Asian men embrace personal grooming to create growing market
23 December 2004
HONG KONG — SYNOVATE, a leading global research firm, today released results from a survey that looked at the grooming habits and attitudes to vanity of men across Asia.
Carole Sarthou, Managing Director of Synovate in the Philippines said the study took a long, lingering look at male vanity across Asia.
"The results strongly suggest that the pretty boy mindset is pretty strong and might lead to some pretty good opportunities for marketers," she said.
Synovate surveyed nearly 3,000 males aged 15-64 years from all socio-economic classes. This study was conducted in the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and also included US males for some questions.
Everything begins with sex
Respondents were asked how much they agree with the statement, "I consider myself sexually attractive." In Asia, those most in agreement with this statement were Filipino males, 48% of whom rated themselves sexy.
"Their confidence level was still below US males, of whom 53% agreed or strongly agreed that they were sexy things. Third were Singaporean guys with only 25%. And those with the lowest sexual self-esteem came from Hong Kong with only 12% agreeing or strongly agreeing," Ms Sarthou said.
Are looks important?
We also asked respondents "how important are your looks to you?" Overall, most men surveyed agree that their looks are important to them. Again the Philippines scored highest, with 84% saying very or quite important. Taiwan males scored lowest with only 35% of respondents agreeing their looks were important. Ms Sarthou said that appearance kits were starting to appear in a few cultures but their use is not yet widespread.
"Oddly, although a below-average 45% of Korean men agreed that their appearance is important, 85% said they carried a personal grooming kit with them every day. Apart from 22% of Filipinos, carrying an appearance repair kit is almost unheard of anywhere else in the markets surveyed."
Love me for myself
The study also probed motives for looking good. Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with the statements, "I like looking good for myself," and "I like looking good for others". In every location except Taiwan, men agreed that they looked good for themselves more than they looked good for others. The difference was significant in the Philippines, where 91% of men agreed they looked good for themselves compared with 58% liking to look good for others.
The clean and the mean
Question: On average, how many times do you take a shower or bath on weekdays? How about weekends?
Question: And how many minutes do you spend in the bath/shower each time during weekdays? How about on weekends?
Products for Peacocks
The survey also looked at the types of male beauty products that men are purchasing.
Facial cleaner foam is quite popular, especially in Singapore where it is used by 36% of men. A quarter of the males surveyed in Hong Kong use it too. Only 12% of Korean men use it, but the guys there really go for moisturiser —67% of them to be exact.
Ms Sarthou commented: Men in China aren't much into products that are traditionally used by women, with one notable exception — 55% of them use some sort of whitening soap. Skin whiteners are mostly scorned by other males in Asia.
"Taiwanese men seem to be big on teeth, with 53% using dental floss, almost double the consumption of the next biggest users (Hong Kong). There's a lot of scope for dental floss sales in China, where it has only 8% usage among men," she said.
The study also showed that men don't use toner much anywhere except Korea, where it's applied by 57% of respondents.
A significant number of Hong Kong and Taiwanese men, 59% and 61% respectively, seem to have love affairs with blow driers � only 2% do in the Philippines. Mousses and gels are quite popular everywhere, especially in Korea.
Beautiful opportunity
Overall, the results of this survey should be quite encouraging to marketers of beauty products.
Ms Sarthou said that although acceptance of traditionally female cosmetics products is spotty, some of these products are very widely used in individual markets.
"The most traditional of male cosmetics, shaving creams and lotions, are purchased by between one fifth and one third of all markets."
"So the bottom line is� Asian men increasingly want to look after their looks, and are prepared to spend to do so," she said.
Contact(s) for this press release
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Linda Collard
Director, Marketing Communications |
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9/F Leighton Centre |
Telephone: +852 2830 2588 |
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Henrietta Sung
Marketing Manager |
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Telephone: +1 416 964 6262 ext. 165 |
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Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group plc, generates consumer insights that drive competitive marketing solutions. The network provides clients with cohesive global support and a comprehensive suite of research solutions. Synovate employs over 6,000 staff across 62 countries.
For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.