Cultural Sociology

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Branded Cosmopolitanisms: 'Global' Coffee Brands and the Co-creation of

'Cosmopolitan Cool'
Sonia Bookman
Cultural Sociology 2013 7: 56 originally published online 12 July 2012
DOI: 10.1177/1749975512453544
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453544
2013

CUS0010.1177/1749975512453544BookmanCultural Sociology

Article

Branded Cosmopolitanisms:
Global Coffee Brands and
the Co-creation of
Cosmopolitan Cool

Cultural Sociology
7(1) 5672
The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission: sagepub.
co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1749975512453544
cus.sagepub.com

Sonia Bookman

University of Manitoba, Canada

Abstract
Engaging key issues in a growing sociological literature on the emergence of ordinary
cosmopolitanisms in consumer culture, this paper traces a link between brands and
cosmopolitanism. Focusing on the case of specialty coffee brands Starbucks and Second Cup,
the paper draws on recent theoretical approaches to the brand, and substantial qualitative data
from research conducted in Toronto, to outline how the brands frame and invoke a narrow
form of cosmopolitanism as part of the brand experience. However, it is not assumed that such
cosmopolitanism is straightforwardly taken up or reproduced by consumers. Rather, considering
the interactive ways in which consumers engage with the brands, it is argued that a stylized
cosmopolitan cool is co-generated in the dynamic interplay. While elaborating the connection
between cosmopolitanism and the brands, the paper will also consider the paradoxes, limits and
tensions of such branded cosmopolitanism.

Keywords
branding, brands, coffee, consumption, cool, cosmopolitan, cosmopolitanism, urban

Introduction
In recent academic debate about cosmopolitanism, a strand of inquiry focuses on the
formation of ordinary cosmopolitanisms in mundane practices, spaces and situations
in everyday life (Lamont and Aksartova, 2002). Analyses of these dimensions of cosmopolitanism range from the making and marketing of cosmopolitan city centres
(Young et al., 2006) to the embodied cosmopolitanism of round-the-world-travellers
(Germann Molz, 2006; also see Binnie et al., 2006; Regev, 2007; Savage et al., 2005;
Skrbis and Woodward, 2007). The emergence of cosmopolitanism in consumer culture
Corresponding author:
Sonia Bookman, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
Email: bookman@cc.umanitoba.ca

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is a particularly important theme in this scholarship, with studies concentrating on the

production, circulation and consumption of global cultural outputs and the cultivation
of cosmopolitanness (e.g. Binnie et al., 2006; Nava, 2002; Szerszynski and Urry, 2002).1
Little attention yet has been paid to the brand, despite it being an increasingly important
market cultural form in contemporary consumptionscapes (Lury, 2004).
My project here will be to contribute a new analysis of the brand by considering the
relationship between global brands and configurations of cosmopolitanism in everyday
life. How do brands facilitate cosmopolitan expressions and shape specific kinds of consumerist cosmopolitanisms? Drawing on recent branding theory (Arvidsson, 2006; Lury,
2004; Moor, 2007), and empirical research material from a study of Starbucks and
Second Cup coffee brands and their customers in the city of Toronto, Canada, I argue that
the contours of an ordinary cosmopolitanism are co-constructed in the dynamic interplay
between consumers and brands. Thus, while the brands frame certain cosmopolitan possibilities, I explore how the consumers of these brands middle-class urbanites
negotiate such frames and co-create a situated, urban cosmopolitan cool. Comprised of
three main components, this version of cosmopolitanism encompasses local and global
cultural openness, global awareness and recognition of responsibility, as well as a modern style of urbanity. It is a privileged form, however, bound up with the performance of
cultural capital and processes of distinction. While elaborating the link between cosmopolitanism and the brands, I also highlight the paradoxes and limits of brand-based cosmopolitanism. Before moving on to the research material, however, it will be useful to
discuss the way cosmopolitanism is conceptualized and how scholars have linked it with
consumer culture.

Cosmopolitanism and Consumer Culture

Reinvigorated in the context of globalization, transnational mobilities and multiculturalism, contemporary discussions of cosmopolitanism are characterized by numerous perspectives and debates (see Vertovec and Cohen, 2002; Bhabha et al., 2000; Robbins,
1998; Derrida, 2001). Binnie et al. (2006) summarize two key conceptualizations, which
are particularly useful for exploring brand-based cosmopolitanism. First, rooted in Kants
political theory, cosmopolitanism refers to a philosophy of world citizenship and a political project whether of global governance and civil society or the legitimation of plural
identities. Alternatively, cosmopolitanism is understood as an intellectual or aesthetic
disposition, which Hannerz (1996: 103) defines as a stance of openness towards divergent cultural experiences, a search for contrasts rather than uniformity. The notion disposition is closely related to Bourdieus (1984) concept of habitus: a learned system
of dispositions classificatory schemes, preferences and inclinations that are manifest
in the body and practices such as taste, and shaped through various types of capital. A
cultural disposition, cosmopolitanism involves an ability to engage with and navigate
cultural difference, and is characterized by a certain mobility, competence and flexibility.
Moreover, it entails a sense of global awareness that is integrated into everyday routines
and practices (Beck, 2002; Urry, 2000).
In an attempt to ground these abstract political and cultural conceptualizations, recent
accounts of actually existing cosmopolitanism (Robbins, 1998) have focused on the

