Abstract

Being a fan means separated yourself from casual consumers. To be recognized as a fan, someone needs to devote themselves and spend a significant amount of money and time. They also have to build their own identity by doing a specialized consumption, collecting merchandise is an example of it. This paper aims to explore the relation between collecting merchandise as a tool of identity building within fans of an idol group, especially AKB48, Nogizaka46, and Keyakizaka46. The groups, created by Akimoto Yasushi, using oshimen (oshiteru members, a member that you support) system to form a special relationship between the idol and fan. The oshimen system makes the specialized consumption behavior to be even more specialized. This paper also aims to explore reasons behind collecting merchandise, as fans willing to buy and adding more merchandise to their possession. Finally, this paper aims to explore the pleasure of the collecting merchandise activity. Whether they’ll get enough pleasure or an endless journey to get ultimate pleasure. The analysis relies on an interview with three respondents (a male and two females), ranging from nineteen to twenty-nine-year-old. The finding suggests that fans admit collecting merchandise is an irrational activity. The merchandise serves the purpose as a tool to build and strengthen their identity as ‘true’ fans, separated themselves from ‘casual’ and non-fans

Keywords

References