CCTV Beijing, August 6 News (Reporter Guo Jiali) "WeChat collection of 411 yuan" and "collection of 59 yuan"...... During the summer vacation, a group of middle school students wearing school uniforms and carrying schoolbags went to the cashier to skillfully pull out their mobile phones to check out and then tear open the package. In the blink of an eye, the store's box of a certain anime's blind draw "Bar How" (a two-dimensional term, that is, badge, transliterated from badge) was sold out.
"Millet" is a transliteration of English goods, covering a wide range of types, including "bars", keychains, pendants, cards, polaroids, dolls and other products, which can be broadly understood as peripheral products derived from copyright works such as comics, animations, and games.
Recently, the topic of "junior and senior high school students buying millet" has repeatedly appeared on the hot list. So, why are teenagers keen to "buy millet"? How should this cultural phenomenon be viewed in perspective?
Visit: Students spend thousands of yuan to "buy millet"
Recently, the reporter came to a shopping mall featuring "millet shop" in Beijing, where the second basement floor of the mall is lined with small shops, selling various popular IP peripherals. The reporter saw that there was an endless stream of people on this floor, and among the bustling young people, there were many students wearing school uniforms and carrying school bags.
Students who are buying "millet" (photo by CCTV reporter Guo Jiali)
"Now middle school students have much more spending power than our college students." Li Lan, a sophomore at a university in Beijing, spends her spare time working part-time at a "millet shop" in the mall. She told reporters that every day at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the number of people on the floor began to increase, and 6 o'clock in the afternoon is the peak period of customer flow, and the customers in the store are mainly middle and high school students.
Li Lan's part-time shop is about 20 square meters. At around 4 p.m., the store was already crowded with young people picking up goods. Chen You, a 14-year-old junior high school student, bought more than 800 yuan of "millet" in one go, and the two bags she carried were filled with the peripherals of an anime she liked. She told reporters that this time the "buying of millet" was used for the New Year's money, and her parents would not interfere.
"I don't buy much, it's a 'small amount of food'." Chen You said that in April this year, she only began to "enter the pit", and she has spent more than 1,000 yuan so far. "In the class, half of the students 'bought millet', and some students bought thousands of 'bars'."
Li Lan told reporters that most children will spend twenty or thirty yuan each time to buy two "bar chirps" or small figures, and some children spend three or four hundred yuan at a time. However, individual parents also bring their children to the store to buy, so they buy more.
Chen You told reporters that in the valley circle, "millet" is divided into "Nissan millet" and "domestic millet", and the price of "Nissan millet" is usually more expensive than "domestic millet". For example, the price of a domestic "bar chir" is usually more than 10 yuan or 20 yuan, while the price of Nissan is 40 yuan to 80 yuan. However, some rare and collectible millet can be sold for tens of thousands of yuan.
The reporter learned that the cheap "millet" is called "Pugu", because the limited amount of "millet" that has been fried to a high price is called "sea view". In March this year, a limited edition "Bar Girl" with a diameter of 75mm and a weight of 20g attracted attention on the Internet because it was auctioned at a price of 72,000 yuan. Such an expensive price makes many "outsiders" not understand, and in the eyes of "insiders", this is a symbol of strength.
"This is the first 'Bar Haw' I bought, and it's also one of my favorite anime characters, I think it's very handsome!" Duan Xuan showed reporters the "millet" she had collected in her cabinet.
Duan Xuan's collection of "millet" (photo provided by the interviewee)
Sixteen-year-old Duan Xuan is in the second year of high school in Shanxi. She told reporters that when she was in the third year of junior high school, she began to "buy millet". At first, she swiped the "millet" unboxing video posted by a blogger on a short video platform, and because she learned more and more, she began to buy it.
Now Duan Xuan is very familiar with the local "millet shop", such as a few treasures. "There are only a few 'millet shops' in small cities, and now some stationery stores next to schools have also started to sell, and many people will go there to buy them." Duan Xuan said that they are more inclined to buy "millet" offline than online shopping.
"You can buy pirated copies online, and there is a postage fee for online shopping." Duan Xuan said that offline, she can go to the store to inspect the goods to see if there are any defects and pirated marks on the "millet". In addition, she and her friends can go shopping in offline stores one by one, shopping for their favorites, which will be more fun.
Buyers: Buying is "emotional value"
"Let's chirp", a small tin badge, why do teenagers be so "obsessed"? In this regard, the reporter interviewed a number of young people who consumed in the "millet shop" in a shopping mall in Beijing, and the most common reply was "I feel happy and satisfied".
