To The Understanding Between The Countries! or Global Advertising

Advertising in a new market is always a challenge. And if this market is a different country (or several countries) you definitely to consider cultural issues long before you start planning the campaign.
Culture is everywhere around us, it affects everything we do and reflects itself in all the things we do. From catch phrases to classic movies, from the way we dress to the way we communicate, cultural framework we are living in gives a certain tone and sets a context for everything that is going on.
It is simple, -- and it is often left behind by advertisers when targeting to a culturally different audience. The most obvious it gets when addressing completely different countries.
Marieke K. de Mooij in her book Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes talks about several cultural elements that should be taken into consideration when advertising internationally:

• signs, symbols, and body language
• stereotypes and thinking patterns 
• myths, rituals, and beliefs
• common ideology
• language
• and others.

The differences might be subtle or might seem insignificant, however I can tell from my experience living in Russia that being unaware or ignorant of cultural issues is the most common mistake Western advertisers can make. For example, the Soviet heritage and the history of the country on the whole has predetermined collectivism and sharing type of personality. That's why promoting American individualistic lifestyles simply won't work because people won't associate themselves with this type of personality. No matter how funny, engaging and entertaining the ad might be.


Neil Payne, a cultural consultant from Kwintessential Ltd., outlines several main things to keep in mind that a cross-cultural advertiser should keep in mind:

Japanese consumers would more likely consider American way of communication exaggerated because it presents the information too aggressively, whereas Japanese ads might be considered vague by American audiences because of assuming that the message recipient is to some extent familiar with the product/service.

Red is lucky in China, and black is unlucky in Japan. British and Russians are not really fond of number 13. All those little thing could be of a huge importance if put in a spotlight.

Is the country collectivist or individualistic? How do they treat time: always on time or constantly getting late? How are family and religion important? Is there a prevalent ideology?

Failing to look carefully at these issues might make a well-planned campaign a disaster.

Take a look at some funny cross-cultural advertising gaffes:

When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in Leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly Naked."

The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux" 

An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit Instead of "I Saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa)

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem – Feeling Free," got translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."

REFERENCES

De Mooij, M. K. (2010). 

Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Payne, N. (2007) International Advertising: Understanding cultural differences. In Cross cultural communication. Retrieved from http://www.sideroad.com/Cross_Cultural_Communication/international-advertising.html

Some Humorous Cross-Cultural Advertising Gaffes! (n.d.) In Essential Action: Taking on the tobacco industry Across Borders. Retrieved from http://www.takingontobacco.org/intro/funny.html