It’s Not In the Bag, It’s On It: The Role of Shopping Bags in Shaping Perceptions

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Formisano, Alyssa
Area of Honors:
Marketing
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Johanna H Slot, Thesis Supervisor
Jennifer Chang Coupland, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Shopping bags
Fashion
Branded packaging
Status signaling
Environmental consciousness
Sustainability
Luxury consumption
Counterfeit
Thrifting
Quantitative data
Marketing
Abstract:
When a shopping bag is reused, is it still packaging—or has it become something more? This thesis explores how something as ordinary as a shopping bag can shape how people perceive us. While shopping bags are typically seen as disposable, branded ones often communicate more than we realize—signaling things like status or environmental consciousness. Through a randomized survey experiment with 196 participants, this study tested how a brand’s luxury level (luxury vs. contemporary), bag material (paper vs. durable), and an observer’s personal traits (luxury knowledge, counterfeit shopping habits, and thrifting behavior) affect perceptions of shoppers who reuse these bags. I found that luxury shopping bags are more likely to trigger perceptions of status signaling—especially among those with low luxury knowledge. Meanwhile, shoppers who carry paper bags are seen as more environmentally conscious than durable ones, particularly when used by luxury brands or observed by thrifters. These results suggest that shopping bags carry quiet but powerful social meaning, and that what we reuse—or choose not to—can influence how others see us, often without us realizing it.