Culture and Society’s role in Consumer Behavior

The selected article is entitled as ‘Painful Barbie in a Global Marketing Perspective’ and the company chosen is the American company called Mattel, Inc.

Culture and Society plays a decisive role for consumers while purchasing a product. While advertising or marketing a product, one has to keep in mind the local taste of the consumer. A common marketing strategy cannot be adopted for all countries across the globe. One should market one’s product in a country keeping the culture of a specific country in mind. Culture is an important determinant of what a person requires and wants. Culture influences the behaviour and thoughts of a person. According to research, culture, sub-culture and social classes plays a very important role when a consumer is buying a product (Bourquin et.al, 2016). Culture not only has an impact on preferences, but also the way people make decisions thereby influencing consumption pattern.

According to research, some cultures give a lot of importance to family than others. For example in Mexico, adolescents are more inclined to seeking parental guidance while procuring a product unlike in The United States of America. (Nonic, 2017)

Cultural diversity also plays a very important role in consumer behaviour because countries that have a diverse culture are more open to accepting a wide array of products from foreign countries.

Barbie is a type of doll that was created by American company Mattel, Inc. and launched at the American International Toy Fair in New York on the 9^th of March 1959. Ruth Handler created this doll (Driessen, 2016).

There were complaints about the lack of diversity in the range of Barbie dolls. Mattel responded to the criticism by manufacturing Hispanic dolls in 1980 and then later producing dolls based on women across the globe and marketed these dolls across the world (Rosenzweig, Tellis & Mazursky, 2015).

In 2007, Mattel launched the ‘Cinco de Mayo Barbie’ wearing a dress reflecting the flag of Mexico. According to reports in the Hispanic magazine “One of the most dramatic developments in Barbie’s history came when she embraced multi-culturalism and was released in a wide variety of native costumes, hair colours and skin tones to more closely resemble the girls who idolized her. Among these were Cinco De Mayo Barbie, Spanish Barbie, Peruvian Barbie, Mexican Barbie and Puerto Rican Barbie. She also has had close Hispanic friends, such as Teresa” (Nonic, 2017)

 In order to tap the African market, Mattel produced ‘Colored Francie’ in 1967 who was the first African American doll. However other than her dark skin, the doll named ‘Colored Francie’ lacked African American features. Mattel then introduced a doll called Christie in 1968 which is regarded as the first African American doll. In 1990 in order to promote and market Barbie dolls in Africa, Mattel created a focus group with African American children and their parents, and clinical psychologist, Darlene Powell Hudson. “Instead of using the same molds for the Caucasian Barbies, new ones were created. In addition, facial features, skin tones, hair texture, and names were all altered. The body shapes looked different, but the proportions were the same to ensure clothing and accessories were interchangeable” (Rosenzweig, Tellis & Mazursky, 2015). In 2016, Mattel produced a plethora of Barbie dolls having seven types of skin tones, twenty-two eye colors, and twenty-four types of hairstyles. This was done to negate the effect of declining sales of Barbie dolls. (Nonic, 2017)

Mattel, Inc. and Barbie

The four P’s of marketing include Product, Price, Place and Promotion. (Jarman 2016)

Production of a product is of paramount importance and it should reflect a person’s desires and wants and should completely satisfy a customer. Product can be in services or goods.

Price refers to the budget of an organization and profit margin. The amount a customer pays for goods or services is known as the price of the product.

The Place of a product refers to where a company sells and delivers a product. Some companies might place their products in stores while other companies may decide to place their products in television commercials and films in order to garner attention from the masses.

Promotion refers to marketing and advertising of a product.  Marketing is extremely crucial because through marketing, a consumer becomes aware of a product.

Mattel, Inc. has incorporated all four ‘P’s in its marketing strategy (Jarman, 2016). Mattel customizes and produces Barbie dolls that reflect the specific culture of a country. It keeps the price competitive in order to ward off competition from its rivals. They place their products both in stores as well as in television programs entitled ‘Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World’ and ‘Barbie and the Sensations: Rocking Back to Earth’ and also in films like ‘The Toy Story 2’ and ‘Toy Story 3.’  Mattel, Inc. also depends in marketing and advertising of a product so that Barbie dolls are popular not only in the country of their origin, i,e. the United States of America but across the world and cultures.

