How Mortality Drives Consumers to Choose Domestic Brands Over Imports

1. Don't Underestimate Domestic Brands: They Shine in Critical Moments

What if I told you that death is linked to domestic products—would you believe it?

Death is a familiar concept; we encounter it daily through media reports of disasters and wars, personal losses, and the awareness of aging, which can cause stress, despair, and lower self‑valuation.

To preserve self‑esteem, individuals activate two psychological defense mechanisms: cultural worldview defense and self‑esteem defense. Cultural worldview defense involves identifying with one's nation or in‑group, gaining belonging and support; self‑esteem defense involves enhancing personal status to attract attention. In consumer behavior, cultural worldview defense manifests as buying domestic goods, symbolizing national identity, while self‑esteem defense leads to purchasing internationally renowned brands to signal status.

Developing‑country consumers often hold an origin‑country bias, assuming products from developed nations are superior even when quality is equal. An experiment published in the *Acta Psychologica Sinica* divided participants into a death‑salience group (imagining a terminal illness) and a control group (facing a routine dental extraction). After measuring perceived control, fear intensity, self‑esteem, and patriotism, participants chose between product pairs identical in price, quality, and appearance but differing only in country of origin (e.g., Haier vs. Electrolux). The death‑salience group selected domestic products significantly more than the control group, indicating that mortality cues prioritize cultural worldview defense over self‑esteem enhancement.

When confronted with death, people feel vulnerable and seek protection from a powerful in‑group, making the purchase of domestic goods a symbolic act of seeking that support. Historical events show spikes in national solidarity and domestic product consumption after major disasters (e.g., post‑9/11 Bush approval rise, post‑Wenchuan earthquake patriotism surge).

2. Can You Buy Love?

Many flaunt expensive possessions, seemingly for vanity, but deeper evolutionary psychology suggests a reproductive motive: conspicuous consumption signals resources to attract mates.

From an evolutionary standpoint, all human behavior ultimately aims to increase the odds of passing one's genes to the next generation. Thus, conspicuous consumption conveys a simple message: spending money to attract love.

Observations on social media reveal gender differences: men tend to showcase material wealth and status (cars, houses, watches), while women highlight appearance‑related items (clothing, jewelry, cosmetics). These patterns stem from evolutionary pressures—men prioritize youthful, physically fit partners, whereas women, bearing higher reproductive costs, value economic stability and maturity in mates.

Male conspicuous consumption demonstrates generous resource display to signal status. In an experiment, single men paired with either casually dressed or sexually attractive female assistants performed a picture‑memory task; those with the attractive assistant remembered more status‑related items (luxury cars, watches, designer bags).

Women, less concerned with status, focus on beauty and youth. Even when aware of health risks, they may pursue weight‑loss products to enhance attractiveness—a phenomenon known as the “lipstick effect,” where economic downturns shift female spending toward beauty‑related goods.

References:

Liuwu Mei, Wang Haizhong, & He Liu. (2014). *Near‑Death, Buying Domestic? How Mortality Salience Increases Preference for National Products*. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 11, 013.

Yuan Shaofeng, Zheng Yuhuang, & Li Baoku. (2013). *Can I Buy Love? The Influence of Mate‑Attraction Goals on Women’s Conspicuous Consumption*. Journal of Marketing Science, 9(2), 39‑55.