"When I bought it, I was very happy. I bought it and put it out at home, and I was happier to look at, which made me feel very satisfied. Chen You said that his personality is more introverted, he usually likes to read anime and novels, and he doesn't have many friends, and his only two friends also like to "buy millet".
Duan Xuan told reporters that it is not very expensive to buy a "bar chirp" for dozens of yuan. "After I bought them, I can look at them often and be pleasing to the eye. How so? I'm buying emotional value. ”
Tai Qi, an expert at the think tank of the Shandong Provincial Working Committee on Women and Children, said that since the beginning of this year, he has received many inquiries from parents about their children's "buying millet". He believes that there are many factors behind the fact that teenagers are so enthusiastic about two-dimensional products. "When adolescents have unmet real-world needs for academic development and interpersonal relationships, it becomes a kind of support for them to meet people with the same characteristics through certain subcultures. For some teenagers, it's a form of spiritual sustenance. Taiqi said.
According to his observations, many teenagers who are interested in the two-dimensional field have the characteristics of introversion, low self-esteem, and social avoidance. "They crave friendship and fear social interactions, and they don't know how to help themselves build stable relationships and get emotional support in interpersonal relationships in an effective way." Taiqi said that these children may be troubled by academic pressure and parent-child relationships in their daily lives, and the process of paying attention to ACG products is a way to cope with pressure and a means for them to temporarily avoid their troubles. In addition, ACG products can also become a topic of social interaction, and they can find "similarities" in the group through the same hobbies, so as to alleviate the "loneliness" caused by social trouble.
Young people who are buying "millet" together (Photo by CCTV reporter Guo Jiali)
According to Taiqi's analysis, the cute and cool image of the two-dimensional product in design is in line with the aesthetic habits of the youth group. In addition, ACG products spread quickly and influentially through social networks. Teenagers interact with each other by watching online videos, pictures and texts, and constantly accept the development trends of the two-dimensional field.
Taiqi said that now teenagers have more pocket money, they do not need to pay for their daily expenses, and the lack of a certain concept of money also makes them blindly invest money when buying two-dimensional products.
In Taiqi's view, although everyone buys different items, the impulse experience of shopping is the same, and they expect to have or possess all the things they feel good. At the same time, ACG products are also sold using marketing strategies such as "hunger marketing", "limited edition" and "brand co-branding", which also enhances the desire of teenagers to buy.
Expert: The most important thing for parents is to do a good job of correct guidance
Regarding Duan Xuan's purchase of "millet", her mother said that she could not understand. "I don't know what those little discs mean, and I've saved up a cabinet." Duan Xuan's mother said that her daughter's pocket money is 200 yuan a week, and she spends it when she goes to the "millet shop".
Du Weijun, president of Hubei Guotai Psychological Research Institute, told reporters that her children also like to buy "millet". In her view, "buying millet", as a subcultural phenomenon, is a kind of personal exploration carried out by teenagers in the process of socialization, and it is understandable if they buy rationally. "The most important thing for parents is to do a good job of guiding correctly, discussing with their children how much they can buy each time, and controlling the standard, amount, interval and total amount. In addition, in a multicultural context, parents can also learn to appreciate their children's hobbies, establish common topics with their children in understanding, and then guide their children to discover and appreciate beauty correctly. ”
A few days ago, the "Research Report on the Life Preferences and Purchase Behavior of Young People" released by a data agency shows that the scale of ACG and game users on the whole network has reached 500 million, accounting for 40% of the whole network, and its main force is the post-90s and post-00s people, mostly in first- and second-tier cities.
Zhang Jiayong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Education and Sciences and deputy director of the Comprehensive Research Department, said that as a culture that is becoming more and more concerned by young people, the society needs to be more tolerant and provide some guidance. In schools, especially boarding schools, while paying attention to the academic development of students, they should carry out a variety of leisure activities to pay real attention to the mental health problems of adolescents. As a parent, you should strengthen communication with your child, understand your child's physical and mental needs, enhance your child's sense of belonging to the family, and meet her emotional needs. In addition, the relevant regulatory authorities also need to strengthen the construction of online platforms to create a clean and upright cyberspace.
Du Weijun said that the willingness of young people to pay for ACG products is an economic behavior influenced by the market, and it is also a contest of cultural power. She said that teenagers need role models as they grow up, which is also a psychological need. They need to constantly see role models, and then combine them with themselves, gradually determine their own ideals and goals, and form their personalities and temperaments through imitation and thinking. Therefore, in education, we should make full use of the positive elements in the youth subculture, enhance the influence of the mainland's excellent traditional culture, set an example of the times, and better disseminate mainstream values and positive energy in a way that contemporary young people like to see.
(Li Lan, Chen You, and Duan Xuan are pseudonyms in the article)
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