Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
LinkedIn Articles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yin-yuan-428bb6171/detail/recent-activity/posts/
👆This is the collection of my LinkedIn articles, which was also marked as the coursework of Marketing In 21st Century Module.
I enjoyed the process of writing and expressing my idea. I gained a comment “not afraid of voicing a strong opinion” with 82 scores.
一些文案
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/meKcOJR_MM1rw2FGT7hSzg
👆《干货：买房攻略仅需10步，置业大计走起》 在深圳电视台房地产栏目工作期间撰写的文案，为官方微信账号日常维护内容。
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9OX4VEYBptzO6lZlDSCIKg
👆《一顿早茶解决不了的问题，就用一顿早茶自助餐解决》 大学期间和同学一起经营的美食账号，仅为兴趣，可惜由于三位主理人毕业后都逐渐繁忙而搁置账号了，但还是美好记忆。
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0ctfMQaqOouRsjbXLV8JKg
👆《如何文艺小清新又吃货地玩转澳门》 实习期间参与筹备澳门政府主半的两岸三地文创活动，为推广活动撰写的旅游类软文。后来被多个广州资讯类、旅游类流量大号转载，累计约有阅读10000+。
字母人合集
2017年我做的最有意义的事情之一，就是写了这个字母人合集。承蒙大家错爱，好像总是有朋友会来和我倾诉生活故事，我也很爱再挑一挑别的人的故事说回来给ta听。一开始只是因为不甘笔拙，所谓用进退废，就开始了一个月的“每天都要写微博”计划，后来觉得还是写故事比较有意思，就演变成了这个字母人。
没有想到反而有很多额外的收获。感觉用了另一种方式和朋友们沟通，像是小时候写同学录“你印象中的我”的进阶版哈哈。有时候我写完了很爱显宝就要跑去说，哎你快看我微博，我写你了！
其中一个主角的反馈
然后我也很感动！
现在已经在写第2轮字母人的大概中间一半了，但由于没有驱动力所以写得很慢哈哈哈。今天突然发现离第一轮字母人已经隔了将近半年，想整理一下和更新一下近况哈，也是自己的回顾总结吧。
Here we go！
今天是建军节，有个入伍了的好朋友A。给他发了信息祝贺，他还没回我。
中学时A喜欢一个外班的女同学，平时不怎么见得上面，就报了和她同一个补习班。但其实A的成绩很好，不用补课。于是他妈妈周末开课前就打电话问机构女同学今天来吗？然后电话一挂就和A说“哎，那谁今天请假，你不用去了！”
（过年的时候我和A视频通话了一下下，我家实在太吵了，三分钟迅速结束通话。A还在部队里，晒得黝黑，牙齿白到反光。A的妈妈给他介绍三姑六婆的女儿们，A都不肯，觉得相亲对象们不够好看。拜托，你一个部队佬，每年接触最多的异性就是小卖部的大姐和饭堂的阿姨，你还挑。
我：是不是因为你为数不多的异性朋友们比如我都太好看了导致你要求这么高？）
有次和B一起吃饭，在考虑吃什么。我说想吃这个，或者那个。他立刻说“那吃第二个吧，比较倾向的选择一般都会放在后面”。我当时确实比较想吃第二个……稍微震惊了一下，问他为什么会这种技能，他淡淡笑下说，可能天生比较敏感吧。
B平时不太声响，但类似的小事经常发生，让我感觉他比同龄人都聪明。当然可能也因为我就是崇拜人际交往中洞察力很强的人。
（B回国的时候，专门从他的城市坐高铁来找我吃饭，我只能午休出来吃个短短的饭，他就又回去了。我说谢谢你专门来和我吃饭，B说，不需要谢谢，因为这是我乐意做的事。）
每天等电梯时经常遇到C从电梯里出来，她总是推个空的铁推车，像刚刚去各个办公室分发完报纸资料，做完每早必备的琐碎工作。
C应该四五十岁，相貌平平，但每天都穿着不一样款式的碎花连衣长裙，细纹带笑意的轻松样子。
诶相反是我们这些愁眉苦脸的年轻人。
（可能后来天气冷了，C也穿裤装了！）
D是我一个不是很熟悉的朋友，比我年长几岁。她刚毕业时，应聘进入了一个知名的医药集团。没想到被分配岗位，做推销暴利的性功能药的后台工作。“编辑有点不可描述的短信从平台群发给客户，还要接受各种咨询，效果啊疗程啊，还有很多客户羞赧地打电话来，要求把收件人名字改成阿猫阿狗。”
D愤愤不平地说，我一个姑娘家年纪轻轻地怎么做这种工作啊！遂辞职。她现在开了一个生活美学工作室，工作内容是插花，做蛋糕，承办布置很美的派对：）
（我那天是去D家吃饭。一开始很紧张因为不熟，但后来喝了点酒，她家又太舒服，她做的意面和牛尾汤又实在太美味！就聊开了。D开了个很有质感的简餐店，我还没有去过，但真心为她开心，而且还没有去就觉得一定很棒！）
可能每个人都会有那么几个并不是很熟悉但却莫名很有好感的朋友。大学的时候因为一个虎头蛇尾的项目认识G，圆脸笑笑的，我们没有什么深交，也没发生过记忆深刻的事，但我很喜欢她。如果去工作的路上遇到和她同路，随便讲些不痛不痒的无聊话，也觉得心情舒畅。如沐春风。你可能记不太住春风到底是怎样的，只会觉得春风很好。
我忘了她学什么专业，毕业后回家乡的城市做了戏剧方面工作。她还保持着大学时候诚诚恳恳地发日常生活琐事和心得的朋友圈的美好品质。
“家楼下遇到一只口渴的狗
大半夜 就它自己围着我们绕圈
想起今天戏剧课讨论沙僧的人物特点 一个小孩说 我觉得他挺寂寞的 你看都没有谁跟他说话 故事里面写他的部分那么少
说不清 我为什么爱上戏剧 只是总觉得回味无穷”
我妈妈的一个同事H，和她差不多年纪。前阵子开放二胎，H也想再生一个娃。可是一直无果，H贼心不死，去医院检查。结果查出来癌症早期。积极治疗后听说情况乐观，快要康复了。长辈们聊起这件事很感慨，说没有来到的孩子救了她一命。
I本来不怎么信星座，今天刚看完说水逆快到了，回家就发现床腿的螺丝断掉，床塌了。跑了几家五金店找螺丝都没得卖。干脆买了螺丝刀，把床整个拆了做榻榻米。
没错I就是我
（现在我已经很迷信了，因为每次水逆我都会坏东西呜呜呜呜）
六月份狂风暴雨的早上，狼狈躲进了路边的小面包店。J是店主，胖胖的，头发很少，表情诚恳，招呼我进来坐吧没关系！我不好意思，说买个面包，心想正好也没吃早餐。J也不好意思，说没开业还没有面包……然后他坐在我旁边吃炒粉。
暴晒高温的八月份，这个面包店开业了。门口挂着“不卖隔夜面包”的小黑板。原来J又是店主，还是烘焙师，还站在路边一直鞠着躬发传单。
我又在周末中午十一点探店，还是没有面包。J在收银台后面的烤箱前端着托盘一脸严肃地忙碌着。拜托，下午才开烤，这个店又才丁点大，难怪不隔夜……
昨天下午终于买到了一个圆滚滚的夹南瓜子和奶酪的欧包，好吃到本想留作早餐，还没走到家我就吃完了。瞬间我想起了一个朴素的人生哲学：卖食物的店主如果是个胖子，一般都不会有错。
全麦面包啥的
蓝莓奶酪包 超多奶酪！
（我已经和店主夫妇都认识了。我的朋友来我家都要带他们去吃，100%全好评。昨天刚吃了一个蓝莓乳酪包。胖死了！好吃死了！）
K比我小一届，学法学，最初交好是因为我们聊做饭和健身。不同的是，我健身和做饭只是因为不能让自己胖得太离谱，K却是真爱的那种下厨房资深用户，还拿个小本本记录自己每天的训练动作。每天的运动表现和怎么在宿舍把健身餐做出花来，是她最关心的事。毕业后K一身腱子肉，放弃了一份薪酬优渥的健身教练offer，决定跨考运动人体科学研究生。现在K每天的生活就是训练+做饭+复习+三天两头换着觊觎健身房里的小哥。感觉真是另一种理想人生啊！
