Modern Funerals TV Segment

    Channel 10's 'The Project' had a segment on the modern funeral, on the 22nd of February 2013.  How funerals in the "last five years" are moving to a more personal service as the funeral service and the funeral industry modernises.

Funeral Advertisements

    Funeral advertisements are a debated topic.  Some see them as a negative thing, that ads aimed at the general public forget the individual and de-personalise the industry.  But these public ads also do a lot of good, they help to bring funerals back to the public.  As such grief and the funeral industry are made more acceptable.

The Funeral Industry & the Internet: step forward or be left behind

    Overall the funeral industry has been quite late to the internet.  Even now the industry is still not truly active or taking advantage of the online opportunities.

    In this post I explain how the industry is not very internet active and why this is actually a big issue for the industry.  I also discuss why the industry is so hesitant of the internet, even at their own loss.

Modernity in the Funeral Industry: A look at Disneyization and McDonaldization in the Australian funeral industry

    This is my third essay on modernity in the funeral industry.  In these essays I am taking concepts from tourism studies and applying it to the funeral industry to show how the two industries are quite similar.

    I have found that many consider the funeral industry to be 'old fashioned' and traditional.  Yet this is not really the case as the funeral industry is modern industry, with large international corporations, mass consumption models and so on.

    In this essay I apply two key concepts of modernisation to the funeral industry.  Essentially both of these concepts come out of tourism and are used to explain modernity in society.  You can read my abstract below, and find the link to the whole essay.

The InvoCare Share - how much of the industry does InvoCare really own?

    A few days ago I was at a small gathering of leuters.  When talking to one lecturer about InvoCare and how they had a strong hold on the funeral industry she asked me about numbers.  About proof.  Of which I have little to none.  It was here that I realised all the numbers I have are based solely on what others think and believe, not on actual research or facts.  Thus I did some research into how much InvoCare actually owns.  What i found was rather surprising.

LifeArt; A look at the modern funeral industry

     Funerals are quite a modern affair, much like the fast food, tourism or any other highly organised industry.  For example in this other post I (quickly and lightly) discuss how crematoriums can easily be linked to concepts from the tourism industry.  I find the LifeArt coffins to be another interesting example for the modern funeral and only exist because of how the funeral industry is a modern process  So here I intend to examine what the LifeArt coffin is and what role it plays in this modern process.


   The LifeArt coffin is an interesting and quite frankly strange thing.  It is basically and simply a cardboard coffin.  It is made from the same style of cardboard as pizza boxes and as such I have heard a couple of funeral directors call them "pizza box coffins" with destine.  The only wood or real non-cardboard material used is a few blocks of wood on the inside to reinforce the handles.  One would wonder what market a cardboard coffin would have.  Most people want "the best" for their loved one.  And this idea has been the basis for the coffin industry for many decades.  People pay high price with the idea they are getting high quality.  The result of which is that much of the funeral industry has become dependant on high profit coffins as a means to survive.  So along comes a cardboard version, and it is still more expensive than the cheapest wood coffins.  Thus we would doubt LifeArts place in an old and established market.
   So lets look at the advertising and marketing for this strange new coffin.  On the homepage of the LifeArt website we see the main image is of a child.  A strangely common image in the industry with the focus being on life (always depicted as young by the industry) rather than death.  But it also focuses on two ideas, environment and personalised.  These are fascinating ideas to the industry, as personalisation is very old and very important to funeral homes and families.


