East Asia is obsessed with luxury (and gen z pays the price)

luxury items are costly I know groundbreaking start but when you have Handbags and clothes that retail for thousands of dollars most people aren't even going to think about making a purchase like that so why is it then that in Korea this Louis Vuitton bag is nicknamed the 3C bag of reference to its popularity from supposedly seeing this bag every 3 seconds on the street unless we're bumping into Korea's most wealthiest 20% every 3 seconds how is this bag so common if you're thinking this might be a bit of an anomaly it's not just Korea the overwhelming popularity and demand for products is seen in much of Asia particularly in East Asia Korea Japan and China have been consistent in driving significant growth for the luxury industry in 2022 South Koreans had the highest per capita spend in luxury spending on average $325 on luxury items which is more than the US and almost six times China Japan's enthusiasm for luxury goes way back as Japan's strong economy post World War II and the demand for Western luxury goods in the 1960s and '70s opened up the luxury Market to Asia as for China well China is forecasted by Bane to account for almost 40% of global luxury sales by 2030 placed in a different culture like in the west these figures and the common consumption of luxury may be a shock we have countless memes poking quite harmless fun at how International students turn up to 9:00 a.m. lectures or grocery stores like they're attending Milan Fashion Week whilst it's clear we're getting styled on what's not as clear is why there is such a different culture surrounding the consumption of luxury and we are going to find out [Music] why if you're in the west and you purchase a designer item like a handbag for example most likely you're doing it for yourself because you like the bag but in the East you can make the same purchase buy that same bag and have drastically different thoughts it's not just about whether you like the bag but also what will your friends think about it or your family or your co-workers and how will this purchase affect how people in general see you this isn't overthinking this is an example of how social cultural values affect our internal decision- making and there are two crucial cultural differences between East Asia and the West k speaking into gear right now the first is how we view our identity what makes us us this is the concept of independent and interdependent self an independent constr of self is the belief that everyone is their own distinct person even if we're related my siblings achievements or successes are his and not mine only the things I do should reflect on me this type of thinking is dominant in Western cultures interdependent conol of self is based on the idea of everyone being connected to everyone my identity is not just me but also includes my social roles like being an older sibling or a mother my identity includes who I know what circles I'm in and what my family does all of this impacts how I see myself and who I am and because these people make up such a big part of me my choices are easily swayed by what they find acceptable this type of thinking is more common in Asian cultures a simple example where we can see this difference in self-construals will be referring to someone as Lily's mom based off her social role as many East Asian and Asian countries might do versus the lady being referred to as Sarah which is her actual name this difference in self-control how we perceive our identity is claimed to be the most significant source of difference amongst cultures note this is on a spectrum though you don't have to be either completely on one end or the other that being said more interdependent cultures can leave individuals with a very ingrained sense of self-consciousness because you think so much about the people around you and this actually leads to the second cultural difference called face face culture is an extension of having an interdependent self-control because it's not just being aware of others judging you but also wanting others to think highly of you face is often described as your social standing or how much others respect you and common phrases like losing face occurs when something embarrassing happens to you whilst gaining face happens when you get into med school face is such a loaded concept it deserves a whole separate video but for now just know East Asians think a lot about how they see them and face culture means it's important for them to look good in front of others too why is it important to know this because it impacts what items we purchase and why products and services in general as terized by Smith and Colgate provide three types of value instrumental symbolic and honic most products and services will be able to provide all three types of values in different ways for example if I use notion to add structure in my life and keep everything organized then it's providing me with instrumental value if I tell everyone I use notion to give people the impression that I'm that girl then it's providing me with symbolic value and if using notion is a therapeutic experience in itself then is providing me with honic value let me show you guys exactly what I mean this is my notion notion is a web app where you can plan out organize do anything you want so this home section over here is for home stuff I want it all this is getting embarrassing is for my hobbies and other goals I have in life and then creative content is for YouTube and work let's start with how I use