（考研放榜了，K以全国第二名的成绩考上了她想去的学校和专业。我也好开心！）
L和我同高中，但我们在高中开学前的一个饭局就认识了。回家了我妈一个劲儿对我说“你看人家多懂事！”因为L一直在维持着端庄笑，茶壶不离身，飞奔全场添水客套，俨然是讨大人欢心的小能手。L大概率是个浪漫的人，比如她独自游欧洲，比如她在腰上纹了一条鲸鱼。于是我对L的印象一直维持着一种奇怪的感觉，不太熟悉但又某个程度上了解彼此，感知到她的浪漫时又总是浮现初见饭桌上她端庄虚假的笑容。在一两年前，L就和我认真预订了写她的微博，还指定了一条符合一个浪漫人身份的诘屈聱牙的祝福语。作为一个不称职的卖家？甲方？whatever，这条祝福语我忘了个精光。但是祝福你记得，并实现它。
前辈M，中气十足讲一口标准粤语的湖南人。他的爸爸做餐饮在深圳有好多间酒楼，他三十岁也辞职，开了自己的馆子。
前辈知识渊博讲话风趣，很会追女生，也很讨女生喜欢。庆贺他开店的饭桌上，我们托着腮光听他讲妹子都可以撑完整个饭局。
M最后和十七岁的初恋结婚。“追她的时候什么都不懂，费了多大劲啊。还用黑白屏手机编了一晚上的短信，画圣诞树的空格累死我了。”“让服务员把戒指塞在蛋糕里，她吃了好久还没有挖到，我真的很怕被她吞掉。然后她吃到戒指拿出来放手里一看，立刻哇一声就哭了。”
N交往过一个很富裕的男朋友，是互联网公司的创始人，身家过亿，私人飞机出行，去一趟港澳刷卡几十万不用犹豫。N过了一阵子新奇的富太太生活，钱花不完，住在香蜜湖片区的空旷的豪宅里，阳台大得可以打羽毛球。但男朋友工作太忙，“感觉像和房子谈恋爱，早上起来就去客厅看电视，看完电视去书房看电脑。”N大学的时候已经年入二十万，比我们大多数人都厉害，可是她的男朋友很不屑，“你一年赚的钱我们去一次香港就刷掉了，何必呢。”但N不想做金丝雀，遂分手，这个男朋友化成一段奇谈。
“感觉自己当初真是傻，现在让我回家坐享几个亿不用上班，我一定开心地说好啊！”
N的婚礼，草坪自助餐，好吃！
（N和她现在的丈夫都是深圳原居民，会拆迁的那种。N很开心地和我们说，她和老公算了算，以后他们会有8套房，所以决定生5个小孩，选最喜欢的那个让他长大以后好吃懒做，流浪画家，爱干什么都可以。）
O生平最爱两件事，一是工作二是吃。
O的业绩常年排第一，两组竞赛，他安慰大家没关系的，有我在。因为他一人业绩能超过对方全组。“规则再变态，总能玩下去的。”O这么说。
O上班永远最早到，但吃饭总会姗姗来迟。吃饭迟到是因为工作没有做完。但凡听说有什么馆子，第二天立刻请客约大家凑局子尝鲜。年薪丰厚，但平时全吃掉了，两千块一只的阿拉斯加蟹也请大家吃，年底要取公积金卡里的钱出来才能回家过年。
还听朋友说她有个认识的叔叔P，这个豪爽的叔叔是道上人士。
好几年前，有一回P和别的帮派约着干架。包了辆大巴车，坐满了乌泱泱的马仔们，P在车前导游位布置战略，挥斥方遒。但这场架没有打成。敌方在大巴上安装了针眼摄像头，把P和马仔们拿着西瓜刀计划劈友的画面拍了个一清二楚，录像交给警察，私藏枪械罪没跑了，P要被逮捕。于是P决定去香港避避风头，从惠州弄了艘小船出发。没想到在海面上荡失路，好不容易着了岸，发现又乌龙回到了深圳。
我听完目瞪口呆，这和电影里的大佬不一样啊！后来朋友又参加长辈的聚会见到了P，给我看了他的老婆和女儿的照片，都美艳过人，这倒是和电影里一样。
和Q吃饭，去家北京菜馆。馆子声称每天烤鸭限量，最好预约。我们这些在消费社会茁壮成长的毒花野草，从小被各种限量吓唬大的老油条客户，哪里会当一回事。又想着是工作日，便趾高气昂地进了馆子。坐下来先在纸菜单上烤鸭处打了个大勾，其他又纠结一番招呼下单。没想到被残酷宣判烤鸭售罄。“您预约了吗？那不好意思，烤鸭卖完了。”
于是我们眼睁睁地看着白衣白高帽的厨子推着油汪汪的烤鸭从我们身边不断经过，还久久停在我们旁边，为隔壁桌片鸭子。一刀一刀，割在鸭身，痛在咱心。Q近乎泪盈于睫。我赶紧安慰说，下次下次。
Q想吃烤鸭一年了，从没实现过。
他出国前就特别特别想吃烤鸭。践行时约了我们利宝阁，大夏天的早上十点，吭哧吭哧骑得满头大汗的共享单车，到那儿一看，排号113位。遂弃。好吧去家普通茶楼，点一例粤式烧鸭聊以自慰。
Q拖着行李飞去了物价奇高的悉尼，有时候一天只吃一顿。也不是没有开过荤，只是烤鸭30刀一食。“一食是什么意思？”Q把拇指和食指环起来，“食物的食。一人一食就一卷，一口就没了。”
有一回Q的同学发朋友圈，在悉尼CBD吃到了整只的烤鸭。纵使98刀天价，Q也念念不忘地记挂。好不容易过生日了，Q呼朋唤友一行八人请客庆祝，还是想去吃烤鸭，纵使98刀天价，八个人还得点两只才够吃。（掐指一算，一千人仔哎。）烤鸭店的地址离奇，得爬一个特别高特别长的楼梯。Q和朋友们很虔诚地好不容易登高达阵，才发现饭店歇业了。
“朋友们都说我套路他们，可是我真没有啊。后来我们就去吃了火锅。很便宜。但我真是，又高兴又难过的。”我点头说我懂我懂。
（后来吃上了。平安金融中心的花悦庭，好吃！）
最近心情起伏不定。想起以前有个大学没实现的愿望是去山上禅修，早起茹素念经撞钟，体会完全不问世事，心静如止水的感觉。但这些事R都做过了。照片里她双手合十大笑坐在烟雾缭绕的寺庙前，头顶的发髻是道士帮她盘的。
想不起怎么和R认识，但是记得我们曾经疯狂聊天聊到口干舌燥，她给我讲一吨她新鲜的我记不住的故事。她跟着剧组去了山里拍电影，遇到爱上了一个电影里似的人，在海边的破房子里取景，当监制还能用上她挂科了的基础会计知识。有一阵子R发狠运动瘦了好像二十斤，后来觉得没必要又自由自在地胖了回去。毕业时R说要给她的同班同学拍纪录片，拍了一半。R得到了前程似锦梦寐以求的工作，但她又放弃了。总之在她身上发生什么事都仿佛不足为奇。我们的生活像地平线，R的生活像心电图。
R还牵头在学校的创业基地开过独立电影工作室，养了几只猫，墙上贴满了电影海报。我们盘腿坐地上看民间巫术的纪录片，吃火锅喝二锅头兑雪碧直到三更半夜。乌托邦的日子似的。这歪门邪道的创业最后被学校发现，就笑嘻嘻地散场了。也是好奇当时这个创业计划又是怎么被通过的……
R就是那种“永远不知道她最近在干嘛”的朋友，我也懒得问候。长大了以后，令人懒得问候的朋友越来越多，大部分是自然疏远或忙于琐事，只有R令我懒得问候是因为觉得她太目不暇接。看R头像换成了站在田边路间的照片，斜挎布包傻笑举着支荷花。其实认识这样的人就已经很棒了。
（R后来长居大理，再后来又不知道去哪里了。云游四海吧，我猜。）
我也想住三角形小阁楼！
“在坠落的时候，去依赖人。不要因为怕麻烦对方，或者出于羞耻而躲起来。去依赖爱你的人，有人会接住你。相信我。 ”
我一直在苦苦地思索要怎么描写S在我生活里的角色。想得太久，以至于错过了她想要预定的字母。看到这段字的时候就很想偷过来，弯腰双手呈献哈达状，和S说，接住我的人，是你哦！
中学时我没有所谓闺蜜，只有饭友。饭友一茬茬地换过，最后一直是S。S总是神定气闲，她对一切事情都充满了把握，以至于显现出某种俐落的温柔。掌控学习，掌控饮食，掌控我吃完饭要和她去散步，不能去小卖部买零食。当时S和我一样，都从不如何的边缘地区来到了peer pressure爆格的重点高中求生。但她一直做得比我好，直到现在也是。但她的「好」不是“你看，我多厉害”，而是“你看，这样就好了，你也可以的”。
曾经我以为，我们的友情也就是维持在每个饭堂到宿舍的走道上了。没想到后来大型挫折低落的时候，S也仿佛心有灵犀，来问我最近怎么样？别人也许可以轻易地打哈哈。挺好的，有空吃饭，这些话随手拈来。但是S还是一如既往地「好」着，且保持着温柔和敏锐。当我自觉像在路边的碎石子一般无用并试图掩饰坠落，S不由分说地把我捡了起来。我有时候想，S不好的时候她会做什么呢？也许S也有她自己的S，那就放心了。
将来S会从事一个以帮助人为主要目的的工作，我已经被她帮过好多好多次。好想告诉以后遇到她的人，你们都是幸运的！啊不过也难说。说不定她是只是对我这么好，你们都没有我幸运～
