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Asian Journal of Communication
ISSN: 0129-2986 (Print) 1742-0911 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rajc20
The Politics of Goods: A Case Study of
Consumer Nationalism and Media Discourse in
Contemporary China
Jian Wang
To cite this article: Jian Wang (2006) The Politics of Goods: A Case Study of Consumer
Nationalism and Media Discourse in Contemporary China, Asian Journal of Communication, 16:02,
187-206, DOI: 10.1080/01292980600638710
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01292980600638710
Published online: 15 Aug 2006.
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The Politics of Goods: A Case Study of
Consumer Nationalism and Media
Discourse in Contemporary China
Jian Wang
This study advances the concept of consumer nationalism in the international
marketplace. It examines the complex role of the media in its formation and expressive
practices through a case study of an incident involving Toshiba Corporation in China.
The concept rests upon three key arguments of self-definition through consumption,
globalization, and symbolic national unification. In their encounter with the global
brand Toshiba, the Chinese media and consumers re-discovered and evoked a strong
nationalistic sentiment underlined by Japan’s past aggression and atrocities in China.
The media discourse of national pride and dignity in the case study represents the
complex confluence of China’s continuing ambivalence towards Japan, sponsor activities
by key advocacy groups, and the changing Chinese media practices. Further research is
called for to consider the concept of consumer nationalism, its processes, participants, and
consequences.
Keywords: Consumption; Nationalism; Media; China
In 1999, the global electronics giant Toshiba Corporation reached an unprecedented
out-of-court settlement of $1.05 billion in a class-action lawsuit in the US concerning
potentially faulty floppy disk drives in its laptop computers. To Toshiba’s great
dismay, more than six months later, the US settlement backfired in China. It angered
Chinese consumers, who accused Toshiba of downright discrimination, as the
settlement only applied to the US market while the same laptops had also been sold in
mainland China. For awhile, Chinese national pride and dignity permeated the media
and public discourse surrounding Toshiba; and the settlement story transpired and
turned into an ‘incident’ ( ).
Correspondence to: Jian Wang, Department of Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906,
USA. Tel.: '/1 765 494 3325; Email: jianwang@cla.purdue.edu
Asian Journal of Communication
Vol. 16, No. 2, June 2006, pp. 187Á/206
ISSN 0129-2986 (print)/ISSN 1742-0911 (online) # 2006 AMIC/SCI-NTU
DOI: 10.1080/01292980600638710
If nationalism is, in essence, a consciousness and an expression of belonging to a
nation, the Toshiba incident is an illustrative example of how nationalism is also
casting a shadow on economic life and consumer behavior in the process of
globalization. While the world’s economy is increasingly integrated and borderless,
other divisions and especially symbolic boundaries are growing more visible and
prominent (e.g. Barber, 1996). One such symbolism is consumer nationalism.
Linking nationality to commodities, this particular type of nationalism refers to
consumers’ invocation of their collective identities based on their nationality to
accept or reject products perceived of certain other countries. Such sentiments and
behavior are usually not state-sponsored in the form of deliberate government
policies, but rather manifest themselves by means of consumer grassroots movements
and voluntary participation. In its milder form, it is embodied in ‘Buy Domestic’
campaigns; and of its most extreme through product boycotts and consumer
militancy against ‘foreign’ products. Most of these activities are short-lived because of
the lack of consumer commitment for a variety of reasons (Friedman, 1999).
However, this should not discount the communicative value and symbolic
significance of these events in defining and reaffirming one’s national identity. In
other words, their significance reaches far beyond the economic impact they might
have engendered.
The mainstream view of nation and nationalism has focused on the nation as a
polity and nationalism as a political ideology (e.g. Breuilly, 1982; Hobsbawm, 1990).
In consumer nationalism, national identity is awakened and expressed in consumers’
encounter with products and brands. It reflects national spirit in the cultural realm of
consumption. Despite the political, economic, and cultural importance of such
expressions, consumer nationalism remains little understood and inadequately
studied.
Two basic conditions are needed for any consumer nationalism event to occur*/a
consumer base with strong nationalistic inclinations and corporate concerns with
highly visible national association. Consumers’ nationalistic advocacy is often
triggered by ‘focusing events’ (Birkland, 1997)*/events that garner public attention
and mobilize communities of interest to act and express. The development of a
focusing event in the public spotlight is facilitated by the creation and circulation of
cultural signifiers such as symbols and narratives (Duara, 1996, p. 44); and one of the
prime purveyors of such signifiers is the communication media.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, at a broader level, we seek to advance
the concept of consumer nationalism, its theoretical premises and manifestations. It
is our intent to generate interest in exploring and investigating this important
phenomenon in the international marketplace. However, the making of a consumer
nationalism event is multifaceted, and involves an interactive set of institutions,
discourses, and participants (Gerth, 2003, p. 6). To fully explore the dynamic
interplay requires cross-level analysis. Our attempt in this study is much more
modest. So, our second objective is to use the Toshiba incident as a case in point to
examine one particular aspect of consumer nationalism*/its intersection with the
188 J. Wang
media*/and to highlight the complex role of the media in its formation and
expressive practices in contemporary China. Although some media have established a
global presence (e.g. CNN, MTV), much of the media landscape around the world
remains primarily local. In this case, the Chinese media represent the site where the
discourse of national identity is expressed, contested, and negotiated.
