The Western brands in the minds of
Vietnamese consumers
Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Media School, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to explore the complexity and dynamics in the process of negotiation and re-negotiation of brand associations within
a Vietnamese cultural context, focusing on the identity construction created through local consumption preferences. t It explores how Western brands
are symbolically important in Vietnamese consumers’ self-image.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 600 Vietnamese youth between 18 and 35 years living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City completed the
survey. A projective technique (storytelling) was applied to elicit the hidden thoughts and motivations among respondents.
Findings – Vietnamese consumers increasingly attach themselves to certain brands to affirm their desired identity. They believe in “material goods
bring happiness”. The symbolic meanings of brands (which we describe around six themes) become very important in their patterns of consumption
in shaping their lived experience and the way they want to communicate their self-images.
Practical implications – The paper’s insights can be of value to marketing and advertising professionals and to those with responsibility for
consumer regulation in emerging markets.
Social implications – The paper contributes to our understanding of how socio-political tensions are played out and managed in consumer culture
and identifies particular contradictions which may drive future changes.
Originality/value – The paper reports on a study which uses a neglected method to provide the latest data on consumer culture in Vietnam and
links features of consumption-based identity to the specific Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context.
Keywords Vietnam, Emerging markets, Aspiring consumers, Projective techniques, Symbolic meaning, Western brands
Paper type Research paper
According to McKinsey Global (2012), emerging markets are
expected to experience consumption growth more than six
times faster than in developed countries between 2010 and
2015. Robison and Goodman (1996) particularly emphasise
the desire of consumers in Asia for Western products, which
creates new markets for products from the West. High-priced
Western brands attract brand-obsessed consumers, including
ones from “China and India’s rising new money” (Chadha
and Husband, 2006, p. 10) and other rising economies in Asia
and Africa. The homogenized images of good life from
Western consumerism expand all over the world prompting
consumers in emerging markets to pursue “a material
realization, or attempted realization, of the image of the good
life” (Friedman, 1994, p. 169). Consumers in developing
countries believe in “global citizenship through global brands”
(Strizhakova et al., 2011, p. 434), which can bring a feeling of
global participation (Dong and Tian, 2009) in terms of quality
and image (Belk et al., 2003).
Consumer culture within the context of emerging markets
may not be understood purely in terms of globalisation
(Stearns, 2001). It might be explained as the rise of
consumerism and not a complete surrender to “Western
values” (Trentmann, 2004). It encounters the global within a
particular locale (Ger et al., 2012, p. 32) such that each
marketplace generates a specific consumption culture
(Jackson, 2004), which will be “re-written and re-mapped
continuously” (Sherry and Fischer, 2008, p. 3). Accordingly,
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this issue.
Introduction
This paper reports some of the findings from a study of the
brand perceptions of young Vietnamese consumers. Our data
illuminate the nature of consumer culture in contemporary
Vietnam and provide a psychosocial case study in how
globalisation is proceeding in emerging markets. Our general
approach is based on the idea of “identity work” and the role
of consumption in providing resources for individuals to
experiment with different self-experiences and to develop their
social identities. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of their
experience of Western brands and what this reveals about
cultural change in Vietnam.
Western brands in emerging markets
The transitioning economies, including Vietnam, with the
growth of their “new” rich have great potential to develop new
consumer cultures, as their situation changes with the
integration and growth of Western style market capitalism.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0736-3761.htm
Journal of Consumer Marketing
32/5 (2015) 367–375
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]
[DOI 10.1108/JCM-09-2014-1159]
Received 23 September 2014
Revised 18 March 2015
Accepted 20 May 2015
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Western brands in the minds of Vietnamese consumers
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
the stream of potential fantasy materials and active factors and
actors is leading to new research on consumption in emerging
markets, including Vietnam.
Emerging consumers (the young, urban and middle class
consumers) play an active role in the new culture of
consumption, partly adapting to it and partly creating it. They
aspire to attach meanings to particular brands to convey ideas
about the way they want to live, look and think (Belk et al.,
2003; Shipman, 2004). They are known for “their lifestyles
[. . .] [based on] designer or brand-name” goods (Chua,
1998, p. 989). They are increasingly linked with other
consumers transnationally through consumer culture, in the
sense of thinking globally but acting locally (Wilk, 1995).
