Opting Out? Gated Consumption, Infant Formula and China's Affluent Urban Consumers

Affluent Chinese consumers are increasingly opting out of the Chinese marketplace, drawing upon their social networks and superior economic resources to purchase foreign infant formula that they believe to be untainted by contact with China's suspect markets and untrustworthy distribution channels. Based on interview and media sources, we document these consumer practices and characterize them as highly privatized forms of gated consumption which reflect broader patterns of Chinese middle-class lifestyles. As a strategy for dealing with food-safety concerns and marketplace distrust, gated consumption is seemingly apolitical and individualized, yet at the same time exemplifies the fragility of the Chinese Party-state's promises of prosperity and material well-being.