Para-kin dating between fans and you may idols: a qualitative analysis of fans’ reasons for purchasing idol-dolls

Purpose

The purpose of this study will be to have a look at exactly how “mommy fans” effect on the existing models from parasocial relationships between fans and you will idols and gain better knowledge into motives underlying the latest purchase of idol dolls. On the other hand, of the like the enjoy and you will point of views of male idol fans, the research aims to help you expand this new comprehension of lover conclusion and you will promote understanding of brand new reasons driving idol-doll usage.

Design/methodology/means

Taking idol-toy buyers as the research stuff, this research used textual data plus in-depth interviews to explore fans’ motives for purchasing idol dolls.

Conclusions

Idol toy commands try driven from the emotional connection, such as for instance one of mommy fans just who seek to establish a feeling of control and sustain a father or mother–youngster dating. In addition, to acquire idol dolls may act as an effective disguise having girlfriend fans to cover up their close ambitions regarding their idols. Moreover, idol dolls act as semiotic identifiers, attracting like-minded admirers and you can gaining neighborhood detection. It needs to be indexed you to male idol fans, that are thought deviant on the male normative, face scrutiny from inside the feminine-ruled groups, searching for further proof authenticity.

Standard implications

This research encourages knowing the motives trailing idol-doll commands and will help advertisers during the catering towards psychological needs off fans, such as for example mother fans, from the developing and product sales dolls you to resonate employing wanted experience away from connection.

Societal implications

Because of the recognizing and you can focusing on the good aspects of enthusiast items, this study results in the latest lingering procedure of de-demonization and you can normalization out-of fandom. Likewise, this study in addition to tries so you’re able to contribute to a comprehensive skills of your own fight and mental means of your Chinese more youthful generation.

Originality/worth

This study examines the fresh new less than-investigated mommy-lover group’s emotional requires as well as their motivations of getting idol-dolls. What’s more, it acknowledges sanning om fogliga postorderbrudar the fresh new type of viewpoints and event of male idol admirers, bringing a brand new and you will novel view into idol-toy practices.

1 Introduction

” tabindex=”0″> based on celebrities’ styles have been offered because a separate form to own Chinese fans to express the strong passion due to their beloved idols, ultimately causing producing a different sort of Chinese fandom community. To the Weibo (perhaps one of the most well-known social network networks for the China), the net people to own idol-doll-creators, buyers, and you will idol admirers presently has compiled more than 460,000 supporters which is very women-controlled. With this system, extremely common enthusiasts, who may have a huge distinct idol dolls, to share adorable pictures and express their event into the dressing up and you may implementing make-up to their “infants.” According to latest consumer declaration, among the many idol-toy professionals, brand new article-2000 age group represents the greatest proportion, getting 43 %, with the post-1995 age bracket positions second, with a proportion in the twenty six % (“2021 Pure cotton Toy People Opinion Declaration” 2021). Thus, Age bracket Z, individuals, some one produced involving the later 1990s as well as the early 2010s (Priporas et al. 2020), actively activates having idol-doll sales as a consequence of entertaining social media platforms.

In the time of participatory fandom and you can enthusiast discount, fans’ practices needs in addition to their imagined reference to idols are particularly sufferers of educational search. The way fans relate genuinely to famous people has been recognized as parasocial interaction-the nonreciprocal, imaginary telecommunications anywhere between fans and you can news personae (Liebers and Schramm 2019; Yan and you can Yang 2021). In recent times, fans definitely getting into the parasocial matchmaking dream on the a close kinship with idols, provided they could control, or at least provides a noticeable amount of affect the idols. For the Chinese social network, there is a development where fans, especially lady, make reference to by themselves just like the idols’ mothers, aunts, or siblings. If you find yourself earlier in the day research has commonly checked parasocial dating according to heterosexual norms and you may fans’ personal goals in the idols (i.age., “girlfriend/partner fans” regarding idols), nothing might have been recognized throughout the “mommy admirers”,“Mother fans,” reference fans (generally female admirers) that co-fostering idols/a-listers as their senior women members of the family. They say themselves as the mother of the idol as they are indulgent to idols, delivering all of them just like the lovable, innocent kids who are in need of their special care (Yan and you will Yang 2021).