China has undergone dramatic transformation since the launch of economic
reforms in the late 1970s. For multinational corporations such as Toshiba, China is
not only their manufacturing workshop but a coveted consumer market as well. Such
remarkable developments are also taking place in its social and cultural realm. The
Chinese media, one of the last bastions of rigid government control, has slowly but
surely embarked on its own transformation (Huang, 2003; Lynch, 1999; Zhao, 2000).
A far cry from the staid, conservative party press of yesteryear, facing increasing
market pressure, today’s oft-aggressive and variegated Chinese press (including the
Internet news sites) dares to spark debate on a variety of business and social issues. In
this respect, the contemporary Chinese media are no longer just party propaganda
tools, but forums for public discourse, both shaping and crystallizing issues and
contention, while reflecting public sentiments and opinion.
To address the goals of this study, we commence with the concept of consumer
nationalism. We will cast the discussion in the broader theoretical context by arguing
that an essential part of modern consumption is the reproduction of social and
cultural identity and that, in relation to globalism, nationalism is a core social
identity in contemporary times. Before delving into the Toshiba case, we will describe
the media discourse framework developed by Gamson and Modigliani (1989) for
insights into the dynamics among media, advocacy groups, and public opinion in the
formation and expression of ‘issue cultures’ and, in this particular case, consumer
nationalism. Next, we will examine how consumer nationalism was represented and
revealed in the Chinese media through the Toshiba’s case study, and explore why the
Chinese media and the larger public discourse framed the controversy as such.
Finally, we will discuss the significance of expressions of (Chinese) consumer
nationalism in the larger social context.
The Concept of ‘Consumer Nationalism’
Defining Consumer Nationalism
Consumer nationalism refers to the invocation of individuals’ collective national
identities in the process of consumption to favor or reject products from other
countries. Product nationality thus becomes the central, organizing meaning of a
commodity; and consumers are in fact ‘citizen-consumers’. Here, consumption is
both literal and figurative. It includes consumption of material goods as well as
narratives and communication about products and brands.
It is important to point out that the concept of consumer nationalism should not
be confused with the notion of product country-of-origin (COO) effects on
Asian Journal of Communication 189
consumer behavior (e.g. Bilkey & Nes, 1982; Papadopoulos & Heslop, 1993; Samiee,
1994). COO is concerned with product nationality only in the sense of consumers’
perception of product attributes associated with certain countries (e.g. German
engineering). COO effects on consumer choice are generally not an expression of
consumers’ national identity, allegiance or dissociation.1
Theoretical Premises
The construct of ‘consumer nationalism’ rests on three theoretical premises. First,
consumption fulfills one’s vital needs of self-definition (Douglas & Isherwood, 1996;
Lury, 1996). Mundane as they are, consumer goods are powerfully communicative. As
part of our possessions, material objects are our ‘extended selves’, shaping and
reflecting our identities (Belk, 1988). Goods are carriers of meaning; and yet the
meaning is not intrinsic in them. Consumption is the process by which these
meanings are created, communicated, and circulated. One such social identity
embodied through the process of consumption is one’s national identity. Campaigns
for or against products based on their nationality are a potent expression of political
and cultural solidarity, and serve as a strong affirmation of one’s own national
identity.
Second, nationalism is part and parcel of the globalization process. As a relational
concept, national identity is meaningful in the context of internationalization or
globalization. With increasing market liberalization, rapid technological advances,
and extensive development of communication infrastructure, the world of business is
truly becoming more connected and integrated (e.g. A.T. Kearny/Foreign Policy’s
Globalization Index, 2004). Or, as Ghemawat (2003) observed, market integration has
reached an in-between stage of ‘semi-globalization’. The contemporary movement
toward economic and cultural globalization is characterized by the concomitant
centripetal and centrifugal forces (e.g. Friedman, 1990; Giddens 1990; Robertson,
1995). Nationalism seeks the well-being and betterment of the nation-state by placing
one nation’s interest and welfare over that of another. By definition, it runs counter to
the central tenet of globalization and hence often disrupts the globalization
movement. But, as Eley and Suny (1996, p. 32) stated, ‘being national is the
condition of our time’, and is one of the core features of human association in the
contemporary world.
Third, nationalism is symbolic and cultural as well as territorial and political. The
discourse of nationalism and nationality encompasses many forms and assumptions
(e.g. Goodman, 1996; Wiley, 2004). As Smith (2001, p. 26) explained, territorial unity
becomes only ‘the first step to the much more important kind of social and cultural
unification of the members of the nation’. Calhoun (1997, pp. 2Á/3) saw the
significance of nationalism not merely in conflict situations, but it is ‘basic to
collective identity . . . Indeed, nationalism is not only a matter of politics, but of
cultural and personal identity’. Thus, nationalism can be examined along the lines of
politics, economy, culture, and communication.
190 J. Wang
Consumer nationalism is not unique to any specific country; yet its sources and
manifestations may vary. The global spread of consumer culture is uniting the world
around common identities as consumers. But in the meantime, nationalistic
consciousness is also awakened in the very same process. Consumers project national
identity onto the products/services they choose or choose not to consume. In this
respect, nationalism becomes symbolic, communicative, and deeply personal.