notion for YouTube I have my overall Vision here my admin stuff to the side and if I scroll down I have a calendar that tracks how long it takes me to do things so I can keep myself accountable if I've been working on a script for two whole weeks this is a pretty specific calendar view that's very work focused but if you want a calendar for everyday use notion actually recently came out out with one and it's great so if I click opening calendar my work and personal life is all in here so it's super handy and of course you can add events and schedule things in notion calendar okay now let me show you another section of my notion so in my home section I have a cooking page because I've been trying to cook more but it's a disaster up here I have a week planner and then scrolling down I just have some recipes linked here with my notes and some readings disclaimer these recipes are all good I just can't cook I'm the problem it's me what did I even say here my fault not the recipes haha cheap C coconut milk is such a Miss also I didn't have a blender to make this soup and also when microwaving a none use a paper towel or become a chip I do remember that if we scroll back to the top though there's a drop down for recipes that's basically based on what I've built at the bottom notion is just so customizable you can really build whatever you want lastly let's go to my hobbies and goals section it's a mess in there so I'll just show you one section this is the tab for guitar so on the left I have all these tabs and recently I saw this beautiful animatic I decided to cover it so I used notion as a whole vision board where I put in screenshots and I got a color palette filmed the cover and then I actually never showed it to anyone so I guess it's having its moment today but most of the time I'll just L tabs here and I also have screenshots for the tabs then on the right I also have covers and guitarists I really like to use as motivation so this is also where the embed feature comes in really handy as you guys can see you can use notion for absolutely anything and I use it for absolutely everything having notion sponsored this video is so wild because last year when I first found out about it I called a friend to give them the full rundown of how my life was about to be changed so I hope I was able to show you guys a whole new world today get started with notion and notion calendar now for free with my link and thank you so much lotion for sponsoring this video now going back to our talk earlier about instrumental symbolic and honic value out of these three values I want to highlight the honic aspect because it's all about self-gratification and how you feel if we link this to the concepts of self-construals having a more independent self-c conrol means you're more likely to prioritize honic values and items you'll buy things that make you feel good because you're the only one that matters for Asian consumers though Wong and aoia propose a different decision-making process focusing on honic and symbolic value they use the example of a cheap sweet wine the consumer likes and an expensive dry wine that the consumer doesn't like compared to westerners Wong andovia state that Asians would be more likely to buy the expensive wine they don't like to have in public simply because it reflects better on them because remember with interdependent selves how other people think of you feeds into your identity there's actually also a pretty funny marketing campaign based on this idea a brand of CNAC made the slogan for the Japanese Market designed for drinking at home where no one will see your tippling cheaper now that we've talked about self-controls face culture and how good can have instrumental symbolic and honic values one thing becomes clear people can buy the same item and use it for completely different reasons one person might genuinely like dry wine and enjoy drinking it whilst the other person dislikes it but consumes it anyways just to look good exploring how East Asians perceive their identity and recognizing different dimensions to a product helps helps us put into context this seemingly counterintuitive behavior when it comes to the topic of luxury there's one more thing you need to know and that is on items having public and private meaning public meanings are meanings that are shared which is particularly relevant to luxury goods because luxury Brands spend a fortune on marketing to make sure the public knows exactly what having their item means French luxury conglomerate lvmh that owns Louis Vuitton zor Laura Piana and more spent 9.5 billion on marketing in 2022 luxury items other than commanding an expensive price tag also demand respect and has become a symbol of achievement in wealth which is seen as the Pinnacle of success in capitalist societies opposite to public meanings are private meanings and these are meanings that only we understand for example a family like has been passed down scholar theorized that Western consumers relative to Asian consumers will put more emphasis on items with public meanings they also theorized the opposite where Asian consumers are more likely to prioritize items with public meanings this makes sense because East Asians care and want others to think well of them so they will prioritize items with favorable shared meanings the idea of showing a best side to others and conveying a high status is also important in East Asian culture because it's a culture that's very appearance-based in Chinese there is a phrase which translates to First People respect the silk