   Personalisation is an old idea which has been emphasised in the modern industry.  Firstly I will quickly clarify that by personal I mean two distinct things.  One one hand we have personal, which is warm, relevant and relatable to the mourners.  On the other hand I am also referring to personalised which is basically customising the event to meed the desires of the family and/or deceased.  The two are so intertwined and related in many ways that I will refer to them both at once to simply save time.  Looking at older style funeral home ads I found that a few would talk of "personalising the service" to cater to the family and/or the deceased.  The concept does appear and is important to funeral homes but it is not essential or emphasised over other concepts.  However in the modern funeral industry the idea of a personal or personalised service is almost essential.  Looking at the websites for Simplicity, Guardian and White Ladys, which are all owned by Invocare and Olsens and T.J.Andrews, which are independent we can see how important this concept of 'personal' is.  It appears several times on each website and each emphasise how they are prepared to personalise the service to fit the family or deceased.  Looking at just arranging a burial style funeral we can see exactly how important personalisation is.  Simplicity advertises the ability to personalise stuff on the funeral.  Such as having a set of golf clubs in the hearse with the coffin or that it is willing and able to get a horse drawn hearse, something I have never seen or heard of.  It is such an odd extreme and nobody I had asked ever saw a horse drawn hearse.  Guardian focuses more on how it will "personalise the service to your cultural, spiritual, emotional and personal preferences".  They chose to focus on advertising emotional and cultural personalisation without stating anything specific.  White Ladies even has a whole section on personalising the service.  They focus on 'little touches' and helping "achieve a truly memorable funeral service".  Here the whole company emphasis is strongly on personal service.  Even their motto "a woman's understanding" leads one to believe that they will be willing to listen and personalise the service.  These three websites are all for large national companies owned by InvoCare, which itself is a large international company.  Just looking at the sites at once one can see the similarities.  Their templates are almost exactly the same, the placement of information, links and art styles are all identical.  Knowing how to navigate one site means knowing how to navigate any of them.  Even the style of language and what is said is the same.  They all explain things, such as arranging a funeral, in such a similar manner.  Really, the only difference is the colour of the site.  One is left wondering how personal their services could be, if their websites are the same down to the language style and template used then they must all be so similar.  Thus we turn to the two large independent funeral homes websites to see if 'personal' is just an InvoCare thing or an industry wide concept.  Olsens is a mostly Shire and South Sydney company and has been established for many years.  Clicking on "what type of funeral" one is immediately confronted with talk of how they will personalise the service.  They state how they provide a "distinctly" and "carefully" personal service.  T.J Andrews does not explicitly talk of "personal" or "personalising" funerals.  They do however talk heavily of how chan change and customise funerals depending on cultural and individual needs or desires.  So while not explicit T.J.Andrews does place importance on personal services.  All of these websites spend time they could use advertising other things to emphasises the personal concept.  It really is an important concept to the funeral industry.  This is no different with the LifeArt coffin website.  A main advertising point is how the coffin itself can be personalised.  From having pictures or photos printed onto it in the manufacturing process to painting it, the coffin is very "customisable".  They differentiate themselves from other coffins by emphasising how people can interact with the coffin and make it into the image they desire.  I remember one time where a family painted the LifeArt coffin themselves, and although it did not look the best they were extremely happy with the outcome.  The outcome had little impact on them itself, what they really focused on and had meaning was the act of painting the coffin.