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ways in which cosmopolitanism is practised and performed in everyday life. In this context, scholars have focused attention on consumer culture, recognizing that consumption
is a key arena for the construction of identities in contemporary society. Writers in this
vein have considered the way cosmopolitan sentiments are facilitated through reflexive
engagement with global media texts (e.g. Hebdige, 1990; Meijer, 1998; Morley, 2000).
For example, Szerszynski and Urry (2002: 478) argue that a banal globalism evident in
televisual flows is linked to the emergence of cosmopolitan cultures based on evidence
of global awareness, openness to diversity, and a proximated ethics of care among
viewers.2 Alternatively, analysts have shown how the non-rational, affective dimension
of ourselves establishes a culture of cosmopolitanism through material practices and
engagement with non-local cultural goods (Nava, 2002: 89). For example, Nava (2002:
86) traces how women, through the consumption of global fashion and dcor, expressed
a popular cosmopolitan consciousness or structure of feeling in 20th-century England,
in which cultural difference and the foreign constituted a source of interest, pleasure and
counter-identification with conservative outlooks. More recently, scholars have looked
at the production and consumption of cosmopolitan spaces. For example, Latham (2006:
92) examines how the presence of a whole new universe of cosmopolitan, global stuff
in Aucklands inner city creates a pluralistic public culture and contributes to an implicit
process of cosmopolitanization. Critics, however, argue that these spaces produce a narrow cosmopolitanism based on superficial encounters with consumable differences marketed toward middle classes whose cultural competence constitutes a form of social
distinction (e.g. Binnie and Skeggs, 2004; Young et al., 2006).
What these studies illustrate is the emergence of consumerist cosmopolitanisms
through everyday engagement with global images, non-local cultural goods and cosmopolitan stuff in commercial spaces. They also demonstrate how such cosmopolitanisms, while centred on characteristics of openness, global awareness and care for others,
are locally manifest in particular ways; they are rooted cosmopolitanisms shaped
through specific histories and geographies, as well as gender and class-based social
relations and particular contexts of consumption (Beck, 2002). Of particular concern is
the class location of cosmopolitanism. Some scholars argue that cosmopolitanism is a
privileged disposition, since it involves capacities and knowledges that are only secured
through access to the requisite cultural capital (e.g. Binnie and Skeggs, 2004). As Binnie
et al. (2006: 8) put it: being worldly requires confidence, skill and money.
Alternatively, other writers highlight how routine engagement with non-local goods or
mediated exposure to geographical and cultural diversity cultivates cosmopolitan sentiments among a broad populace (e.g. Hebdidge, 1990; Beck, 2002).
This is not to say that cosmopolitan-oriented consumption has previously gone unnoticed. A considerable precursor literature on omnivorousness (e.g. Peterson and Kern,
1996; Warde et al., 1999) has documented a shift in taste from snobbishness toward an
interest in a variety of cultural repertoires, particularly among high-status groups. Recent
work has argued that wider cultural engagement is increasingly a middle-class norm,
pointing to the need to delineate between various types of omnivore (Warde et al., 2007).
While cosmopolitanism, in this sense, may be considered a specific kind of cultural
omnivorousness, on the whole this literature does not explicitly address cosmopolitan
values or concerns of global awareness and engagement. Cosmopolitan consumption is

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also recognized in an emerging literature in business and marketing (e.g. Cleveland

et al., 2009), however, and with notable exceptions such as Thompson and Tambyahs
(1999) study of expatriate identities, many of these studies are interested in quantifying
cosmopolitan characteristics for the purposes of international market segmentation rather
than providing a sociological understanding.
Beyond mentioning brands as examples of global media icons or symbols that mark
cosmopolitan space, little attention is paid to brands in these accounts. In one sense, this
neglect reflects the persistence of divisions in current discussions of cosmopolitanism
between what is referred to as strong cosmopolitanism, focusing on the political project
of cosmopolitan democracy, and soft cosmopolitanism, which situates cosmopolitan
consumption, and particularly branded cosmopolitanism, as a distraction rather than as a
subject of serious academic inquiry (e.g. Calhoun, 2002). Moreover, within perceptions
of positive or detrimental forms of cosmopolitanism, brands tend to fall on the side of
neoliberal capitalism and corporate-driven cosmopolitanism, bound up with the production of economic and social inequalities through the promotion of a flexible free global
market (Calhoun, 2002; Vertovec and Cohen, 2002). Subject to negative assessments and
the perception that they are too crass to deserve serious inquiry, brands do not
receive much sustained academic attention outside of business disciplines (Holt,
2006: 300).
While brands certainly stand to profit from cosmopolitan projects and consumer attitudes, it is important not to limit analyses to these economic effects. In this article, I
attempt to contribute to the growing work on cosmopolitanism and consumer culture by
exploring the way cosmopolitanism is constituted on the platforms of global brands.
How are brands bound up with the articulation of cosmopolitan identities or lifestyles?
How are such cosmopolitanisms characterized by certain tensions or limitations?
Focusing attention on the brand, I address these themes by referring to an extensive study
of specialty coffee brands Starbucks and Second Cup.