Several authors point to the existence of global–local blending
styles (Hannerz, 1996; Friedman, 1990; Hermans and
Kempen, 1998; Stearns, 2001; Ho, 2003). Ho (2003, p. 146)
adds: “local actors become increasingly involved in global
flows of meanings, images, sounds, capital, people”. Local
consumers may be very conformist in relation to
homogenized, global images of desire and the good life
(Clammer, 1997, p. 14) but the practices of local consumption
blend elements of local and foreign consumption traditions
(Wilk, 1995; Stearns, 2001; Trentmann, 2004). The choice of
global brands can be modified in favour of local tastes.
Transnational consumers adapted consumerist values to more
familiar local standards. Some research has focussed on the
intersections which create heterogeneity rather the homogeneity
(Wilk, 1995; Sherry and Fischer, 2008).
The emerging markets are now challenging researchers of
consumption to understand the relationship between the
global economy and culture in a locality (Penaloza et al.,
2012). Consumer culture is situated within a particular
cultural milieu (Fournier, 1998). Culture in this sense serves
as a template for living and a lens through which people
experience and make sense of their lives and the world around
them (Penaloza et al., 2012). Cultural differences in
perception and values are used to explain differences in
consumption practices between consumers in different
marketplaces (Ahuvia, 2005). Within an Asian context, the
“face” element in interpersonal identity work which is more
interpersonal would be more linked with brand consciousness
(Bao et al., 2003; Liao and Wang, 2009). “Face” acts as the
mediator between materialism and brand consciousness.
Consumers with strong “face” consciousness would attach
more importance to the symbolic meaning of the brand such
as status, prestige and self-image (Belk and Pollay, 1985). East
Asian consumers, in particular, tend to buy Western brands
for public display of their social status and wealth (Wong and
Ahuvia, 1998). Western brand names signal how one
perceives oneself and wants to be perceived by others. They
can provide access to certain social circles (Starr, 2004). Many
consumers would spend heavily buying ‘top’ brand goods, not
for their practical value but to save or secure one’s “face”.
Thus, this research brings to the fore the importance of culture
in consumption practices in the non-Western context,
specifically in Vietnam and the emerging markets.
global/local blending (Stearns, 2001; Jackson, 2004). After the
failure of the second and the third five-year pans (1976-1985)
of the government to promote a centralized economy in
transition to socialism, Vietnam initiated an open-door
economic policy in 1986. Among Vietnamese people today,
there is a felt need to catch-up with the world (Shultz, 1994;
Hayton, 2010) after the subsidy period when people endured
chronic shortages. “Throughout most of the 1980s it was
reported that even if there had been money to buy goods there
was nothing to buy” (Thuan and Thomas, 2004, p. 135).
Economic change has since taken place very rapidly, but the
subsidy period still haunted a generation. Class distinction
and the erosion of social values are also accompanying the
emerging consumer culture and the state’s focus on market
economy development (Shultz, 1994). Now, over 67 per cent
of Vietnamese population are under 39, with increased
numbers amongst the new rich, creating a wealthier, more
“savvy” consumer base (VNGSO, 2009).
Being one of the fastest growing economies (World Bank,
2009), with the expanding economies of Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh city at its heart, Vietnam has been able to give its
consumers access to a variety of branded products by “the
entry of multinational enterprises [. . .] together with the
launching and promoting of international brands” (Nguyen
and Nguyen, 2011, p. 44). Consumers responded with a
growing desire for self-expression. The younger generation
aspire to consume “the same products, services, brands,
comforts, opportunities, protections and securities provided
by marketing systems in Europe, the USA, Australia and
developed Asia” (Shultz, 2012, p. 12). Today, there is no
embarrassment at displaying ostentatious signs of wealth
(Freire, 2009, p. 79). This study aims to explore the two
largest cities in Vietnam as the setting for consumption (Jayne,
2006) with a level of transferability to the context of younger
urban consumers elsewhere in Vietnam.
