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Lisa Kinney

Professor Doyle

CM5002 Brands and Belief

30 November 2014

Semiotic Analysis and the Japanese Consumer

“An area the size of Montana, Japan is studded with 34 Bulgari stores, 37 Chanel

stores, 115 Coach stores, 49 Gucci stores, 64 Salvatore Ferragamo boutiques, 50 Tiffany

& Co. boutiques, and 252 stores of the LVMH Group…” (Howard, 1). This statistic

calculated in 2007 by the Japan External Trade Organization is a prime representation of

the Japanese consumers’ value placed on some of the world’s most famous luxury

brands. Despite recent economic pressures over the past several years, luxury branded

goods have maintained a strong presence in Japan. Why is this? In my paper, I analyze

the concept of the luxury brand and how semiotic analysis can help us understand the

Japanese consumers’ buying decisions.

First of all, what is a brand and its key concepts? In the book, Brands, Marcel Danesi

explains that the brand is a sign. He states that it has both a denotative (identification)

and a connotative (cultural) function. Without branding, objects would be senseless.

Branding is extremely important in today’s society as products are linked to cultural

traditions, values, rituals, etc. and thus provide valuable clues as to what meanings are

important to a culture. According to Roland Barthes, “myth is the domain of stereotypes

and other means of fixing limits to representation, the act of mythologization is a

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harnessing of ideas with strong emotional appeal in a sign (or sign system) which makes

the representation credible or a seemingly normal part of everyday life” (Danesi, 24).

An article I found online, “Pursuing the Meaning of Meaning in the Commercial

World: An International Review of Marketing and Consumer Research Founded on

Semiotics” from the scholarly journal, Semiotica, goes into an in-depth analysis

regarding sign systems and meanings. What I found relevant about this reading is that it

discusses key semiotic theorists while using real life examples. Authors, Mick,

Burroughs, Hetzel, and Brannen add in other researchers’ findings as in the case of

Japanese advertising executive, Fukuda, and his adopted Barthes’ conception of myths.

He proposed a conceptual framework that focuses on sign systems that transform as a

culture moves from one era to another called the “spiral model”, which asserts that many

sign systems work in concert as they reflect the progressions and regressions of a culture

as it coils between opposite states of axial human settings and perceptions. The

advancing periods of culture are manifested in behaviors (which also serve as signs) that

emphasize materialism, outward appearance, new technology, individuality,

extravagance, and application. Alternatively, the retreating periods are manifested in

behaviors that stress spirituality, inward appearance, naturalism, socialism, reservation,

and basics. He maintained in 1994 that the 1980s were an advancing period for Japanese

culture, whereas the mid to late 1990s he forecasted, would constitute a return to a

retreating period (Mick, 50-51).

Fukuda was right in a sense. According to Ronald Jean Degen, who is working on his

Ph.D. at the International School of Management in Paris, there has been a decline of

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luxury brands sales in Japan. In his article, “The Success of Luxury Brands in Japan and

Their Uncertain Future”, he attributes it to four factors: “the financial crisis of 2007-8, the

bursting of the luxury brand bubble of the early 2000s, the rapid aging of the Japanese

population, and a possible long-term shift in consumer attitudes and behavior toward

luxury brands by the Japanese” (Degen, 7). His hypotheses all ring true, but what hasn’t

changed is that Japan still holds the prestigious title of being the world’s most

concentrated source of revenue for luxury brands with the highest per capita spending on

luxury brands in the world. According to the Japan Market Resource Network in 2007,

“luxury branded goods distinguish themselves through promises of quality,

craftsmanship, authenticity, exclusivity, and country of origin. These standards of

excellence command premium prices even when there is no apparent functional

advantage over comparable products of lower quality. But because the brand builds a

story to appeal to consumers, an emotional connection between the brand and the

consumer develops” (Howard, 2).

