Male Idols and Branding in Chinese Luxury: Fashion, Cosmetics, and Popular Culture

Challenging the Western view of idols as objects of worship, this book explores the role that male idols play in fashion and cosmetics brand marketing in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau; including the role of the female gaze. It examines idols in the more modern, pan-Asian sense of the word - as objects of social devotion, worshipped by the adoring masses and, in China and Korea, as objects of social and moral uplift. The contemporary idol wields great power - the power to influence taste, and to sell - and Male Idols and Branding in Chinese Luxury focuses on their ability to arouse the consumer appetite to buy. In China, popular culture idols play a vital role in the luxury fashion and cosmetics industries as brand ambassadors and this volume fills a critical gap in the English-language literature on this key element of the marketing industry, bringing together authors from the United States and China, and featuring case studies on idols Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan. Through considering the subtleties of branding and marketing in China, Korea, and Japan, and the relationship of Chinese idols to fans and consumers in other Asian countries, the authors delve into brand-idol collaborations, particularly through lenses of brand image and toxic fan culture.