Focusing on identity construction as created through
Western brand consumption, I explore the complexity and
dynamics of the process of negotiation and re-negotiation of
identity work among Vietnamese consumers in Hanoi and Ho
Chi Minh City. The “integration of Vietnam into a global
capitalist, market-based economy, the encouragement of
social mobility and the accumulation of wealth” involves more
young urban people moving to the middle class or the “new”
rich (King et al., 2008, p. 807). They are recognized as actively
embracing modernity (Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012; Harms,
2011; Shultz, 2012) and globalisation processes (Hayton,
2010) through their adaptation of modern lifestyles (Do et al.,
2009). The young people in Vietnam today study hard and
work to “achieve material success” (Hayton, 2010, p. 58).
They wanted more and ever newer models of goods not for
their practical utility but for their value as status objects
(Vann, 2012, p. 163). Within looser family obligations and
achieving career success at earlier ages, the younger generation
of urban consumers possess the economic means to express
their identities and desires through material consumption.
The aspirational urban consumers play an active role in
constructing their identity as well as having certain influence
on other groups in consumption as “cultural intermediaries”
(Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012). In this context, the empirical
Vietnam in transition
The intent in this research project is not to deny the capacity
of aspiring consumers but to explore more fully the process of
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Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
study reveals important insights about what it means to be a
modern Vietnamese person today.
Several attempts have been made to research the emerging
consumers’ lifestyle and potential to contribute to the
changing civil society and consumer culture of Vietnam
(Shultz, 1994; Gainsborough, 2002; Vann, 2003, 2006, 2012;
Taylor, 2004; Truitt, 2008; King et al., 2008; Freire, 2009;
Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012). Truitt (2008) draws our
attention to Vietnamese youth’s perception of motorbikes as a
symbol of consumerism and class mobility. While King et al.
(2008) focus on the identity and aspirations of middle-class
youth, Gainsborough (2002) examines the middle-class
political challenges to the state at the junction of free-market
capitalism and continued talk of socialism. Western and
modern socio-cultural practices became important symbols of
a new social class in Vietnam. The middle class had to be
reinvented to shape contemporary society and culture through
the modes of experimentation and negotiation (Belanger et al.,
2012). Nguyen and Tambyah (2011, p. 76) concluded that
many Vietnamese consumers believe material objects could
showcase one’s success and achievement, and bring happiness
in life.
As a leading example of a developing market (Shultz, 2012;
Nguyen et al., 2013), Vietnam is awakening to luxury, with the
likes of Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Mont Blanc opening stores
(Chadha and Husband, 2006, p. 284). The practices of brand
consumption among the younger generation are defined by
“the local inflections and adaptations of these global lifestyles,
particularly as influenced by so-called ‘Asian values’ –
Confucian, family-centric, and conservative” (Dutton, 2012,
p. 6). In this study, we explore how under the new economic
policy, Vietnamese urban youth have access to Western
brands and enjoy “the excitement generated by the new
discoveries themselves” (Wernick (1991, p. 7), yet within “the
parameters established by the state” (Vann, 2012, p. 167).
2003, p. 332). “People are always able to produce
imaginations of a good (or better) life, imaginations that
motivate them to actions that attempt to flesh out that
imagination” (Belk et al., 2003, p. 329). The narratives of
their imaginary stories were ambiguously linked to the external
world. The stories they write may have been based on their
lived experiences or their aspirations. They may also reflect
inner anxieties and conflicts. According to the psychoanalytic
theory underlying projective techniques, each story contains
“manifest” content (the actual literal subject-matter) and
“latent” content (underlying meaning). The data thus
featured a series of significant descriptive statements with
hidden feelings and attitudes inside that were interpreted,
described and analysed using thematic analysis. A theme
represents “some level of patterned response or meaning
within the data set” (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p. 82).
After reading through all results of surveys, the lead
researcher went through each line, noted down all the themes
that were related to the concepts discussed in the introduction
above. Themes were identified by “bringing together
components or fragments of ideas or experiences, which often
are meaningless when viewed alone” (Leininger, 1985, p. 60).
