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100 word response. Chicago style citing. Texbook:
Jandt, F. (2004). Intercultural Communication:A Global Reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
“Nike’s Communication with Black Audiences,” Armstrong, Jandt pages 264-278
Marketing outside of your own culture can be difficult so its essential to make sure you design a product that reaches all cultures and at least is appealing to the majority of consumers. The influence of culture on communication strategies aimed at ethnic groups has long been realized by markets and advertising professionals (pp264 jandt). Nikes communication with Black Audiences was really helpful to read to when understanding the importance of this issue. An increase in the size and resources of the black consumer market has prompted many organizations to increase their understanding of the challenges of devising marketing communications to appeal to black consumers. Since advertising is one vehicle marketers use to convey information about their products, its key to use certain images, words, cues etc to gravitate to the consumer. I learned in this article that advertising around these ideas builds consumers an promotes sales. Effective communication is largely dependent on shared values! Each individual has cultural software that imparts on their thoughts and behaviors and there’ a way to influence people with this upon purchasing.
References
Jandt, F. (2004). Intercultural Communication:A Global Reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
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100 word response. Chicago style citing. Articles uploaded for use if needed.
Lego Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/lego-racism-star-wars_n_2541369.html?utm_hp_ref=business
Ad in Thailand:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/ikea-transgender-ad-thailand-offends-group-video_n_2540884.html
The case study article really brought to light for me the ways in which we can communicate the same thing and the same ideas, but do it in a way that is more culturally meaningful to our target group. I was particular struck by Harkness-Regli’s assertion that “professional communicator’s invention is not content focused as much as it is adaptation focused. (as cited in Melton, 2009, p.234) The meaning I took away was that in developing communication materials multi-culturally, it is not so much about putting out a certain product, but about changing your communication style to fit each group. It really got me to thinking about the cultural communication styles of the groups I will be working to sell to. For example, when I am selling furniture to my Brazilian demographic, I will need to keep in mind which forms of media speak most to them. Do I want to use a more visually exciting ad campaign, or do I want to focus on upbeat language, or informative language? I’m not sure, but I will need to figure it out.
The stories about the companies whose ad campaigns have sparked debate about their values and possible bias’s really got me thinking as well. When we are speaking to another culture, it might be very easy to let our own prejudice leak through, even if we are not aware it exists. The Lego palace and figurines weren’t meant to be offensive, but they were. So we need to take a step back from our communications and make sure we aren’t saying more than we mean. With the Ikea controversy, we saw examples of two extremes in intercultural marketing that went too far. The ad in Thailand was meant to speak to a cultural norm, but because it was not handled in a culturally relevant way, it was offensive. Some jokes can only be told by an insider. On the other hand, IKEA compromised their own values to create woman-free advertising just so it would appeal to their foreign market. If you go too far from your own cultural values, you are likely to come off as pandering. The key, I think, is that we must carefully examine any material that we are presenting to a culture outside of our own to make sure that we are not going so far to be culturally relevant that we are making a mockery of their culture and ourselves.
Melton, Jr., J.H. (September, 2009). Going global: A case study of rhetorical invention, packaging, delivery and feedback collection. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications. 52(3). 229-242.
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HuffPost
Social Reading
IKEA Saudi Arabia Catalogue Has Women
Deleted
CP | By Karl Ritter, The Associated Press Posted: 10/01/2012 9:31 am Updated: 10/01/2012
12:30 pm
redditstumble
STOCKHOLM – Ikea is being criticized for deleting images of women from the Saudi version of
its furniture catalogue, a move the company says it regrets.
Comparing the Swedish and Saudi versions of the catalogue, free newspaper Metro on Monday
showed that women had been airbrushed out of otherwise identical pictures showcasing the
company’s home furnishings.
The report raised questions in Sweden about Ikea’s commitment to gender equality, and the
company released a statement expressing “regret” over the issue.
“We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of
the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values,” the company said.
Women appear only infrequently in Saudi-run advertising, mostly on Saudi-owned TV channels
that show women in long dresses, scarves covering their hair and long sleeves. In imported
magazines, censors black out many parts of a woman’s body including arms, legs and chest.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/daniel-tencer
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When Starbucks opened its coffee shops in the conservative, Muslim kingdom, it removed the
alluring, long-haired woman from its logo, keeping only her crown.
Ikea’s Saudi catalogue, which is also available online, looks the same as other editions of the
publication, except for the absence of women.
One picture shows a family apparently getting ready for bed, with a young boy brushing his teeth
in the bathroom. However, a pajama-clad woman standing next to the boy is missing from the
Saudi version.
Another picture of a five women dining has been removed altogether in the Saudi edition.
Swedish equality minister Nyamko Sabuni noted that Ikea is a private company that makes its
own decisions, but added that it also projects an image of Sweden around the world.
“For Ikea to remove an important part of Sweden’s image and an important part of its values in a
country that more than any other needs to know about about Ikea’s principles and values — that’s
completely wrong,” Sabuni told The Associated Press.
Ikea Group, one of the many branches in the company’s complicated corporate structure, said it
had produced the catalogue for a Saudi franchisee outside the group.
“We are now reviewing our routines to safeguard a correct content presentation from a values
point-of-view in the different versions of the IKEA Catalogue worldwide,” it said.
___
Brian Murphy in Dubai contributed to this article