and clothes then they respect the man luxury therefore is the perfect Flex making others think well of you which feeds back into your sense of self this is why East Asians are known to be conspicuous consumers which are shum is that buy Goods to enhance their Prestige so far luxury goods seem to fit pretty well within East Asian culture but things are about to take a dark turn let's look at a real case these are puffer jackets North Face puffet jackets to be more specific and ton Breakers if we were in Korea in the 20110 the term tungle breaker translates to spine breaker because these Northface Puffs were expensive and kids would break their parents back with their costly demands a decade ago these puffers were the IT thing in Korea and high schoolers especially went nuts over it you see high schools in Korea have uniform but these expensive puffet quickly became a point of differentiation and soon a symbol of class a social hierarchy was formed based off this one puffer so soon you had all the wealthy and popular kids wearing the most expensive northb product a $400 Himalayan down jacket whilst the losers at the bottom of the pack were only wearing $250 nosies that's not the worst of it though because at least the puffers were still from the North Face if someone was wearing a puffer from a different brand they would be in the trenches kids would therefore beg their parents for a North Face puffer so they could at least fit in and parents paid the price the result whole graduating classes of students all wearing North Face puffers the point of differentiation now an enforcer of Conformity the phenomenon of tono Breakers reveals two things about Korea that also applies to East Asia the existence of strict social hierarchies and the expectation to conform strong social hierarchies exist in collectivist cultures like China Korea and Japan largely due to influences from confusion ism confus Fus philosophy outlined five fundamental relationships that make up the basic hierarchical structure of confusion society and its impacts are still felt in the modern day in fact the significance of these hierarchies is asserted by historian her Linn as one of the most powerful traditional Concepts shaping the lives of Chinese people social hierarchies exist in Western societies too but its legitimacy varies depending on context in high school absolutely social rankings were a certainty of life right after death and taxes anywhere else it will still exist but how much other people accept or respect it is another matter from the puffer incident in Korea we also saw another Behavior being Conformity Conformity is a big deal in East Asian societies and again we can trace this back to confusion influences in confusion thought a sage was the ideal personality and they were described as someone who had achieved moral perfection sages were expected to put their duties first Above All Else therefore Conformity and putting aside how you feel for the greater good has traditionally been seen in a positive light this brings us to an interesting point in the west if someone conformed and gave into peer pressure that's usually say negatively because you're not being true to yourself and you caved doing something you might not want to do in the East though honestly you would be praised if you didn't want to do something but you caved anyways and followed the group because that's putting the group first okay we talked through a lot of Concepts and now I'm going to bring it all together to show you how East Asian culture influences the consumption of luxury let's summarize everything first East Asia is a society that encourages Conformity has strong social hierarchy is a culture where people have an interdependent sense of self and value face of course these aren't the only traits of East Asian culture they're just the relevant ones to our discussion at the moment so now I can show you my Badly Drawn Choose Your Own Adventure diagram this will be most relevant for the younger generation of East Asian consumers as they're at an age where social hierarchies and the recognition of others matter most regarding luxury you have two types of people those who want it and those who don't and there's two choices people have as well buying it and not buying it because of all the cultural factors we mentioned above e Asian consumers are more likely to past a higher value on luxury goods because of the status it will provide them and this is crucial as it helps justify the price tag okay then what about these choices in the first scenario they want luxury and they got it this is very straightforward the second scenario are people who want luxury but don't buy it the most likely reason if they want luxury in the first place is that they can't afford it the typical course of action here would be for them to save up until they have enough money to buy it but this doesn't always happen if this person in an East Asian culture was thinking of saving up but suddenly SE a friend or a cooworker by a luxury item because of face culture and social hierarchies this person will now look bad compared to them the image will be inferior because luxury has given their friend or coworker a higher status so now they will feel the need to get even or else they'll be left behind note in this situation as the person wanted luxury in the first place the friend or co-worker obtaining it will mean more to them than someone who didn't care about luxury at all therefore in these situations people may end up buying luxury anyways even if it means they putting