ABSTRACT
Chapter Five highlighted the multiple national narratives that Chinese consumers use to imbue Western brands with local meanings. We then theorized that, imbued with these meanings, Western brands are used to realize consumers’ preferred imaginings of the future nation. From our analysis comes the realization that notions of how citizens should respond to Western brands to assert nationalism are many and competing. Further, the national government at various historical moments is revealed as engaged in rhetoric and policy making that may encourage rather than discourage consumption of foreign brands. Our understanding of how these competing cultural narratives shape individuals’ responses to Western brands remains limited. Our emphasis so far has been on the collective cultural imagination that is a source of creative material. Here we shift emphasis from macro-level negotiation of Chinese identity through Western brands to a microlevel focus on how the various narratives affect the psychological processing of Western brand promotions.