T生在潮汕的小渔村，改革开放时她不顾家里的反对，毅然决然偷偷来了深圳，至今她的身份证上还保留着当时带她出来的“大哥”的姓氏。
当时她和几个年轻人住同一层宿舍楼，经常一起玩一起做饭吃。朋友里有几对情侣，有一回开玩笑乱配对说：“诶对门新来了一个那谁，也是单身，不如你们在一块吧！”T一脸莫名其妙，笑说不要发神经，这人我都不认识。没想到预言成真，最后T正是和这个对门小伙子相恋结婚，有了乖巧的女儿幸福的家庭。
T本来在巧克力工厂工作，每年过节的福利就是几大箱的巧克力往家里搬。这使得家族里的小孩全都过早失去了对巧克力应有的热爱，也保护了每个小孩的口腔健康。
后来巧克力没了。
因为T下班后也在家学习，上了夜校，考了证书，换了行业也换了体面的工作。渐渐地，原本一穷二白的渔村姑娘因为勇敢和努力，在深圳立足并过上了好的生活。T活成了一个最典型的改革开放缩影。
当初那个对门小伙子是我爸爸的弟弟，T是我的婶婶。
她们的女儿，我大三的堂妹从小到大乖巧优秀。打算出国，婶婶埋怨她“暑假实习拿到证明就好了，她还天天帮人加班。年轻时间那么宝贵，有空就应该多出去旅游和玩。”“去欧洲吧。不用太厉害，我就想让她去个风景好的地方，看看世界拍拍拖。”
（堂妹刚考了雅思7.5，估计很快就可以顺利出国啦。btw有人想认识一下我堂妹吗？）
我应该是先认识U。她个子小小的，短发背着双肩包，像小男孩似的在队伍里蹦跶。广交会实习的调研组，全都是花枝招展的陌生女孩子们。U刚好蹦到我旁边，我有点紧张地和她打招呼。她说我知道你呀。
U和我介绍V和W。V给我的印象是她总在空调巨大的会馆里穿着得体的颜色温和的针织衫配连衣裙。W戴着边框眼镜，比我们更成熟老练的样子，是我们的组长。广交会的一个月很有意思。每天和她们同道，在会馆里搭讪陌生外国人，威逼利诱他们填个很长很长的问卷。我们要防止U穿牛仔裤被主管发现，和V一起逛新奇的展馆，听W吐槽组员们坑爹不靠谱。
原来她们三个都同宿舍。我立刻脑补了组长W收到我简历时候说“诶你们看这个人名字好奇怪”，然后U和V都围到了电脑前“真的耶～”“对哦！”的画面。我也常去她们7楼的宿舍玩，在那之后我就变成了荣誉舍友，她们常常唤我上楼吃应节气的饺子汤圆，拿被人扔掉的衣柜隔板来当餐桌打火锅。夏天把门都打开，清爽的又带有热气的风吹着，U公放她喜欢的五月天。我的宿舍很长一段时间只住了两个人，空空荡荡。好心的女孩子们把我收留了，于是我也有了一点快乐闹腾的宿舍回忆。
V和W都是潮汕人，我们喜滋滋地在长假抽空去她们家做客吃喝。V的爸爸妈妈都是大学教授，顿时明白了她身上那股得体的气质从何而来。本来想描述一下这几趟暴饮暴食之旅，但印象模糊。我和V挤在她的床上，对面挂着她写的一大副隶书。我们聊天到深更半夜，一醒来V就想方设法地带路吃遍全城。我很争气地三天吃胖了五斤，下雨天没怎么排队就买到草莓冰，好喝到咂舌。W家还保存着很完整的信仰风俗。W在当地最好的高中念书，每年都有几个人会进清华北大的好学校。“有一个校董事类似的人，某年考前去拜了孔子，许愿今年进清北的学生如果超过10个，就再在学校里和城外各再多建一所孔庙。果然那一年有12个清北学生。校董履约，从此每年清北学生都超过10个。每届高三学生考前，学校都要组织去拜孔子。”
后来熟悉了才知道，原来U就是我们刚报到时坊间传说的天才少女。等到毕业的时候，她的年龄还没我们高考时大。大家都照顾着U，又有点不敢太照顾。想到手忙脚乱的大学生活，她又成熟又迷惘，感觉U才是最有资格说“我承受了这个年龄不该有的xxxx”的人。
毕业以后大家四散各方，但还维持着一点微弱的联系。虽各有各的小烦恼，但恨嫁的W如愿迅速安定，V如愿被优秀的学校录取，U如愿过上了可以赚钱旅行的日子。写英文的时候，U、V、W这三个字母是最容易连在一起的，但又各有各的精彩不同。和她们很像。
住处后面的巷子里，有一家开了好多年的粥店。写着食坊的店名，菜单由一整页奇怪的粥、半页普通的饭面，和几列家常甜品组成。第一次去时，老板X穿着一件果绿色的短袖上衣，和菜单上排列组合自由搭配的粥料名一样，令人充满怀疑。“食咩啊。”犹犹豫豫地点单，X一点也不在乎地就坐在隔壁的位置，甩着写菜的小牌子等着。旁边来了熟客，X抱怨说被美食公众号写了，最近好忙，“以前服侍一百个人就得了，宜家服侍三百人！”
听说是原本开在旮沓角落的小店，深受街坊欢迎，直到开成了两层的店铺。X仿佛全年无休地穿梭在店铺里，寒暄邻里，监督厨房。X对嫌粥等太久的尝鲜客很硬气，从来没有好脸色给，就一副等不起你别来的样子。但反正吃了几次之后我也如同中毒入邪教，有朋友来就统统带去，然后听他们夸好吃。
后来去南山的朋友家玩，朋友说她有个朋友也住我附近，可是好讨厌一直藏着一家神神秘秘的店不肯带她去吃。“她说要谨慎带人，客人多了老板会生气！”
有次无聊打开了外卖平台的评价，看了一百个客服照本宣科地感谢支持的回复。翻到粥店，客人说“粥没以前浓稠入味啦，老板，徒弟没学到真传咯！”商家回复是：“打工仔是没用心了，对不起了。”我脑海中又浮现了X的果绿色上衣。
爆炸好吃，不是讲笑
Y是我从小学认识到一起长大的密友，重要程度排位仅次于有血缘关系的亲近家人。
我的体育一直很差，运动会总是被拉去跑长跑充数。Y每次都会来看我跑步。长跑的起点或终点，同学们总是簇拥着喊加油。等我跑到要失去意识了，看到她一个人在一个空荡荡的跑道边等我。跑完了才去找她，Y说“我在第三个拐弯等你呢。那里是最难熬的地方呀。”
因为太熟悉，很多事情都没有记得很清楚。但总是想起来在空荡荡的第三个拐弯处的Y的样子。
（还记得有一次Y突然和我说，她要做手术了。真的非常突然，她发完信息就进手术室了。我整个吓懵，拿着手机担惊受怕，等了很久很久很久，她都没有回复我，我就看着信息开始哭。后来她才出现，说出来了。因为麻醉难度太大，权衡一下还是不做手术了。我……）
我的草稿箱里还有很多这个系列的残余：
要见到L啦！我很开心。L就是说出“不要为三天之后的事情烦恼”，这句有道理的话的人。
他还在我纠结看不看一点钟的月食的时候帮助我权衡利弊：“月食年年都有，而睡觉每天只有八小时”。
周日的晚上我满腹牢骚，L谆谆教导：“要温柔地对待周一哦”。
当然，如你所见，L过号了，变成了Z。
（不仅变成了Z，还变成了男朋友。）
（他当时不让我发上一个括号里那句，说会不好意思。现在嘛，没得你选啦哈哈哈）
The influence of presumed influence on Chinese millennials consumers’ attitudes towards gender-stereotyped body image advertisement
(Coursework of Designing and Managing Research Projects. I am also using this topic as my dissertation topic, which I am quite interested about. Also gained a distinction score 😁)
Aims
The research aims to contribute to the Influence of Presumed Influence (IPI) model framework (Gunther and Storey, 2003) and recent study focus on consumer’s attitude towards gender-stereotyped advertisements by Åkestam (2018). The new variable of audience self-esteem will be added to help better evaluate the factor that will influence audience attitude. Also, the research will also observe the IPI effect on the male audience as a comparison.