From the answers in the surveys, patterns of experiences could
then be listed. We noted down the most frequent themes
mentioned across the data set (manisfest themes) or themes
expressing underlying ideas and patterns within stories (latent
themes). These themes are all related to our specific interest in
“symbolic meanings”. Then we grouped the themes into
major categories (cosmopolitanism, higher social standing,
beauty [. . .]). Each category was derived from theories and/or
data in the literature, and each can also be traced back to
sentences in the surveys to illustrate it.
The concept of “youth” in Vietnam is defined as the age
group between 15 and 35 years (Hansen and Dalsgaard,
2008) and which is termed Thanhniên or “giói tre”. As more
and more young people are identified as middle-class, they
form the aspiring group which actively embraces consumption
and values of materialism. We received 600 complete surveys
(610 distributed) from full-time students at both public
universities and private-owned universities between 18 and 35
old years. This enables us to present a picture of current
Vietnamese consumers, living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
City, with an abundance of descriptive detail. Most students at
private universities and a minority at public universities come
from middle-class families. For example, students from FPT
in Hanoi pay tuition fees similar to those in Singapore. We
chose the two largest cities in Vietnam, the political and
economic centres for the North and the South.
Research method
The historical background and economic transition in
Vietnam produced a younger generation in urban areas who
act as cultural intermediaries promoting their own cultural
influence as they establish their position in a social world. We
chose to study this group using a projective technique, which
according to Webb (1992, p. 125) is “a structure – indirect
way” of investigating the reasons for behaviour through the
exploration of feelings, beliefs, attitudes and motivation that
are not easy for consumers to formulate.
Projective tests are straightforward applications of the
psychodynamic concept of “projection”, whereby our
perceptions of the world are seen as shaped by our internal
preoccupations, especially when the external reality is vague or
ambiguous. This technique is particularly relevant in the
Vietnamese context where the local culture is more reserved.
Storytelling was the technique chosen to understand
feelings about Western brands, as unlike some projective
techniques, it can be used within a survey instrument. In our
survey (written and answered in Vietnamese), students were
asked to spend 15-20 minutes imagining and writing a story
about consuming Western brands. They were asked to write
stories coming first to their minds. This method helps to
capture “fantasies, dreams and visions of desire” (Belk et al.,
Narratives of Western brands revealed within
Vietnamese consumers’ minds
One night, I was sunk deeper and deeper into a dream. The setting is full of
pink clouds, of peaceful music from the chorus of all kinds of birds. I just
walked and walked, further and further to a paradise. Suddenly my feet hit
stuff on the way. That stuff was called “Western brand”; then I looked up,
seeing two doors, one with the word “function”, and the other “[. . .]”. To
continue, I had to choose to enter one of them. Which I should choose?
(Hanoi, female, 22).
By choosing between “doors”, Vietnamese consumers imbue
Western brands with typical symbolic meanings. We identified
these through the analysis of the 600 written stories. They
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Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
rework the symbolic meanings of brands to forge new
identities. We found that brands in certain product sectors –
technology, transportation and fashion – are most frequently
used to build their self-image and that six themes emerged
(which as we will see later divide into two groups) as central to
their experience of these brands. These themes are
diagrammatically represented in Figure 1.
global markets and adapt to changes within their
communities. Buying and consuming foreign brands enhances
their sense of personal integration (O’Shaughnessy, 1987):
Right in Saigon, you can buy an LV bag, eat Italian food by a famous Italian
chef, enjoy healthcare service by an American specialist, sip Johnny Black in
a bar, and purchase a Kiwi in a supermarket: “the world is within your
hand” (HCM, female, 19).
As in the other emerging markets, county of origin (CO) is a
cognitive cue which has symbolic and emotional meaning for
consumers (Sharma, 2011, p. 287). It is associated with status
and pride in the construction of social identity. Moreover,
Vietnamese consumers express their wish to close the distance
between the brand and the self by getting products directly
from their CO instead of purchasing them in Vietnam. Travel
is seen as the key to self-enhancement. In the story narratives,
consumers want to go to developed countries, such as the
USA, the UK and France, which are supposed to be the best
destinations for product experiences:
Global connection
Cosmopolitanism
Economic transition and globalisation have elicited positive
reactions from Vietnamese people toward cosmopolitanism as
the expression of transnational consumer culture
(Featherstone, 1991). Desires to feel integrated and civilized
and to experience foreign products from developed countries
(Shultz, 2012) are encouraged among consumers by media
and by the influential urban elite, creating a cosmopolitan and
frequently sexualised narrative of newness:
It’s time to see mass of Vietnamese girl in miniskirts walking in the street,
farmers spraying D&G (Hanoi, male, 20).
