Designing Identities

This chapter examines the ways in which the automotive and appliance industries approach concepts of sound branding to delineate both product and consumer identities. The chapter elucidates how sonic aspects of the car-driver experiences—whether it is the sound of doors closing, distinctive engine sounds, or the variety of interior warning indicators and chimes—are carefully designed to appeal to and identify with various target markets. The growing complexity of built-in or “intentional” sound sources and of the sonic experience of operating cars and appliances also calls into question the relationship between machines and people. Marketers and sound designers attempt to inculcate the “emotional values” they want consumers to associate with a product. As such, people inhabit a world of commodities that are increasingly marketed to them as anthropomorphic, sentient entities that give the appearance of sharing their values and enabling their lifestyle choices.