   One is left wondering why exactly this is such an important concept to the industry.  That the funeral homes pay so much attention to it and that LifeArt uses 'personal' as a main basis for its very existence.  Well, my thought is that it is based in the modernising of the industry itself.  Looking at the websites they are all so similar, mainly the InvoCare owned ones (which LifeArt is also owned by).  They are mass production companies no different to McDonalds.  In fact InvoCare companies all use the same facilities (of which there are only four main ones across Sydney) and often the same staff.  Staff will work a Simplicity funeral one hour then a Guardian one the next, all from the same location.  They even have magnetic company plates for the hearse so the same hearse can work different funerals in the same day from different companies.  I have heard of people working at the main InvoCare locations stating how cold these places are.  That they are heartless and "efficient production facilities".  This is the process of modernisation and democracy.  Everything is done on mass, efficiently, transparently and equally.  Think of apartments, the modern answer to housing, they are about providing accommodation to the masses (particularly in Eastern Europe) and this is where the whole idea for them comes from.  Apartments house many people at once in the exact same conditions and to the same standards.  This is democracy and modernity in action and is the same with the funeral industry.  Everything is the same amongst the various funeral homes, independent or otherwise, with little difference.  This leads to a need or desire to individualise, by carving out nieces (which I will talk of another time) and by talking about how personal their service is.  But basically because these companies are so similar, even going so far as to share staff and facilities, they need to separate themselves from each other.  When people find out about how the bodies are all treated the same and on mass they (even those within the industry who do this job) are against it.  People do not like the idea of the dead being treated on mass like other products.  We like to think that the dead are treated as individual people, not processed products.  Yet the truth of the matter is that this is how the modern funeral home handels bodies.  However the funeral homes do not want people to see or think of them as cold companies who just process the dead.  And to do this they highlight and perpetuate the idea that they are a 'personal' place and service who care for the dead rather than deal with the dead.  As a completely new product LifeArt is a great example of this.  They are literally mass produced by machines, no talk of "hand made" or individual manufacturing.  Instead they have a lot of focus on how they can be customised to suit the needs of families or the deceased.  There are three main sections devoted to personal coffins, "how to create a DIY (decorate it yourself)", "create a custom design" and "create personalised design" all of which are featured and accessible on the homepage or from anywhere else on the website.  The 'DIY' section talks of how families are able to decorate the coffin in different ways even featuring a testimonial from a funeral director.  He talks of how a family used "mum's gift" (the coffin) to come together as a family.  They took great joy in decorating it and shared stories about the departed mother while doing so.  LifeArt is depicted here as a way to help deal with the loss of a loved one and bring people together by personalising the coffin.  In the 'create a custom design' section they advertise how they turn peoples "ideas into a completely unique design" that are only limited by imagination.  The final part I looked at 'create a personalised design' even emphasises the concept of personal in the very title.  LifeArt held an exhibition a few months ago (which was publicised in the InvoCare magazine) where they got local artists to decorate their coffins.  This was to display the various things that can be done with the coffin and how people can interact with it rather than just look at it.  However in this section they talk more about text that can be printed onto the coffin (such as names, dates, saying, messages and so on), quite strange when the other two sections are wholly focused on images and visual of the coffin.   Either way all three sections talk of how the LifeArt coffin can be very personal, either through images or text.  A concept which was not important a few years ago gets the majority of the products website.  These are coffins which could not have existed even a few years ago.  For one the technology was no around to make them possible let alone viable and the attitudes towards modern funeral homes did not exist.
 

The visual variety of the coffins

   The main aim of LifeArt is about how it can be made personal, yet this is actually quite debatable.  They are literally mass-printed on machines from a set template.  Every coffin has to be the same shape and even size with no physical deviations between each other.  Even the handels and thumbscrews are the same for every coffin.  Indeed the whole thing is a result of a mass production system with the focus on efficiency.  One must wonder how personal they can be if they are all physically the same and have no options for difference.  The 'standard' wood coffins have options for different handels, different thumbscrews and people have a choice of many different types for each price bracket.  With variations in colour or type of wood, style of the lid and other physical details of the coffin.  Basically the only variation for the LifeArt coffins is what can be printed on the outside while the other coffins have a variety of physical differences.  And yet the LifeArt can be more personal than the other coffins solely through visual variations.  They offer printing oh specific photos, pictures or words and have the option to be decorated by the family.  None of these options are really available for the other coffins, although they have more physical variations and can be custom made from scratch they are not as personal.


