1. Introduction

Cultural dimensions in different advertising and branding, can bringing the unique ideologies and concepts to the consume market and change the consumers consumption concepts. Each of these can be consider as the relationship between advertising practices or other spheres of social life. In other words, in a cultural field, advertising and brand marketing can interact with social life. Advertising and branding can change people's life philosophy. Giddens state is change as “reflexive project of the self, which Hearn explain that as the “explicit form of labor under post-Fordist capital in the form of ‘self-branding’” [1-2]. Therefore, cultural dimensions can be changed through consumer advertising, and advertising can help consumers establish new consumption concepts. At the same time, with the rise of the Chinese consumer market, more and more Western consumer brands have begun to enter the Chinese market. Since the concept of Western consumer brands comes from Western world ideology and consumption habits, these consumer brands need to change the life philosophy of Chinese consumers through advertising, so that Chinese consumers can accept their products. Healthism is the latest consumption trend brought by western brands. Researching the development of healthism concept in the Chinese consumer market can be observe how western consumer brands change the consumption habits of Chinese consumers through advertising. Lululemon will be the researching object in this article.

In the context of the consumer society, Lululemon, as a Canadian health-oriented consumer brand, is trying to change Chinese consumers' concept of healthy consumption in China. As Hearn mentions that with the rapid development of China's economy, China has transitioned from collectivization to increasing privatization as the government navigates political terrain [2]. This paper will consider that Lululemon’s entry into China market is a moment of expansion of the consumer society in a new developing market and a commercial challenge to the previous privileged discourse. The paper will argue that how Lululemon’s brands branding in China is a form of that can be understood in the context of a new market cultural dimensions at the post-economic reform China.

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1. Literature Review

At present, many scholars have conducted extensive discussions on the cultural industry and cultural dimensions, and many scholars have found the influence of advertising culture on consumption. At present, most scholars believe that advertisements drive the needs of the consumer society, and people consume by accepting the concepts stated in advertisements, thereby driving industrial development.

In a longitudinal study, Kline's research pointed out that the development of TV advertising promoted the development of consumer goods, making people buy more cultural products. Kline's research state that the age of television and attempting to understand the role of children toys and children culture within the consumer society. Kline mentions that children in their childhood age spends over 20,000 hours watching television and only 11,000 in the classroom” [3]. The article can see that, the sheer quantity and place of the cultural industries on everyday life is hard to ignore. People consume a large number of cultural products every day, and are directly or indirectly affected by these cultural industries.

Similarly, Leiss et al described that advertising is an important participant in the transition from industrial society to consumer society, and dig deeper into the influence of advertising on industrial development on the basis of Kline. Leiss et al mentions that advertising promotes the needs of consumer society, which makes consumer society reversely promote the development of industrial society [4]. Therefore, Leiss believes that advertising stimulates the demand of the consumer market to promote the development of manufacturing industry.

Also, Strong's research points that advertising can influence on people's values of self-identity. Strong believes that advertising is a channel for conveying values, identity information, and social relations. People can bring to a new social concerns and cognitions through advertisements, generate new values, and thus carry out new forms of consumption.

In the horizontal research, many scholars have also explored the impact of healthism on the life and consumption of modern people. Bourdieu's research also points out that healthism is a discursive privilege and indicates that it has been widely accepted since the 1970s [5]. Bourdieu's article pointed out that after the 1970s, people began to accept the idea of healthism, and began to change their living habits to make themselves have a healthier attitude towards life.

Jenkins mentions the current cultural acknowledgment of healthism. Jenkins argues that healthism has been showed in a lot in current media and cultural works [6]. People can find the concept of healthism in different cultural works, and through these cultural works, people can understand the information of healthism more deeply.

Powers & Greenwell also mentions that healthism spreads in society as a public welfare culture, making people have a more correct health awareness [7]. Powers & Greenwell combined healthism and public welfare activities, showing how the government can spread healthism as a public welfare culture, and promote more people to accept healthism and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Also, with the development of China's economy, healthism has become popular in China. Under the influence of business and public welfare promotion, healthism has become a concept recognized by the public. Chen’s article demonstrates the benefits of government-led health philanthropy to Chinese citizens [8]. Chen pointed out that the concept of healthism has been popularized in China, so that people of different age groups and classes will participate in different forms of healthism activities.