Data
Introduced in the 1970s in Seattle and Scarborough, respectively, Starbucks and Second
Cup each started out in the form of a retail store selling high-quality coffee beans to a
small target market of discerning middle-class consumers for home consumption.
Following similar trajectories, in the 1980s both brands evolved into the format of a
streetfront caf premised on the provision of customized, gourmet coffee in a stylized,
social caf environment. Expanding throughout the 1990s and 2000s, both brands have
proliferated across Canadian cityscapes, structuring specialty markets and shaping urban
caf cultures.3 My own interest in researching coffee brands and culture stems from participation as a caf flaneuse in these urban coffeehouses. While Second Cup remains a
predominantly Canadian brand with some branches abroad, Starbucks has become a
global phenomenon, with locations worldwide. What makes these brands global, however, is not simply a matter of their international presence, but the way they assemble
global coffees, causes and transnational practices as part of the brand interface.
Cosmopolitanism was an emergent theme in my study of the production and consumption of these brands. Consumers themselves raised the notion when they were

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discussing the presence of coffees from around the world and the global caf ambiance.
Early on in my research it became apparent that cosmopolitanism was important to how
consumers related to and experienced the brands. I subsequently pursued this theme in
the rest of data collection, which was a benefit of reflexive methodology.
The data set consists of material gathered through strategies that included participant
observation, visual/textual analysis and interviews conducted in Toronto over a period of
three years.4 A dense and diverse metropolis, Toronto has a population of over 5 million
people and one of the highest foreign-born populations (45.7%) among cities worldwide
(Hiller, 2010: 34). The observational component of my research took place in neighbourhoods across the city, from the Entertainment District to the lively Annex area near the
University of Toronto. Most were middle-class or gentrified areas, where the specialty
brands targeting affluent consumers are predominantly positioned. In all, 80 hourlong sessions were conducted in twenty-two Starbucks and Second Cup cafs. Following
Emmison and Smith (2000), my findings detail the way images, people, objects and
sensorial aspects were formatted and flowed within the caf space, intersecting to perform an experience of the brand. A visual analysis of promotional materials and information helped me to understand the content of brand communications. It concentrated on
Starbucks Commitment to Origins and Second Cups Solid Grounds campaigns,
which were featured in the cafs at the time of research.
I also conducted semi-structured interviews both with consumers and producers of
the brands. The latter group included over 20 people involved in the design, marketing
and management of the brands. The aim of these interviews was to gain insight into
branding processes and performance. The former group included more than forty
Starbucks and Second Cup consumers, whose interview data are featured in this article. Participants were recruited through the use of flyers and posters. Interviewees
ranged in age from their early 20s to late 60s, and included slightly more women than
men. With a few notable exceptions, they were overwhelmingly young, middle-class
professionals or university students, with high levels of economic and cultural capital,
especially in the form of post-secondary education. Interviews were conducted in the
cafs consumers frequented and covered themes related to their everyday use and
interactions with the brands. Following Kirby and McKennas (1989) guidelines, data
analysis involved a thorough, systematic process of reading, categorizing and coding
to gain an understanding of key themes, issues and trends. The following analysis
focuses on one aspect of this research: the co-constitution of cosmopolitanism in the
brand-consumer dynamic.

Brands, Consumers and the Co-creation of

Cosmopolitan Cool
Drawing on recent branding theory, brands are understood as powerful market cultural
forms that mediate and articulate production and consumption in contemporary processes of exchange (Arvidsson, 2006; Lury, 2004; Moor, 2007). Not simply a name or
logo, the brand is a complex media object that coordinates these and other elements
including products, people and promotions to communicate certain values or qualities
with the aim of establishing a particular image: the associations that a brand holds for

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consumers (Lury, 2004: 80). Consumer activity is central to this process. As Holt
(2004: 3) argues, the brand only emerges through the accumulation of consumer experiences, which fill the brand markers with meaning. As such, brands are managed to
provide consumers with carefully curated contexts, suggesting ways in which they can
experience or relate to various products and services, offering cultural frameworks for
their use: With a particular brand I can act, feel and be in a particular way (Arvidsson,
2006: 8). Consumers are encouraged to use brands to produce identities, shared meanings and common social worlds in ways that contribute (rather than detract from) brand
image. In this process, they co-perform the brand, helping to realize its identity and
value-in-use, as it is spun into their everyday lives. This is central to what a marketing
director called living the brand, and a key aspect of the way it comes to life for
consumers.
For Starbucks and Second Cup, the streetfront caf is the main context for shaping
consumer experiences. A type of servicescape, the caf is designed to facilitate certain
kinds of hedonic/aesthetic experiences and social interactions (Thompson and Arsel,
2004: 632). It is patterned, through the coordination of a themed environment, product
and promotion design, as well as the organization of a system of service provision, to
frame particular experiences around coffee consumption, shaping its meaning, use and
place in consumers lives. Here, I am interested in how the brands construct an experience
of cosmopolitan connoisseurship in the space of the caf. Against a backdrop of a world
of coffee, Starbucks and Second Cup frame certain opportunities to cultivate and express
cosmopolitan sensibilities as connoisseurs and global citizens. Not assuming that consumers straightforwardly take up such frames, I emphasize how they negotiate and cocreate a situated cosmopolitan cool comprised of three components: cultural openness,
global awareness, and an urban style. In this process, consumers co-shape the elemental
aspects of a cosmopolitanism that serves to distinguish both consumers and brands.