If I could afford my trip to the US, I would try the feeling of queuing for an
Apple release in Silicon Valley. I would buy the latest Canon to take photos
of that and post on FB to share with my friends (Hanoi, male, 19).
Consuming Western brands creates a feeling of not being
ignored or isolated in the world. Western brands strongly link
to the idea of an international “look” and serve as “a passport
to global citizenship” (Strizhakova et al., 2011). In contrast to
the previous generation, the young are the aspiring group who
actively stand for consumption and materialism values,
moving from the culture of discipline to the culture of pleasure
seeking through global participation. Old working class images
of social and cultural leadership gradually disappeared when
the government initiated the economic renovation (1986) with
the open-door policy:
Vietnamese consumers enjoy the feeling of being civilized by
others living in the more sophisticated part of the world.
Vietnamese expatriates are considered as one of the sources
bridging new consumption practices to the homeland.
High-quality foreign products brought into Vietnam by
travellers (hand-carried products) have become popular
among Vietnamese urban youth in recent years, e.g. clothes,
shoes, cosmetics, perfume, home appliances and consumer
electronics. Consumers feel happier, integrated and
“connected with the outside” when owning hand-carried
products:
Frequent activities of a happy evening in my time: Iphone is on for FB
notifications and chat box; Ipad runs Miley Cyrus’ scandals and fashion
looks on tabloids; Laptop is ready for writing assignments.
I have a close friend living in the USA. Hearing my complaints about my
aging skin, she introduced me to products of Collagen, which are very good
and are reasonably priced (Hanoi, female, 20).
An evening entertainment activity of my mom’s time in 1980s: a pot of hot
green tea was prepared in one house for a few friends sitting around the table
under the light of a dim vintage oil lamp. While talks about ideology, poems
and gossips about the neighbourhood went on, tea was continuously filled in
the cups until their parents interrupted (Hanoi, female, 22).
Status
The enhancement of social status is increasingly one of the
first and most important reasons for Vietnamese consumers to
purchase Western products:
Consumption provides an opportunity to express
cosmopolitan values. The subjects used adjectives such as
“worldly”,
“urbane”,
“civilized”,
“integrated”
and
“internationalistic” to indicate the visible change in their
material life when consuming Western products. The period
“Hôខi nhâខp” (integration into globalisation) is tangible in
Vietnam today, where Vietnamese people quickly interact with
That really improves the quality of the person who uses it (HCM, male, 20).
They seek “the upward status passage” (O’Shaughnessy,
1987, p. 139) to a dream self-image. To be effective in status
competition, goods must be visible and public in their use and
ownership. Thus transportation, phones and clothes become
important status symbols of Vietnamese consumers as they are
“a positive face” (giũ thê diêខn) and are visible in the “front
region” that Goffman (1969) defined:
Figure 1 Symbolic meanings of Western brands among
Vietnamese consumers
Beauty
Status
Cosmopolitanism
With a certain amount of money, I would prefer to put on one expensive
Western outfit rather than have 20 cheap, low-end outfits. Stuff tells your
position in society. Don’t hesitate with this kind of wise investment (HCM,
female, 21).
Magic
Consumers put on brands, expecting to be treated differently
by other people:
CSR
Symbolic
meanings
of Western
brands
I went out with a man in all Gucci stuff, Tony. All attention was paid to him,
and even when we entered a restaurant, he was treated differently. I
concluded that clothes, brands can make you more respected by others
(HCM, male, 19).
Safety
An emulative model of consumption (Veblen, 1925) applies.
