Beyond Barbie: Representations of whiteness in China’s digital advertising

Abstract

This article examines how Western brands and white Western entrepreneurs employ representations of whiteness in advertising their products on China’s social media platforms. While research has effectively revealed the prevalence of white hegemony in advertising, few studies have addressed the representation of whiteness in non-Western contexts such as China. Focusing on the largest and highly digitized retailing industry in Asia, this article examines branding used by Western brands and white Western entrepreneurs in their advertising campaigns. The analysis delves into how Western products resonate with China’s Gen Z consumers, and how advertising campaigns respond to those consumer preferences by incorporating nationalist sentiments. This article examines the visual complexities through which whiteness is expressed in various campaigns on social media platforms, emphasizing the contested, reproduced, and performed nature of whiteness.