International marketing blunders

The increasing pace of Globalization for the past few decades have been opening up fruitful opportunities for international trade and global investments. The international expansion of multinational firms and the promotion of their services and products abroad have laid the ground for building recently industrialized industries (Samaha,   Beck & Palmatier, 2014). This in turn has plummeted the issues concerning cultural backgrounds and the ways they affect international marketing. For addressing the topic of cultural background and its impacts on international marketing, the essay reviews three marketing blunders in the international forum that have occurred in the last 25 years, and suggest how these blunders could have been avoided. Analyzing the cultural misunderstandings that lead to the marketing mistakes, the argument points out the importance of working with a local advertising agency while going global. Important discussions in the essay include the delineations on the perils of culture risk and the reasons why it is as important as political or commercial risk in the arena of international marketing. Finally, the essay concluded with a hypothetical business visit to an Asian country for examining the ways cultural differences can stand in the way of business marketing.

Although thinking and acting global is a massively used slogan among international marketers, the blunders observed in the past years suggest that a multicultural approach to global marketing, (Petersen,  Kushwaha  & Kumar,  2015) without hurting the ethic sense of indigenous culture is a far cry. Here are some examples to support the argument:

In 1994, the beer company Heinkenen launched a promotional campaign for the annual soccer tournament. Along with other activities that the company engaged in for promotion, they had imprinted the flags of all the qualifying countries under the cap of the bottle of their leading beer brand. One of the flags also portrayed the one of Saudi Arabia with its holy verse. What chaos that followed should have been anticipated earlier while packaging. The people of Saudi Arabia responded with detestations since their followed code of sacred verse was linked to an alcoholic beverage, something that is considered a sacrilege in their culture and religion. The promotion has to be discontinued and all the bottles were recalled by the brewer. Had the company consulted with local advertisers before launching the promotion exclusively, a disaster like this could have been avoided. The company evidently does not have any local representative of the brand  in the country who could brief the promoters about its cultural sentiments and ethical concerns. Moreover, the company should have had a diplomatic talk with the local government before designing the promotion strategy.

The linguistic barriers in different culture impose serious threats on international marketing. Some of the major blunders in the history of international marketing have been due to mistranslations. The attempts to make sales of Chevy Nova by North American countries to Mexico went down the drains for valid reasons. The farcical translation of No va in Spanish as no go makes it ironical as a name for an automobile. More ludicrously, the food manufacturing company for babies named Gerber had a problematic translation in French, since it means “to vomit”. Braniff airlines in 1987, pepped up the coach class with leather seats for boosting the lagging sales. The “fly in leather” slogan featured in the English advertising, translated to a slang for being naked in Spanish. These marketing failures reveal the problems associated with translations and the perils of mistranslations which have a massive impact on the global marketing strategies. These companies should have ideally recruited an experienced interpreter and translator before going forward with their promotional campaigns. Global marketers must realize that language is not merely words, or tools of communication, it represents the culture and values of a place. Since marketing and advertising involve communication all marketers must have a proper grasp of the language where the marketing activity is aimed at.

The most appalling instance of marketing blunder in the history of international marketing was probably witnessed in 2014 advertisement of kurl-on mattress. Malala Yousafzai, the now renowned and internationally  famous educational right activist from Pakistan, was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman at the age of 14 in year 2012. The bounce-back theme of the advertisement portrayed a cartoon version of the fatal incident, where Malala is seen being shot with a gun and bounces back on a kurl-on mattress after her fight at the hospital and before she goes to win the Nobel Laureate for her activism. The advertisement shamelessly trivialized a tragic incident for promotional purpose and it hurt the ethical sense of many, irrespective of their culture and ethnicity (Mihet, 2013). Something like this is not merely an outcome of failing to identify cultural sensitivities, but a lack of an understanding in the principles of corporate social responsibility. The only way to prevent appalling incidents like these is to educate the international markets about their basic social responsibility and design their activities and advertisements in a way that it does not offend the ethical concerns of any cultural, political or religious sentiment (Shukla, 2012).