Coffee Connoisseurship and Cultural Openness

Cosmopolitan openness is evoked in the context of coffee connoisseurship, and is
particularly linked to the way both brands romance the coffee experience. Presenting
themselves as coffee experts, Starbucks and Second Cup introduce specialty coffees
like fine wines, with an emphasis on origins as a distinguishing factor in discriminating coffee quality and taste (Roseberry, 1996). Differences in origin are conveyed
through a range of materials designed to educate consumers, develop their palette,
and encourage experiential involvement. Take, for example, Second Cups illustrated
Huehuetenango coffee label, which depicts a sun-basked coffee field framed by
exotic vegetation and animals. Sara,5 who works with an advertising, design and
interactive agency involved in the branding of Second Cup, explained what the label
is supposed to convey:
I think it gives them a sense of place I think, you know, we certainly want to make illustrations
representative of a location, as much as, as accurate as possible. But certainlyits more of a
sense of flavour and taste appeal in a way, and exotic location and colours, and um, you know,
it is a bit of an education, but its not over-the-head kind of education.

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The label is not intended to provide accurate, literal information about coffee sources,
but rather offers a visual story and taste of the place. As Second Cups marketing director suggested, it provides a sense of adventure and adds to the mystique of coffee,
which gets people more involved in the overall experience. The brands caffeinated
cartography (Elliot, 2006: 67) thus places emphasis on taste geographies and experience, without the risk of education about the world.
Inscribed in wall murals, coffee brochures, and even table-top poetry, consumers
engage with stories about coffee origins as they stand in line waiting for espressos or
linger in the caf environment. When asked to comment on this aspect of the brands,
consumers suggested that it invoked a sense of global diversity. For example, Nancy, a
student in her mid-20s, observed: With the marketing of different images from different
places, and I guess also the colours theyre kind of rich and almost, you know, from
Central and South America. So it is kind of a collage of different places. Comparing
Second Cup with other establishments featuring ethnic foods, Sean, a graduate student
with three young children mentioned that they all invoke similar kinds of thing, that
youll have sort of world music or stuff that is meant to imply lots of cultures mixed
together. He spontaneously added that they are aimed at attracting a crowd that thinks
of itself as multicultural and interested in the world and is cosmopolitan.
Invited to explore the world of coffee and literally taste the differences in origin,
consumers are afforded the possibility of expressing cosmopolitan openness by engaging
with cultural diversity as constituted via the medium of coffee.6 Taking up such opportunities, some consumers discussed how they felt connected with various cultures and
places around the world through virtual travel and taste. This was the case for Starbucks
consumer and business owner Jeff, who spoke about his global experience:
And sometimes they [Starbucks] give you maps or flags, and they show you Guatemalan or
Honduran coffee with the little placards. I guess I would call it a global experience, but not a
European one. Its more like the earthy-hippy-third-world type, which, actually Ive travelled
that route. Its more like Im connected to the real planet that grows the, Central America, I
guess thats the regions it sort of feels like I dont need to go to Ethiopia, I can go to
Starbucks.

Others shared Jeffs experience of virtual mobility; they also felt transported elsewhere
via the brand. Commenting on Starbucks Caff Verona packaging, Nancy remarked: Its
like going to Verona without going to Verona. It works on such a subconscious level, the
semiotics of it, you know. While Verona stood out to Nancy, who previously travelled to
Italy, Second Cup consumer Todd and his partner Mike, students at the University of
Toronto, relayed their aspirations to see the world. As Todd indicated: I like the idea of
getting something from Arabia or wherever, I do. I like travel, so that does appeal. While
Mike injected: Like my little passport thing, if I keep collecting stamps of all the coffees
that Ive had , suggesting he could travel the world through taste, with a Starbucks
passport in hand. Coffee bags serve as souvenirs in this context. Purchasing five Ethiopian
Yirgacheffe packages for friends, Paul, who works as a stockbroker, explained: I love the
aesthetics of it, its so much fun to give presents that look nice aesthetically. It makes
you feel like, it give you a sense of East Africa I think with this design.