Chinese Consumer Nationalism
The pursuit of nationalism encompasses various goals, including national unity,
autonomy and identity (Smith, 2001). In China, for instance, rising nationalism in
the last decade came on the heels of its remarkable social and economic development
and the ensuing new challenges it faced (Gries, 2004; He & Guo, 2000; Zhao, 1997,
2002). The substance of Chinese nationalism is varied, ranging from the enduring
national sovereignty issues (e.g. the recovery of Hong Kong and Macau), national
pride and dignity, to moral order and the preservation of traditional values (Zheng,
1999, pp. 14Á/15). They may not be all present in any one nationalistic project. The
focal point in this study is the (re)-discovery of national dignity.2
As Gerth (2003) has aptly argued, nationalism and consumer culture in China are
parallel social forces that mutually define each other; and consumerism has played a
critical role in China’s nation-making. The many national goods movements and
Chinese boycotts of ‘foreign’ products ( ) throughout the first part of the 20th
century were common outlets for nationalistic expressions (p. 125). National
advocacy was vividly represented through various communications media, from
newspaper coverage and advertisements, to product exhibitions and store displays.
With the remarkable economic development over the last two decades, a consumer
revolution is taking place in China (Davis, 2000; Li, 1998). The long-held view of
China being the perpetual market of tomorrow has finally come true. The
accelerating influx of ‘foreign’ products and brands into China has resulted in
Chinese consumers’ growing encounter with them in their everyday life. Commodities
and consumption become an important platform for self-expression. During the
protest in the aftermath of the US bombing of the Chinese embassy building in
Belgrade in 1999, calls for boycotting American products to ‘cleanse national
humiliation’ ( ) were abound. Here is an excerpt of a poem that best captures
such sentiments that weave together consumption and nationalism (in Gries, 2004,
p. 103):
When we are wearing Pierre Cardin and Nike . . .
When we are driving Cadillacs, Lincolns, and going to KFC
and McDonald’s . . .
Do we have a clear conscience?
No!!!
Asian Journal of Communication 191
Media Discourse
As pointed out earlier, in consumer nationalism situations, a triggering event links a
nationalistic consumer base with an international corporate concern. Typical
‘focusing events’ are conflicts in international political and economic relations. The
question becomes how the event develops its focal power to mobilize consumers to
express their national identity through their consumption choice. Many players are
involved in the process, such as consumers, international corporations, merchants,
advocacy groups, government, and the news media. Media discourse is a central point
of concern, for it helps to shape the event and competes for public attention
(Hilgartner & Bosk, 1988); and its construction is a tangled and often times
contentious process.
Media framing entails ‘selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues,
and making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation,
evaluation, and/or solution’ (Entman, 2003, p. 417). Or, as Gamson and Modigliani
(1987) have simply put it, framing is a ‘central organizing idea or story line that
provides meaning’ (p. 143). At issue is how and why certain issue frames are picked
among all the ‘sizing choices’ (Entman, 1991). Gamson and Modigliani’s (1989)
media discourse framework is most instructive, as they argued that media discourse is
‘the outcome of a value-added process’ and is defined by the dynamics among
cultural resonances, sponsor activities, and media practices. Cultural resonance refers
to the degree of resonance any interpretative package in the media discourse has with
the larger society. Sponsor activities are strategies and programs by agents advocating
agendas on behalf of various interest groups. Media practices are journalistic norms
and practices that impact the media discourse.
Along similar lines, in his studies of the intersection between media discourse and
public opinion in political communication, Manheim (1994) formulated a model of
‘agenda dynamics’ by arguing that persuasive political communication takes place
within ‘a comprehensive system of interactive agendas’ (p. 150). The major agendas
include the public, policymakers, and the media. The agenda dynamics framework
takes into account not only the internal complexity within each of the agendas but
also the interactive dynamic between the agendas. In our case study, we will extend
the media discourse perspective to the examination of the consumer nationalism
event involving Toshiba and its representation in the Chinese media.
The Case Study
Case Background
The Toshiba case began in early 1999 when two Toshiba notebook owners filed a
class-action lawsuit in the federal court in the state of Texas in the US, alleging that
Toshiba knowingly sold its notebooks with defective floppy disk controllers. By then,
Toshiba had sold 5.5 million notebooks in the US (and about 200,000 in China).
Although there didn’t seem to be any quality or technical problems in its notebook
192 J. Wang
PCs, on 29 October 1999, Toshiba announced to settle the lawsuit out of court for a
total sum of $1.05 billion in compensation without admitting any liability.3
The news about the Toshiba settlement was immediately reported by the Xinhua
News Agency in China, one of Toshiba’s fastest-growing overseas markets (about 8%
of Toshiba’s global market share at the time), and the story didn’t raise any eyebrows.
However, more than six months later, the story re-emerged in the Chinese media on 8
May 2000 when 21 DNN, a then newly-launched Beijing-based Internet news Web
site, published a story on the Toshiba settlement. This time it quickly caught on fire.
As the Chinese media and consumers discovered that the settlement didn’t apply to
the Chinese market, public discontent grew into an uproar.
Focus of This Study
To understand how the Chinese media represented the incident, we examined the
themes (or ‘interpretative packages’) during the height of the story from 15 May to 31
May 2000. This study investigates two research questions: (1) what are the recurring
themes in the media coverage of the Toshiba case, and (2) what was their path of
development in the coverage?
The controversy broke out when on 15 May the China Youth Daily published a
story with a provocative headline: ‘Differences in legal systems or outright
discrimination: why Toshiba compensated Americans, not Chinese’. The ensuing
two weeks were certainly not normal days for Toshiba in China; they were ‘critical
discourse moments’ (Chilton, 1987), where the tension and emotion highlighted in
the case became most poignant. The story dropped out of coverage shortly thereafter.
Despite its short news-cycle, as will be discussed later, the coverage manifested the
critical and complex role the Chinese media played in developing the Toshiba
settlement story into an incident of consumer nationalism.
