The Chinese 47its advantages to themselves and their families. Companies
seen as helping them can ‘do well by doing good’.
For China’s middle class, survival and basic personal
security are pretty well given. They spend their days largely
in the middle of Maslow’s pyramid, dealing with family
and children, self-esteem and the esteem of others. This, of
course, makes them perfect targets for marketing campaigns
based on family happiness, health and closeness, as well as
on individual and social esteem. Spend any time watching
successful advertisements on Chinese television and you will
see a range of familiar images from similar advertisements
in the US: happy couples, smiling children, nice homes, or
chic youngsters with chic friends. These basic messages
reflect a similar reality: most
target consumers in China, like
most target consumers in the
US, want to feel loved, close to
their families, and respected by
themselves and their peers.
At the highest levels of Chinese
society, these values play out as
well—hence the markets for
luxury cars, nice villas, expensive
family vacations and private
schools. But the higher levels of Chinese society are also
most likely to be concerned with the self-actualisation at the
top of Maslow’s pyramid: creativity, spontaneity, knowledge
and acceptance of the world and so on. Thus in China as in
many societies, the artists, musicians and poets are most
often children of the middle-to-upper classes, as are the
scientists, entrepreneurs, government leaders and others
who lead China’s growth.
Of course, there are more complexities in the desires
and psychological or emotional drivers of Chinese people
today than the above simple overview can encompass.
Some observers have pointed out other complexities, such
as the role China’s strict criminal and security laws (for
good or bad) play in a personal sense of security for the
average Chinese, and the role changing healthcare delivery
A recent study, by advertising
giant Young & Rubicam, found
that the two core motivators for
many Chinese youth today are the
urge to live a materially better life
than their parents, and the urge
to contribute to their families and
society—a combination of goals
different in several nuances from
those that motivate the average
young American today.