However, advertising is an important part of the cultural industry, and the current research ignores the relationship between healthism and commercial advertising and branding culture promotion. Also, there is rare article pointing out how the concept of healthism promoted by advertising and branding returns to the consumer market. In other words, there are seldom article has pointed out how the promotion of healthism for commercial purposes can promote the development of the consumer market. Especially in the new market that is currently developing and changing in China, healthism has promoted the Chinese people, especially urban office workers, so that these new generation of young people can accept the idea of healthism. At the same time, under the role of advertising, make "appropriate" purchasing behaviors in line with health principles. This article will combine previous research to explore the impact of advertising culture and healthism on people's lives. This article innovatively uses the use the example of Lululemon advertising and branding to show how western companies spread healthism and promote healthy related consumption in the China market.

2.2. Healthism and Lululemon's Cultural Dimensions

Lululemon is a company founded in Canada and business in yoga sports apparel and fitness products. An essential part of contemporary Lululemon’s business discourse is a “consistent and active narrative that combines the seemingly incongruent themes of social responsibility and self-optimization” [9]. In the language of this article, Lululemon spreading the idea of healthism through the commercial advertising to encourages people doing the self-monitor and manage their health issue. At the same time, Lululemon claims that customers through the "good" purchasing behavior, can minimizes the risk of unhealthy conditions and helps people form healthy habits. Lavrence & Lozanski pointed out that Lululemon requires the sales representatives to help customers establish a healthy concept and fill in “short and long-term personal, professional, and health goals”, so that customers can maintain continuous health ism activities [9]. Therefore, the role of the Lululemon China’s showroom is not only to provide customers with a way to purchase products, but also to provide a series of courses to help customers establish healthism thinking and achieve healthy goals [10].

Lululemon entered the Chinese market in 2013. In the marketing plan, Lululemon has prepared a variety of ways to spread the practice of healthism. In the recently years, through online and offline activities, Lululemon helps Chinese consumers establish the concept of healthism.

In the retail marketing, Lululemon opened three showrooms in Beijing and Shanghai to showcase its product lines, and advocate a healthy life concept in the showrooms, educate consumers about fitness, and increase brand awareness [11]. Lululemon's market strategy in China is different from other fashion brand the world. Lululemon provides free yoga courses to customers in China from local yoga and fitness centers. Lululemon China focused on community, culture and engagement for its customer conversions with partnering with local yoga studies and fitness centers to offer free classes which act as a portal to both gain a foothold in consumes but also improve their data on their target audience behavior [11]. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Lululemon had provided free yoga classes and yoga activities to more than 10,000 customers in major cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing in China.

For online marketing, Lululemon launched online initiatives strategy, and focus on storytelling and purchasing opportunities. Lululemon focused on Weibo (a social platform similar to Twitter) and Tmall (online store) for sales. At the same time, Lululemon also launched a live broadcast event on WeChat and interacted with some KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) to promote health culture in China. Lululemon through the promotion of KOL, which attempt to design their message for what has been called spreadability [6].

Hence, Lululemon has had fantastic sales in China in the wake of the pandemic. Since Lululemon has been distributed in Tmall since 2015, sales have increased over 1000% during 2015-2022. According to Nan's report, although Lululemon has higher sales costs in China, Lululemon has expanded a rapidly in recent years. Before the pandemic, Lululemon's half-year sales in 2019 were up 70% [12]. The spread of Lululemon in China operates through a decentralized model which allows local level teams to personalize their approach to individual communities according to local interests [12]. These have also transformed in to Lululemon’s localization of products to suit the Asian body type and consumer tastes [12]. That is, the better they can understand their market the better they can induce the people, through the magical system of advertising, to buy their products and conflate personal health with private purchases.

In additions, as Leiss et al research, advertising has been one of the important players in the transition from industrial society to consumer society [4]. Advertising increases the market power of consumers and drives the development of industrial technology. According to Havens & Lotz’s research, in 1960s, the major employers in the U.S. employment market were primarily related to the heavy production industry, such as General Motor, Bell System, Ford Motor, General Electric [13]. However, in the late 2010s, the consumer industry, especially retail industry has become the core driving force of the current U.S. economy. Havens & Lotz found that Wal-Mart, Kelly (a job placement agency), I.B.M., UPS, and McDonalds being the largest employers in [13]. Therefore, within this shift, there has not only been a change in major employers, but also in the broader culture itself.

