Historic Problem or Ongoing Crisis? An Exploratory Study of Causes and Consequences of Consumer Animosity in China

This paper aims to test the consumer animosities against Japanese, American, French products amongst Urban Adult Chinese Consumers (UACC), explore causes and consequences of consumer animosity and examine the moderating effects of locations, gender, age groups and education levels. It discovered that there was strong consumer animosity towards the Japanese, however, animosity directed at Americans and the French were relative low. There are a wide range of causes of animosity, apart from previous identified factors such as Nanjing Massacre and economic concerns, this study discovered a wide range of sources including school education, media influence, Japan’s close relationship to United States and attempts to curtail China’s influence, concerns for further military clashes, Japanese government attitude towards war past, perceived consumer discrimination by Japanese companies, peer pressure etc. all contributed to UACC’s animosity towards the Japanese. The impacts of animosity on willingness to buy have 3 distinct patterns: boycott, avoid and only avoid Japanese products if better alternatives are available. Japanese animosity is stronger in Northern China. Gender and education levels have no significant moderating effects. Older generations appear to harbour stronger Japanese animosity.