Question 1 In this assignment the student will be discussing how two Chicken Licken advertisements use certain aspects of intercultural communication through their imagery as well as their wording. The aspects that will be discussed include: Hofstede’s value dimensions, non-verbal codes as well as the representation and possible stereotyping of cultural groups. All three of these aspects will be discussed in depth in relation to both advertisements and the people that are represented. The first aspect that will be discussed will be Hofstede’s value dimensions. Of the six dimensions that Hofstede has presented (the Mind Tools Content Team By the Mind Tools Content Team et al.), only two will be discussed in this essay. The two dimensions that will be discussed are short-term vs. long-term orientation, as well as restraint vs. indulgence (Nickerson, 2022). Short-term vs. long-term orientation refers to how much certain cultures value long term success compared to short term success and whether they would sacrifice one for the other (Nickerson, 2022). Restraint vs. indulgence then refers to the tendency of a culture or society to fulfill their desires. In societies with a very indulgent people, a lot of money will rather be spent on luxuries than necessities (Nickerson, 2022). In the ‘Rasta’ advertisement, this is shown by the protagonist seeing a future where having a bad sketch artist is causing problems for everyone and thus decides to make the sacrifice of not hiring said artist. This means that he is part of a long-term oriented culture and thus will rather search for a better option that will benefit him in the future rather than hiring him for the short-term gain of not interviewing more people which can be seen as a tedious job. In the second advertisement, ‘Petrol ‘, the dimension of shortterm vs. long-term orientation is also portrayed by the protagonist seeing a vision of the future where he does not fill up his car with petrol which then leads him to be stranded on the side of the road with no signal and picked up by strangers that make him so uncomfortable that he runs away. In this way of foretelling the future, the advertisement shows that the protagonist in the second ad to also be more long term oriented as he decides to rather buy petrol and finish the drive instead of saving money and ending up stranded on the side of the road. Restraint vs. Indulgence is shown in the ad ‘Rasta’ by the protagonist eating a piece of this chicken snack while reviewing the resume of the Sketch artist applicant. This is not professional in a work environment and is thus a sign that he could not control the impulse to indulge in food, even when he should not and he is thus obviously part of a very indulgent culture (the Mind Tools Content Team By the Mind Tools Content Team et al.). In the ‘petrol ‘ advertisement the protagonist sees the petrol station hand then wonders if he should just drive off without buying more petrol when he sees his tank is getting empty. This immediate negative reaction to spending money indicates that he is part of a culture where people are more likely to restrain themselves from things that they want in order to rather use the resources they have for practical needs (Nickerson, 2022). Three non-verbal codes that were shown in the two advertisements were: Physical characteristics, Body movements and artifacts (2015). In the first advertisement, ‘Rasta’, Physical characteristics were shown by the sketch artist drawing poorly and thus people of much diversity were shown as matches of his sketches. Body movements were shown in how the protagonist carried himself around the police station in a very anxious way as well as how the man with the tattoos at 0:23 sits in an almost mocking way, and lastly how the protagonist gives the man his resume back in a way that insinuates that he will not be getting the job. Artifacts are seen by the policemen at the station wearing uniforms as well as the protagonist wearing a large hat that gives the impression that he is the Chief of said station, the Rasta wearing stereotypical Rasta clothes gives the watcher the impression that he does not take the job seriously as this is a popular stereotype, and the man at 0:23 that has a lot of tattoos which instantly gives the watcher a bad impression of him. In the second ad, physical characteristics are seen when the ad starts with a black, middleclass family in a car giving the idea that they are on their way home from somewhere, as well as the people picking him up on the side of the road looking dirty and unhygienic also giving the watcher the idea that they are poor people or people that do not regularly interact with society. In this ad body movements are shown with the protagonist scrunching his face when seeing the fuel gauge, indicating that he does not seem to want to buy petrol and thus wants to keep driving, this is also later shown with the family lowering their heads while in the car as if they are afraid of something and then later when the family winks seductively at the protagonist it is shown again. Lastly, Artifacts such as the flashlight the protagonist uses to indicate he does not know where he is going, as well as the clothes that the people are wearing that gave him a lift indicate that they might be poor seeing as their clothes are devoid of color and are not tidy. In the first advertisement, the ‘Rasta’ was stereotyped because of what he was wearing as this is seen as generic ‘Rasta clothing’ and thus this is a way of stereotyping. Other examples of stereotyping include the people that were arrested because of their yellow headwear, the man with a lot of tattoos that is portrayed as a criminal, the people in the second ad that gave the man a lift looking poor because they are farmers, and the fact that they made the protagonist uncomfortable because he was suspicious of him because he looks better well off than they do and he thought they were going to do something to him. In conclusion, both ads show the same ideas in terms of short-term vs. long-term orientation as they both tend to show the protagonist preferring the long-term orientation approach as they end up doing what they did not want to do in order to have a more preferable outcome in the future. On the contrary, both ads show different values when it comes to restraint vs. Indulgence as the ‘Rasta’ ad’s protagonist is much more indulgent than the protagonist of ‘Petrol ‘as he indulges in his food at an inappropriate time while the latter would rather prefer to not spend his money and thus not indulge in things, he does not feel he needs. Both advertisements depict physical characteristics, body movements and artifacts well in terms of non-verbal intercultural communication and have their own ways of expressing emotion. Stereotyping is very explicit in these advertisements as there are a lot of indications and enforcement of certain stereotypical ideologies. These advertisements are very effective in their way of intercultural communication. References 11.2 types of nonverbal communication (2015) Business Communication for Success. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2015. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. Available at: https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/11-2types-of-nonverbal-communication/ (Accessed: October 10, 2022). Chicken Licken Soul bites: Rasta & petrol • ADS OF THE WORLD™ (no date) Ads of the World™. Joe Public United. Available at: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/rasta-amp-petrol (Accessed: October 10, 2022). the Mind Tools Content Team By the Mind Tools Content Team et al. (no date) Hofstede's cultural dimensions: – understanding different countries, From MindTools.com. Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm (Accessed: October 10, 2022). Nickerson, C. (2022) Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/hofstedes-culturaldimensions-theory.html (Accessed: October 10, 2022).
