"May Your Life Be Marvelous:" English Language Labelling and the Semiotics of Japanese Promotion

Abstract

A recent trend in consumer research is the broadening of the notion of consumer behavior to include activities not merely epiphenomenal to marketing. Another trend with earlier historical origins is the semiotic interpretation of consumption activities. These trends are merged in the present article, which contrasts the vehemence with which Japanese cultural uniqueness is linked with the spirit of the language ( kotodama ) with the Japanese readiness to use English language loanwords in establishing an identity for indigenous product offerings. The article focuses on the investing of indigenous consumer goods with meaning through use of loanwords in a culturally conservative blocked market context. It explores the meaning of such investment from the perspective of consumer and analyst, using product labels and other promotional vehicles as a primary data base. Finally, it treats the diffusion of cultural elements such as language and lifestyle, and their subsequent adaptation to local systems of meaning, as a significant macroconsumption pattern.