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■ Research Article

Global Market and Commercials: Understanding Cultural Diversities

Armando Calabrese, Guendalina Capece*, Roberta Costa and Francesca Di Pillo

Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Impresa, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Roma, Italy

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in the consequences of culture for global marketing and advertis- ing. Indeed, culture determines how people communicate, what people communicate and in which way national cul- tures affect customers’ behaviours and perceptions. Many studies underline the necessity of adapting advertising strategies to the consumers’ culture. Understanding the consequences of cultural differences is, therefore, crucial for marketing and advertising decision-makers when companies have to develop international advertising campaigns. Therefore, the main purpose of our research is to investigate the approach of a multinational company towards cul- tural differences in international advertising. With this objective in mind, we analyse through a qualitative content analysis the commercials of a well-known soft drink company in five countries in order to understand cultural differ- ences and how they are reflected in the advertising campaigns according to the Hofstede’s model. Our findings show that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are considered to be supportive and useful guidelines for the development of suit- able commercials for culturally different target groups. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

Globalization and the resulting increasing intensity of international competition have been forcing com- panies to develop new approaches in order to suc- cessfully market their products and services on a world-wide basis. As global trade increases, corpo- rations around the world have a growing need for knowledge of foreign countries. Because consumers are increasingly found abroad, advertisers must de- vote an ever-increasing percentage of their advertis- ing budgets to foreign markets. Therefore, a profound knowledge of foreign cultures is vital in order to effectively develop appropriate marketing campaigns and communicate with consumers worldwide (Terlutter et al., 2006; Xie et al., 2009).

As a result, the advertising industry has to deal with a growing demand for international advertis- ing and the development of appropriate and effective advertising campaigns. One issue that a company inevitably has to deal with during the in- ternationalization of its advertising development is that consumers are not the same all over the world.

They differ in terms of needs, living standards, available money, attitudes, beliefs, buying habits etc. (Aillaud and Hähnel, 2006). Cultural values rep- resent the most basic and core beliefs of a society and consequently national cultural differences play an ever more important role in global markets (d’Iribarne, 2009). These values represent a power- ful force that shapes the motivations, lifestyles and product choices of the members of any given culture. Hence, advertising needs have led to the phenom-

enon of the global–local dilemma: whether to stan- dardise advertising for efficiency reasons or to adapt to local habits and consumer motives to be ef- fective (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). In the international advertising environment, the

complex issue of whether to adopt standardization vs. adaptation has been controversial for many years now that still remains unsolved. ‘Standardiza- tion of advertising’ means that at least one of the three possible components of a campaign is the same for all of the countries included in the cam- paign. These three basic components are: strategy (the creative selling proposition), execution (the ele- ments found in the advert and their structure) and language (Duncan and Ramaprasad, 1995). The ad- vantages of standardization are lower advertising costs, better global advertising coordination and a

*Correspondence to: Guendalina Capece, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Impresa, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Roma, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]

Knowledge and Process Management Volume 22 Number 3 pp 167–179 (2015) Published online 21 May 2015 in Wiley Online Library (www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1472

more consistent worldwide image (Armstrong and Kotler, 2000; Jeannet and Hennessey, 2005). How- ever, psychological studies demonstrate that it is easier to influence one homogeneous group (i.e. one culture) than heterogeneous groups (i.e. differ- ent cultures) which differ in their values, attitudes and needs. One possible solution for this dilemma is global advertising while allowing for the possibil- ity and flexibility of local adaptation. In this sense, global advertising strategies are developed, which bring efficiency and consistence into worldwide campaigns; although advertising programmes are also adapted, to make the campaigns more respon- sive to the needs and expectations of consumers in local markets (Armstrong and Kotler, 2000).

The relationship between different cultural values and communication effectiveness has been widely studied and discussed in literature (e.g. Merkin et al., 2013), while the study of cultures to under- stand global advertising has only recently demon- strated that an adaptation strategy is more effective (Dow, 2005; Calantone et al., 2006; Okazaki et al., 2006; Wong and Merrilees, 2007).

The art of advertising regards the ability to de- velop symbols or messages that must be understood by the target audience. In international advertising, messages and symbols created for one culture may not be decoded in the same way by members of other cultures. Indeed, in some cases they may even defy decoding. Understanding cultural differences is therefore a crucial matter for the development of successful international advertising (Anholt, 2000). It has been observed that in global markets an oppos- ing tendency towards product customization and exploiting local specificities often emerges (Ess and Sudweeks, 2001; Anderson, 2006; Sunstein, 2009). With respect to the Internet several studies state that companies will only be able to exploit technical, cultural and social potentialities if they recognize and manage the strategic role played by customers’ cultural peculiarities (Cyr and Trevor-Smith, 2004). Accordingly, the following question arises for every marketer, advertiser and company: how does communication to consumers of different cultures differ? And more precisely: how should we approach cultural differences in advertising development?

The underlying premise of the paper is that when customizing advertising to appeal to a different cul- ture it is not enough merely to translate the text; the overall communication strategy should be appro- priate to the audience as well.