Barbie dolls have often bore the brunt of criticism, because of their unrealistic body image. Studies have reported that it can also lead to low self – esteem among young girls who play with her and who do not have the measurements of a Barbie doll. It has also given rise to a syndrome called the “Barbie syndrome” wherein young girls aspire to be like a Barbie doll and aspire to have a lifestyle that is akin to Barbie. This is a type of body dysmorphic order that leads to eating disorders like bulimia as well as an obsession with cosmetic surgery. (Worobey & Worobey, 2014)

In the light of such criticism, Mattel has introduced a range of new Barbie dolls. In March, on International Women’s Day, Mattel launched a range of Barbie dolls depicting women who have broken barriers and made a significant contribution to society. This was also done to promote and market Barbie dolls across cultures and countries (Grin.com 2018).

Criticism faced by Barbie and steps taken by Mattel to address these issues

Like all multinational companies, Mattel invests a lot of time and money on the research of domestic and foreign markets to increase their sale of Barbie dolls. Mattel also customizes its products to fit the local market, for example changing Barbie’s eyes from the colour blue to brown. However when Mattel customized its Barbie dolls to sell in Japan, it was found that Japan preferred the original Barbie doll to its local counterpart (Omicsonline.org 2018).

 Mattel is a strong financial company supported by a loyal client base that stretches all over the world. In order to increase future opportunities, Mattel/Barbie must lower marketing costs, be consistent in brand image and activities which meets the need of customers, it should also have good customer and business retention, and be good in retail and internet branding. (Worobey & Worobey, 2014)

The marketing success of Mattel is reflected in the fact that even though in Iran, the cost of a Barbie is more than the average salary of an Iranian, still Barbie is coveted by Iranians. Even though in Iran, Mattel has a local competitor in Bratz, the Iranian made doll, still Mattel because of its advertising and marketing policies have combated this threat from Bratz, by launching a new line called Flavas, in order to prevent a drop in sales. (Solomon et al., 2014)

Mattel can promote Barbie in The United States of America and around the world very successfully by adopting a sustainable global marketing strategy. Thus it is extremely necessary for Mattel to assess the cultural factors both in the global and international markets because factors in every market can proclaim different needs which Mattel has to cater to in order  to be successful. Mattel and Barbie should constantly innovate and renovate in order to maintain its successful market position in the world.

References:

Bourquin, O. A. E. E., Gulic, D., Hofer, K., Osornio, M. D. P., & Hota, M. (2016). How can child oriented marketing induce lifetime loyalty in children?.

Driessen, R. O. B. I. N. (2016). The Evolution of an Icon: A Comparison of the Values and Stereotypes Reflected in the Original 1959 Barbie Doll and the Curvy 2016 Barbie Doll.

Grin.com (2018), Cultural Differences in FMCG Marketing in the German and the Indian Market, Retrieved 13^th August 2018 from https://www.grin.com/document/285377

Jarman, H. (2016). ‘Curvy’Barbie: a step in the right direction, but is it far enough?. Journal of Aesthetic Nursing, 5(8), 396-397.

Nonis, S. A. (2017). GLOBAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL MARKETING. THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE MARKETING EDUCATORS LITTLE ROCK, AR MARCH 9-10, 2017, 40.

Omicsonline.org (2018), Painful Barbie in a Global Marketing Perspective, Retrieved 13^th August 2018 from https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/painful-barbie-in-a-global-marketing-perspective-2168-9601-1000142.php?aid=63257

Resnick, S. M., Cheng, R., Simpson, M., & Lourenço, F. (2016). Marketing in SMEs: a “4Ps” self-branding model. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 22(1), 155-174.

Rosenzweig, S., Tellis, G. J., & Mazursky, D. (2015). Where does innovation start: With customers, users, or inventors. Marketing science institute working paper series report no. 15, 108.

Solomon, M. R., Dahl, D. W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.

Worobey, J., & Worobey, H. S. (2014). Body-size stigmatization by preschool girls: In a doll’s world, it is good to be “Barbie”. Body Image, 11(2), 171-174.