Inspirational leaders can be those among the elite of urban
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Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
middle class or celebrities who are quickest at updating trends
and experiencing Western products:
Magic elements of a product may motivate and sustain
consumers in difficult consumption contexts such as risky or
harmful situations (MacInnis and Mello, 2005). While
Vietnam is facing rising road traffic deaths, one of our
respondents dreamt of having a car which offered magical
protection:
My teacher likes using branded products to show his social standing. Each
time he goes to the class to give a lecture, he uses a mobile phone with icon
of bitten apple, has headphones of Adidas or Sennheiser and signs the paper
with a Waterman ball pen. Looking at his consumption of brands, we poor
students are very envious. So we would try to learn very well to be rich in the
future to have the same style of his consumption (Hanoi, female, 22).
When I was driving a Aston Martin Vanquis, I got an accident. The car was
broken badly. From the crash, I walked out without any scratch (Hanoi,
male, 21).
Attention-seeking performances based on brand ownership
are another way of demonstrating status:
Lan sexily entered the class with IPhone 5 in her hand. She pretended to
answer the phone while nobody called her. She was successful in attracting
other classmates’ attention. All quickly came to admire it, try it and use it.
They competed tensely with each other to see and use it (Hanoi, female,
21).
Vietnamese flavour
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
The ethical messages of a brand also impact on consumers’
purchase decisions. According to Urip (2010, p. 84), a
successful entrance to an emerging consumer market must
involve the “introduction of socially innovative products
combined with efforts to create, condition, and expand the
market through community development and education to
improve lifestyle”. Consumers in transitioning economies
believe a good brand must create a good image of CSR, doing
good things for communities to enhance the credibility of the
brand. For Vietnamese consumers, Western brands are the
best at this:
Products are not judged on functionality but by the symbolic
associations they deliver. Brand names such as LV and Gucci
become common terms for the brand-obsessed consumers.
Urban youth, and the middle-class generally, identify with and
seek to emulate the carbon-intensive Western lifestyle
(Ustuner and Holt, 2010, p. 37) and are followed by new
consumers (Pham and Richards, 2014):
Apple becomes a ruler for measuring the rich and the poor (Hanoi, male,
21).
Beauty
For a majority of the subjects, one of the main reason for
purchasing the Western brands is “beauty”. It is difficult to
indicate the exact meaning of the word “beauty” in
Vietnamese consumers’ minds. However, our subjects tend to
define it in terms of style and money, instead of traditional
aesthetic terms:
Western brands give me an impression that they come in good quality
without poisonous material. Human care is the priority when creating a
product. They are generally eco-friendly and safe for consumers (Hanoi,
female, 24).
In Vietnam, multinational companies seek to provide CSR
adapted to local traditions and culture (Stiftung, 2007). For
this, they need to understand the main issues in Vietnam such
as air pollution, poverty reduction, human rights, HIV
awareness and wearing helmets. They can then enter Vietnam
with an image of creating more employment and bringing
ethical and environment practices from their home countries.
For example, the campaign of the Asia Injury Prevent
Foundation (funded by the Protec brand) helped to change a
situation in which 97 per cent of 21 million Vietnamese riding
motorcycles did not wear helmets before 2009.
Western companies in Vietnam collaborate with the
government or non-governmental organizations. They have
proved better in projecting CSR to the local consumers than
domestic companies because they usually adopt CSR beliefs
and strategy from their home countries:
She looks beautiful when she put on trendy clothes (Hanoi, female, 32).
His car is beautiful. It looks perfectly mo-den (HCM, male, 21).
Definitely, all of expensive Western stuff must be beautiful and in high
standard (HCM, male, 22).
In the narratives of their stories, the combination of qualities
frequently linked to beauty is “trendy” and “mo-den”
(modern). The idea of beauty as expensive adornment shows
“the superior gratification derived from the use and
contemplation of costly and supposed beautiful products is,
commonly, in great measure a gratification of our sense of
costliness masquerading under the name of beauty” (Veblen,
1925, p. 94). The price creates the impression of beauty.
They are eco – friendly, made of natural material. They think of social
activities more, to contribute part of its profit to help people in bad
circumstances in society. That would be a strong brand and of course
welcome to the Vietnamese market. When writing this, I am thinking of how
commercial local companies are. Their pocket must be heavier than ethics
and social work (Hanoi, female, 20).