Objective
To accomplish the final goal, three main objectives as below:
1. To present a clear and critical literature review focusing on gender-stereotyped in advertising, IPI theory, in the background of gender difference and cultural difference, as a foundation to build related hypothesis and analysis in the later stage of the research.
2. To collect data effectively and measure how gender-stereotyped advertisements influence Chinese female youth as the audience in the IPI model.
3. To develop the IPI model, exploring the effect of audience self-esteem and advertisement model body image.
Background
The term “Womenomics” was first introduced in 2009, refers to women power and their wish to change the gender rule in the workplace (Shipman and Kay, 2009). From 2013, Japan Minister Shinzo Abe advocated Womenomics, encouraging Japanese homemakers to go back to work, as a solution to address the Japanese shrinking labour market problem (Oda and Reynolds, 2018). Female influence in the commercial environment is becoming an important issue wildly discussed around the world, in both businesswomen and consumers aspect.
In China, one of the most fast-growing economy in the world, Womenomics is also boosting. In recent decades, more well-educated female entrepreneurs and businesswomen are emerging, playing an important role, especially in private company (Feng, 2018). Define middle-class women as single women with annual income ≥ 180,000 yuan, married women with yearly family income ≥ 350,000 yuan in first-tier cities, lower standards in less developed cities, there are around 90% of Chinese middle-class women are in the age group of millennials (iResearch, 2019).
Chinese millennials group has gained plenty of attention, with a population of around 410 million millennials in China are more than the entire population of North America (PWC, 2019). According to the Nielsen report, approximately 64% of consumers in China are between 18-35 years old, 56% online consumers and 80% of offline consumers are female (Nielsen, 2017). With reliable buying power and colossal population amount, Chinese young female consumer group is nonnegligible for brands and companies.
In recent years, some gender-stereotyped advertisements in China market that disparage women have been widely criticised. Audi’s second-hand cars advertisement arouse public outrage because of objectifying women. The related post has been forwarded more than 20,000 times within three days(China Women’s Daily, 2017). The influence of presumed influence model (IPI model; Åkestam, 2018; Gunther and Storey, 2003; Noguti and Russell, 2014; Sharma and Roy, 2016)) assumed that people’s reaction and attitude towards the advertisement is affected by their assumption of other people’s opinions towards this advertisement. The model points out the possibility that women dislike stereotypes in advertisement also because of their concern for others. Recent research by Åkestam (2018) applied IPI model theory in a further step, confirmed the existence of a “sisterhood effect”. Women evaluate advertising based on their concern for other women, particularly the potential negative effect of gender-stereotyped advertisement on other women.
The research by Åkestam (2018) studies the impact of gender-stereotyped advertisement in two aspects, body image and gender role. For Chinses young women, the proportion who agree with “independent” or “businesswomen” female role raised to around 80% in 2018(Sohu News, 2018). Non-stereotyped advertisements are popular, such as SK-II advertisement which stands for single women in marriage issue(Cerini, 2016). Meanwhile, they seem to be still dreaming gender-stereotyped skinny female body, a report released by Alibaba shows that loss weight drug orlistat sold 70,000 boxed in six months on one single online pharmacy (Alibaba, 2017), news report young women’s death because of losing weight inappropriately.
Therefore, this research will be developed in the foundation of Åkestam (2018), focus more on the body image gender-stereotyped advertisement aspect in Chinese young female consumer group. According to the 2017 China’s Native Advertising Report (iResearch, 2018), China has a massive advertising market reach to about 163.85 billion Yuan in 2017, and forecasted will keep growing in the coming years. Take the beauty and makeup sector as an example. In this single female domain sector, there are more than 80,000 SKU(Stock Keeping Unit) for the consumer to select (Tencent, 2018). Facing so many choices, 58% of consumers choose to learn about product information from the e-commerce community, both sharing post and advertisement (Tencent, 2018). The function of advertisement is to help sell a product, but it will also spread unexpected social impact, especially female audience is more likely to feel anxious, hope to achieve an ideal image in the advertisement by consuming products (Pollay, 1986). The related research would be beneficial both to the business and to society.
Literature Review
Gender-stereotyped in advertising
Business culture is both producing and influencing by the social environment. There are extensive researches proved and criticised the stereotyped description of male and female gender role in advertising since the 1970s (Bretl and Cantor, 1988; Coltrane and Messineo, 2000; Dominick and Rauch, 1972). In the western advertising environment, gender stereotypes advertising already lost its easy-communicating function, for example, model effectiveness is highly related to a product feature, and nudity in the advertisement is likely to damage the image of product and advertisement (Peterson and Kerin, 1977). Research shows that gender-stereotyped advertisement causes negative attitude toward advertising in general, both male and female audience (Huhmann and Limbu, 2016). However, some companies are under suspicion using non-gender-stereotyped advertisement may merely as a marketing tool for companies to attract eyeballs rather than true belief (Stewart, 2007).
Model size in the ad
Physical attractive model in the advertisement is widely used. Research shows that it can better persuade the audience and affect their favourable attitude towards advertisement, but does not affect perception and procession of product information for both genders (Baker and Churchill, 1977). For the female audience, the model image in the advertisement will influence to their self-perception of physical attractiveness in a wide age range, begin from pre-adolescents period (Hansen et al., 2013; Martin and Gentry, 1997). Highly attractive model is possible to lead to negative evaluation, both the advertisement and product and the audience themselves. (Bower, 2001; Bower and Landreth, 2001; Kyrousi et al., 2016; Richins, 1991). In recent years, a large number of researches show that size of the model affects the attitude towards advertisement, normal size model may be a better choice than small size model (Jung and Heo, 2018; Peck and Loken, 2004).
Cross-culture study
There is an obvious difference between the female gender role in Chinese culture background and western; this complicated difference also reflects in the advertising. In the conservative Asian context, female and the environment are considered as a whole, rather than an individual sex object as white female(Jung and Heo, 2018). Also, feminism has not been completely accepted by women in Asia(Fung, 2000). Asia female audience may have a favourable attitude towards the small size model(Keh et al., 2016) and traditional role image(Lin, 2008). Research also verified that Chinese women had accepted some western femininity characters such as trendy, independence and self-sufficiency, but still keeping some eastern quality such as softness and chastity(Hung et al., 2007; Lin, 2008).
IPI model and attitudinal affect in advertising
Researches show that, during the process of media communication, Third Person Effect phenomenon exists, people assume information will have a stronger impact to other individuals than to themselves(Davison, 1983), especially for negative information such as internet pornography(Lee and Tamborini, 2005; Lo and Wei, 2002). This kind of assumption influence people’s attitude and action towards advertisement information, which leads to the Influence of Presumed Influence model(Gunther and Storey, 2003; Youn et al., 2000). The development of IPI model shows that the impact of estimated influence to other people will influence audience’s attitude towards the information and their reaction(Hansen et al., 2013; Sharma and Roy, 2016), the possible negative influence of gender-stereotyped advertisement may also lead to unfavourable attitude(Åkestam, 2018).
The IPI Model (Gunther and Storey, 2003)
Self-esteem and IPI model in advertising
On the one hand, the unexpected social effect of advertisement is changing the environment, but the audience also claims to be immune to the advertisement and have their judgement(Pollay, 1986). One explanation to the IPI model is that when people feel their power to impact others’ decisions, it enhances their self-esteem(Sharma and Roy, 2016). There are limited researches study about how self-esteem as a factor affects the IPI model, but massive researchers proved the prior attitude including self-concept and self-esteem are essential for audience attitude(Hong and Zinkhan, 1995), also when female audience exposed to advertisement with model image(Bian and Wang, 2015; Smeesters and Mandel, 2006). The audience is more likely to accept advertisement expression that congruent with their self-concept(Hong and Zinkhan, 1995). Further, the audience’s perceptions of their idea on an issue also have a relative impact on how they assume others to be to persuade on that topic (Eisend, 2015). Accordingly, self-esteem is possible to be a moderate factor among IPI model.