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Narrating experiences of virtual mobility, purchasing coffee bags to share travel experiences, and collecting global coffee stamps, these consumers reflexively engage in
post-tourist experiences, reflecting qualities of play and irony in their travels with the
brand (Urry, 1990). In this process, they perform a certain worldliness, expressing cosmopolitan sentiments of delight in encounters with difference and openness toward other
cultures. As Hebdige (1990) has articulated, expanded, virtual mobilities and mediated
exposure to cultural variety cultivate a mundane cosmopolitanism. However, in the
comments above, a sense of virtual travel was often discussed in conjunction with
notions of actual (or aspirational) physical travel and an aesthetic appreciation of place,
expressing a privileged rather than popular form of mobility. Being worldly in this
sense is bound up with the deployment of cultural capital in the form of global geographical experiences, cultural knowledges and aesthetic frames of reference, as well as
the economic capacity to journey around the world.
It is important to note that not all consumers necessarily subscribed to the cultural
diversity stipulated by the brands. For example, Sean criticised the way coffee-growing
regions were portrayed: I think theres still in North American society, even though all
the places are going to be different from each other, right, Africa, Latin America,
Indonesia, the coding is if its highly colourful and highly patterned then its that place
far away. Disparaging the way diversity is corporately controlled, graduate student and
Starbucks consumer Jennifer observed, they have an Italian CD, they have a Brazilian
CD, so in that way, they sort of, its diversity but its rigidly conformed diversity in terms
of music and in terms of atmosphere. These comments reflect cultural criticism of the
way differences are ordered, packaged and commodified for consumption. Analysts of
cosmopolitan space in particular have pointed out how commercially framed boutique
multiculture (Keith, 2005) creates a distinction between acceptable and unacceptable
differences, reproducing rather than breaking down certain hierarchies of culture (Binnie
et al., 2006: 25; Young et al., 2006). As Sean notes, this involves a homogenization of
non-Western cultures and coffee origins, invoking postcolonial criticism of the Orientalist
framing and the fixing of third world differences for the enjoyment of predominantly
Western consumers (e.g. Ahmed, 2000; Elliot, 2006, 2008). Such postcolonial analyses
remain at the textual and discursive level, however, often neglecting to consider how
differences are actually consumed through embodied practice.
In contrast with those who playfully embrace brand-based diversity to express cultural mobility, these consumers articulate a cosmopolitan openness through critique by
drawing attention to its limits. At the same time, bound up with knowledges of cultural
coding and geographical difference, they express an equally privileged sensibility on the
platform of the brand.

Corporate Citizenship and Globally Responsible Awareness

The second component of this branded cosmopolitanism global awareness is framed
through the introduction of corporate responsibility. Connected to connoisseurship, it
communicates a passion for coffee through care for the communities and environments
in which it is cultivated. To this end, both brands coordinate extensive programs, partnering with organizations such as Fairtrade Foundation to provide support for sustainable

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production and coffee communities (Second Cup Ltd., 2003; Starbucks Coffee Company,
2002a, 2002b). During my research, for example, Starbucks launched its Commitment to
Origins philosophy and line of coffees. These sustainable coffees were prominently
displayed in burlap sacks and promoted in brochures featuring fair-trade testimonials,
designed to convey care for others and engage consumers in an ethical experience.
Demonstrating a recognition of the need for respect for human conditions at the products source and a perspective of global diversity, the brand performs a politics, or
rather, myth of cosmopolitan citizenship (Gob, 2001: 300). Constituting an ethical
frame of action (Arvidsson, 2006), consumers are called on to actively recognize their
responsibility as global citizens in an interconnected world of coffee through consumption choices, volunteerism and beyond. A paragraph from Starbucks Commitment to
Origins brochure entitled You can help make a difference too states:
We try to make a difference to the people and places that produce coffee, to the countries we
visit and the families we touch. Every time you purchase Starbucks coffees, youre also making
a difference, helping to improve peoples lives, and encouraging conservation where our coffee
is grown. (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2002a)

Only a few of the consumers I interviewed responded positively to this call. This was
the case for Paul, who identified himself as a socially responsible type of person:
For me it wouldnt be Starbucks without their social responsibility. Young people are much
more socially aware than older people; our generation are much more concerned I think that
Starbucks is part of a process of social and economic development in the world, and I think its
a role model.

In this quote, Paul conveys his geo-political awareness and ethical values, demonstrating
these through his support of the brand. He also makes an interesting observation regarding the young professionals that frequent specialty cafs, suggesting that they express
high levels of global awareness and concern. While this was certainly the case for many
of the participants I interviewed, such awareness was mainly exhibited through critique
rather than acceptance of brand-based responsibility.
For the most part, consumers expressed a great deal of skepticism toward branded
socially-responsible initiatives, particularly questioning corporate motives for caring.
For example, Starbucks consumer John, who once owned an independent caf, stated:
I see this just as another way of appealing to people who are more conscientious about global
issues, but I mean from what I hear theyre big enough to set coffee prices, so um, theres a lot
they could be doing, but if theyre a publicly traded company ... ultimately their concern is the
bottom line.