Culture can be understood as a treasure that is part and of the collective unconscious, of people perceptions of themselves and the rest of the world. Many scholars specializing in international studies have repeatedly come up with the argument that culture risk is as important and as political or commercial risk in the field of international marketing. The international marketer must realize that markets do not just naturally in the society within the political setup of a country. Markets become one, evolving, changing, expanding and contracting in response to the cultural influences of the area. Culture should therefore be viewed objectively by the far-sighted foreign marketer, with the evaluation and subsequent appreciation of the fact that cultures are not good or bad, right or wrong, but simply different. Failing to correspond with the cultural concerns of a given location can be just as perilous for marketing as in cases of political interferences and changes in social discretions (Wang, Chen  & Chen,  2012). Culture determines the kind of relationships a company will develop with its foreign based client. Better the understanding of indigenous cultures in the targeted location, higher the chances of attracting more consumers and boosting market sales. It has also been observed that the determinants of success in the international marketing arena like uncertainty avoidance, orientation, relationship and power distance are all inextricably related to culture (Petersen, Kushwaha  & Kumar,  2015). The international marketer must be aware if the target market is a collectivist or an individualist society, the kind of power distance shared by the subordinates and the managers, if the location has a high or low tendency of uncertainty avoidance. All these factors have heavy influences on the potential success or failure of the international marketing strategies. Further, society and politics of a nation is built by the culture and tradition of the same, hence an international marketer must consider the cultural backgrounds of a country first, before attempting to comprehend and analyze the social and political factors that might have impacts of the marketing activities (Shukla,  2012). For instance, in orthodox Islamic countries like Africa and Iran, people are extremely sensitive about commercials that feature women exposing their intimate body parts, and therefore would be averted from buying products that engage in such advertisements (Du  & Boateng,  2015). Indiscreet exposure could also be a matter or political concern in some countries and that goes on to show how culture is inextricably related with politics and society of a nation.(“Marketing Blunders & Global Culture”, 2018). Culture is a broad and all-encompassing concept that includes apart from language, the belief systems, the aesthetics, the thought-process and the anticipated consumer behavior of the people in a country. If the marketer is well-informed about the aesthetic inclination of a culture, he/she will be better able to design the packaging and the advertisement of the product in accordance with their aesthetic sense. For example, darker shades like red and brown symbolize death and danger in some Islamic countries while the same colors are used to express joy and exuberance in several areas of Asia. Communication is the primary tool of marketing and the reason for the failure of so many international campaigns have undoubtedly been miscommunication. Understanding the culture of a nation helps marketers communicate with the local people more effectively and assists them to build up relationships based on loyalty and understanding with the clients around the globe (Chang et al., 2012).

On a first business visit to a South-Asian country for marketing a product, the audience would be a little startled to hear a foreigner attempting to speak fluently in the local dialect (Du  & Boateng,  2015). If it’s an educated and aware audience, they would be a little skeptical about the rather over-friendly nature of the marketer, considering he/she insists them to use the first name. The initial response can however be converted into wilful participation in the discussion if the speaker speaks from the cultural perspectives of the audience. People would be least hesitant to communicate with the speaker and the program would draw a large base consumers since the event is conduct in the local language (Kolk,  2016).

A brand like Jack Daniels promotes its products in terms of masculinity authenticity and fraternalism successfully in English speaking countries. The market economy of China is socialist and the people, especially the middle class are extremely status oriented. Since the masculine approach of marketing would not be as effective in a country like China, a feminine and collectivist consideration for promotion would be a useful tactic for achieving the objectives of marketing (Wang, Chen  & Chen,  2012). Chinese people prefer simplicity in thought and actions, an alcoholic drink can be advertised without being too edgy and fraternal for appealing to a wider consumer base. Commercials may feature women and families so that people feel that the brand corresponds well with their culture.

Conclusion

The discussion clearly indicates how culture impacts the activities of international marketing more strongly than technology, society and even politics. An international marketer must be well-adept with the cultural background of the targeted country if he/she wishes to carry out the activities in promotion and advertisement successful, with minimum hindrance. It is extremely important that the marketers in the international forum identifies the cultural differences and design their products and services accordingly so that it does not offend the cultural values of a nation and appeal to them in its own right. An ideal recommendation for ensuring that the advertisements are well-received by particular cultures, would be to consult with local advertising agencies and form an alliance with them for the campaigns. Healthy relationships between companies and customers are based on empathy understanding, respect and loyalty; cultural consideration is taking into account all these factors while conducting the market procedures in the international forum.

References

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Du, M., & Boateng, A. (2015). State ownership, institutional effects and value creation in cross-border mergers & acquisitions by Chinese firms. International Business Review, 24(3), 430-442.

Hall of shame: More multicultural brand blunders. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.campaignlive.com/article/hall-shame-multicultural-brand-blunders/1423941

Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 23-34.

Marketing Blunders & Global Culture. (2018). Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-blunders-global-culture-64855.html

Mihet, R. (2013). Effects of culture on firm risk-taking: a cross-country and cross-industry analysis. Journal of Cultural Economics, 37(1), 109-151.

Petersen, J. A., Kushwaha, T., & Kumar, V. (2015). Marketing communication strategies and consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), 44-63.

Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The role of culture in international relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(5), 78-98.

Shukla, P. (2012). The influence of value perceptions on luxury purchase intentions in developed and emerging markets. International Marketing Review, 29(6), 574-596.

Wang, C. H., Chen, K. Y., & Chen, S. C. (2012). Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), 119-129.