We studied 56 related items (mostly news stories and some letters to the editor)
from the online news catalog of the People’s Net (www.people.com.cn), the Web
platform for the newspaper People’s Daily (daily circulation 1.7 million) (China
Journalism Yearbook, 2003). We included letters to the editor, because we believe that
they are part and parcel of the information environment for the coverage. The unit of
analysis is each individual item. Although not as popular as news portals such as Sina
and Yahoo, the People’s Net is viewed by Chinese Internet users as more credible than
the more popular news portals (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2003). On the
Toshiba story, the People’s Net has amassed a series of related stories from general
interest media, business press, special interest media, various regional newspapers,
and online news sites.4
This doesn’t mean that the news catalog is complete or most
representative of all the coverage out there, but for the purpose of this case study it
does give us a good indication of the range of issues surfaced during the controversy.
Our analysis of the ‘interpretative packages’ began with an examination of a
randomly selected sub-sample representing 25% from the story catalog. The selected
items were scanned in their entirety to identify salient themes (i.e. issues that form
Asian Journal of Communication 193
the prevalent part of the item), as embodied by keywords, depictions, metaphors, and
catchphrases (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989, p. 3). This allowed us to uncover and
reveal the themes and threads based on the information rather than imposing an
external framework on the narratives (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). We categorized them
into common themes through an iterative process to best capture the main
‘interpretative packages’. Based on this initial analysis, we developed a coding scheme
of the theme categories (see Figure 1).
We then employed a combination of systematic counting of content categories
based on the coding scheme and interpretative analysis. For each item, we identified
themes suggesting what is at issue and theme salience. Theme salience refers to the
degree of prominence of a theme pertinent to the story/item. Mean scores were
calculated based on the presence or absence of the themes in headline and/or body
copy. If the theme was present in both headline and body copy, it had the highest
degree of exposure (code 3), followed by headline only (code 2) and body copy only
(code 1). If the theme was not mentioned in either headline or body copy, it didn’t
have any exposure (code 0). A sub-sample of randomly selected items (25% of the
entire sample) was coded by two independent coders, and the inter-coder agreement
is 86%.
In addition, we also noted types of media vehicles the story/item appeared in (i.e.
national vs. regional, general interest vs. specialized media), and types of spokespersons
used in the story (i.e. interviewed or quoted in the item).
Interpreting the Toshiba Settlement
We identified three prevalent themes in defining the nature of the incident: is
Toshiba’s settlement policy an act of discrimination against Chinese consumers, a
violation of Chinese consumer rights, or a result of differences in market
Statements about Toshiba failing to
adequately inform Chinese
consumers about the potential defect
and the settlement arrangement.
References to Toshiba only making
the announcement on its global Web
site in English, not in Chinese
Focuses on how Chinese consumers’
right-to-know about products and
services (in this case potentially
faulty products) weren’t respected
by Toshiba
Toshiba settlement as an act of
consumer rights violation
Statements that highlighted the
unique legal context in the U.S. that
led to the settlement deal
References about Toshiba’s U.S.
settlement policy not even
applicable in its home market Japan
Explains that Toshiba’s U.S.
settlement and its policy for
consumers outside the U.S. was an
outcome of market differences.
Toshiba settlement as an outcome of
different market conditions
References about Chinese
consumers being regarded by
Toshiba as “second-class” and
receiving “unfair treatment”
Statements that accuse Toshiba of
looking down upon Chinese vis-avis
American consumers
Asserts that a clear distinction made
by Toshiba based on consumers’
nationality (e.g., Chinese vs.
American) in handling the allegation
and that Chinese consumers were
discriminated against
Toshiba settlement as discrimination
against Chinese consumers
ExamplesDefinitionTheme category
Figure 1 Coding Scheme for Theme Analysis.
194 J. Wang
environment? The discrimination theme posits that Toshiba made a clear distinction
based on consumers’ nationality in handling the alleged selling of potentially faulty
products. As some of the coverage claimed, Chinese consumers were regarded by
Toshiba as ‘second-class’ consumers and thus received unfair treatment. They accused
Toshiba of looking down upon Chinese vis-a`-vis American consumers.
The competing media frame argued that Toshiba’s US settlement and its policy for
consumers outside the US (including its home market Japan) was an outcome of
market differences. It highlighted the unique legal context in the US that led to the
settlement deal, and disputed the overtly nationalistic reaction to the settlement.
The ‘consumer rights violation’ frame represents the middle-of-the-road position.
Instead of accusing Toshiba of willful discriminatory practices, the discussion focused
on the more general notion of how Chinese consumers’ right-to-know about
products and services weren’t respected by Toshiba in this case. For instance, it was
pointed out that Toshiba didn’t inform Chinese consumers about the potential defect
and the settlement arrangement, because the company only made the announcement
on its global Web site in English, not in Chinese.
The media discourse was clearly anchored around national pride and humiliation,
and specifically Toshiba’s alleged discrimination against Chinese consumers. The
most salient of the three themes during the study period is the ‘discrimination’
package (M0/0.64), followed by the ‘consumer violation’ package (M0/0.43) and the
‘market difference’ package (M0/0.41) (see Figure 2).