Magic
When consumers cannot find solutions to difficulties in their
daily lives, they put their hope in products which promise
magical solutions. Consumers may entertain illusory,
brand-based solutions to problems in daily life. This platform
provides satisfaction or relief from stress and discomfort in
reality. Our respondents demonstrated how Western brands
can be psychologically converted into “magical” gratifications:
The Western countries have certain strict laws to care for people’s health,
thus the way of consumption in their country is totally different from
Vietnam. In Vietnam, I don’t understand anything about the standard ISO
9,100-2000 (Hanoi, male, 21).
In reality, I don’t have a charming face: pale, big, full of acne, low nose with
small eyes. On my birthday, I was taken to a salon called “Magical L’oreal”.
One hour later, a girl (it’s me) proudly pulled the curtain, walking out with
a smoothly white face: eyes as big as Kim Kardashian’s, nose as small as
Audrey Hepburn’s, chin as sexy as Marilyn Monroe (Hanoi, female, 18).
My uncle was back from the US, giving me a present. I like the taste very
much as well as the idea of recycling the bottles by this brand. The package
of this brand usually says that If I send 20 bottles back to their factory or
company, I would get a bottle of chocolate for free. For me, a good brand
means not just that quality is important but also the eco-friendly factor to
the environment is also appreciated (HCM, male, 20).
I would have to get up early the following day for work, but I wanted to stay
up for a MU match. I told myself: No worry, darling, I have a magic baby
with automatic route setting. I can sleep in my comfortable Lamborghini
until it wakes me in front of my office, saying “Boss, here we go. Have a nice
working day” (HCM, male, 22).
Safety
Several researchers (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Elliott and
Cameron, 1994; Steenkamp et al., 2003) emphasise the
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Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
importance of the CO effect as a factor not only in perceived
quality but also in social symbolic values. A growing awareness
of the relative safety and risks of different products introduces
a “risk” factor into consumer choices (Imran and Sarin, 1984,
p. 543). Vietnamese consumers come to prefer Western
brands for safety in their perceived quality and as an
alternative to Chinese products.
The term “hàng xiខn” (which in Vietnamese slang has a
combined meaning of original, good, beautiful, luxurious and
expensive) was used by several subjects to describe the highest
level of product standard and quality found in Western
brands. Food and health are the sectors most discussed in
terms of safety among the subjects’ stories. A favourable
country-of-origin image has a positive effect on perceived
quality. People prefer the country of origin with less perceived
risk:
the exception of cosmopolitanism, they are all strikingly
similar to values observed to prevail in the first phase of the
post-World War II consumer societies of the USA and
Western Europe, in their conformity and naïve idealisation of
goods. However, they are here co-presenting with two themes
that are very characteristic of consumer culture at its current
leading edges. The themes of CSR and safety are underpinned
by the principles of ethical consumption and risk
management, neither of which was influential in the highly
conformist consumerism of the 1950s/1960s. So the culture
we observe through our respondents’ projective material
combines both regressions across 50 years and an orientation
to some contemporary concerns. Vietnamese consumers’
interpretation of Western brands’ symbolic meanings
probably has much in common with consumers in other
emerging economies where a new rich class adopts the model
of conspicuous consumption. However, there are distinctive
factors in the Vietnam situation.
As the findings indicate, Vienamese urban youth draw upon
status consumption (Shipman, 2008), where consumption
practice becomes central in conveying social status (Bourdieu,
1984; Featherstone, 1991). The more they desire upward
mobility, the more they use material to gain entrance to a
higher status and to change their social identity. Vietnamese
urban consumers spend more and more on visible items to
improve their social status. It is not possible to translate
Western-derived concepts of social structure to a non-Western
context. Vietnam is an example of transnational consumer
culture in which consumers are divided into groupings and
strata with distinctive lifestyles and views of the world. Within
a stratum, people are linked with each other by the signs and
symbols of lifestyle (Bourdieu, 1984; Marshall-Nguyen et al.,
2011).
Brands originating from Western countries are preferred
among Vietnamese urban youth, as “such goods can be read
and used to classify the status of their bearer” (Featherstone,
1991, p. 27) and because Asians tend to high levels of concern
with branded products (Belk, 1996; Wong and Ahuvia, 1998).