In addition to the limitations posed by the profit imperative, some consumers questioned the extent to which brands are responsible, as John mentioned, theres a lot they
could be doing. In many instances, consumers thought that ethical initiatives such as
carrying fair trade coffee or sponsoring children in coffee-growing regions were token
gestures, designed to deflect potential criticism. This was expressed by Jennifer, who

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asserted: Well actually again its just like having your one rack of organic cotton t-shirts.
Its like they do it to silence the people who would come in and [be critical], you know
what I mean. Furthermore, consumers suggested that the brands were simply co-opting
responsible practices to curb competition. As Nancy conveyed:
Im very cynical. I would hope that they would be sincere in that, but I also think that it wont
ever come to much. And to represent themselves as fair-trade. I dont think its true. I wonder
if its not in reaction to consumer disgust and consumer desire for fair trade, so to kind of nip it
at the bud and say no, you dont need to look into alternative brands because we can do that.
But then they probably dont really do that, so I should stop coming here.

In these comments, consumers articulate cosmopolitan values of ethical engagement

with others and the environment, demonstrating global awareness and a sense of responsibility through their skepticism of the brands ability to achieve such ideals. Some consumers, such as Jennifer, indicated that an ethics of responsibility should be already
integrated into business practices, not simply an added bonus or extra cost in which
youre taxed on your moral responsibilities.
At the same time, these highly knowledgeable skeptics were not about to give up their
habits and taste for Starbucks or Second Cup coffee. Skrbis and Woodward (2007: 735),
in their work on the ambivalence of cosmopolitanism, suggest that the gap between
globally-aware sentiments and practices reflects how cosmopolitan ideals conflict with
personal imperatives and therefore it does not always find full flowering. Indeed, to
resolve this contradiction, many consumers conveyed a conflicted appreciation of the
brands efforts to be responsible, conceding that at least it is a move in the right direction.
This was the case for Monica, a university-educated young mother, who shared her views
on Second Cups sponsorship program:
I think every individual store each fosters a different child, right, from what I understand, which
I always thought was kinda cool. Um, if I think a bit deeper about it, I am aware that really that
probably doesnt make up for the damage thats done the whole production of coffee so I
dont know. At least theyre doing something, nobody can do everything, and at least its
something. Even the fact that theyre raising a bit of awareness it might make people more
aware of the rest of the world, which I think is very important.

To an extent, the brands address some of the anxieties these consumers face as coffee
connoisseurs with cosmopolitan ideals and awareness, through education and media
attention to issues of global poverty, the environment and labour, of inequalities associated with the trade in commodities such as coffee. By doing something to alleviate consumers ethical concerns, the brands allow consumers to justify their consumption and
still maintain their cosmopolitan outlook. This is precisely what good identity brands do,
according to Holt (2004); they target contemporary cultural anxieties and offer consumers
a way of smoothing them over; they put consumers at ease. As Joanne, a Starbucks fan in
the field of nursing, remarked: I dont think anybody buys it [referring to Starbucks fairtrade initiatives], but they appreciate the protection of the company saying they do that to
try and make us not feel guilty about spending all this money on their coffee.

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Although Starbucks and Second Cup do not fulfil the cosmopolitan ideals articulated
by skeptical consumers, they serve as a marker of ethical aspirations, holding out the
possibility of globally-aware ethical engagement with others. In this sense, they allow
consumers to at least appear or imagine themselves responsible, so that they can
feel better about drinking their caf latte, even while dubious of the companys efforts in
this regard.

Urban Cafs and Cosmopolitan Cool

Located in affluent shopping areas and gentrified Toronto neighbourhoods, Starbucks
and Second Cup connect with consumers as they go about their shopping, work or leisure. Opening onto and implicating these broader urban environments and patterns, the
brands are entwined with consumers experiences of everyday life in the city. In this
dynamic, cosmopolitanism takes the shape of an urban style; a third component of the
consumerist cosmopolitanism co-constructed in the brand-consumer interplay. Indeed,
many consumers referred to cosmopolitanism in urban terms, defining it as metropolitan
or downtown, reflecting the hustling and bustling of city life, and as part of an urban
lifestyle. For example, when describing the cosmopolitan experience she associated with
Starbucks, Cherie, a professional in the field of communications, suggested: Starbucks
has that metropolitan, urban kind of thing. As a style, it resembles a populist version of
cosmopolitanism, characterized by cultural liveliness and a certain sophistication, which
might be captured in the concept of urban cosmopolitan cool.
The cosmopolitan urbanism described here involves an awareness of and delight in
the variety of city life marked by an array of cultural flows and in situ cultural difference (Latham, 2006: 95). Sharon, a professional working in the financial district of
Toronto, relates the aesthetic globalism of the caf space to the urban variety she experiences downtown:
Now Starbucks is new, and its very lively. The colours are very bright and bold and its part of
my downtown; its part of my everyday, and if I, you know, if Im going on vacation I will
likely go to another city, thats what appeals to me is sensory overload theres a little bit of
stimulation at Starbucks which I associate with life around me, cosmopolitan, its downtown.

