Cross Cultural Advertising
Culture affects everything we do. This applies to all areas of human life from personal relationships to conducting business abroad.
When interacting within our native cultures, culture acts as a framework of understanding. However, when interacting with different cultures this framework no longer applies due to cross cultural differences.
Cross cultural communication aims to help minimise the negative impact of cross cultural differences through building common frameworks for people of different cultures to interact within.
In business, cross cultural solutions are applied in areas such as HR, team building, foreign trade, negotiations and website design.
Cross cultural communication solutions are also critical to effective cross cultural advertising. Services and products are usually designed and marketed at a domestic audience.
When for a product is then marketed at an international audience the same domestic advertising campaign abroad will in most cases be ineffective.
The essence of advertising is convincing people that a product is meant them. By purchasing it, they will receive some benefit, whether it be lifestyle, status, convenience or financial.
However, when an advertising campaign is taken abroad different values and perceptions as to what enhances status or gives convenience exist.
These differences make the original advertising campaign defunct. It is therefore critical to any cross cultural advertising campaign that an understanding of a particular culture is acquired.
By way of highlighting areas of cross cultural differences in advertising a few examples shall be examined.