themselves in a bad financial spot then you have the type of people who don't care about luxury the segment of people who don't care about luxury and don't buy is probably the largest segment by far in the west this just means you're not interested in the East though you have to be not interested and also not in an environment where you would feel pressured to buy luxury what does that mean well that leads us to our last case the segment that doesn't want luxury but ends up buying it anyways this is the dry wine scenario we mentioned where someone might not be into that wine at all but end up consuming it to conform to visual expectations when we draw out all these interactions with luxury we can see how much culture impacts our decision-making from the beginning the number of people interested in luxury would be higher in East Asia and even if you're not intending to purchase societal pressures May influence you into making that decision anyways this first part was all about breaking down and understanding cultural factors influencing luxury consumption now that we've done this I want to shine the spotlight on the actual consumers particularly the younger generation and their more extreme buying behaviors where they often go broke to look [Music] rich luxury has traditionally been aimed at older consumers that have accured wealth over their working career and can afford $10,000 watches however a growing consumer segment that is purchasing luxury is the younger generation who might not financially be there but regardless want to participate in activities of the wealthier classes we and others in 2015 looked into one such younger demographic known as the strawberry generation in Taiwan this term refers to Taiwanese people born born after the 1990s and is a jab at how soft they are brising easily at hardships unlike their parents who have gone through much harder times this generation gives up easily and cannot withstand social pressure that being said times are very different for them than for their parents this younger generation isn't worried about putting food on the table but rather earning Social Capital which one can gain through luxury purchases researchers as responding to it in their early 20s and primarily women on what makes a brand a luxury brand most answers were about their superior quality and a high price PR point then came responses like exclusive and Wealthy traits that describe the brand image and less of the item one respondent said the shopping experience made me feel different and important and that is something to highlight the shopping experience of being served personally in such an opulent space and the feeling of being important in fact woo and other study shows that a sense of being important is the most common motivator for the strawberry generation in luxury shopping one respondent elaborates for me it's important that many people know about the brands I definitely do not want to spend a fortune on something people have not heard of or do not appreciate the value of so when this respondent purchases luxury she's not buying a bag but Social Capital related to the idea of others recognizing or purchase interviewees mentioned that they love the attention and compliments they get from the peers when they wear luxury to them this affirms the value of their purchase and the association of luxury with Prestige without the purchase they wouldn't be receiving any of this attention so this reaction of admiration they get from their peers feeds into the high value of actually even more the strawberry generation also mentioned how competitive the social environment was with one respondent explaining in Asia young women can be very competitive when they are young they're comparing things like their family backgrounds the parents' jobs and which school they are attending when they get older they will compare their job title their husband's job title their lifestyle and their children in Korean there's actually a saying that reflects how entrenched this level of competitiveness is sa which literally translates to when my cousin buys land I get a stomach ache and it means I'm envious of someone else's success and what they have therefore given such competitiveness luxury plays a huge role in elevating one's social status further because of this environment luxury slowly becomes less of a want and more of a need we can see this need for luxury reflected through levels of debt financing within the younger generation a 2018 white paper by tenset and caner looked at gen said luxury consumption in China according to this paper one in three gened consumers are using buy now pay later services like afterpay to fund their purchases and one in three genser that use credit-based Services had overdraft their account this need for luxury and instant gratification is highlighted in one of the responses sometimes I see I have no money at the end of the month but there's something I want so I will hit my credit limit to buy that item now and the social climate in China surrounding luxury is also pretty telling when one and three respondents agreed with the sentiment the earlier you purchase the longer you spend with the item so it is actually more worth it to buy it now than to save up and buy it 10 years down the line for some reason this sounds like gmats but it also does make sense in the East Asian context being sensible with money is hard when you need the social status now this pressure to buy luxury exists regardless of your economic circumstance this pressure goes both ways with