Photologue @theuostimes7
Recently, MZ generation (born in the early 1980s and early 2000s) choose “valuable consumption” that consumes products that fit their values. In the past, consumption culture was limited to consuming products centered on personal tastes or high-end brands, but today, consumption revealing their own identities and beliefs has expanded throughout life.
The new consumption culture that they are leading by overthrowing the existing system is already moving the global market. In particular, vegan cosmetics refer to products that do not contain animal-derived ingredients and do not conduct animal testing in the manufacturing process. Rush, a British cosmetic brand, is one of the leading brands that has considered making products for the environment and customers with fairly obtained materials without experimenting with animals. In addition, "Clean label," which refers to foods and materials such as natural ingredients and non-GMOs, has in the food industry, and alternative meat for vegetarians is also drawing attention as well as interest in the environment and animal welfare.
According to a report by McKinsey, a global consulting firm, Korea's MZ generation consumers are considered the most active group and digital activist in valuable consumption in Asia. Millennials who have been exposed to digital since adolescence and Generation Z, called "digital native," have no hesitation in revealing their valuable consumption online. They boycott unfair companies and brands through SNS, while they actively spend on companies that show interest in the socially disadvantaged even if they are expensive. Therefore, it is a kind of valuable consumption that chooses products of “good companies” that pay attention to issues such as the socially disadvantaged and the minority and try to show good influence on society. There is TOMS, a company that makes and sells shoes. TOMS uses marketing to provide free shoes to children in poor countries when customers buy a pair of shoes. The price of shoes that customers buy already includes the price of shoes that are donated, which has the effect of leading customers to have a good consumption without feeling any pressure.
As such, valuable consumption is widely established throughout society, beyond consumers' consumption of certain products. According to Statistics Korea, the MZ generation has about 22.8 million people, accounting for about 44 percent of the country's population. Therefore, as they are growing into forces that will lead the market in the future, many companies will need a strategy to have a social responsibility to suit their tastes.