For Sharon, the overall culture of Starbucks or feeling of Starbucks is cosmopolitan,

in that it reflects the vibrancy of city life. She mentioned how it makes her feel very
cosmopolitan, highlighting the affective dimension of the cosmopolitan experience
generated by the caf ambiance.
An instance of the global grounded. The local (Binnie et al., 2006: 15), cosmopolitanism in this sense is both worldly and manifest through an interest in the metropolitan
mix. It is, as Beck (2002) indicates, both rooted and has wings. At the same time, consumers were aware of the limits to such brand-mediated cosmopolitanism, suggesting
that it affords an experience of urban diversity without the risk of actually engaging with
others. As Sean observed: Thats one of the things thats attractive about them
[Starbucks], is that you can be in a strip mall in an utterly homogenous area and you can
think of yourself as a big city person who knows about the world. A cosmopolitan

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difference is thus constituted at a distance, from within the safety of the branded caf.
However, this was not Seans experience, who was interviewed in the Annex an area
known for its ethnically diverse outdoor markets and community. As he noted, here on
this street corner it is relatively multicultural, implying that his own cosmopolitan
urbanism, evident in neighbourhood choice, extends beyond the parameters of the brand.
Cosmopolitanism as an urban style is also characterized by a certain sophistication.
For example, Kamala, a publishing professional in her late 20s who frequents a Second
Cup downtown, relayed that:
It makes it feel cosmopolitan in that the [rural] groups arent doing this. Theyre not coming in
to get their coffee. Like my brother is very small town, and he thinks its a kind of snobbery or
extravagant for those that spend $4 on a latte. He doesnt get it. They go to a donut shop then
theyre on their way to the construction site, you know what I mean? So I think he thinks its
upcity or fashionable to sit in the caf.

When asked if she felt that way, Kamala responded that it kind of becomes second
nature. For Kamala, being upcity as she conveys through her brothers perspective, is
natural to her; it is part of her urban style and identity. Expressed through practices of
caf flaneurship and connoisseurship, Kamalas sophisticated urbanness is contrasted
with her brothers small-town style and taste for mass-marketed coffee. While he is
drawn to the familiar, she expresses an interest in experiencing cultural complexity.
It is precisely the complexity of specialty coffee, characterized by a dizzying array of
customizable options and styles, and accompanied by a whole pseudo-Italian/French
language on the menu, that marks a boundary between discriminating coffee connoisseurs on the one hand, and ordinary coffee drinkers on the other (Elliot, 2006; Cormack,
2008). This is observed by Jeff, while commenting on Starbucks coffee lingo:
theyre branding themselves as this more sophisticated, cosmopolitan, exotic experience.
Why not throw some Italian in there, you know, any schmuck can say small, medium, large, but
it actually takes quite a lot of sophistication and more intelligence than I have to distinguish
between Grande and Venti although this doesnt keep me awake at night.

While Jeff does not necessarily take cosmopolitan connoisseurship seriously, he

points to the way in which it allows a surface display of coffee competence (regardless
of actual knowledgeability), and comprises a form of cultural capital that distinguishes
between any schmuck and aficionados who are more sophisticated in style. Such
distinctions are class-based since the ability to acquire coffee fluency and knowledge
is more available to some, especially middle-class consumers, who can afford to spend
time cultivating this skill (or appearance) with the brands. At the same time, these divisions reflect an urbanrural divide. For example, when Todd defined cosmopolitanism
as a sense of gourmet, his partner Mike added, I couldnt imagine a Second Cup in
the country. The cafs and their sophisticated coffee culture are associated with an
urban lifestyle and the heterogeneity of the city, in contrast with an imagined small
town simplicity and rural homogeneity. As Binnie and Skeggs (2004: 41) articulate,
cosmopolitanism is an oppositional term evoked against all that is fixed, parochial
and especially national. Here, cosmopolitans are distinguished from rural and

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working classes, distinction that is particularly at work in the contrast between Kamala
and her seemingly unsophisticated brother.
A further characteristic of cosmopolitan urbanity consists of its coolness. Jeff identified this in his association of Starbucks with what he termed North American cosmopolitan cool:
I think of it as New York um, okay, North American cosmopolitan cool is jazz, Miles Davis,
American Indie movies, more like modern. I tend to associate North Americans who adhere or
latch onto European things as, I guess theres people that seem to consume things that have
greater legitimacy as a result of their classical old status, or, ballet, opera, Shakespeare So in
contrast to that, North American urban cool would be much more avant-garde in the sense that
its looking at things that are very recent.

Described as urban, modern and avant-garde, North American cosmopolitan cool

encompasses certain practices of cultural consumption that convey openness to innovation and new cultural forms. It is particularly expressed by Starbucks and Second Cup
through aesthetic design, music selection and the sponsorship of chic festivals and
events.
Cool is an attribute associated with uniqueness, or an innovative style (Sturken and
Cartwright, 2009: 294). It has been used as an expression of counter-culture, a mode of
differentiation from the mainstream that allows people to think of themselves as current
or cutting edge through the display of taste, underpinning the rise of hip consumerism
(Frank, 1997). Jeff suggests that the difference of cosmopolitan cool consists in its
culturally omnivorous but contemporary style of consumption. A specific kind of omnivorousness, it involves a discerning approach to cultural engagement that is not only distinguished from mainstream mass consumption but other versions of cosmopolitan
consumption such as European cool. As Bourdieu (1984) indicates, aesthetic judgement is always bound up with social status. In drawing distinctions between North
American and European cool, and deploying his knowledge of cultural trends, Jeff is
positioned as an arbiter of taste. In this process, he engages in the performance of urban
cool, distinguishing himself as a hip cosmopolitan with the frames afforded by the
brand.