   The other main aspect LifeArt advertise is that they are environmentally friendly.  Talk of 'green' burials or funeral processes has existed for some time.  I remember an article (which I cannot find) talking of how a biologist had developed a completely zero carbon footprint burial method.  It was 100% environmentally green.  Basically (and un-poetically) the process was to be buried in a bio degradable potato sack under a tree.  LifeArt is the next, publicly palatable step in this process.  The website states how LifeArt coffins take less fuel to burn in crematoriums, cutting emissions by 60%.  They are made from 97% recycled fibers (from both reused paper and sugarcane) and they require less energy and pollutant to make.  Indeed being green is important to LifeArt, and yet 'green' as a predominant environmental concept is only quite recent and modern.  Many products, such as cars, advertise themselves as 'green' and with a low negative impact on the biological and social environment.  Something no coffin before has done, or even tried to do.  And yet LifeArt has carved out quite a nice market in doing so.
   LifeArt are a product made possible by modern technology and processes as well as the very attitudes to these modern processes.  Through an ever modernising and democratising the industry a need has arisen to counter the impersonal and mass production of this process.  LifeArt is a great example of this with a majority of the website, advertising and even aim of the product devoted to how the coffins can be personalised.  The second focus of LifeArt is on how 'green' it is, another modern concept.  However both of these concepts are somewhat debatable.  Overall the funeral industry is modernising and the result of which is a desire to differentiate and individualise as they all become more and more similar.

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    On an unrelated note LifeArt coffins were featured in this article on "Worlds Wackiest Coffins" over at Oddee.  It is interesting how the website talked of them as "going out in style" when really their 'style' is only superficial.

Modernising Death - Looking at the modern crematorium

    Death is becoming a very 'modern' operation, no different to other big industries like tourism.  As a result there is a lot of uniformity, conformity and predictability in the funeral industry.  And the various crematorium are a good example of this.  They were built at different times in different places by different groups, yet they share many similarities.


    The 'funeral gaze' has a great influence on the industry.  As a lecturer once said, the gaze is "not somebody staring.  It's staring with intent.  Somebody staring with an idea to change things".  It is the influence the people have on what they see and experience.  The gaze is simultaneously encapsulates what is seen and the way it is seen (Perkins & Thorns, 2001, p. 187).  So mourners have a great influence on the funeral industry through their gaze.

    But the funeral industry also has its own influence on the mourners.  The funeral industry manipulates the funeral gaze.  This is because the industry only lives if the funeral gaze is regular and predictable (Pagenstecher, 2003, p. 1).  If the gaze was unpredictable funeral parlours, crematoriums, cemeteries and so on could not sell or market themselves effectively.  And InvoCare (along with others in the industry) realise this and manipulate it through various processes such as theming and dedifferentiation (Bryman, 1999; Pagenstecher, 2003, p. 1). 


    This manipulation is achieved through the concept of Disneyization and McDonaldization.  These concepts refer to the never-ending process, and outcome of the process, of control over every aspect of an image on a massive and local level.  While there are similarities between these two concepts, the difference is that while McDonaldization is about efficiency, calculability, predictability and (most importantly) control.  Whereas Disneyization is about theming, dedifferentiation, merchandising and (most importantly) emotional labour (McCall G. 2., 2010).

    Theming is a common, and the most obvious, form of Disneyization (Bryman, 1999, p. 29).  Theming simply is the productization of an organisation, such as the use of a logo or specific font.  One way to see this in the funeral industry is in the crematoriums.  Crematoriums were often built at different times and for different reasons across Sydney.  We can see this by looking at four main crematoriums in Sydney.  The first is Rookwood Gardens is the oldest operating crematorium in Sydney.  Established in 1925 it accommodated those who could not afford a burial and to cope with a higher volume of deceased than cemeteries could.  The second is Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (ESMP) crematorium was opened in 1938 to deal with returning soldiers.  The third is Northern Suburbs crematorium, opened in 1922.  The fourth is Macquarie Park crematorium.  Opened in 2004 it was a radically new design and operating procedures aimed at covering as many services as possible, in an efficient and modern way.  Nothing like it had been buit in Sydney before.