ordinary people who can't comfortably afford luxury and public figures that should by all means be able to some examples include TI who starred in the hit Netflix dating show singles Inferno and was cancelled after neon spotted her with fake designer items you have incidents where rapper dotu was called out by the Korean government for not paying his taxes and owing 320 million one after just buying himself a Bentley and a Ferrari for his birthday another rapper sleepy actually addresses the pressure to have this successful image as he mentions feeling like he had to flex even though he only had 70,000 one left in his bank account there's also some powerful anecdotes when it comes to the ordinary people in their day-to-day journalist changm tun talks about how she has this moment of realization when she goes to pick up a child and sees all the moms there with designer bags and it Dawns upon her that she would have to get a designer bag too or a kid might be excluded from future playdates one of chun's friends had to upgrade her car from a perso to a Mercedes because the security guard wouldn't let her drive into her child's School thinking she was not one of the moms that was going to pick up children in cultures where people make assumptions based on what they can see luxury goods become Paramount in forming relationships the impact culture has on luxury consumption can give even people who GR in East Asia reverse culture shock as 42-year-old Mrs Park experienced exactly this returning to Korea from the the states and being shocked to see everyone around her wearing Monclair for the Youth there's another big reason why luxury is the new craze with ever escalating property prices traditional Milestones of success and financial stability through purchasing a house or a car is no longer really attainable for the younger generation therefore many of them have simply given up on saving to buy property and instead buy luxury pieces to show off their success this mentality is reflected through 32ye old ton who is single and earns a monthly salary of $2,000 after tax as she recently purchased two Chanel and two St lauron bags she explains that home ownership is Out Of Reach for her and purchasing luxury makes her happy whilst tone might not fit the traditional image of a luxury consumer who is wealthy her financial profile is actually very common uran a 26-year-old woman from China represents the Goring portion of gen Zeds who purchase luxury and finances it through debt she works in a marketing firm in Shanghai and earns around 1.3k USD a month 95% of her income goes to rent and other expenditures however youu has bought four luxury pieces in one year a Seline medium classic box shoulder bag for 4.4k USD a Chanel Gabriel hobo bag for 4.5k USD a Bugari seeny forever shoulder bag at 2.2k and a pair of tasaki balance Eclipse gold earrings at 1.8k she was able to afford this by maxing out four credit cards and borrowing credit from alip pay's online lending system U states that everyone at work owns at least two luxury bags and most of her colleagues are in debt trying to pay it off use Financial stat is seemingly normalized by how everyone else is doing it but I think most of us would agree that maxing out four credit cards is not the wisest decision in this ironic reality where items boasting wealth can often put people in bad financial situations we have a pretty interesting term to consider and that is the term ambish schuma ambish schuma is short for ambivalent consumer and describes the behavior where people will shell out the money for luxury goods and become more frugal with everything else in CA paper on Japanese luxury consumption a 27-year-old male respondent very VI L illustrates this Behavior many people who have brand bags are not so rich so one can easily see a person with a Louis Vuitton bag in 100 yen or $1 store Koga herself during her research observed many Japanese people wearing a designer bag and holding a designer wallet whilst choosing the cheapest produce in a grocery store ambish schuma Behavior seems very much fitted to East Asian cultural standards since only the outside matters who cares if you're eating Ramen packets at home to sustain the illusion and whilst I was doing my research I came across this thread where one reditor actually points out a really good cultural difference he says in the west if you buy luxury when you can't afford it to try and gain admiration it's not admiration you'll get but pity for such obvious displays of wealth when you can't actually afford it and I just thought this was such a great point that really highlights the difference in cultures as we can see from these responses luxury has quickly become a need particularly within the younger generation satisfying the desire for status and achievement amid competition with their peers in our last part as we kind of wrap up let's talk about whether this obsessive luxury consumption Behavior reflects on society or its consumers [Music] more let me make clear that buying luxury pieces is not problematic in itself if you want to treat yourself and feel that dopamine rush and have a tangible representation of your success purchasing luxury can be a great thing many respondents and surveys talked about how purchasing luxury boosted their confidence gave them a sense of self-importance and made them feel like they were doing well in life and I am happy for them but when consumers especially younger consumers feel like they need to keep purchasing luxury to keep up with no other attainable goal on