The central indicators of consumer nationalism in this case are references that
place product nationality and consumer nationality as the most important meaning
of the commodity and the merchantÁ/consumer relationship, and that Chinese
consumers were discriminated against by Toshiba. Throughout the press coverage of
the Toshiba incident, national identity of the company and consumers of its products
was front and center. Toshiba was not viewed as a global/borderless company but a
distinctly Japanese company; consumers in China were not merely Toshiba
consumers but distinctly Chinese. Key words and phrases, such as ‘discrimination’
Mean scores
Time periods
Themes
Average mean
5/15-5/22 5/23-5/24 5/25-5/31
Toshiba settlement as
discrimination against
Chinese consumers
Toshiba settlement as an
outcome of different
market conditions
Toshiba settlement as an
act of consumer rights
violation
1.07 0.36 0.57
0.67 0.07 0.43
0.13 0.43 0.59
0.64
0.41
0.43
(N=15) (N= 14) (N=27)
Figure 2 Thematic Development in the Toshiba Coverage.
Asian Journal of Communication 195
( ), ‘looking down upon’ ( ), and ‘hurting Chinese people’s feelings’
( ), were frequently used. In a report in The Internet Weekly (16
May 2000), the war metaphor between Toshiba and Chinese consumers was evoked,
reminding readers of Japan’s past aggressions and atrocities in China. Some computer
retailers refused to sell Toshiba notebooks as a gesture to boycott the company and to
show solidarity against continuing Japanese humiliation of China as perceived in the
settlement (The Science Daily, 24 May 2000). In a letter to the editor on the People’s
Net (24 May 2000), a reader wrote that Toshiba’s argument that current Chinese law
didn’t necessitate such a settlement ‘is a direct insult to the Chinese people, and it
scorns the Chinese people; no Chinese should tolerate such an action’.
The prevalence of a certain theme is often dependent on the development of the
events. As Gamson and Modigliani (1989, p. 2) pointed out, interpretative packages
‘ebb and flow in prominence and are constantly revised and updated to accommodate
new events’. Similarly, Entman (2003, p. 418) stated, ‘The framing of a given actor,
issue, or event during a defined time period can be arrayed along a continuum from
total dominance by one frame to a completely even-handed standoff between
competing frames’.
In the Toshiba incident, we also observed dominant themes in flux as events
unfolded. We divided the coverage period into three sub-periods (i.e. 15Á/22 May,
23Á/24 May, and 25Á/31 May) based on three ‘milestone’ events. It was the publication
of the widely talked about article in the China Youth Daily (‘Downright discrimination
or market differences . . . ?’) on 15 May that set off the controversy in the media
spotlight. While the Chinese media and consumers demanded an explanation from
Toshiba, Toshiba’s corporate communication team in China initially only repeated
the official line on the US settlement and failed to provide further explanation
without any directive from its headquarters in Japan. As the outburst of anger grew
stronger, on 22 May, Toshiba’s Vice President Masaichi Koga flew to Beijing for
damage control (e.g. holding a press conference, giving media interviews, and
meeting with Chinese government representatives). Two days later (24 May), the
Chinese Consumers Association (CCA) invited a group of experts from legal,
business, and IT sectors for an open forum to discuss the case.
As Figure 2 shows, the discrimination theme started off strong (M0/1.07), but
tapered off after Masaichi Koga’s news conference (M0/0.36). The contesting theme
of market difference followed a similar trajectory of the discrimination theme, but
with an overall lower prominence than the discrimination package. Over the two
weeks’ period, we see the rise of the consumer rights violation theme, especially after
the CCA-sponsored forum (M0/0.59). In China’s state bureaucracy, CCA, the
national consumer advocacy group, is a quasi-government agency, given the charge to
advocate consumer rights protection and monitor consumer rights violation. By
intervening in the Toshiba case through hosting a forum, CCA came forward and
stated its position. Subsequently, there was wide press coverage of the forum, and
a different consensus from the media coverage seemed to have emerged, stating
that Toshiba violated Chinese consumers’ right-to-know, rather than downright
196 J. Wang
discrimination. In short, while during the initial period of 15Á/22 May, the
discrimination package clearly dominated the coverage, as the story developed, the
coverage was shared by three main themes, with the consumer rights violation
package, a position preferred by the Chinese government, becoming the most
prominent.
Exploring Consumer Nationalism and Media Discourse
So, why did national discrimination in the Toshiba settlement issue possess such focal
power in the Chinese media? Why, out of all its ‘sizing choices’, did the Chinese media
and consumers primarily frame it as an extension of national humiliation and pride?
What role did the Chinese media play in the dramatic unfolding of the event? And,
why was the Toshiba incident short-lived, despite the intensity and extensity of
nationalistic advocacy during the controversy? To explore these questions, we now
turn to Gamson and Modigliani’s (1989) media discourse perspective, in which they
postulated that ‘three broad classes of determinants that combine to produce
particular [issue] package careers: cultural resonances, sponsor activities, and media
practices’ (p. 5). In our case study, we argue that the media discourse on consumer
nationalism is the result of the complex confluence of China’s continuing
ambivalence towards Japan, sponsor activities by key advocacy groups, and the
changing Chinese media practices.
China’s Japan Complex
Cultural resonance refers to the potency of any interpretative package, in terms of the
degree of resonance it has with society at large. As Gamson and Modigliani (p. 5)
pointed out, ‘[r]esonances increase the appeal of a package; they make it appear
natural and familiar’. The nationalistic outcry against Toshiba in this case is indicative
of China’s profound ‘Japan Complex’.
As noted earlier, nationalism has many faces. One of its manifestations is a sense of
national pride and dignity. An elusive concept as it is, national dignity is generally
understood as the opposite of national humiliation and oppression (Smith, 2001,
p. 30). The nationalism expressed in the Toshiba case reflects deep-seated feelings and
emotions out of China’s colonial experience in the second part of the 19th century
and the first part of the 20th century, when China suffered national humiliation as it
was repeatedly defeated and occupied by Japan. The collective memory of Japanese
oppression was never too far below the surface and well alive at the turn of the
millennium.