    These four crematoriums are in different parts of the city, run by different organisation, built at different times and for different reasons.  Yet their themes, logos and setup are all very similar..  They name their chapels based on points of the compas, such as 'North Chapel' or 'West Chapel'.  They use similar colours, browns, pastels and creme.  But not all four are like this.  Macquarie Park names its chapels after plants, such as 'Palm Chapel' and 'Magnolia Chapel'.  It also uses different colours such as whites, blue and some silvers.  And while the other crematoriums use carpet or wooden floors Macquarie Park uses white tiled floors.  They are even set up the same way, from the way in which you or the hearse enters to where you sit and where the coffin is placed.  There is a asile down the center leading to a stage area surrounded by a curtain.  The stage area is in a recess, indented into the wall at the front and surrounded by a curtain.  The stage has a 'catafalque' on which to place the coffin.  The catafalque is raised so everyone can see it clearly from anywhere in the room.  The hearse can pull right up to the front door and there is parking for mourner cars nearby.  Macquarie Park is different, it is the only one which has a catafalque that is on wheels.  It is the only one which has awnings in front of every chapel and the only one with large modern glass windows and doors with aluminium frames.  And yet most people would see it as any other crematorium.  The logos at all four are of either bird, flower or a sunset and with simple clean lines and colours.  Every crematorium logo is similar to the point of being interchangeable.  But they reflect the industry on a larger level.  They are badges that show who owns and runs the crematoriums and what they are like.  The similarity of these badges reflects the similarity of the groups who run the crematoriums.

    These crematorium employ similar yet different themes to illustrate how they sell the same product, but are different companies.  This gives the impression that they are different places with different experiences and 'products'.  After all, if they all used the exact same themes then people could not differentiate between them.  And people want difference, and a newness, but not to lose touch with what’s known (McCall G. 2., 2010).

    McDonaldization is also apparent in these four crematorium.  The way the service procedes is basically the same in every place.  Everything is predictable and tightly controlled by the staff and by the process itself.  The funeral staff will arrive with the hearse, inform the crematorium staff of their arrival and exchange paperwork.  This paperwork is the same in each crematorium.  Depending on family wishes the funeral staff and/or the family will then carry the coffin into the chapel and place it on the catafalque.  They will say a few words, prayers or whatever they wish, sometimes placing flowers or memorabilia on the coffin as they either enter or exit.  Finally, about 20 to 45 minutes later the curtains are closed and the service is over.  The coffin is then taken into a back room where it is either stored in a fridge to be cremated at a later date or cremated right away.  It is the same, predictable formule in every place and does not vary much.

    The staff, both crematorium and funeral (who are usually from different organisations) keep everything in order.  Working together to do so.  They keep people out of the chapels until the place is ready and set up, they organise the paperwork, they make sure everything runs as it should.  But they do this because of tight rules and procedures.  The consequences for not filling out the right papers in the right way are quite serious, as you can imagine.  Treating the family differently, such as taking them into the chapel too early or late, can again have consequences.  If anything does not go according to the formule then the mourners become upset, even if they do not know the formule.  Everything is tightly controlled and efficient.

    So we can see that the four crematorium all have clear signs of Disneyfication and McDonaldization.  They are uniformed and predictable in almost every way.  Thus we would think there was little originality or differentiation between them and between the services.  As Guneratne highlights, this idea is a superficial simplistic view (Guneratne, 2001, p. 230).  If anything, dedifferentiation and globalisation polarize and emphasise the local differences (Guneratne, 2001).  In other words globalisation does not create a global culture, but rather it “reinscribes locality in new ways” (Guneratne, 2001, p. 527).  And this is the same with the funeral industry.  The conformity reinforces their differences, what makes them individual.

    Going back to the logos we see that although each one is very similar to the other, they are all different and emphasise who runs the crematorium.  Their procedures are slightly different, and these slight differences are most important to each place.  How the hearse pulls up to the chapel, where and how the papers are done, where the mourners park, etc is all different at each place.  But more importantly the staff and design of the crematorium is the biggest difference.  Not only do the staff wear different uniforms but they practice different procedures.  For example at ESMP the staff will charge extra for showing others how to use the AudioVisual system in the chapels and then leave.  While at Macquarie Park the staff will be present for the whole service and run the AudioVisual system themselves, for no extra cost.  Macquarie Park did this deliberately to be different from the other crematorium, to give the mourners something they will not get at another place.  They also offer different services to go along with the funeral.  Macquarie Park has catered function rooms within easy walking distance of the chapels and will record the whole service for families.  It highlights the modern features and designes of the crematorium.  Rookwood Gardens contrastingly emphasises its history and garden settings.  And it does not make any attempt to offer a function room or encourage the recording of funerals.