In China, the consumer culture of spreading healthism has a different trajectory from that of Western countries. In the process of industrialization to the consumer culture in China, is use of communication industry to promote the ideology of class consciousness [10]. Especially in the years before the pandemic, things have changed in a changing China as the nature of the communication state apparatus is challenged by the cultural industries within China as well as global forces. In other words, the dissemination of the original national ideals and ideologies has become market-oriented, and people's ideologies are being influenced by consumer culture rather than official declarations.

3. In-depth Interview

This article uses In Deep Interview to interview 24 people in China who use or know about Lululemon Healthism promotion. The purpose of this article is to use In Deep Interview to better ask the respondents about their awareness of the Chinese Healthism market, and also to explore in-depth the evaluation of Lululemon’s promotion of Healthism in China by consumers and Lululemon employees. In Deep Interview is an interactive process with the interviewees. During this interactive process, the author of the article can better understand the promotion effect of Lululemon in the Chinese market.

3.1. Data Collection

This paper studies how healthism changes consumers' consumption concepts in the China consumer market. In order to study to shows how the concept of healthism brought by Lululemon has changed consumers' consumption habits, and Chinese consumers can accept "appropriate" healthy consumption. The interviewers needs to include all the element of : (1) people with Chinese cultural background (2) who have ever purchased Lululemon health products, or participated in health activities organized by Lululemon.

A total of 24 interviews were conducted during February 2023 with participants from different occupational backgrounds (5 Lululemon employees, 10 office workers, 3 university students, 2 fitness trainers, 1 athlete, 3 people freelancer) (see Table 1). In the selection of interview samples, all participants believed that Lululemon was the health brand they were most familiar with, and also agreed with the concept of healthism conveyed by Lululemon. This interview has been approved by Simon Fraser University review board. A signed consent form was obtained from the interviewer prior to interviewing each subject. The interview was conducted via video conference. The interview questions were semi-structured, and in one-on-one interviews, respondents were asked to share their thoughts on Lululemon and healthism (see Table 2). At the same time, to ensure the privacy of the interviewees, the identity of each interviewee will be kept confidential, and the interview time is around 20-25 minutes each person.

Table 1: Respondent information

Table 1: （continued）

Table 2: Interview questions

3.2. Data Analysis

This article will number all the interviews, extract the keywords of each interview, and classify the interview content. Then the author will summarize the opinions provided by different interviewers and sort out the influence of Lululemon and healthism on their consumption.

In the process of classification, the interviewees’ responses will be divided into three Groups, mainly (Group 1) consumption in Lululemon for healthy, (Group 2) has health-oriented consumption but not limited to Lululemon, and (Group 3) rarely for healthism consumption.

Because different groups of people have different results in the exploration of Lululemon and healthism consumption. The article will first separate the results of the three groups of surveys, and then study the responses of different groups of people to Lululemon healthism, and analyze their statements based on the interview content. The article will study their attitudes towards Lululemon and healthism ideology, and then explore the impact of their ideology on their consumption. At the same time, the article also explores the relationship between healthism and consumption ability of different groups of people, and studies whether the ideology of healthism has a relationship with consumption ability.

4. Results

According to the analysis of the data of all the above interviews, all the people in the data interviews believe that their understanding of healthism has been influenced by the culture of commercial advertising, and they all agree that they will supervise and manage their own health conditions in the future to minimize the reduction the risks of being unhealthy and knowing that healthy habits should form in the future.

However, in terms of consumption concepts, the data analysis presents three different consumption concepts. The first theme is that Lululemon's commercial promotion activities make the interviewees willing to spend money in Lululemon’s products, for example, to buy the product with the recommendation of Lululemon's health ambassador. The second theme is that the interviewees have already formed a concept of health-oriented consumption, but the interviewees would like consume other brands products and services not provided by Lululemon. The third theme is that the interviewees already have the ideology of healthism, but are unwilling to consume the concept of healthism, for example, the interviewees will use the public health services provided by the government for free.

