Symbolic utility

Symbolic utility is also known as psychological utility or additional utility. It is conveyed via the product and its marketing and triggers feelings or moods such as prestige, a new sense of identity or the sense of belonging to a group. One example would be the metallic paint on a car.

The differences between practical utility and symbolic utility are not all hard and fast and can be variously interpreted and experienced depending on the person concerned. One used to be able to assume that practical utility was the same as the main utility for the consumer and that symbolic utility was merely additional utility. In prosperous societies and mature markets with high product quality, the perception of utility may shift in the case of some product groups, so that practical utility is taken for granted and is perceived as being a basic quality, with symbolic utility dominating people’s perceptions (in the case of certain textiles, for example, more money is spent for the “brand” than for actual product quality).