 |
| According to survey data from McKinsey, the "Generation 2" group of Chinese consumers are the most Westernized to date. [Photo/CGTN] |
A 2012 McKinsey survey of this group found that “this generation of Chinese consumers is the most Westernized to date.”
In terms of consumption habits, Generation 2 respondents were more likely to be loyal to brands, view expensive items as “better”, and get satisfaction out items that signify better taste or higher status.
As this generation’s spending habits mirror those found in the West, foreign faces have also become more common in Chinese media.
Chinese audiences are accustomed to seeing “more international-themed faces or stories… even the 'zhibo' video stuff that’s been popular in China in the past two years,” says Dengyang.
We don’t have to look far to see other examples of the same experience. In the past four decades, S. Korea has seen explosive growth, joining the trillion-dollar club of world economies in 2004.
The 1990s spawned K-pop, one of the most influential factors in shaping the country’s beauty standards.
As Patricia Marx from the New Yorker puts it, the K-pop phenomenon “shapes not only what music you should listen to, but what you should look like while listening to it.”
Many of the K-pop stars share similar characteristics: fair skin, double eyelids and a small face. Koreans go to great lengths to replicate these looks, as the country has one of the highest rates of plastic surgery in the world.
Though some argue that these procedures produce beauty results that are universally appealing, these are also the same beauty standards that dominant Western culture.