Andersen, Sorensen, and Danesi theorize in their article, “A Semiotic Note on

Branding”, that acceptance of a brand rests on the existence of a common discourse

between brand maker and brand users. They turn to the ideas of semiotic thinker,

Charles Peirce to get a better understanding of why a product can evoke such a strong

sense of community. As a realist, Peirce believed that “it is the idea that chooses its

advocates, not the other way around…the brand is able to evoke a sense of community

(or a community spirit) among brand users based on the shared memory with the brand”

(Andersen, 62-63). Douglas B. Holt goes on to talk about iconic brands in his book, How

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Brands Become Icons, and how consumers use them to construct their own identities.

“Acting as vessels of self-expression, the brands are imbued with stories that consumers

find valuable in constructing their identities. Consumers flock to brands that embody the

ideals they admire, brands that help them express who they want to be. The most

successful of these brands become iconic brands” (Holt, 3-4). Furthermore, these brands

carry a heavy symbolic load for their most enthusiastic consumers.

Take Louis Vuitton as an example. Luxury branded goods have evolved from status

symbols into social codes, and to the Japanese consumer, “quality is intrinsically and

emotionally connected to the overarching brand story and brand heritage which

contributes to the status and premium price” (Howard, 9). Kapferer states in his article,

“The Business Cultures of Luxury Brands”, that most office ladies carry or will carry a

Louis Vuitton handbag…here the national and cultural norm of ‘saving the face’ means

that each one should be eager to wear the item held as the symbol of good taste”

(Kapferer, 70). And according to the Japan Market Resource Network, Mr. Kyojiro Hata,

the CEO of Louis Vuitton Japan, has claimed that “44% of Japanese women own a

Vuitton bag” (Howard, 5). This figure does not include other LV accessories, which

indicates the power of the Louis Vuitton brand within the Japanese market. Finally,

Degen states in his article that “Japan is a very egalitarian society, so nobody wants to

stand out…if a particular social group carries Louis Vuitton bags, an individual that

aspires to belong to that group also has to wear one, and she will make all of the

necessary personal and financial sacrifices to acquire it” (Degen, 21).

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Bottega Veneta is another example. “When your own initials are enough” is Bottega

Veneta’s famous motto, and the company stresses the following qualities in its products:

outstanding craftsmanship, innovative design, contemporary functionality, and the

highest quality materials. The Japan Market Resource Network has found that the Italian

luxury house is gaining brand momentum in Japan. Although Bottega Veneta is one of

the most expensive brands out in the marketplace, Japanese consumers are willing to pay

premium prices for these iconic woven leather bags.

I would like to point out that the qualities the Japanese hold in high regard are not just

limited to their buying decisions. These ideas can also be applied to the acts of giving

and receiving such as in the art of packaging. “Yet, by its very perfection, this envelope,

often repeated (you can be unwrapping a package forever), postpones the discovery of the

object it contains-one which is often insignificant, for it is precisely a specialty of the

Japanese package that the triviality of the thing be disproportionate to the luxury of the

envelope…it is as if, then, the box were the object of the gift, not what it contains”

(Barthes, 45-46). This excerpt from Barthes’ book, Empire of Signs, is a classic

example of the Japanese mentality. John F. Sherry and Eduardo G. Camargo in their

article, “May Your Life Be Marvelous: English Language Labelling and the Semiotics of

Japanese Promotion”, reflect on Barthes’ description of the Japanese package and also

conclude that it is often the primary product/object, which embodies a host of meanings.

In addition, the symbolic and monetary value of the package often exceeds that of its

contents. Sherry and Camargo state that “the pressure for proper social form extends to

packaging; breaches of property in formal presentation (whether through packaging or

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other promotion) can prompt rejection of product offering. While such rejection can

occur in any culture, it is an especially likely proposition in Japan” (Sherry, 175).

And as Yuriko Saito describes in her article, “Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging”,

aesthetic considerations permeate every aspect of Japanese daily life. The concept of

space and time is incorporated into the art of the packaging; the actual packaging itself

exists in space while the experience of opening up the package involves an important

temporal dimension. “Whether it be untying the cord made of straw for stringing

together a row of fish, opening a bag of bamboo sheath wrapping sweets, peeling off

bamboo wrapping for candies, removing the lid of a can or a box of crackers, or

unwrapping the cloth covering to reveal a gift inside, itself also housed in a box, the

process of opening up a package normally involves the following sequence: receiving and

beholding the package, which invites us to open it; the act of opening, which engages our

body movement; and exposing the content, which was initially hidden entirely or in part

from our view and touch” (Saito, 257).

