In recent decades, a new pattern has emerged in the luxury retail industry: in late December, many of the world’s most valuable brands will unveil exclusive product lines covered in Chinese cultural symbols, one of the dozen zodiac signs, the color red, or all above.
Marketing for this Lunar New Year, which falls on Friday, is no different.
Nike, for example, has remixed its high-top sneakers with images of popping fireworks and artisan Chinese buttons. Apple offered limited edition AirPods Pros with ox emojis on the cases. Swiss boutique Vacheron Constantin, meanwhile, dropped $ 130,000 watches with high-relief engravings of the animal.
Compared to those of recent holidays, the Capsule collections of the Year of the Oxen have not drawn as much ridicule or boycotts from Asian consumers. But the commercialization of the Lunar New Year still raises long-standing questions within the Asian diaspora about the co-opting and laundering of ethnic traditions – and whether mainstream recognition can bring about meaningful social change.
The commodification of the Lunar New Year – also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival – by Western brands began in the early 1990s, as China grew into an economic powerhouse with an emerging middle class that saw wealth as a status symbol, said Min Zhou, director. from the Asia Pacific Center at UCLA.
“It is part of broader trends of consumerism, commercialization and globalization” that were unfolding at the time and were not “unique to the Chinese or Chinese New Year,” she said, noting the transformation of other major cultural holidays, such as Christmas. and Thanksgiving, in bonanzas shopping.
Today, China is the main market for high-end Western retailers. In 2018, Chinese shoppers bought a third of the world’s luxury goods, and the country is on track to become the world’s largest apparel market by the end of the decade. Spending increases during the Lunar New Year: Consumers spent $ 149 billion during the week-long hiatus in 2019, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. In the US and UK, releases of luxury products during the Lunar New Year are up 75 percent between 2019 and 2020, according to retail market information platform Edited.
The aggressive courtship of Chinese shoppers by US retailers may disrupt the way non-Asians view Asian Americans by reinforcing the minority model myth, said Chiou-Ling Yeh, author of “Making an American Festival: Chinese New Year in San Chinatown. Francisco “.
The marketing and advertising of luxury brands “often brings Chinese buyers together with Chinese Americans and Asian Americans,” she said, adding that it also reinforces the stereotype that all Asians are successful, wealthy and materialistic.
Yeh said the purchasing power of China’s middle class does not accurately reflect the financial status of Asians abroad. And the China-centric aesthetic of the Lunar New Year collections – zodiac animals as a main design motif, Chinese celebrities as leads in ads – overlook the many other ethnic groups that celebrate the holiday, both in Asia and the US, including Singaporeans, Vietnamese and Koreans.
The misconceptions, she said, could be particularly damaging when anti-Asian hate crimes soar and Asian Americans experience some of the biggest job losses among all racial groups.
When big brands monetize ethnic traditions, they run the risk of misinterpreting or flattening the cultural practices that discern the events and resonate emotionally, said historian Jack Tchen, a co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in America. While gift-exchanging is a cherished ritual for the Lunar New Year, an ever-expanding pool of luxury capsule collections can tarnish the purpose of the holiday – which has little to do with buying coveted clothing and jewelry.
“The tragedy would be if the goods became the substitute for the actual experience of what the Lunar New Year is about, which is the gathering of family and friends, eating together and considering ancestors,” he said. “It’s a time when people can really relax no matter how much they work or how little money they have.”
Should commercial culture catch up to these “deep traditions,” he said, the groundbreaking Asian festival could come to resemble Christmas: a holiday so thoroughly commercialized that its original religious significance is now largely lost to the masses.
In recent decades, government agencies have made greater efforts to honor the opportunity in culturally sensitive ways. Since 1992, the US Postal Service has commissioned three 12-year Lunar New Year stamp series, featuring artwork by Asian American illustrators. The New Year of the Ox Stamp pays homage to the whimsical masks used in traditional dragon and lion dances.
But as awareness of the event grows among non-Asians, it has in some ways become ironically more difficult for Asian Americans to observe certain traditions. Chinese New Year, unlike Thanksgiving or Christmas, is not a federal holiday, making it difficult for many families to get together and celebrate. (Recently, a handful of public school districts in the US have agreed to give students a day off.)
In addition, Zhou said, intense pressures to assimilate into American culture have caused younger Asian Americans to lose touch with some age-old customs, such as worshiping the kitchen gods and composing spring festival verses.
“Family ties are often disrupted by immigration, and the second generation is slowly forgetting these traditional holidays in their parents’ home countries,” she said. “So the rituals they pick up, like red envelopes, lantern festivals, and lion dances, are more symbolic.”
But there are also benefits to the Lunar New Year commodification, Zhou said. It has boosted mainstream Asian representation and general awareness of Asian culture, while prompting companies to re-examine their prejudices. Online backlash against racist and insensitive Lunar New Year collections, for example, has forced some companies to withdraw campaigns. On the other hand, commercials that emphasize storytelling over product promotion – like Nike’s critically acclaimed 2020 ad featuring the red envelope tug-of-war between family members – can enrich the audience’s understanding of time-honored traditions.
Since last summer’s protests against racial justice, companies benefiting from ethnic cultures have been increasingly pressured to invest more proactively in those communities by partnering with local groups, sponsoring cultural events and hiring a more diverse workforce.
While the coronavirus pandemic is forcing Asian-American communities to cancel parades, dances and large family reunions for a second year in a row, grassroots groups across the country have come up with thoughtful merchandise and virtual events to raise awareness about the rituals of the lunar new year and to support struggling businesses.
The Asian American Arts Alliance created a series of interactive digital projects to explore the customs and mythology of the Lunar New Year, including a red envelope exchange program and a recipe for tikoy, a steamed rice cake made during Chinese Filipino celebrations. Pearl River Mart, a Chinese-American specialty goods brand founded in 1971, has curated gift boxes with an assortment of items such as noise makers to ward off evil spirits and almanacs with household tips and health remedies.
Joanne Kwong, the president of Pearl River Mart, said she welcomes the attention Western brands have paid to the Lunar New Year as it fosters Asian American representation in advertising and pop culture. But, she said, it’s up to Asian businesses and organizations to educate the community about the essence and history behind the holiday.
“For Asian children of the second or third generation, it becomes more vague what the traditions are and how to celebrate what everything means,” she said. “We see it as our job to keep these traditions alive.”