Purpose – This paper aims to explore the complexity and dynamics in the process of negotiation and re-negotiation of brand associations within a Vietnamese cultural context, focusing on the identity construction created through local consumption preferences. t It explores how Western brands are symbolically important in Vietnamese consumers’ self-image. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 600 Vietnamese youth between 18 and 35 years living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City completed the survey. A projective technique (storytelling) was applied to elicit the hidden thoughts and motivations among respondents. Findings – Vietnamese consumers increasingly attach themselves to certain brands to affirm their desired identity. They believe in “material goods bring happiness”. The symbolic meanings of brands (which we describe around six themes) become very important in their patterns of consumption in shaping their lived experience and the way they want to communicate their self-images. Practical implications – The paper’s insights can be of value to marketing and advertising professionals and to those with responsibility for consumer regulation in emerging markets. Social implications – The paper contributes to our understanding of how socio-political tensions are played out and managed in consumer culture and identifies particular contradictions which may drive future changes. Originality/value – The paper reports on a study which uses a neglected method to provide the latest data on consumer culture in Vietnam and links features of consumption-based identity to the specific Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context.

When interacting with each other virtually on social media sites, users may potentially encounter their own "self-presence". To improve their physical self-presence on social media, users might resolve to curate themselves to match their ideal perceptions of themselves and others. This study examines the intention to alter one's factual self in real life whilst contemplating the on-line self on social media. Data were derived from a social survey of Vietnamese adults. The results indicate the remarkable mediating relationship from the level of editing self-images to three choices of intention to change the body image in real life. Nevertheless, this paper does not provide enough evidence to confirm any link connecting distal intentions (D-intentions), proximal intentions (P-intentions) and motor intentions (M-intentions) with private self-consciousness, with the latter as the moderator variable. This study, therefore, might provide an exclusive idea of how online behaviour can be related to one's offline behaviour in terms of body image. With an understanding of this aspect, many implications can be found in regard to applications/programmes in research, development and marketing.

Studying the ways in which people construct their identities in online environments is a pressing contemporary concern. The research reported in this article was designed to examine the uses of, and influences on, Vietnamese respondents' identity formation on Facebook. Data were collected by means of a social survey and the application of the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique, a procedure that searches for customers' thoughts and emotions by digging deep into the visual and non-visual illustrations that customers collect or make on their own. The findings show how Vietnamese Facebook users present themselves and how they thereby facilitate their self-expansion and maintain their sense of self-esteem. According to the analysis, it can be suggested that Facebook is where adults portray their socially conformed versions against social reflection. They use this platform to seek validation, demonstrate their professional side to make them look better in the eyes of society. Drivers of online identity formation are revealed through negotiating with conflicts in their existing identities. The level of self-modification amongst respondents is adjusted in relation to their social vigilance, conformity and motivations in and between social categorization.