Abstract:
This thesis provides novel understandings of how young Chinese males living in New Zealand construct idealised masculinity and interpret representations of masculinity as situated in fashion advertising, with a focus on the influence of cultural borrowing. Previous studies in the marketing literature have focused on exploring men’s notions of masculinity based on Western standards. However, masculinity is a culturally specific concept and males from different cultures construct and express masculinity differently. Furthermore, studies on men’s readings of fashion advertising content beyond the male model’s body are significantly lacking in the marketing literature. To fill these gaps, this study has applied concepts of male ideals in both Chinese and Western cultures to explore the way a group of young Chinese males perceive and interpret masculinity as visually situated in Western fashion advertisements based on a qualitative approach. This research shows that masculinity is a cultural concept consisting of ambiguities and paradoxes which have created tensions for these young Chinese males as they struggle to achieve their goals of masculinity. Although these Chinese males have retained a significant amount of Chinese cultural scripts around idealised masculinity, they have also borrowed New Zealand sociocultural norms to re-evaluate outworn beliefs in traditional Chinese culture. It is during such a process of cultural borrowing that contested ideas of male ideals have occurred and led to these Chinese males creating a hybridised masculinity. Based on the findings, this thesis has not only proposed alternative theoretical foundations for theorising Chinese masculinity that are different from those employed in previous studies but also identified the relationships between an array of masculine characteristics. Moreover, this study shows that an individual’s advertising interpretive strategies are intimately correlated with the interpretive community that they belong to, because individuals insert rich cultural knowledge, beliefs, and ideals into their interpretations of fashion advertising images. Given the contributions, this study has provided novel theoretical insights for cultural theorists and marketing researchers to further understand culturally embedded idealised masculinity. New Zealand fashion advertisers targeting the men’s fashion market could also employ these insights in their advertising stimuli to better resonate with young Chinese males.