Para-kin relationships between admirers and you may idols: a great qualitative data regarding fans’ motives for buying idol-dolls

Goal

The objective of this research is to try to take a look at just how “mommy admirers” affect the existing patterns away from parasocial relationship between admirers and idols also to acquire greater wisdom to your motivations fundamental this new acquisition of idol dolls. Likewise, by for instance the experiences and you can point of views out of men idol admirers, the study seeks to expand new understanding of enthusiast choices and you can increase comprehension of the newest reasons operating idol-doll use.

Design/methodology/method

Providing idol-doll buyers as the look stuff, this varför är Österrike kvinnor sÃ¥ heta study conducted textual study plus in-depth interviews to understand more about fans’ reasons for buying idol dolls.

Results

Idol toy purchases are driven because of the emotional attachment, eg certainly mommy admirers which attempt to expose a sense of manage and sustain a mother–child relationship. At the same time, to buy idol dolls also can serve as a good disguise to have girlfriend admirers to cover up their romantic aspirations about their idols. More over, idol dolls act as semiotic identifiers, attracting particularly-inclined fans and you can gaining neighborhood detection. It should be indexed one men idol admirers, who’re felt deviant throughout the masculine normative, face analysis from inside the feminine-dominated teams, needing then proof of credibility.

Important implications

This research produces understanding the reasons about idol-toy sales and will let marketers in the providing to the emotional requires off fans, such as for example mommy admirers, of the making and income dolls that resonate with the wished sense of attachment.

Personal effects

By the taking and you can emphasizing the good regions of fan points, this research results in the newest constant procedure of de–demonization and you will normalization out of fandom. On the other hand, this research and additionally aims so you can join an even more complete facts of your problems and you may psychological needs of your own Chinese more youthful age group.

Originality/worth

This research explores the lower than-explored mom-fan group’s psychological needs and their reasons of buying idol-dolls. Additionally, it acknowledges brand new distinctive line of perspectives and feel of men idol admirers, getting a brand new and you can unique viewpoint towards the idol-doll consumption.

step 1 Addition

” tabindex=”0″> based on celebrities’ appearance was in fact sold because the an alternative mode having Chinese fans to generally share their solid love due to their dear idols, causing the creation of a different Chinese fandom community. Toward Weibo (one of the most popular social media platforms within the Asia), the internet society to possess idol-doll-founders, buyers, and you may idol admirers now has built-up over 460,000 followers that will be extremely women-reigned over. With this program, it is common enthusiasts, that a massive type of idol dolls, to create lovable pictures and you may show its feel within the dressing up and you may implementing makeup on their “infants.” With respect to the newest individual declaration, one of the idol-toy members, the brand new blog post-2000 generation means the highest proportion, getting together with 43 %, accompanied by the fresh post-1995 age bracket positions next, that have a proportion on twenty six % (“2021 Thread Doll Users Opinion Report” 2021). Hence, Age bracket Z, someone, some one created between the late 1990s plus the very early 2010s (Priporas mais aussi al. 2020), definitely engages which have idol-doll orders due to interactive social networking programs.

About time off participatory fandom and you may fan benefit, fans’ usage tastes in addition to their thought of connection with idols are extremely subjects from academic research. Just how admirers relate with a-listers might have been identified as parasocial interaction-the nonreciprocal, fictional communications anywhere between fans and media personae (Liebers and you can Schramm 2019; Yan and you can Yang 2021). Lately, fans actively getting into the fresh new parasocial relationship dream regarding an almost kinship that have idols, so long as they may manage, or perhaps provides an obvious amount of affect its idols. With the Chinese social network, there was a pattern where fans, especially ladies, refer to themselves while the idols’ parents, aunts, or siblings. When you are past studies have generally checked out parasocial dating according to heterosexual norms and you can fans’ romantic fantasies throughout the idols (i.elizabeth., “girlfriend/wife fans” from idols), absolutely nothing might have been understood in the “mother fans”,“Mommy admirers,” refer to admirers (normally female admirers) who’re co-fostering idols/a-listers as their senior female family members. It is said on their own while the mother of your own idol and tend to be indulgent so you’re able to idols, bringing all of them as the attractive, simple students who want their additional care (Yan and you will Yang 2021).