China IWOM Blog

IWOM Watch Apr 16-30: Netizens find new channels for self expression

One of the most interesting aspects of studying a culture is how self expression, which sometimes becomes art, can turn into cultural icons. One image that comes to mind for me is the “smiley” face “have a good day” t-shirts in the US from the 1970’s. In this issue, we see that such icons are being created within Chinese Internet culture. The character 囧 (jiong) has recently gained iconographic status and it’s meaning has been appropriated to represent being “sad and frustrated” due to its resemblance of a human face. There is a now full fledge “jiong culture” with dedicated blogs, BBS and video and it is even appearing on bags and other accessories.

Unlike the smiley face in the west, the Jiong character is an icon that was elevated organically, without a massive campaign or distribution deals. It is an icon created 'by the people, for the people" and ultimately "marketed" "by the people" through IWOM.

Case Study

“囧 (Jiong)”, one of the oldest Chinese characters, now leads a new wave of net culture

Summary

An old Chinese character, “囧” (“jiong”), has attracted a large amount of buzz within the Internet community, and is now considered one of the most popular characters in Internet culture. Moreover, it created unique net culture named “Jiong”, as an expansion of “Orz” culture. “Orz” is a symbol used by netizens to show respect to an expert or well regarded professional.
The original meaning of this hieroglyph classical Chinese character was “bright”, however, the new “net language” definition for the term is “sad, frustrated” , because it resembles this expression on a human face. The character’s design ignited netizens’ passion and inspired them to use the character creatively in different social applications. For example, people created Jiong expression icons (see below), bloggers use it in their blog names (see Jiong Pig) and some netizens even built an official website for Jiong. (check out 囧 WS).

CIC View

Jiong not only stands for an expression of personal status on BBS and IM chatrooms, but also represents a particular style and attitude towards life. While the term was originally only popular on the Internet, it is now gradually beginning to penetrate offline life as well. For example, it is now being used on products, such as handbags, and even as a symbol for branding.

Brands should pay close attention to new elements within net culture to help them understand today’s youth, as the younger generation is a key group of target consumers. Brands can then use this knowledge to design and implement campaigns which leverage the culture to create successful branded campaigns and communication messages.