With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, Chinese attitudes toward Japan
seem to have become more ambivalent over the last two decades. On the one hand,
Japan has been a major source of foreign investment, and Chinese consumers have
consistently given highest ratings to Japanese brands and products (The Wall Street
Journal, 7 June 2004, p. 17); but on the other hand, Japan is generally viewed by
Asian Journal of Communication 197
Chinese society as not being repentant about its colonial past. A major survey of
Chinese attitudes toward Japan in 2002 revealed that only 5.9% of the Chinese public
felt any closeness to Japan, while 43.3% held the opposite view (Jiang, 2004).
Diplomatic scuffles between the two countries are frequent and widely reported in the
Chinese media. They are primarily concerning Japanese government officials’ paying
tributes at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo where top Japanese war criminals were
buried, the revision of history textbooks on Japan’s role during WWII, and the
popular demand for an official apology for all the hardships China suffered during
the Japanese occupation.
Japanese multinationals have long been aware of Japan’s colonial past and its
lingering effect in many parts of Asia, including China. They were among the first to
enter the Chinese market when China opened its doors to foreign investment in the
late 1970s. Some Japanese companies, such as Sony, Mitsubishi, and Sanyo, began to
advertise and cultivate brand awareness well before their products were even available
in Chinese stores. The very first print ad after the Cultural Revolution (when
commercial advertising was banned) was an ad for the Japanese camera brand
Minolta. Over the years, Japanese products have won over legions of Chinese
consumers. But Chinese consumers’ flare-ups with Japanese brands due to the
colonial past have grown persistent. In 2001, more than 100 Chinese passengers
accused Japan Airlines of discriminatory treatment in its customer service (China
Business News, 20 March 2001, p. 7); and Toyota had to apologize for its Prado ads
that were criticized in the Chinese media as being offensive to Chinese national pride,
because certain lion symbols used in the ads resembled those at the opening
battleground on the outskirts of Beijing during the Japanese invasion in 1937 (The
Wall Street Journal, 21 January 2004, p. B7). Most recently, there was an Internetbased
movement to boycott Japanese products for the entire month of May 2005. The
climate of opinion toward Japan provides the macro-social environment for the
(re-)emergence of Chinese consumer nationalism. As Gamson and Modigliani (1989,
p. 6) argued, such cultural resonances ‘amplify the effect of sponsor activities and
media practices’.
The Role of Advocacy Groups
By sponsor activities, Gamson and Modigliani (1989) refer to agents who represent
certain social organizations to promote collective rather than personal agenda.
Sponsors may advocate a position on behalf of an organization; they may just
comment on an issue by playing to ‘journalists’ fancy for the apt catchphrase and
provide suitable ones to suggest the frame they want’ (p. 7).
As Figure 3 shows, a broad array of issue advocates was represented in the media
coverage during the controversy, from Toshiba executives and distributors, to experts
from various fields and consumer rights advocates. Not surprisingly, Toshiba
executives and Toshiba business partners were among the most interviewed and
198 J. Wang
quoted in the coverage. We also found that the Chinese Consumers Association and
experts in various fields (e.g. IT, law) were prominently featured.
Toshiba executives were certainly at the center of the controversy when the story
broke; however, they weren’t able to anticipate and manage the sudden public uproar.
That was clearly evident in the way the Toshiba management handled media and
consumer inquiries in the early stage. Toshiba only repeated the basic rationale
outlined in the original press release regarding the US settlement, but failed to
address the emotional concerns of Chinese consumers. When later reflecting on the
episode, Omori Keisuke, Toshiba’s Chief of Public Relations, commented that
Toshiba’s mistake was its over-confidence in letting its product quality defend the
brand and that the company didn’t make much effort to effectively manage the
symbolic realm in which its products were made and sold (Xu, 2000). When Toshiba
finally dispatched a senior executive to Beijing for a series of damage control
activities, their effort was primarily to articulate the market difference rationale in the
public debate. Notwithstanding its outreach activities and sympathetic comments by
various Chinese experts interviewed by some papers, the market difference theme was
clearly overshadowed by the discrimination and consumer rights violation discourses.
The quasi-government agency Chinese Consumers Association played a crucial
role in shaping the tone of the debate. It works closely with the state in setting its
agenda and practices, and its decisions and pronouncements often carry a strong
government ring. Although the Chinese government periodically launches patriotic
campaigns to promote cultural symbols of the Chinese nation (He & Guo, 2000,
p. 2), the state can no longer monopolize the nationalism discourse (Barme`, 1996).
This particular outburst of nationalistic advocacy was not state-sponsored but,
instead, a case of popular nationalism. The Chinese government was caught in the
middle of such ‘bottomÁ/up’ nationalistic expression. The dilemma facing the
Chinese government is well illustrated in the anti-American protests in the aftermath
Number of times interviewed/quoted
19
10
9
9
7
6
4
2
4
Toshiba executives
Toshiba business partners
Chinese Consumers Association
Experts/think tanks
Chinese lawyers
Chinese consumers
Government officials
Chinese judges
Journalists
Figure 3 Spokespersons in the Coverage.
Asian Journal of Communication 199
of the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. As Zhao (2002,
p. 102) explained, on the one hand the Chinese government encourages patriotism
( ) to hold the country together and to legitimize its control, but, on the
other, it is also concerned that popular nationalism ( ) may get out of hand
and become a mass movement that puts the government in a bind in its policy
choices and priorities. In this case, the government did try to intervene, mostly
through CCA.