Conclusion
By focusing on brands, and using contemporary branding theory, this empirically detailed
account shows how a notion of being cosmopolitan and experiencing a type of cosmopolitan difference is materialized, marked and given expression by the brands Starbucks
and Second Cup. It demonstrates how a cosmopolitan cool is constituted within spaces
where global narratives and visual elements, spatial ambiance and location, as well as
middle-class consumer desire are fused. It emphasizes how this cosmopolitan form
emerges in the interplay between brands and their patrons, who co-create a cosmopolitan
experience. Such cosmopolitanism is complex; it consists of both a global orientation of
openness and awareness as well as an urban style a way of being in the city that
embraces cultural liveliness, innovation and complexity. Both global and grounded, it

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reflects an interworking of the aesthetic and cultural globalism (Binnie et al., 2006: 15)
of the brands, which structure a global space of travel and sphere of responsibility, and
the localism of cafs situated in the particularity of Toronto neighbourhoods.
Far from being implicitly cosmopolitanized, as Lathams (2006) study of cosmopolitan consumption suggests, or bearing a form of unreflexive mundane cosmopolitanism
(Skrbis et al., 2004), the middle-class coffee consumers I interviewed reflexively articulate cosmopolitan outlooks in ways that both reproduce and especially exceed the narrow
frames afforded by the brands, expressing cosmopolitan sentiments and values through
critique as well as (playful) embrace of brand-based diversity, responsibility and connoisseurship. Drawing on experiences of travel, broader ethical ideals and urban everyday life, consumers co-shape a situated cosmopolitanism that combines an awareness of
current, global issues and interest in contemporary urban cultures. At the same time, the
ambivalence of such cosmopolitanism is revealed in the contradictions some consumers
experience between their ideals, which often exceed the brands parameters, and patterns
of consumption in relation to the brand.
This account reveals a privileged form of cosmopolitanism, bound up with displays of
cultural capital and the performance of distinction. The caf consumers have access to a
rich store of cultural and economic capital that allows them to be culturally flexible,
mobile and knowledgeable. Expressed as a style and displayed through taste, consumers
are distinguished by their hip, metropolitan worldliness, especially in contrast to an
imagined rural and working-class parochialism. As Binnie et al. (2006) indicate, being
cosmopolitan has become a desirable point of distinction for new middle and gentrifying
classes. This is not to suggest, however, that cosmopolitanism is the reserve of middleclass consumers. Rather, attending to this stylized form, I address Germann Molzs
(2006: 18) contention that even privileged or elite versions of cosmopolitanism must
also be specified, situated and differentiated within a particular matrix of materiality,
culture and politics so as not to remain abstract, invisible norms.
Taking brands seriously, this article maintains that these cultural market forms provide a platform on which actually existing cosmopolitanisms emerge. The empirical
account offered here demonstrates that these are not simply superficial, commodified
expressions, but are bound up with consumers identities, aspirations and practices.
Integrated into their everyday lives, branded cosmopolitanism is an important part of
consumers lived experience of cosmopolitanism. At the same time there are limits to
such brand-based cosmopolitanism, many of which are recognized by consumers themselves. Overall, this study suggests that cultural sociologists should pay more attention
to the way brands are co-shaping cosmopolitan cultures in contemporary society. In particular, they play a role in the formation of what analysts have identified as new urban
cosmopolitan lifestyles (Binnie et al., 2006). Tapping into this trend, brands are enabling and co-constituting particular cosmopolitan expressions as part of the exchange.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Susan Frohlick, Liz Millward and Sheryl Peters for reading earlier versions of this paper and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, as well as the research
participants and cafs that hosted me during the research. Versions of this paper were presented at
the Everyday Life in the Global City Conference organized by The Manchester Institute of Social

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and Spatial Transformations, Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as the Canadian

Sociology and Anthropology Association Annual Meeting.

Notes
1. A form of material culture, consumer culture emerged in mid-20th-century Euro-American
societies and is characterized by a process of stylization (Lury, 1996).
2. The term banal globalism is used as the global equivalent to Billigs (1995) notion of banal
nationalism, which describes how people think and experience themselves as part of an
imagined community through mundane practices or events.
3. Starbucks opened its first international store in Vancouver, Canada, in 1987 (Schultz and
Yang, 1997). By 2005, there were over 580 Starbucks stores in cities across the country and
400 Second Cup cafs concentrated in the English speaking Eastern regions.
4. This research was conducted between 2002 and 2005 as part of my doctoral project.
5. All names of interviewees are pseudonyms.
6. This is inspired by Lurys (2000) analysis of the way Benetton conveys diversity through
the use of colour as a medium to configure differences such as race as a style and matter of
choice.

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Sonia Bookman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba,
Canada. She obtained her doctoral degree in Sociology at the University of Manchester, UK. Her
research interests include branding, consumer culture and urban life. She is currently working on
a research project that explores the branding of the Exchange District, a cultural quarter in the city
of Winnipeg.