Chapter 9
An International Perspective
Advertising and Culture
Culture X
Culture Y
Advertiser
Consumers
= Global Brand?
International Advertising
• Advertising that crosses national and cultural
boundaries
• Cultures, not nations, define advertising
messages
Cultural Influences
5–5
Cultural Constructs
• Collectivism: In-group goals, family
integrity, and harmonious relationships.
– China, Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
– Earlier generations of Asian Americans and
Hispanic Americans.
• Individualism: Individual goals, being
different from and independent of others.
– The U.S. and Canada.
5–6
Individualism vs. Collectivism
5–7
Eastern View
In-group
Out-group
Self
Western View
In-group
Self
Out-group
Language
Negotiations “bombed”
Failure
Success
“If you want to kill a message, translate it!”
Mist Stick (Sunbeam)
Mist = “manure” or “excrement”
Silver Mist (Rolls-Royce)
"It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you."
"It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
“Got Milk?”
“Are you lactating?”
“Turn it loose”
Mexico
Chevy Nova
“finger lickin’ good”
“Suffer from diarrhea”
“Chevy doesn’t run”
“eat your fingers off”
China
Ford Pinto
Pinto: “tiny male genitals”
“Evitol” shampoo
“Dandruff” shampoo
Brazil
Schweppes Tonic Water
Italy
Schweppes Toilet Water
Back-translation
• The translating of a foreign language version
back to the original language by a different
person than the one who made the first
translation
Reading from left to right?
Arab
U.S. countries
Print Ad
Dirty
Clean
Gestures
U.S.
“O.K.”
Arab countries
extreme hostility
Korea & Japan
“money”
France
“zero” or “worthless”
Brazil & Greece
Tunisia
vulgar connotation
“I’ll kill you”
Gestures
“Hi”
“Wai”
U.S.
Thailand
In a U.S. ad for Afrin…
The voiceover notes…
“When you’re congested, it’s like your nose takes over…
you need Afrin. Afrin works fast. While cold tablets
travel through your system, Afrin goes right to your
nose. So it works four times faster than the leading cold
tablet and relieves congestion in less than five minutes.
Afrin. Because you shouldn’t have to wait to breath…”
In US commercials, the product is positioned
as fast acting, long lasting, allows users to
avoid spending time unproductively.
Religion
Nike “Air Melt”, “Air Grill”
 “Flames”
“Allah” in Arabic script
High and Low Context
High Context Culture
Low Context Culture
• Implicit, ambiguous
communication
• Long term relationships
• Homogenous culture
• Japan, Saudi Arabia
• Explicit, unambiguous
communication
• Short term relationships
• Heterogeneous culture
• U.S., Switzerland
“I am ____________________”
Stacey
–
–
–
–
–
“I am charming”
“I am a Roman Catholic”
“I am tall”
“I am honest”
“I am with a sense of humor”
Independent Self-construal
Quentin
–
–
–
–
–
“I am a family man”
“I am a resident of Syracuse”
“I am smart”
“I am an American”
“I am a good friend”
Interdependent Self-construal
Analytical vs. Holistic Cognition
• West
–
–
–
–
–
Analytical
Content-focused
Category-based
Field-independent
Internal attribution
• East
–
–
–
–
–
Holistic
Context-focused
Relationship-based
Field-dependent
External attribution
B
A
What goes with this? A or B
Overcoming Cultural Barriers
• Barriers to successful international advertising
– Ethnocentrism
• Tendency to view and value things through one’s own
culture
– Self-Reference Criterion (SRC)
• Unconscious reference to own cultural values,
experiences, and knowledge to make decisions
Media Challenges
• Availability and coverage
– Not all media are pervasive
– Some ads are not acceptable
– Local knowledge is important for print
• Costs and Pricing
– Rates must be negotiated
– Global coverage is expensive
– Bidding can escalate prices further
Regulatory Challenges
• Can you use:
– Ads directed to children?
– Foreign languages in ads?
– National symbols in ads?
Ad Campaigns:
Global versus local
Global Campaigns
Message
Market
A
Local Campaigns
Message 1
Market
B
Message 2
Market
C
Message 3
Would international consumers understand
the storyline and characters?
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Clydesdale
• Wikipedia:
– The Clydesdale is a breed of draft horse named after and
derived from hard-working farm horses of Clydesdale (now
Lanarkshire), Scotland. They are perhaps most famous for
their use as the mascot of beer company Anheuser-Busch's
Budweiser brand.