Gender difference and IPI model
From the 1970s, it has been widely proved that there is gender difference when audience understanding advertisement information(Wolin, 2003), including the way processing gender role stereotyped advertisement(Eisend et al., 2014). Similar to the traditional advertisement, gender difference of attitude and motivation is still evident in web advertisement(Wolin and Korgaonkar, 2003). Audience response most favourable reaction to exclusive portrayals of their same gender in the advertisement, significant factor influence their attitude is their prior attitude toward portrayals(Orth and Holancova, 2004). IPI effect has been proved exist among male audience group (Noguti and Russell, 2014). A recent study shows that gender-stereotyped advertisement causes negative attitude to both genders (Huhmann and Limbu, 2016); gender equality thought might be more widely accepted among different gender in the past decade. Assume that the male audience also consider presumed influence on others as an influencing factor of attitude towards the gender-stereotyped advertisement.
Accordingly, the following hypnosis are set for the research:
H1: Advertisement with gender-stereotype body image leads to higher levels of presumed negative influence on others than non-stereotyped advertisement.
H2: Advertisement with gender-stereotype body image leads to less favourable (a) ad attitudes and (b) brand attitudes.
H3: Self-esteem tendency will moderate the effect of IPI model. Specifically, (c)audience with higher self-esteem is likely to be influenced stronger by presumed influence, (d)audience with lower self-esteem is likely to be influenced weaker by presumed influence.
H4: Gender as a variable, male audience also consider presumed influence on others as an influencing factor of attitude towards the gender-stereotyped advertisement.
H5: Attitudes and (b) brand attitudes, so that higher presumed negative influence on others leads to a less favourable ad and brand attitudes.
Proposed conceptual model, adapted fromÅkestam(2018)and Gunther and Storey(2003)
Research Method
Type of Investigation
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are suitable for this research; however, due to the following considerations, the qualitative survey methodology will be conducted. Market research designed to learn from consumer preferences and subjective feelings of the public is one of the well-developed uses of a survey, every participant’s data will be measured equally compare to a qualitative method, the analysis and results will be less biased(Jr, 2013). The research topic is also about knowing audience’s subjective feeling about advertisement with gender-stereotype body image; whether they will be affected by their presumed negative impact to others, therefore survey research would be an appropriate choice. Also, using survey enable the researcher to analyse relationships between variables(Saunders et al., 2015), such as gender-stereotyped advertisement exposure, audience self-esteem and IPI effect and so on. In this study. According to the limitation of the previous research of gender-stereotyped advertisement IPI model(Åkestam, 2018), the study has already conducted under experiment and questionnaire methodology, a survey is suggested as a supplementary way to validate and develop the theory. Due to the limited time, economic pressure and geographical limitation, online survey method tends to be able to collect most data in the lowest cost and possibly shortest time.
Access and Selection/Sampling Method
The chosen sampling group of this study is millennials who born from 1980-1999, 20-39 years old, contain the 1980s and 1990s generation. According to a report released by iResearch(2019), there are around 90% of Chinese middle-class women are millennials, which represent one of the most important and influential groups in the China society, both in the economy and cultural aspects. Although the newly recalibrated international millennials deification is people born from 1981-1996 (Dimock, 2019), in the Chinese context, people usually distinguish generation by decades. This age group is also within the range of previous research by Åkestam (2018). This selection will also effectively prevent from collecting all the data from a college student group, which might generalise results that would be difficult to apply and develop in other populations(Netemeyer et al., 2011).
The sampling method is going to be non-probability, not only convenience, cost-effective and time-saving but also a most practical approach for exploratory stages of research projects(Saunders et al., 2015). There is no sampling frame for this research, using non-probability sampling can maximally study the present circumstances of gender-stereotyped advertisement and IPI model effect among respondents.
Within the sampling age group, there is a distinct difference between the 80s and 90s generation, and quota sampling will be adapted. With appropriately supervised data and sample collection, using quota sampling is more likely to generate representative results of the various subgroups within a population (Zikmund, 2010).
Because of fast-changing society, Chinese 80s generation and 90s generation have experienced different landmarks and have different characteristics(Yan, 2010). 80s generation is the first generation after the reform and opening-up policy, 90s generation is the first generation to grow up with the explosive development of the Internet. During 1995-2000, “Western” feminism with “gender” as the core of theory imported and restructured Chinese feminism(Spakowski, 2011), sexual rights became part of the individual claim for freedom and happiness(Yan, 2010). The subtle timing of these social changes is possible to lead to different gender perception for people born in the 80s and 90s, also lead to varying results of coming research.
According to the sixth China national population census in 2010, there is fertility decline in recent decades, the population of 80s generation is 2.28 hundred million while the community of 90s age is 1.75 hundred million(National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2010). The population proportion of two generations is about 0.6:0.4. Therefore, ideal sample size will be 200 millennials, 120 of them will be 80s generation, and 80 of them will be 90s generation.
Data Collection Method
The survey will be adapted as a data collection method for this study, using both online and offline approaches. The survey question will be carefully designed and modified to generate a copy of survey questions more suitable in the Chinese context, then accurately translated into the Chinese language for participants to answer. The research will use Wjx.com and wenjuan.com to design and gather the data. Also, Microsoft Excel and SPSS will be used in the later stage of the study to verify the hypotheses and theory. Before distribution, a survey pretest will be conducted in a small group excluded from formal participants. The pretest will help the researcher ensure the instructions and questions are clear and exam the file. Since most of the surveys will be self-ministered, pretesting is more necessary(Jr, 2013).
For online approaches, two social media platforms, WeChat and Weibo(microblog) will be the leading platforms. These are two popular platforms among Chinese younger generation. There are 462 million monthly active users on Weibo, 89% of users age from 18 to 40(Sina Weibo statistic centre, 2019). Likewise, there are more than 1 billion daily active users on WeChat, 53% of them spent more than 2 hours per day on WeChat, the peak user group is 26-35(eMarketer, 2017; Graziani, 2018). Since age is the only requirement, survey hyperlink will be posted on the different group with a large number of members. For offline approaches, personal connections will be used to ask permission from selected 3-5 universities in Guangzhou city to approach student groups.
The survey will conclude critical questions to confirm the IPI model effect: “I believe that other women are negatively affected by this advertisement”, “I believe that other women are positively affected by this ad” and “I believe that other women are affected by this advertisement” to adjust different levels of attitude and effect. These questions have been proved to be effective in previous researches(Åkestam, 2018; Youn et al., 2000). Advertisement and brand attitudes will be rated from “like” or “positive” to “dislike” or “negative” on seven-point semantic differential scales(Dahlén et al., 2009). Self-esteem will be measured on the Rosenberg scale(Rosenberg, 2015), proved to be useful in previous related research(Bian and Wang, 2015).
Limitation and Contribution
One possible limitation might be the survey design. It might be difficult to produce “perfect” survey, which might influence the research data. Also, it would be more comprehensive to utilise the mixed method, to gain more in-depth insight from different dimension by using both quantitative and qualitative methods(Saunders et al., 2015). Also, the research results may not be fully representative of the population outside the sample group.
The research design is developed upon future directions suggested by previous papers to gain a more in-depth insight, findings from this research attempt to explore IPI model effect in the gender-stereotyped advertisement. The implications generated from the paper aims in knowing the general gender concept in the younger generation, also helping companies and brands to understand Chinese female consumer’s perception and attitude more accurately, especially for international companies and brands plan to explore the Chinese market. Companies and brands may need to avoid releasing gender- stereotyped advertisement, not only for the business ethics issue but also may cause the negative word of mouth if the IPI model effect proved to exist. Finally, personally, gender equality and female right are issues author genuinely caring about and willing to contribute for any possible improvement.
Reference
Åkestam, N., 2018. Caring for her: the influence of presumed influence on female consumers’ attitudes towards advertising featuring gender-stereotyped portrayals. Int. J. Advert. 37, 871–892. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2017.1384198
Alibaba, 2017. Big data for the 2017 white paper on weight loss [WWW Document]. URL https://dt.alibaba.com/page29.htm?acm=lb-zebra-227580-1867803.1003.4.1605791&scm=1003.4.lb-zebra-227580-1867803.OTHER_151701677984924_1605791 (accessed 4.26.19).
