A double‐edged sword: understanding vanity across cultures

Abstract

Purpose -Based on their size, disposable income, and purchasing power, generation Y (Gen Y) consumers are viewed as the Holy Grail for marketers. Conversely, some of this group's behavior disturbs public policy officials, particularly when dealing with issues such as poor financial planning, bulimia and anorexia nervosa. The key question for both marketers and policy makers is what is the best way to understand the Gen Y segment? The vanity concept is used in this study as a way to understand the Gen Y consumer segment. The purpose of this paper is to examine vanity perceptions (crossnationally and by gender) as well as social and business implications with vanity. Design/methodology/approach -Key research expectations are proposed that are related to cross-cultural and gender differences on vanity perceptions. A sample of approximately 125 Gen Y consumers in two eastern and two western cultures was used to find support for the research expectations. Statistical results are reported. Findings -The results clearly show that both gender and country have an impact on vanity perceptions. Concern for both physical appearance and professional achievement are higher in eastern cultures as compared to western cultures. Both males and females are highly concerned about physical appearance and professional achievements. However, self-assessment of physical appearance and professional achievement are significantly lower among females as compared to males. Research limitations/implications -In future studies it would be interesting to study differences among other countries and consumer groups. Practical implications -The results of this study provide evidence to marketers that vanity appeals can resonate well with Gen Y especially those in China and India. For consumer protection advocates, results offer insights about the extent to which importance of vanity is likely to increase, especially in countries that embrace globalization. Originality/value -So far, no study has applied the vanity scale to understand the Gen Y segment, despite the financial power of this group in purchasing both desirable and undesirable products; nor has any study examined whether vanity perceptions vary cross-nationally, especially between economically developed western cultures and developing economies with large populations representing eastern cultures.

Role models' influence on smoking reduction

“…The authors argued that these findings demonstrate that body image and weight-related concerns are of greater importance to young adults than are health/fitness concerns, consistent with past findings (Powell, Matacin, & Stuart, 2001). One reason that young adults are showing a greater concern for physical appearance and how this affects others' evaluations of them today than in the past is perhaps due to increasing sizes in social networks among young people (Durvasula & Lysonski, 2008). If a negative body image role model can increase motivation to diet and exercise, a negative social role model then should increase motivation to quit smoking since these concerns are more salient to young adults than are negative health outcomes.…”

Counterfeit purchase typologies during an economic crisis

“…Unlike other studies which used only young adult members of Generation Y (Durvasula and Lysonski, 2008), in this study older Gen Yers were included too. Furthermore, it tries to take account of Yoo and Lee's (2009) suggestions about allowing for a greater age range, since studies on counterfeit purchase tend to collect data with students only.…”

Black Generation Y Students’ Attitudes towards Web Advertising Value

“…There is some confusion in the literature regarding the precise start and end dates of Generation Y (Markert, 2004). Some have defined this cohort as individuals born between 1980 and 1994 (Kumar & Lim, 2008), others as individuals born between 1977and 1994or between 1982and 2000(Schiffman et al, 2010 and still others as between 1980(Hurst & Good, 2009 (Nicholas et al, 2011) and global media (Durvasula & Lysonski, 2008), which has led to them being more informed, more connected and more technologically literate than any previous generation (Autry & Berge, 2011).…”

“…From instant text messaging, email, virtual social networking to podcasting and the Web, this generation is in constant contact with friends and family, has constant access to entertainment and up-to-date information, and is constantly exposure to media, including marketing messages (Durvasula & Lysonski, 2008). Their socialisation into a media-saturated world (Wolburg & Pokrywczynski, 2001;Bakewell & Mitchell, 2003;Bakewell, Mitchell & Rothwell, 2006) has made them astute consumers (Rahman & Azhar, 2010), who are sceptical of marketing messages (Newborne & Kerwin, 1999;Wolburg & Pokrywczynski, 2001) and aware of marketing hype (Rahman & Azhar, 2010).…”