“Japanese believe that the feelings of respect or gratitude of either the presenter or the

seller of the package are revealed in the way in which he has wrapped it…everyone is so

sensitive to the way things that they receive are wrapped that if something is wrapped

carelessly, they feel that the giver’s intentions are not quite what they should be” (Saito,

261). Therefore, the package design functions as a vehicle of communication, which ties

back to the overall concept of meaning. It is more an unspoken language of moral virtues

such as thoughtfulness and considerateness that exemplify the Japanese way of life.

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“It seems that today’s upwardly mobile Asian consumers are different. For them it is

not the products as much as the brands that matter. It is the significance of the brand,

itself articulated in a complex web of commercial intertextuality, that becomes the main

use-value of the product: it allows a process positioning or ‘negotiation’ of the self in

relation to the shifting demands of everyday life” (Arvidsson, 4-5). I feel that this quote

from Adam Arvidsson’s book, Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture, sums up

the mentality of the Japanese consumer. Brands are inevitable; they provide a part of the

context in which products are used. The qualities of luxury products in particular

encompass Japanese ideals, and therefore looking at semiotics is beneficial in

understanding Japanese consumers’ buying decisions.

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Works Cited

Andersen, Christian, Bent Sorensen, and Marcel Danesi. “A Semiotic Note on

Branding”. Cybernetics & Human Knowing. Vol. 14, No. 4 (2008): 59-69.

Print.

Arvidsson, Adam. Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture. United Kingdom:

Routledge, 2006. Print.

Barthes, Roland. Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982. Print.

Creighton, Millie R. “Maintaining Cultural Boundaries in Retailing: How Japanese

Department Stores Domesticate Things Foreign”. Modern Asian Studies. Vol 25,

No. 4 (1991): 675-709. Print.

Danesi, Marcel. Brands. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Degen, Ronald Jean. “The Success of Luxury Brands in Japan and their Uncertain

Future”. Glob Advantage: Working Paper. No. 52 (2009): 1-36. Print.

Grinshpun, Helena. “Conceptualizing Globalization and Consumption in Japan”.

Japan Review. No. 24 (2012): 169-195. Print.

Heilbrunn, Benoit. “Brave New Brands: Cultural Branding Between Utopia and

A-topia”. Brand Culture. Ed. Schroeder, Jonathan E. and Miriam Salzer-Morling.

United Kingdom: Routledge, 2006. 103-117. Print.

Holt, Douglas B. How Brands Become Icons. Boston: Harvard Business School

Press, 2004. Print.

Howard, Debbie, Mari Nomoto, Tomomi Yamaguchi, and Carolyn Kopf. “Japan’s

Changing Consumer: Drivers of Change for Luxury Brands”. Japan Market

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Resource Network. (2007): 1-12. Print.

Kapferer, Jean-Noel. “The Two Business Cultures of Luxury Brands”. Brand Culture.

Ed. Schroeder, Jonathan E. and Miriam Salzer-Morling. United Kingdom:

Routledge, 2006. 67-76. Print.

Mick, David Glen, James E. Burroughs, Patrick Hetzel, and Mary Yoko Brannen.

“Pursuing the Meaning of Meaning in the Commercial World: An International

Review of Marketing and Consumer Research Founded on Semiotics”. Semiotica.

152-1/4 (2004). 1-74. Print.

Saito, Yuriko. “Japanese Aesthetics of Packaging”. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art

Criticism. Vol. 57, No. 2 (1999): 257-265. Print.

Sherry Jr., John F. and Eduardo G. Camargo. “May Your Life Be Marvelous: English

Language Labelling and the Semiotics of Japanese Promotion”. Journal of

Consumer Research. Vol. 14, No. 2 (1987): 174-188. Print.