4.1. Change the Consumption Concepts

In the interview content, most of the interviewees believed that their consumption concept of healthism was influenced by commercial advertisements. Due to commercial advertisements and activities, the concept of health ideology has begun to form in people's minds, so that people can realize the importance of health for a better life in the future, and start to manage their own health in plan.

Bai, a female worker in office, believes that with the emergence of healthism forms of advertising, people around her have gradually begun to have a sense of healthy living. She said that the purpose of accepting Lululemon's health philosophy can avoid future health risks, so that she can maintain a healthy body in his youth and avoid future diseases.

At the same time, the spread of healthism ideology driven by commercial advertisements has made the healthism life becomes one of the important elements of people's social activities. Healthy lifestyle and healthism clothing are the trend of fashion people.

Shi state that wearing sportswear can be used in many occasions: meeting friends in cafes, dining or shopping, Yoga clothes and leggings have taken up a large proportion of daily life. Shi believe that even a sports suit with a sense of design is not contrary to the office.

From the above point of view, in consumer culture, advertising as a privileged information carrier, has the role of demonstrating how we can achieve the good life. So as to said, all the consumption practices involve money, and those privileged discourse is how the pursuit of the good life is something that can be mediated through consumption practices. Therefore, healthism in this article will be an example of consumer culture, which demonstrating how healthism is spread through commercial advertisements, and then the concept of healthism is turned into cash in the market. Under the consumer society, healthism can go beyond self-work, such as school gymnastics and swimming lessons, but can also be presented in the form of a marketplace where consumers can buy healthy classes or tools to keep them healthy.

Healthism is a form of self-control, which is not only manifested in people accepting health information or learning health knowledge, but also aligning their daily behavior with the concept of health. In the case of healthism, this ‘alignment” occurs within the logic of the marketplace and the idealization of the healthy person that one can be as communicated within the advertising industry. According to Lavrence & Lozanski, this consumer culture encourages people to accept the logic of healthism through advertising, and encourages individuals to engage in the freedom of healthism by participating in market activities，so the “citizen consumer whose contribution to society is mainly to purchase the products of global capitalism” [9, 14]. Therefore, when people choose to buy health products after watching the advertisements, they will unconsciously participate in the cultural dimensions of healthism through the market.

Nowadays, exercising has become part of the daily routine for millions of people. Due to the influence of advertising culture, modern forms of health products have developed hand-in-hand with capitalism. Powers & Greenwell pointed out that in the 1970s, after Dr. Cooper recommended 3-5 times of exercise per week, it was supported by the government and the market support. So that commercial and government gyms began to rise one after another [7]. Powers & Greenwell also mentions that Baly model makes today's surroundings full of franchises, group exercises, personal trainers, and the fitness influencers [7]. Gyms have spread all over the world in the last five years. As Bourdieu mentions on the Healthism, like every sort of taste, it units and separates” [5]. Since everyone’s understanding of Healthism is different, different types of Healthism forms are also presented in the market, thus attracting different types of consumer groups. Lululemon is a example. Another example is according to the 2019 IHRSA report state the fitness brand Lucky bird Fitness Club and Le fit from China ranks sixth and seventh among global gym brands [14]. Lucky Bird Fitness Club and Le fit are both membership-based fitness services mainly aimed at office workers. Meanwhile, during the 2021 pandemic, Chinese fitness trainer Will (Genghong) Liu posted home workout videos that attracted more than 100 million Tik-Tok accounts to watch, and led the trend of home fitness in China. Will Liu's fitness video has become one of the most popular videos in 2021 [15]. In this case, healthism has led people to healthy consumption, as well as the catalyst for a burgeoning ''self-help'' video market and an explosion of lifestyle magazines.

4.2. Appropriate Consumption

Lululemon helps people establish a "correct" concept of healthism by holding healthism dissemination activities in the community, such as hiring health ambassadors in the showroom, or conducting free yoga classes in the community.

Tan is the social media operator of Lululemon's global headquarters in Seattle. The operator said that Lululemon is currently adjusting market strategies in different countries according to the changing international background. For example, in China Lululemon invited five well-known professional yoga instructors to provide free health courses to the public. The purpose is to spread health doctrine, so that more people can have "correct" health concepts.