    Crematoriums are a modern organisation comparable to the tourism industry.  They package and sell a product like any other company.  The only real difference being that the product they sell is a funeral service.  As a result there is a lot of conformity and similarity between the crematoriums.  However this only forces them to reinforce why they are different, what makes them unique.  If they all offered the exact same product then there would be no way for people to chose between them.  And people like choice, even if it is just an illusion.  So long as the choice does not come at the cost of what is expected.


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References for further reading:

Bryman, A. (1999). The Disneyization of society. The Sociological Review , 46 (1), 25-47.

Guneratne, A. (2001). Shaping the tourist's gaze: Representing ethnic difference in a Nepalese village. Journal of the Royal Anthropologist Institute , 527-543.

McCall, G. 1. (2010, 3 31). Tourism as a development strategy. SOCA3106 Unpublished Lecture . UNSW.

McCall, G. 2. (2010, 4 28). The “tourist gaze”, industrialisation and accommodation: Guides and hopes for the safe adventure. SOCA3106 Unpublished Lecture . UNSW.

Pagenstecher, C. (2003). The construction of the tourist gaze. How industrial was post-war German tourism? In L. Tissot, Construction d'une industrie touristique au 19e et 20e siècles. Perspectives internationales. Development of a Tourist Industry in the 19th and 20th Centuries (pp. 373-389). Neuchâtel, International Perspectives.'

Perkins, H., & Thorns, D. (2001). Gazing or performing: Reflections on Urry's tourist gaze in the context of contermporary experience in the Antipodes. International Sociology , 16 (2), 185-204.

Urry, J. (2001). Globalizing the tourist gaze. Lancaster LA 1 4YN, UK: Department of Sociology.

Heavens Address; Facebooking the Dead

    InvoCare recently held a training session at W.N.Bull for something called "HeavensAddress" for all conductors.  Basically 'HeavenAddress' is a social media site for deceased and families or friends of the deceased.  HeavensAddress is an independent site, but heavily supported by InvoCare.  So obviously they want their funeral directors to use it and get it rolling.  It is actually not a bad site, or a bad idea, although I still have mixed feelings about it.

    The site allows people to leave messages or tributes for the deceased.  It lets people to still send their condolences from anywhere at any time.  This is mainly for people who could not attend the funeral, or speak to the family directly.  Families and friends are able to upload photos and videos of the service or of anything else they want.  They can stream the service live, over the internet.  This is all great for social networking.  People can actively participate in the service instantly form anywhere in the world.

    Looking at the most visited postings we can see the average age of the deceased, and it is quite surprising.  The average age is only 63.2 for the top ten, and 20.2 for the top five (as of Feb 2012).  It should be noted that in the top ten most visited is one person who is 84 and the oldest I can find on the site.  While we may not find this particularly surprising in and of itself we should look at a larger picture.  The average life expectancy in Australia is 79.3 for men and 83.9 for women (Australian Bureau of Statistics 4102.0, Mar 2011).  Many listings are for those who were not much older than 40 and many are for either infants, children or young adults.  It is clear that the average age of the deceased on HeavensAddress is lower than the life expectancy, significantly so with the five most viewed listings.  As to what this might mean I have no idea, I just find it fascinating that the majority of the deceased on the website are lower than the life expectancy.

    You can search the site by name of the deceased, funeral directors and crematoriums or cemeteries and all listings are accessible to the public.  Overall HeavensAddress is an interesting concept and offers great opportunities to explore the industry.  I am really curious to see how, or if, it will take off and last.  And what this means for the funeral industry.

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