Meanwhile, nationalistic animosity informs Vietnamese
consumers’ attitudes toward Chinese brands, resulting in their
choosing Western brands as alternatives.
Vietnam is “a living laboratory for the study of a
transitioning, developing and a globalizing marketing system”
(Shultz, 2012, p. 8). The research reported here bridges the
gap between local experience and transnational cultural forces
by linking features of consumption-based identity to specific
agendas associated with the Vietnamese historical, political,
economic and socio-cultural context. We also note the
potential tension between traditional state doctrine and the
formation of a new consumer culture in post-socialist
Vietnam, in a world undergoing redefinition according to
market logic (Sheth, 2011).
Looking at my sister, my neighbours, my teachers today are very keen to find
reliable shops or asking any Vietnamese expatriates to buy Australian, US or
UK hand-carried milk for their babies. I asked myself “why”. In my
childhood we did not have foreign milk and nappies. But then I sympathize
with them. Where can we find safer milk for kids these days if it is not from
there? In developing countries, who is really responsible if the milk is
commercially mixed with plaster? (HCM, male, 23)
I never thought of an airplane crash for a second when flying with Lufthansa
(the German Airlines) although I went to Germany only one time (HCM,
male, 20).
Hirschman (1985) mentions that when making purchase
decisions, consumers connect CO to personal memories, to
national identities and to the feeling of “pride” associated with
the possession of products from certain countries. The
stereotype of unsafe and cheap Chinese products currently
reinforces the safety concern among Vietnamese consumers,
while Western companies always manage to distinguish
themselves in terms of social responsibility and long-term
development when targeting consumers in emerging
economies:
Let’s do a math exercise, you give an answer yourself. Eating Chinese
processing food, you can save saving one-third of total cost of food
consumption, but your life expectancy is 10 years shorter. While consuming
European produced food, you spend doubled cost, but you stay 10 more
years with your loved ones (Hanoi, female, 29).
Vietnamese national identity is built on the history of battles
against invaders (particularly the Chinese, but also the
French, Americans and others) (Salomon and Ket, 2007,
p. 359). “National and cultural stereotypes may be defined as
beliefs that various traits are predominantly present and
therefore characteristic of a particular nation or culture”
(Brioschi, 2006, p. 205). The Vietnamese relationship with
China is characterized by both real and “invented”
(memories) (Hayton, 2010, p. 199). This partially makes
Vietnamese consumers take a more favourable attitude toward
Western brands:
We are so near China, we got the bad influence from them. I don’t feel safe
using Chinese stuff and also due to my politics I disfavour China. When not
being smooth with each other in politics they can be harmful to each other
in term of consumption. I love Western brands, without any concern. I feel
what a pity for poor people in this country, suffering from using Chinese
low-end harmful items. If I am rich, there is no product in my house with the
label “Made in China” (Hanoi, male, 28).
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Hai Chung Pham and Barry Richards
Volume 32 · Number 5 · 2015 · 367–375
Further reading
was also Lecturer and Researcher of the Faculty of Public
Relations and Advertising at the Academy of Journalism
and Communication in Hanoi, Vietnam, for four years. She
is currently a Doctoral Researcher in Media and
Communications at Bournemouth University. Her research
interests include emerging market consumers, brand
associations and advertising insights. She particularly uses
psychological approaches to read the minds of aspiring
consumers. Hai Chung Pham is the corresponding author and
can be contacted at: hpham@bournemouth.ac.uk
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Barry Richards is Professor of Public Communication in
the Media School at Bournemouth University. Prior to
moving to Bournemouth in 2001, he was Professor and
Head of the Department of Human Relations at the
University of East London. His books include Disciplines of
Delight: The Psychoanalysis of Popular Culture (1994), The
Dynamics of Advertising (with I. MacRury and J. Botterill,
2000) and Emotional Governance: Politics, Media and Terror
(2007). He is a founding co-editor of the Sage journal
Media, War and Conflict. His major interests are in the
psychology of politics, particularly in the emotional
dynamics of conflict and extremism, and in psychosocial
dimensions of cultural change.
About the authors
Hai Chung Pham had six years of work experience in
Marketing and Communications for international
organizations and corporations across South-east Asia. She
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