CCA framed the Toshiba issue as a violation of consumer rights, specifically
consumers’ right-to-know as stipulated in the 1994 Consumer Rights Protection Law.
Coincidentally, CCA had earlier designated 2000 the year to promote transparency
and trust in consumer transaction. The Toshiba incident thus became a perfect case
in point of companies failing to play square with consumers. In an interview with the
China Youth Daily (25 May 2000), CCA’s general secretary emphasized that it was
important to explore legal implications in such a case and discouraged the overly
nationalistic sentiments expressed by some media and consumers by calling them not
conducive to resolution. CCA’s official position was echoed by various commentators
and especially those at the CAA-sponsored forum.
In short, the fact that nationalism transpired and became an issue of contention in
the Toshiba case was partly due to Toshiba’s inability to effectively manage the
original outburst. When its corporate communication went into full swing to explain
the rationale for the settlement, it was too late and did not address the core concerns
of the Chinese public. CCA, on the other hand, tried to defuse consumers’
nationalistic expressions by appropriating their sentiments for its own public policy
debate on consumer rights.
Chinese Media Practices
The active involvement of organized sponsors doesn’t imply that the media are
passive in the construction of media discourse (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989, p. 7).
With the overall systemic decentralization and the introduction of market mechanism
into the media system, the Chinese media, in Lynch’s description (1999, p. 224), have
become ‘commercialized and globalized, its sources pluralized’. For many of the
newspapers, for instance, their livelihood primarily, if not completely, depends on
advertising, subscription, and newsstand sales. Even though the state still subsidizes
media operations in myriad ways, the level of support is only partial and clearly
diminishing. Such a change has significant implications for the spirit and practice of
the Chinese press.
First, despite the party-state’s effort to maintain a solid hold on public discourse,
its hegemony is becoming ‘increasingly fragile’ (Latham, 2000, p. 635). The decline of
the ideological control is largely attributed to the fragmentation of the Chinese media
in terms of the number and types of media outlets available; and hence audience
fragmentation. This trend is now amplified by the rise of the Internet news media. We
can see in this case the strong presence of the Internet in unfolding the controversy. It
200 J. Wang
was an Internet Web site that resurrected the original Toshiba story, and the
establishment press followed suit*/another example of how the Internet media may
drive the news agenda in the mainstream media. Aside from the mainstream news
media, about one-third of the items (33%) in this case catalog came from online
media, such as Chinabye, CCIDNet, Yesky, and the Web platform of the People’s
Daily.
Second, with the market imperative introduced into the Chinese media, news
production takes on a commercial logic with the target audience at the center. The
evening papers, metro papers, and some establishment papers have ‘become
aggressive in marketing, packaging, distribution, and self promotion’ (Zhao, 2000,
p. 11). They seek controversial stories and provide social critique to satisfy their
readership, without appearing to challenge the party-state’s mandate. Latham’s
(2000) study of news production and consumption in Guangdong is quite telling of
such a trend in Chinese journalism as a whole. That is, ‘truths have become
remarkably contingent and always potentially destabilized by contending formulations,
sources and legitimations . . .’ (p. 651). It was in this journalistic context that
the Toshiba story developed and evolved; hence the presence of competing
interpretative packages in the media discourse.
Third, media fragmentation is also evident in the involvement of diverse local
media in covering this case. Clearly, the story took on a life of its own in different
parts of the country. Among the offline media, the regional press made up of more
than one-third of the related items (38%) in the sample. Furthermore, it’s important
to note that the local press in this case didn’t simply relay the coverage from the
national media; they formed their own story angles and reported on the local
implications of the story. For instance, Chengdu Business Times reported that the
local stores refused to sell Toshiba PCs in the aftermath of the incident. Shu Bao
reported on the first lawsuit filed against Toshiba on the settlement issue by a local
resident. The power of the local media was tacitly acknowledged even by Toshiba. For
instance, in a flurry of damage control activities after Toshiba’s vice president arrived
in Beijing, he granted one exclusive interview to Beijing Youth Daily, the top selling
and arguably the most influential local newspaper in the Beijing area.
Last but not least, while the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its control
over many aspects of the society, it remains dominant in determining political
ideology and public policies. The Chinese media no longer play the sole role of a
‘propaganda’ mouthpiece (Huang, 2003); however, on certain issues of critical
importance to the Chinese government, the Chinese media willingly or unwillingly
would oblige themselves to the dictates from the party.
In our case study, various interpretative packages were allowed to showcase the
contest and drama. Provocative and sensational headlines and metaphors were used
to depict Toshiba and its settlement policy. It is beyond the scope of this study to
determine to what extent such coverage is a result of media nationalism, i.e.
nationalistic inclinations of journalists and editors; but at the very least, the Chinese
media recognized the resonance of the story among the Chinese public, and
Asian Journal of Communication 201
galvanized public sentiments by helping to turn the settlement story into an incident.
When the government started to intervene through the Chinese Consumers
Association and to contain nationalistic expressions, the media also followed suit.
In sum, the media discourse of consumer nationalism in the Toshiba case was an
outgrowth of a combination of cultural resonances, sponsor activities (or lack
thereof), and contemporary Chinese media norms and practices. The Chinese
public’s anti-Japan sentiments were crystallized and expressed through the Chinese
media, which now enjoy relative autonomy in selecting and presenting news and
information to reflect the tastes and expectations of their audience. The inability of
Toshiba’s communication strategy and management further catapulted the story into
the media limelight. As the story started to transpire into an ‘incident’ ( ), the
direct actions taken by the Chinese government through CCA provided another
interpretative package into the discourse, and effectively shifted the focus of the
debate. In light of the confluence of these factors, it is no surprise that the Toshiba
settlement story developed into an incident of consumer nationalism, but never
became a movement.