Baker, M.J., Churchill, G.A., 1977. The Impact of Physically Attractive Models on Advertising Evaluations. J. Mark. Res. 14, 538–555. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224377701400411
Bian, X., Wang, K.-Y., 2015. Are size-zero female models always more effective than average-sized ones?: Depends on brand and self-esteem! Eur. J. Mark. 49, 1184–1206. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-08-2013-0414
Bower, A.B., 2001. Highly Attractive Models in Advertising and the Women Who Loathe Them: The Implications of Negative Affect for Spokesperson Effectiveness. J. Advert. 30, 51–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2001.10673645
Bower, A.B., Landreth, S., 2001. Is Beauty Best? Highly versus Normally Attractive Models in Advertising. J. Advert. 30, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2001.10673627
Bretl, D.J., Cantor, J., 1988. The portrayal of men and women in U.S. television commercials: A recent content analysis and trends over 15 years. Sex Roles 18, 595–609. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287963
Cerini M., 2016. SK-II’s Viral Ad is Empowering Single Women in China [WWW Document]. Forbes. URL https://www.forbes.com/sites/mariannacerini/2016/04/12/sk-iis-viral-ad-is-empowering-single-women-in-china/ (accessed 4.26.19).
China Women’s Daily, 2017. Audi’s used car ads have sparked outrage [WWW Document]. media.people.cn. URL http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0721/c40606-29419001.html (accessed 4.28.19).
Coltrane, S., Messineo, M., 2000. The Perpetuation of Subtle Prejudice: Race and Gender Imagery in 1990s Television Advertising. Sex Roles 42, 363–389. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007046204478
Dahlén, M., Grenros, M., Granlund, A., 2009. The consumer‐perceived value of non‐traditional media: effects of brand reputation, appropriateness and expense. J. Consum. Mark. 26, 155–163. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760910954091
Davison, W.P., 1983. The Third-Person Effect in Communication. Public Opin. Q. 47, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1086/268763
Dimock, M., 2019. Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Pew Res. Cent. URL https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/ (accessed 4.24.19).
Dominick, J.R., Rauch, G.E., 1972. The image of women in network TV commercials. J. Broadcast. 16, 259–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838157209386349
Eisend, M., 2015. Persuasion knowledge and third-person perceptions in advertising: the moderating effect of regulatory competence. Int. J. Advert. 34, 54–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2014.993792
Eisend, M., Plagemann, J., Sollwedel, J., 2014. Gender Roles and Humor in Advertising: The Occurrence of Stereotyping in Humorous and Nonhumorous Advertising and Its Consequences for Advertising Effectiveness. J. Advert. 43, 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.857621
eMarketer, 2017. Average Daily Time Spent on WeChat According to WeChat Users in China, 2015 & 2016 (% of respondents) – eMarketer [WWW Document]. URL https://www.emarketer.com/Chart/Average-Daily-Time-Spent-on-WeChat-According-WeChat-Users-China-2015-2016-of-respondents/207293 (accessed 4.25.19).
Feng, E., 2018. China: ‘Women are creating a new corporate culture’ [WWW Document]. Financ. Times. URL https://www.ft.com/content/cfceb3f6-f703-11e7-a4c9-bbdefa4f210b (accessed 4.11.19).
Foxall, G., Bian, X., 2013. Will normal‐sized female models in advertisements be viewed as positively as small‐sized models? Eur. J. Mark. 47, 485–505. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561311297427
Fung, A., 2000. Feminist Philosophy and Cultural Representation in the Asian Context. Gaz. Leiden Neth. 62, 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016549200062002005
Graziani, T., 2018. WeChat impact report 2018: all the latest WeChat data. WalktheChat. URL https://walkthechat.com/wechat-impact-report-2016/ (accessed 4.25.19).
Gunther A.C., Storey J.D., 2003. The Influence of Presumed Influence. J. Commun. 53, 199–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2003.tb02586.x
Hansen, H., Sjödin, H., Thunell, C., Thorbjørnsen, H., Linander, J., Dahlén, M., 2013. “What will ‘they’ think?”: Marketing leakage to undesired audiences and the third-person effect. Eur. J. Mark. 47, 1825–1840. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2011-0597
Hong, J.W., Zinkhan, G.M., 1995. Self-concept and advertising effectiveness: The influence of congruency, conspicuousness, and response mode. Psychol. Mark. 12, 53–77. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.4220120105
Huhmann, B.A., Limbu, Y.B., 2016. Influence of gender stereotypes on advertising offensiveness and attitude toward advertising in general. Int. J. Advert. 35, 846–863. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2016.1157912
Hung, K.H., Li, S.Y., Belk, R.W., 2007. Glocal understandings: female readers’ perceptions of the new woman in Chinese advertising. J. Int. Bus. Stud. 38, 1034–1051. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400303
iResearch, 2019. Report on the consumption of middle class women in China in 2019 [WWW Document]. URL https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NUhyCFYmsSbBWNhXiqd_ew?tdsourcetag=s_pctim_aiomsg (accessed 4.24.19).
iResearch, 2018. 2017 China’s Native Advertising Report.
Jr, F.J.F., 2013. Survey Research Methods. SAGE Publications.
Jung, A.-R., Heo, J., 2018. Mirror, mirror, who is thinner?A direct effect moderation model of ad model-viewer body size gap. J. Mark. Commun. 0, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2018.1553058
Kyrousi, A.G., Panigyrakis, G.G., Panopoulos, A.P., 2016. Attitudes toward ads portraying women in decorative roles and female competition: an evolutionary psychology perspective. Int. J. Advert. 35, 771–798. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2016.1138576
Lee B., Tamborini R., 2005. Third-Person Effect and Internet Pornography: The Influence of Collectivism and Internet Self-Efficacy. J. Commun. 55, 292–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2005.tb02673.x
Lin, C.-L., 2008. Sexual Issues: The Analysis of Female Role Portrayal Preferences in Taiwanese Print Ads. J. Bus. Ethics 83, 409–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9628-5
Lo, V., Wei, R., 2002. Third-Person Effect, Gender, and Pornography on the lnternet. J. Broadcast. Electron. Media 46, 13–33. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4601_2
Martin, M.C., Gentry, J.W., 1997. Stuck in the Model Trap: The Effects of Beautiful Models in Ads on Female Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents. J. Advert. 26, 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1997.10673520
National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2010. Tabulation on the 2010 population census of the people’s republic of China [WWW Document]. URL http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/pcsj/rkpc/6rp/indexch.htm (accessed 4.25.19).
Netemeyer, R.G., Haws, K.L., Bearden, W.O. (Eds.), 2011. Handbook of marketing scales: multi-item measures for marketing and consumer behavior research, 3rd ed. ed. SAGE, Los Angeles.
Nielsen, 2017. Nielsen 2017 China new retail white paper.
Noguti, V., Russell, C.A., 2014. Normative Influences on Product Placement Effects: Alcohol Brands in Television Series and the Influence of Presumed Influence. J. Advert. 43, 46–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.810557
Oda, S., Reynolds, I., 2018. What Is Womenomics, and Is It Working for Japan?
Orth, U.R., Holancova, D., 2004. Men’s and women’s responses to sex role portrayals in advertisements. Int. J. Res. Mark. 21, 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2003.05.003
Peck, J., Loken, B., 2004. When will larger-sized female models in advertisements be viewed positively? The moderating effects of instructional frame, gender, and need for cognition. Psychol. Mark. 21, 425–442. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20012
Peterson, R.A., Kerin, R.A., 1977. The Female Role in Advertisements: Some Experimental Evidence on JSTOR. J. Mark. 41, Oct, 1977.
Pollay, R.W., 1986. The Distorted Mirror: Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of Advertising 20.
PWC, 2018. global-consumer-insights-survey-2018-china-report.pdf [WWW Document]. URL https://www.pwccn.com/en/retail-and-consumer/publications/global-consumer-insights-survey-2018-china-report.pdf
Richins, M.L., 1991. Social Comparison and the Idealized Images of Advertising. J. Consum. Res. 18, 71–83. https://doi.org/10.1086/209242
Rosenberg, M., 2015. Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton University Press.
Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A., 2015. Research methods for business students, Seventh edition. ed. Pearson Education, New York.
Sharma, P., Roy, R., 2016. Looking Beyond First-Person Effects (FPEs) in the Influence of Scarcity Appeals in Advertising: A Replication and Extension of Eisend (2008). J. Advert. 45, 78–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2015.1093438
Shipman, C., Kay, K., 2009. Womenomics: write your own rules for success, 1st ed. ed. HarperCollins, New York.