Zhuang, the staff of the showroom design department of Lululemon China (Shanghai), Zhuang said that “Three months before each store opens, my colleagues need to go into the community to find local opinion leaders and important partners, which may be coaches, catering, or it may be a merchant with the same customer group. Lululemon wants to have a link with the community and maintains a good relationship.” Lululemon has a position call community leader. The leader will be responsible for different pillars, such as operation community and VM.

In China, Lululemon will hold some free community events, or invite professional yoga instructors to teach online yoga courses. Lululemon focusing on building a good relationship with the community has allowed Lululemon to gain the support of many consumers. Many respondents said that the reasons they bought Lululemon products because they were attracted by the community health activities provided by Lululemon.

Yun said "Lululemon uses fitness trainers as spokespersons to get closer to life"

Li is a clerk at Lululemon China (Nanjing) Showroom. Li state that, at present, Lululemon has set up a health ambassador position in each showroom, generally held by a professional fitness coach or a retired athlete, with the purpose of helping consumers who go to the showroom to establish a new healthy consumption through their professional knowledge of health and exercise consciousness. Lululemon clerks believe that these pundits are more convincing to consumers in the showroom.

At the same time, the healthism ideology spread by Lululemon has also transformed this idea into a fashion trend for urban office workers. In other words, Lululemon not only has good quality products, but also has social attributes of healthism. Respondents believe that wearing Lululemon brand products can make their friends think she is a fashion person who accepts the concept of healthism.

Gu said, “For the middle class in urban, a pair of Lululemon yoga pants, like a Dyson hair dryer, is a symbol of status and lifestyle.”

Guo also said, “Legging pants are a symbol of lifestyle, representing Health and Vitality”.

Therefore, the ideology of healthism can not only promote people's understanding of healthism, but also enable people to make "correct" healthism consumption in the market. According to Powers & Greenwell, the healthism will “help keep us slim and healthy, will stave off the decrepitude of old age, and will counter the sedentary hours we spend working behind desks and in front of screens” which make more and more people working in offices and service industries have the vision of exercising [7]. In the context of the wider consumer culture, exercise no longer requires supervision from others, and people consciously adopt the way of market purchase to participate in the healthy lifestyle.

Under this situation, under global consumer society owning is conflated with being as “the possession of desired goods and the pursuit of artificially framed styles of life” [8]. In this situation “self-actualisation”, which in this case is healthism, is “packaged and distributed according to market criteria’ at not according to any other criteria [8]. The healthism concept, in this case, it is not only to maintain the healthy living habits of the individual, but also can consider as part of the larger image of the pursuit of the good life. Therefore, the healthism within the consumer culture become a mediated through the market and also through forms of self-surveillance as a form of governmentality.

In this context, the good life according to healthism, as communicated by consistent advertising within the consumer culture, promotes the idea of the good life that risk can be minimized through correct actions and good purchases. These minimizations occur through forms of self-surveillance as a form of governmentality in the context where today the self itself has become a commodity within consumer culture. In the same way that one can exhibit oneself as a form of social communication and distinction in relation to others, the same can be said of self-assessments where the “common sense” idea of the good life which involves, in this case, a “good body”, is juxtaposed against the realities of a given situation.

4.3. Changed Habits but No Consumption

During the interview, some respondents believed that although Lululemon’s healthism advertisements changed the respondents’ awareness of health, they knew that they should be responsible for their future health. However, there are still some people who believe that healthism does not necessarily require consumption, and the use of public health equipment can also reduce the risk index of unhealthy.

Wang pointed out that although she will participate in Lululemon's free yoga classes, she will not spend money on Lululemon. Wang pointed out in the interview that she does not need to buy suitable fitness sportwear. She believes that public health facilities, such as that equipment in parks, can help her maintain a healthy body.

Feng also mentions that many older people who embrace healthism do not engage in healthism consumption. Currently, plaza dance (or also known as “Guangchangwu”) is a popular way for seniors to keep fit.