Conclusion
We set out to examine the phenomenon of consumer nationalism in the global
marketplace and the vital role of the media in constructing and expressing national
identity in the process of consumption. We explored the concept through Chinese
press coverage of the Toshiba settlement. We sought to explain and understand how
and why the settlement issue was framed and communicated as an expression of one’s
national identity and pride.
As argued earlier, consumer nationalism has three key components of selfdefinition
through consumption, globalization, and symbolic national unification.
This study manifests the ongoing tension between the process of globalization and
the advocacy of nationalism, and China’s continuing ambivalence toward international
influences during its development process. The emotional power of
nationalism draws not mainly from the prowess of the nation-state but more from
the symbols in the nation’s depository of history. It is also this emotional power that
‘gives us a link with history’ (Calhoun, 1997, p. 3). Consumption becomes one of the
social processes whereby such national spirit is expressed, communicated, and made
visible.
This study also suggests that consumer nationalism events are not isolated
occurrences. Such expressions have historical precedents in China (e.g. Gerth, 2003),
and in many ways the significance transcends the immediate financial impact that
negative publicity and boycotts may bring to businesses. If anything, consumer
nationalism provides a symbolic victory to the public.
This leads to our next argument that consumer nationalism represents empowerment,
as it is another platform for the public to express and contest identity and
202 J. Wang
solidarity. This is particularly poignant in China, where public opinions on certain
issues are often contained and restricted.
To sum up, the media discourse of national pride and dignity in the settlement
incident was developed through a dynamic combination of cultural resonances,
sponsor activities, and media norms and practices. In their encounter with the global
brand Toshiba, Chinese media and consumers invoked and re-discovered a strong
nationalistic sentiment underlined by Japan’s past colonial occupation of China.
Toshiba, otherwise successful in cultivating the Chinese market, stumbled in the
spotlight of overwhelming negative publicity. Its failure to effectively address the
issues involving the differential settlement arrangements between the US and China
(and the rest of the world) fueled the rise of popular discontent. Walking a fine line
between embracing and controlling such popular nationalistic outburst, the Chinese
government through its surrogate did succeed in offering a ‘compromising’ issue
frame. Aside from China’s establishment media, the Internet media and regional press
in China played an active role in shaping the controversy as they vied for public
attention in the ever more decentralized and competitive media market in China.
This study expands the concept of nationalism to also include the realm of
consumption. It provides a deeper and fuller understanding of the multiplicity of
national identity and the complex role of the media in its formation and expression.
Whether such expressions are attributed to foreign policy, trade disputes, or history,
they are definitely fraught with political, economic, and cultural significance. There is
reason to believe that consumers will play a more active role in the global
marketplace. Further research is needed to consider the concept of consumer
nationalism, its processes, participants, and consequences. Moreover, with China
emerging as the world’s largest consumer market, it is essential that marketers
develop a better understanding of Chinese consumer behavior. In light of this case
study and other similar episodes involving multinational companies in China in
recent years (e.g. Japan Airlines, Toyota, McDonald’s), a larger question as to whether
consumer nationalism is an integral and important part of Chinese consumer
behavior awaits examination. Research in this area may call for a revision of the
traditional consumer behavior model when looking at China.5
Notes
[1] Consumer expressions of national identity can at times be mixed with those of other social
issues (e.g. labor practices, product safety).
[2] It is important to note that the term nationalism as used in the Chinese context can encompass
patriotism ( )*/often represented by government-sanctioned or -sponsored expressions
of national sentiment*/as well as popular nationalism ( ), an outgrowth of
public debate and grassroots movement. The consumer nationalism event as discussed in this
study is more of the latter kind.
[3] In its press release on 29 October 1999, Toshiba explained the two reasons for the settlement
(PR Newswire, Toshiba Corporation, 29 October 1999). First, it settled the case out of concern
for ‘a serious risk that a substantial amount of compensation could be awarded through a jury
Asian Journal of Communication 203
verdict’ based on legal precedents in the US. According to some analysts, such a scenario could
bankrupt the entire corporation. Second, Toshiba hoped to maintain its brand name through a
quick settlement. As outlined in the Toshiba decision, the settlement only applied in the US. As
for its non-US market, including its home market Japan, Toshiba would ship modified PCs
after November 1999 and make free software patches available for current users.
[4] A broad array of the Chinese press was represented in the case study. Offline media include
general interest papers (e.g. the People’s Daily, China Youth Daily), the business press (e.g.
China Business News, China Economic Times, Financial Times, and China Industrial and
Economic News), and other prominent special interests papers (e.g. China Consumers News,
Legal Daily, Science Daily, The Internet Weekly, and Computer World Daily); online media, such
as Chinabyte, Yesky, CCIDNet, and the Web platform of the People’s Daily. There was a strong
presence of the regional media in the coverage of this controversy. These regional newspapers
included Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Daily, and Beijing Morning News in the Beijing area; Shu
Bao in Southwest China; and Liaoshen Evening News in Northeast China.
[5] This particular point of the potential of the construct of Chinese consumer nationalism for the
examination of Chinese consumer behavior was suggested by one of the reviewers. This author
gratefully acknowledges the addition of this comment and observation.
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