sight does that reflect more on them or on society in fact what is the role of luxury houses in this we haven't talked much about these companies but sometimes it feels like they might be Fanning the fire members of kop group new jeans are all individually signed as ambassadors for luxury Brands the thing is though new jeans members are quite young with their ages ranging from 15 to 19 so luxury houses signing them expands their influence particularly within that younger demographic traffic that looks up to all these K-pop Idols if H at 15 is wearing Louis Vuitton then what's to stop other middle schoolers and high schoolers from feeling like they should be wearing the brand too to be like their Idol even if these young audiences don't buy anything probably because they can't afford anything at 15 what happens as soon as they earn their first big paycheck the fact that young audiences become exposed to luxury Brands and their appeal at increasingly earlier ages in a culture that emphasizes status appearances and upwards Mobility only reinforces the status of luxury as a need and not a want there's research that reflects this ever growing influence luxury has on the youth with an Oliver Wyman study conducted in China showing 18% of gened customers spending more than a fifth of their disposable income on luxury goods whilst only 3% of customers from other age groups did the same in addition to being more impressionable young people are still figuring out who they are and forming their identity in fact I would say we're all still in the process of becoming ourselves but since Asian Society prizes achievement and narrows down the def definition of success to a few limited outcomes this environment is not very conducive for youth to really think about what they want to do or who they want to be and as luxury becomes more integrated with everything that is prized in modern society it becomes easy for youth to realize their desires and find themselves through consumption the point of this section is not to debate how prioritized luxury should be but to really think about the irresponsible consumption patterns that are normalized in East Asian Society long-standing cultural values have led to an urgency behind luxury pushing consumers to buy beyond their means in order to fulfill societal expectations that being said we have seen some push back against this craze for luxury in China the government has been censoring and deleting videos that show excessive displays of wealth on thin which is the Chinese version of Tik Tock with Chinese president xiin ping introducing the common Prosperity policy in 2022 a more moderate lifestyle was emphasized as opposed to being ostentatious as a result some Financial firms are now Banning luxury bags and branded clothes from being worn into the office and as China tries to curb the appetite for luxury what we see is not the eradication of it but an interesting shift into the consumption of quiet luxury quiet luxury is when you're still paying a premium for high quality items and garments but there's no branding to show how much the item is really worth which is fascinating because echoing one of the respondents earlier what's the point of buying luxury if no one knows how much you spent on it quiet luxury seems to go against the core of so many East Asian social cultural values so I'm personally really excited to see how this plays out in China and whether we'll see any longevity and its mainstream popularity something else related to quiet luxury that I just thought of is how in the west we have the saying that the person who looks the most plain with the simple white tea is probably the richest person in the room and it's funny because that's just such a contrast to everything else we've talked about today to conclude the consumption of luxury in East Asia is much more than just buying an item for yourself whilst luxury remains to be an indulgent experience its associations with wealth success and achievement acts as an IND indispensable bridge between what reality is and where everyone expects you to be in East Asia as long as face culture exists as long as strong social hierarchies and competition and as long as our definitions of success are tied to wealth luxury will always be an object of desire in East Asia going back to our very first example on two people buying the same bags the purchase they're making is the same but their motives could be worlds apart and I hope this video allows you to see things through their intentions not just their actions if you want to see another video explaining the intentions behind behind in action like choosing $5 over $10 then my last video is for you thank you guys so much for watching until the end I really really appreciate it which part stood out to you the most for me it would have to be the North Face and tonu breaker Association because honestly that's just a sad situation for everyone involved let me know how you feel about this luxury craze and would you ever buy a luxury item you can find me on Instagram and Twitter while I work on the next video It's Me from the future I actually just launched a patreon with 8 minutes of additional commentary for this video and you guys can see this for free right now if you want to head over there thank you guys again for watching make sure to subscribe if you enjoyed and I will see you in the next one bye

Channel: aini

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Id: b8e_2Z55kzE

Length: 28min 7sec (1687 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 09 2024