The spread of healthism in China also promotes non-commodity forms of healthism in China, which giving a new meaning to market-oriented healthism. Compared with the marketed concepts of yoga clothing and private gyms, the government has also provided many public fitness facilities. According to Chen's description, these fitness facilities are equipped in public free parks. This equipment are usually well maintained and can be used by anyone who enters the park. It is not uncommon to see them even in small parks in more rural areas. Also, there is also the prevalence of plaza dance or “Guangchangwu” which is a form of synchronized exercise which is non-commercialized [8]. In “Guangchangwu”, people come together in public squares, bring their own musical loudspeakers, and begin to dance in groups as part of structured workouts. Some of these have become very well-organized groups that bring together different music tastes. For example, some will cater to rap music while others will cater to more traditional music. All of these occur not only in public spaces but incur no charges to those who want to participate [8].

4.4. Evaluation

The promotion of healthism under the non-commercial concept is different from the marketing-oriented promotion of healthism. Lululemon not only enhances its brand awareness through health education in China. Lululemon educates consumers to know how to best to use and wear while pursuing their health goals while pursuing their health goals. Lululemon introduces the concept of healthism, enabling people to link the achievement of health goals with "appropriate" purchases. This is a good example to show how Lululemon’s advertising campaign and attempts to increase brand awareness in China has led to a challenge to the previous privileged discourse in China and also non-commercial approaches to health.

5. Discussion

In the border change of cultural dimensions, the nature of advertising also has been shifting. Currently, the adverting today cannot be considered as the peripheral to the culture that we inhabit today, but actually can be understand as a major cultural driver. For example, the internet influencer can change consumers' consumption habits in some video introductions. Leiss claims that advertising’s “overwhelming presence today leaves little doubt that it is a factor to be reckoned with” [4]. Therefore, today's advertisements are not only used as a commercial product promotion, but also change consumers' consumption habits through advertisements and narrative areas, so that consumers fundamentally accept the products introduced by advertisements. Kline wrote that “imagery of the good life in advertising is not simply a backdrop to the commercial programming: it is the very raison d’être and the central narrative of television” [3]. In other words, “something” we can see on the advertising also can be represents and supports the entire model of society we live in.

The occurrence of this situation is not only that the advertising industry has become huge and has developed into an important pillar of the cultural industry, but also because the advertising industry and the impact of advertising on consumers' consumption concepts and ideology have occupied an important role in our social life. Leiss state that in today’s relatively new system of communication, the advertising, has become a “privileged discourse” [4]. and has been a “leading part in shaping how consumers think about their needs and what will satisfy them” [4]. Therefore, advertising seems to be not only a way to convey product information, but also to convey commercial cultural information. Take a very simple example, the advertising you saw the big mac from McDonalds in not how good of the big mac, but instead of how to get the best deal you can purchase this big mac at McDonald’s store. In these cultural issues, culture are constituted through advertising. For example, he basic requirement of purchasing a diamond engagement ring despite this being the result not of “tradition” but instead of an old and well-placed ad campaign for a diamond company.

In these ways, advertising has become a privileged discourse and a major player in reproducing common-sense expectations in everyday life. Raymond Williams argues, advertising today is a “highly organized and professional system of magical inducements and satisfactions, functionally very similar to magical systems in simpler societies, but rather strangely coexistent with a highly developed scientific technology” [16]. So, the advertising has made the result of a change in meaning-making in society and the definition of advertising is much more than simply evoking information. In this case, the advertising can be understanding as the reflecting ways of life in which we as individuals in turn engage with the world and ourselves as mediated through these magical filters which point towards how we can achieve the good life.

6. Conclusion

This paper has explored the entry of Lululemon in China in the context of the consumer society and a challenge to traditional privileged discourses. It has shown how Lululemon’s entry into China, as part of a broader discourse on healthism, is a challenge to the non-commercialized opportunities to promote health in nowadays China. Generally speaking, the healthism ideas that Lululemon spreads in China are successful, and the healthism concepts that Lulelemon spreads in China also drive consumers to consume the products. In future exploration, more attention should be paid to the interpretation of the elderly on the changes in healthism consumption. At present, most of the people who can accept healthism consumption are young people. There is no exploration of the healthism consumption of the elderly. Future research should examine how the concept of healthism consumption can enable the elderly to consume.