Sina Weibo statistic center, 2019. 2018 Weibo users development report.
Smeesters D., Mandel N., 2006. Positive and Negative Media Image Effects on the Self. J. Consum. Res. 32, 576–582. https://doi.org/10.1086/500489
Sohu News, 2018. Survey on female image cognition and family business concept in 2018 [WWW Document]. URL http://www.sohu.com/a/224929926_118392 (accessed 4.28.19).
Spakowski, N., 2011. “Gender” Trouble: Feminism in China under the Impact of Western Theory and the Spatialization of Identity. Positions Asia Crit. 19, 31–54. https://doi.org/10.1215/10679847-2010-023
Stewart D., 2007. The Inconvenient Truth Behind Dove, The Love-Your-Body Beauty Company [WWW Document]. Jezebel. URL https://jezebel.com/the-inconvenient-truth-behind-dove-the-love-your-body-306063 (accessed 4.28.19).
Tencent, 2018. Tencent&Vipshop:2018 female fashion repoet published [WWW Document]. 199it.com. URL http://www.199it.com/archives/808388.html (accessed 4.28.19).
Wolin, L.D., 2003. Gender Issues in Advertising: An oversight synthesis of research: 1970-2002. J. Advert. Res. 43, 111–130. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-43-1-111-130
Wolin, L.D., Korgaonkar, P., 2003. Web advertising: gender differences in beliefs, attitudes and behavior. Internet Res. 13, 375–385. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240310501658
Yan, Y., 2010. The Chinese path to individualization. Br. J. Sociol. 61, 489–512. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01323.x
Youn, S., Faber, R.J., Shah, D.V., 2000. Restricting gambling advertising and the third-person effect. Psychol. Mark. 17, 633–649. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6793(200007)17:7<633::AID-MAR4>3.0.CO;2-B
Zikmund, W.G., 2010. Business research methods. South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH.
LUSH instore staff-consumer interactive marketing strategy evaluation report
(Individual Coursework of Retailing in the Digital Age – 73)
Introduction
For the retail industry, technology development and e-commerce adoption have brought both challenges and opportunities. A mass of physical stores may be dead, but consumer experience and interactive marketing are still playing a vital role. The company, the customer and the employee are three key players in marketing exchange relationships, the link between the customer and the employee, interactive marketing, is one of the critical parts (Kotler 1994). This report selects LUSH Cosmetic LTD (represented as LUSH in the following content) as a case study, evaluating its staff-consumer interactive marketing strategy in the digital age.
Company Background
LUSH Cosmetic LTD., a natural cosmetics company founded in 1995, UK. LUSH products include skincare, haircare and fragrances and so on, with significant characteristics, such as 100% vegetarian, 85% vegan, against animal testing and completely handmade (Trotter, 2017). With unique products and appropriate retail strategy, LUSH has grown into a well-known brand with more than 900 stores worldwide in 49 countries (ibid).
Target market
This report will focus on one selected target market of LUSH.
For the geographic segmentation, focus on the UK market. In the UK, health & beauty will be the fastest growing sector over the next five year, and the market will be reaching £26.7billion by 2022 (Globaldata.com, 2017).
(RSI: Retail of cosmetic and toilet articles, 2018)
The demographic segmentation focuses on consumer age between 18 to 34, mostly women, but also include men. Report by thoughtshift (2018) shows that women aged 18 to 34 are the most significant portion of the cosmetics market. Depends on GlobalData (2018) LUSH research, 87% of the LUSH consumer are women, and the rest are men. LUSH follows the genderless trend in beauty and claims that they do not market as gender-specific. There are no men-only sections and packaging is typically black and mainly gender-neutral colours (Liffreing, 2018). Also, one in four men claimed that they had bought beauty brands typically used by women (Academic.mintel.com, 2011).
From consumer behaviour aspect, LUSH targets in consumers value business ethics, care about environmental and social causes and support vegetarian. LUSH’s vegetarian classification steps into one of the core growth areas of the beauty sector. Demand for vegetarian and vegan products is boosting in Millennial (Halliday, 2018).
Current Industry
(UK Retail Stats & Facts, 2018)
According to the report published by Mordorintelligence.com (2018), the cosmetics or beauty products industry is a sector would not be affected by the economic situation. Strong desire to retain youthful appearances by the aging population, encourages the cosmetics industry around the world. It also adapted to the UK cosmetics market environment. Specifically, in 2017, The total sales in the cosmetics market of the UK were 9.77 billion GBP, gradually increasing each year since 2009 (Statista, 2018). Organic and natural cosmetic products are also crucial for many consumers within the UK, with 54% of people prefer nonchemical ingredients in products. (Statista, 2018)
In 2017, LUSH’s comparable sales in the UK rose more than 12% (Halliday, 2018), total turnover was 995 million GBP until the 30th of June, which was 36.5% higher than the year before, reached the company’s best record ever (Morris, 2018).
Technological improvement causes challenges
- A Shift from offline to online
With the growing popularity of smartphone, consumer’s shopping habit in the digital age is changing rapidly. Unlike old days, now almost everyone shops online, 94% of consumers say they shop online (Pitney Bowes, 2018). During the 2017 holiday shopping season, the growth of sales from mobile devices surpassed desktop sales for the very first time.（Eulerhermes.com, 2018）
- Experience matters
According to Local Data Company (2017), in the UK, though the number of new stores opening is decreasing, the number of store closures is increasing. Research of Global Retail Trend Report (Assets.kpmg, 2018) shows that one way for retailers to survive from to competitive market is to differentiate themselves, by creating the experience consumer will enjoy, could be a combination of channels.
- Consumer empowerment
More choices are offering to the consumers, also, in 2017, one in three people worldwide used a social network (Emarketer.com, 2018). Competitors, eWOM, and so on, consumers determinate their purchase decisions by many factors besides price. These empowered consumers are influencing retailers and forcing them to take action (Assets.kpmg, 2018).
- Artificial intelligence influence
Some game-changing technology appears in the retailing industry in recent years, such as Amazon Go. Research by Assets.kpmg (2018) shows that some experts predict that by the year 2020, 85% of all transactions will be AI-based. The year 2018 will be the year people witness AI will be deployed at scale.
LUSH instore staff-consumer interactive marketing strategy
In the UK health & beauty market, the physical store is still the primary purchase channel, with 93.5% of sector shoppers buying in store (Reportlinker, 2017). LUSH has a unique staff-consumer interactive marketing strategy, aim in delivering satisfying customer in-store experience, helping Lush creates a brand image that is difficult to replicate. To conclude, there are four main points.
- Selected and trained staff
The staff is purposely picked for their personalities to be smiley and happy, also share the same values with LUSH (Gilliland, 2017). Shop staff typically go through extensive training, so they have both tools and knowledge to deliver the type of service meet the standard and satisfied consumers (Gilliland, 2018).
- Recognize customer type
Staff is trained to recognize the different types and needs of consumers to offer a tailored customer experience. According to consumer’s browsing behaviour, respond quickly to “assertive” customers or focus on personalized solutions to “analytical” consumers, so that they can deliver a personalized experience and meet customer’s expectation.
- Demonstration and knowledge
Staff emphasis demonstration of the products and show knowledge. LUSH store interaction-friendly, with sinks and highly-available samples (Gilliland, 2018). LUSH staff would make full use of the layout to serve the consumer, help to trail suitable products, try on consumer’s hands and demonstrate about it (Geel, R., Hornebrant, M. and Lundberg, E. (2018). The staff has an in-depth knowledge of the products, with an explanation of ingredients and product effect. Customers are more feel like buying into the company’s expertise, good quality and healthy product (Trotter, 2017).
- Create positive emotion
Staff is empowered and create positive consumer in-store emotion. Not only smiling and passionate, but the staff is also allowed to give away products to customers as ‘random acts of kindness'(ibid), striving to create a pleasant experience, positive interaction, and relationship with the customer(Gilliland,2018).
Strengths of the strategy
- Both functional and delightful, successfully attract attention and deliver experience
Thecriteria for attracting the attention of the consumer is functional or delightful (trendwatching, 2017). LUSH interactive strategy meets both, successfully creates a unique consumer experience, seize consumer attention. It also helps LUSH differentiate with other competitor and keep on top, thought majority retail physical stores are closing.
Well-trained staff present the products with professional knowledge in a personalized way can help consumer learn about the products better, which makes the strategy a smart, functional idea.
