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The article illustrates the concept of semantic structure analysis, or laddering, by providing examples using the car as a product and the environment as an issue. The laddering method was initially developed to record semantic structures of products or product categories. It is based on several presuppositions about the way knowledge and meanings are organized in cognitive schemas. The cognitive schema bestows meaning onto the surroundings. The process of this bestowing of meaning is built up and steered by the consumer who strives to live up to certain values, which are susceptible to change during each stage in life.