A sign announcing a boycott against Japanese products to protest Tokyo’s export curbs against South Korea. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — More than a year after Japan imposed export restrictions against South Korea, igniting a boycott movement against Japanese goods, 3 out of 4 Korean consumers said they are still participating in the boycott movement.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp. of 1,000 Koreans from 20 to 59 years of age, 75 percent of the respondents said they are still participating in the boycott movement.
By gender, 78 percent of women said they still refrain from buying Japanese goods, compared to 72 percent of men.
By age group, those in their 50s had the highest participation ratio, while those in their 20s were least likely to participate in the boycott.
Married people are more actively participating in the movement than singles. By job type, homemakers have the highest participation ratio.
In response to a question asking about their intention to continue to participate in the movement, 70 percent of the respondents said yes.
Another 56 percent of those surveyed said they had given up buying Japanese fashion items. Men showed a tendency to avoid Japanese liquor, digital cameras, IT products and cars, while women avoided buying Japanese cosmetics and daily necessities.
Roughly two thirds of the respondents said that their participation in the boycott movement did not make their life uncomfortable at all.
Around half of the respondents expected that the boycott movement would continue for more than two years, while 58 percent said the boycott movement made them more favorable towards the advertising of domestic companies.
Many respondents said they had actively purchased domestic alternatives to Japanese items since the boycott movement began.
Beer (70 percent) ranked at the top on the list of items replaced the most by domestic alternatives, followed by writing instruments (47 percent), casual clothes (46 percent), and cosmetics (48 percent).
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