The interesting interactive layout and friendly staff who pay attention to consumer instore emotion, shape a delightful experience that seizes attention, even in the competitive digital age. Pleasure from in-store experience encourages the consumer to more time in the store, spend more money, and be more willing to visit again (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982).
(LUSH instore interaction, 2017)
- Contribute to satisfaction and generate positive eWOM
A result of the study measuring service value shows that there is a 95% correlation between customer satisfaction and perceived service value（Selvestro and Cross, 2000）. Pleasing and helpful LUSH staff, effectively contribute to customer satisfaction when interacting with the consumer in store. Satisfied consumers in the digital age are likely to post on Twitter or Facebook.
(Consumer Twitter about LUSH staff feedback, 2019)
This kind of user spontaneous positive feedback, help generate a positive eWOM for LUSH to build brand awareness. Likewise, LUSH does not have any marketing budget, and there is no commercial advertisement can be found. LUSH brand communications manager proved that “LUSH has a ‘no global advertising’ policy.” They only rely on content marketing, user-generated-content social media and wEOM to create buzz, the in-store interactive experience is also a part of the vital topic (Warc.com, 2016).
- adaptive to technology combination
At last but not at least, the LUSH interactive strategy has an excellent adapting ability to the changing environment. In order to address the challenge in the digital age, Lush is getting active in combining existed in-store experience with technical elements. Creative Showcase is to launch new experiments and innovations implements in technology: LUSH Lens – a new visual search tool, 3D printers to create product moulds, LUSH Concierge – a virtual assistant which allows users to ask the question by voice (Gilliland, 2017). LUSH also launches own point of sale system, will not replace staff, but provide them more tools to deliver consumer experience(Glorney, 2018).
Limitation and weakness
- Physical distance
For the weakness of Lush staff interaction strategy, the strategy implement can only happen in the physical offline store. Consumer market of this strategy may fail to expand as large as possible because of the physical distance.
- Hard to measure accurately
Unlike other strategies, it is harder to measure the staff interaction effect accurately. The company can count the number of every Lush recycle black pot, and calculate the commercial revenue. However, it would be more difficult to know precisely how every employee conveys the strategy, how every single consumer reacts to passionate staff, and how the interaction influences the consumer journey.
- Positive maybe aggressive
Also, the consumer may feel overwhelming to the positivity of Lush staff. Some comments online criticised that LUSH staff is too aggressive (Zarha, unknown), some consumer claimed that they felt intimidated by the store staff (Geel, R., Hornebrant, M. and Lundberg, E. (2018). The staff interaction strategy only works for the consumers in need and are intended to purchase. If they are potential consumer prefer quiet and isolated shopping, the strategy may have an adverse effect. The internet is always more knowledgeable than human beings, and there is no pressure spending as long time as the consumer want to hesitate about a product.
Conclusion
To conclude, LUSH as a UK cosmetic company with a distinctive feature, it has chosen the selected marketing strategy, including consumer recognition, product demonstration and creating positive instore emotion, also adapting the trend, trying to combine technology with existed action. Although with some specific limitation, in the rapid-changing and highly-competitive industry environment, the instore staff-consumer interactive strategy of LUSH significantly helps the company deliver unique consumer experience, contribute to consumer satisfaction, create buzz and positive eWOM in social media. LUSH have announced to continue to invest in opening stores in suitable sites (Morris, 2018), also proved that they are using the appropriate in-store strategy.
Reference:
Academic.mintel.com. (2011). Is He Ready Yet? British men now spend more time getting ready than women. [online] Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/trends/#/observation/601379 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Assets.kpmg. (2018). Global Retail Trends 2018. [online] Available at:
Click to access Global_Retail_Trends_2018.pdf
[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].Consumer Twitter about LUSH staff feedback. (2019). [image].
Emarketer.com. (2018). Worldwide Social Network Users Update: eMarketer’s Estimates and Forecast for 2016–2021, with a Focus on Instagram – eMarketer. [online] Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/Report/Worldwide-Social-Network-Users-Update-eMarketers-Estimates-Forecast-20162021-with-Focus-on-Instagram/2002170 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Eulerhermes.com. (2018). Retail Sector Report. [online] Available at: https://www.eulerhermes.com/en_global/economic-research/sector-reports/Retail.html#link_internal_2 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Geel, R., Hornebrant, M. and Lundberg, E. (2018). “An experience a day keeps the e-commerce away” Exploring experiential marketing within the body cosmetics retail industry. [online] Diva-portal.org. Available at: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1215039/FULLTEXT01.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Gilliland, N. (2017). How Lush delights customers with brand marketing, strong values and digital innovation – Econsultancy. [online] Econsultancy. Available at:
How Lush delights customers with brand marketing, strong values and digital innovation[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Gilliland, N. (2018). How Lush is raising the bar for in-store experience – Econsultancy. [online] Econsultancy. Available at:
How Lush is raising the bar for in-store experience[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Globaldata.com. (2017). The UK Health & Beauty Market 2017-2022 – GlobalData Report Store. [online] Available at: https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/vr0126sr–the-uk-health-beauty-market-2017-2022/?utm_source=mediacenter&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=171102a_gd_cm_pr_UK_Health_Beauty&utm_nooveride=1 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Glorney, O. (2018). Lush launches own point of sale system in flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.
[online]
Lush Beta. Available at: https://beta.lush.com/en/article/lush-launches-own-point-of-sale-system-in-flagship-store [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Halliday, S. (2018). Lush has strong 2017 but slower growth will dent 2018 profits. [online] FashionNetwork.com. Available at: https://uk.fashionnetwork.com/news/Lush-has-strong-2017-but-slower-growth-will-dent-2018-profits,965926.html#.XDtkws_7TOR [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Jamela Zarha. (n.d.). Why Are LUSH Employees So Aggressive!? – Jamela Zarha. [online] Available at: https://www.highhowareyou.com/lush-employees-aggressive/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Liffreing, I. (2018). Why Lush features men and women alike in its marketing – Digiday. [online] Digiday. Available at: https://digiday.com/marketing/lush-features-men-women-alike-marketing/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Localdatacompany.com. (2017). Retail chain store closures fall to 14 stores a day- the lowest level since 2010, say PwC and The Local Data Company. [online] Available at: https://www.localdatacompany.com/blog/retail-chain-store-closures-fall-to-14-stores-a-day-the-lowest-level-since-2010-say-pwc-and-the-local-data-company [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
LUSH instore interaction. (2017).
[image]
Available at: https://www.insider-trends.com/inside-retail-strategy-lush/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Mordorintelligence.com. (2018). Cosmetics Products Market Share, Growth | Forecasts (2018 – 23).
[online]
Available at: https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-cosmetics-products-market-industry [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Morris, J. (2018). Lush made up after posting record results. [online] Insider Media Ltd. Available at: https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/southwest/Lush-hails-record-turnover [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Pitney Bowes (2018). The 2018 Pitney Bowes E-Commerce Report feat. Lila Snyder. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvfjpobkrmM [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
RSI:Retail of cosmetic and toilet articles. (2018). [image] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/timeseries/jo5m/drsi [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Silvestro, R. and Cross, S. (2000). Applying the service profit chain in a retail environment. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11(3), pp.244-268.
Statista. (2018). Cosmetics: Market value 2009-2017 | UK statistic. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/289762/market-value-of-cosmetics-in-great-britain/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
ThoughtShift. (2018). Beauty, Skincare and Cosmetics Retail Trends and Statistics By Tim Bogan@ThoughtShiftUK.
[online]
Available at:
Beauty, Skincare and Cosmetics Retail Trends and Statistics[Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
TrendWatching. (2017). The Future of Customer Experience. [online] Available at: https://trendwatching.com/quarterly/2017-06/the-future-of-customer-experience/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Trotter, C. (2017). 30 things you didn’t know about Lush Cosmetics – Insider Trends. [online] Insider Trends. Available at: https://www.insider-trends.com/30-things-you-didnt-know-about-lush-cosmetics/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Trotter, C. (2017). What can you learn from Lush’s retail strategy? – Insider Trends. [online] Insider Trends. Available at: https://www.insider-trends.com/inside-retail-strategy-lush/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
UK Retail Stats & Facts. (2018). [image] Available at: https://www.retaileconomics.co.uk/library-retail-stats-and-facts [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Warc.com. (2016). Lush spends zero on advertising | WARC. [online] Available at: https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/lush_spends_zero_on_advertising/37343 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2019].
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Yin's 