Consumer nationalism in digital space: A case study of the 2017 anti-lotte boycott in China

This study advances the understanding of consumer nationalism through an analysis of a Chinese boycott of South Korean goods. In early 2017, Chinese internet users expressed their strong aversion to the South Korean conglomerate Lotte and coordinated a folk boycott against it on the grounds that Lotte supported South Korea’s deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system, which China considered a threat. We explored the increasing convergence of consumer activities in the form of consumer nationalism with commercial entities’ marketing strategies and also with the state’s interests with respect to security and promoting national pride. The internet and new technologies have facilitated grassroots nationalist activities in terms of the ready circulation of information and mobilization of collective actions. We investigated a digital discursive space in the communicative interactions among stakeholders through which digital media not only amplify the scale and intensity of the mundane and everyday practice of nationalism but also blur the boundaries among the participating actors. Our research documented the multilateral relationships among stakeholders – individual consumers/media users, commercial entities, and the state – in practicing nationalism and reproducing the nation through (non)consumption.

Sara Liao et al, Consumer nationalism in digital space: A case study of the 2017 anti-lotte boycott in China, Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (29, 6) pp. 1535-1554. Copyright © 2022. DOI: 10.1177/13548565221090198. Users who receive access to an article through a repository are reminded that the article is protected by copyright and reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. Users may also download and save a local copy of an article accessed in an institutional repository for the user's personal reference. For permission to reuse an article, please follow our Process for Requesting Permission.

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Work Title Consumer nationalism in digital space: A case study of the 2017 anti-lotte boycott in China
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Sara Liao
  2. Grace Xia
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Convergence
Publication Date April 23, 2022
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221090198
Deposited January 23, 2025

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