Cross-cultural advertising

"Culture is like putting Alka-seltzer in a glass – you can't see it, but somehow it does something,"
from

  Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Culture affects everything we do. This applies to all areas of human life, from personal relationships to doing business abroad. Culture is the framework of understanding when interacting in our native culture. However, when interacting with different cultures, this framework no longer applies due to cross-cultural differences.

Intercultural communication aims to help minimize the negative impact of cross-cultural differences by creating a common framework for people of different cultural backgrounds. In the business sector, cross-cultural solutions are used in areas such as human resources, team building, foreign trade, negotiation and website design.

Intercultural communication solutions are also critical to effective cross-cultural advertising. Services and products are usually designed and sold by domestic audiences. When a product is sold to an international audience, the same domestic domestic advertising campaign is ineffective in most cases.

The essence of advertising is to make people believe that products are for them. By purchasing, they will get some benefits, whether it is lifestyle, status, convenience or economy. However, when advertising activities are taken abroad, there are different values ​​and opinions about what state of interest or convenience. These differences invalidate the original advertising campaign.

Therefore, any cross-cultural advertising campaign must accept an understanding of a particular culture. Some examples will be examined by highlighting areas of cross-cultural differences in advertising.

Language in cross-cultural advertising

The key to showing that language is effective for cross-cultural advertising seems a bit obvious. However, the fact that the company has not been able to check the linguistic meaning of the company or product name and slogan indicates that these issues have not been properly addressed.

The advertising world is full of linguistic cross-cultural mistakes. More funny is Ford's "Pinto' in Brazil. After seeing the sales failure, they quickly realized that this is because Brazilians don't want to be seen driving a car means little male genitals." .

It is also necessary to analyze the cultural adaptability of language. For example, the slogan "Challenge Everything" used by computer game maker EA Sports has caused disability in religious or hierarchical societies where harmonious relationships are maintained through respected and non-confrontational values.

This must be done before scrutinizing the language in any cross-cultural campaign

Communication in cross-cultural advertising

Understanding other ways of cultural communication enables advertising campaigns to communicate with potential customers in a way that they understand and appreciate. For example, the communication style can be explicit or implicit. Explicit communicators [such as USA] assert that the listener does not understand the background information or issues related to the topic of the discussion, so provide it yourself. Implicit communicators [such as Japan] assume that the audience has a good understanding of the subject and minimizes information about the promises that the listener understands from the hints. Explicit communicators will find that the implicit communication style is ambiguous, and implicit communicators will find exaggerated communication styles.

Colors, numbers and images in cross-cultural advertising

Even the simplest and most legitimate advertisements need to be examined under a cross-cultural microscope. Colors, numbers, symbols and images are not completely transcultural.

In some cultures, there are lucky colors, such as Chinese red and unfortunate colors, such as Japanese black. Some colors have a certain meaning; green is considered to be a special color in Islam, and some colors have tribal connections in parts of Africa.

Many hotels in the United States or the United Kingdom do not have rooms on the 13th or 13th floor. Similarly, Japan's Japan Airlines does not have a seat number of 4 or 9. If there are numbers in foreign countries with negative meanings, you should avoid displaying or packaging these numbers in the advertisement.

Images are also culturally sensitive. Although it is common to see photos of bikini women on advertising posters on the streets of London, these images can cause anger in the Middle East.

Cultural values ​​in cross-cultural advertising

When advertising abroad, we must carefully analyze the cultural values ​​that underpin society. Is there a religion that most people practice? Is society a collectivism or individualism? Is it family-oriented? Is it layered? Is there a dominant political or economic ideology? If left unchecked, all of this will affect advertising campaigns.

For example, advertising that focuses on personal success, independence, and emphasizing the word "I" can be negatively impacted in countries where teamwork is considered a positive quality. Rebellion or lack of respect for authority should always be avoided in a family-oriented or hierarchical society.

Through the conclusion, we can see that the principle of advertising also runs through cross-cultural advertising. That is - understand your market, be attractive to them and what their wishes are. Cross-cultural advertising simply uses common sense and analyzes how different elements of an advertising campaign are influenced by culture and is modified to best communicate with the target audience.

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Orignal From: Cross-cultural advertising