater awareness in an increasingly consumption-driven and digital world. It demonstrates convincingly that the senses are not merely channels of marketing, but are fundamental to how context, technology, and experience are constituted. Even something as simple as a smell situates us in space and time, revealing our place within a larger whole. * Marianna Obrist, Professor of Multisensory Interfaces, Department of Computer Science, University College London. * Consumer Consciousness arrives at a moment when we urgently need to rethink the role of consumers, not as passive receivers, but as active agents shaping systems, markets and futures. By embedding greater consciousness into product design and product philosophy, this book shows how more responsible businesses, and more meaningful value systems can emerge. It is a foundational read for those seeking to craft innovative experiences in an increasingly competitive landscape. Exceptionally well-articulated, deeply rigorous yet accessible, it bridges academic insight with real-world relevance for anyone working towards a future where products are designed beyond engagement or efficiency, a future where experiences become an act of care, shaping how we value, choose, and ultimately live. * Charles Michel, Food systems thinker and experience designer *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Illustrations
30 figures including 15 in colur
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-19-890905-7 (9780198909057)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Olivia Petit is an Associate Professor at KEDGE Business School. She earned her PhD at Aix-Marseille University, France, and her thesis received the Nestle Foundation and EMAC McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Awards. HHer research focuses on consumer neuroscience, sensory and digital marketing. She investigates consumer embodiment in avatars and its impact on wellbeing, in research supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the METAVETRE project (ANR-23-CE26-0015).
Carlos Velasco is a Professor at BI Norwegian Business School and co-founder of the Centre for Multisensory Marketing. Carlos received his D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University, after which he worked in a number of postdoctoral and consulting projects in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. His work is situated at the intersection between Psychology, Marketing, and Human-Computer Interaction. For more information, visit https://carlosvelasco.info/
Carlos Velasco is a Professor at BI Norwegian Business School and co-founder of the Centre for Multisensory Marketing. Carlos received his D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University, after which he worked in a number of postdoctoral and consulting projects in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. His work is situated at the intersection between Psychology, Marketing, and Human-Computer Interaction. For more information, visit https://carlosvelasco.info/