The main body of research on cross-cultural man- agement states that cultural adaptation of web and TV commercials can improve the effectiveness of companies’ selling strategies (Singh et al., 2004; Cho and Cheon, 2005; Capece et al., 2013). More- over, in a global market, the ability to manage strat- egies, tactics and operations on a multi-cultural space has to be considered as a strategic asset that companies can rely on (Shin, 2012; Zhang and

Lopez-Pascual, 2012). Other studies highlight the importance of considering cultural peculiarities in the design of advertising messages (Singh et al., 2005; Baack and Singh, 2007). With regard to the relationship between advertis-

ing and culture, it has been frequently argued that the cultural values of a country can be found in the core of its advertising messages. Hofstede devel- oped the cultural dimensions theory (1980) which has been applied by various researchers to establish the link between the message and the commercials and a country’s dominant cultural values. Several researches recommend multinational companies to use Hofstede’s indicators when developing adver- tising campaigns or communication materials for their hosting countries (Han and Shavitt, 1994; Albers-Miller and Gelb, 1996). Indeed, marketing campaigns tailored on local cultures can be more persuasive and appealing than standardized adver- tising (Mueller, 1987; Cho et al., 1999; Kang and Mastin, 2008). Comparative and cross-cultural studies are be-

coming increasingly important in the global busi- ness environment. Even though practitioners and academics have studied frameworks for customiz- ing websites according to different customers’ cul- tural backgrounds (e.g. Singh and Matsuo, 2004), few studies rely on empirical intercultural research to investigate the topic of cultural adaptation of in- ternational advertising (Marcus, 2001; Sandeep and Singh, 2005). Even though brand loyalty is an important strate-

gic variable (Brogi et al., 2013), which could also re- duce the impact of cultural differences (as in the case of big brands), Hofstede (1991) claims that it is more useful to study the effects of national cul- tures in people’s behaviour. If in one country appeals and communication

styles are more common than in others, these ele- ments of style are used because they are effective (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2008). When the values of consumers are congruent with the values reflected in advertising, the degree of appeal of the advert, brand or company increases, and thus advertising will be more effective (Bjerke and Polegato, 2006). Consumers are more positively disposed towards local advertisements and find them more interesting and less irritating (Pae et al., 2002). In particular, when using cultural variables like

the Hofstede’s dimensions, ideally comparisons should be made across more than two countries (Hofstede and Fink, 2007). Unfortunately most studies compare the United States with one other country (Chang et al., 2007), whereas to conduct cross-cultural research more thoroughly at least five countries should be compared (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). Following this lead, the purpose of our research

was to study cultural diversity by analysing an advertising campaign constituted by different

168 A. Calabrese et al.

commercials directed to different target markets. We chose a sample of five countries differing both in cultural and economic terms (i.e. Italy, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and Argentina), analysing how a soft drink company projects its own advertising to take account cultural differences. In particular, Italy is a country with western culture and a high level of industrialization, belonging to the G8. Turkey and Argentina have an average rate of in- dustrialization (G20). Turkey represents the culture of the Middle East, while Argentina reflects the Latin America one. Finally, Vietnam and Indonesia reflect the Asian culture and have a low rate of industrialization.

In this paper, we attempt to demonstrate that the advertising professionals take into account the well- known cultural theories of Hofstede (1991) and that they apply them in order to increase efficacy of ad- vertising campaigns and to reach a larger audience.

The following research questions were used to this aim:

• Do people who have seen the TV commercial broadcast in their own country have recognized the elements related to the cultural characteristics of Hofstede?

• Are advertisers aware of the cultural theories of Hofstede (or act as if they were aware) and do they apply them in the international advertising creation process?

Analysing the different commercials of a soft drink company, we try to understand the strategies adopted when developing an international advertis- ing process from the standpoint of considering whether Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are consid- ered or not and to what extent these values are ad- dressed in the commercials.

Our paper is organized as follows: Section 2 de- scribes the Hofstede’s model; Section 3 explains methodology and data collection; Section 4 shows the results of the analysis for the five target coun- tries; Section 5 concludes.

THE HOFSTEDE’S MODEL

Cultural models define patterns of basic problems that have consequences for the functioning of groups and individuals, i.e. (i) relation to authority; (ii) the conception of self, including ego identity; and (iii) primary dilemmas of conflict and dealing with them (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961; Inkeles, 1997). These basic problems can be recognised in the Hofstede’s model (Hofstede, 2001; Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005) and have been found in other studies, such as those by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998), Schwartz (1994), Schwartz and Bilsky (1987) and the recent GLOBE study (Hanges et al., 2004).

One reason for the widespread adoption of Hofstede’s classification of culture lies in the large number of countries measured and the simplicity of his dimensions, which are straightforward and appealing to both academic researchers and busi- ness people. A comparison of different models for the purpose of measuring cultural distance for inter- national marketing strategies shows that the more recent cultural frameworks provide only limited ad- vancements compared with Hofstede’s original work (Magnusson et al., 2008). Hofstede’s dimensional model of national culture

has been applied to various areas of global advertis- ing, and the underlying theories of consumer be- haviour. The model has been used to explain differences in the concepts of self, personality and identity, which in turn explain variations in brand- ing strategy and communications. Another area in which it has been applied is information processing, including differences in perception and categoriza- tion which influence interpersonal and mass com- munication, and the working of advertising (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). According to Hofstede, national cultures vary

along five dimensions: Power Distance (PD), Indi- vidualism versus Collectivism (IDV), Femininity versus Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Long-term versus Short-term Orientation (LTO). Hofstede’s dimensions may be characterized as follows:

• Power Distance Index (PDI) represents the level of social acceptance of power asymmetry;

• Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) measures the degree to which people avoid uncertain situations;

• Individualism (IDV) highlights cultures charac- terized by personal achievements, while collectiv- istic cultures by group achievements and group loyalty.

• Masculinity (MAS) represents cultures character- ized by challenges and social achievements, while feminine cultures by quality of life, environmen- tal care, security and attention to others.

• Long-Term Orientation (LTO) is about orientation towards future rewards, perseverance and thrift; whereas Short-Term Orientation is about respect for tradition and for social obligations (Hofstede, 2001).

The model provides scales from 0 to 100 for 76 countries for each dimension, and each country has a position on each scale or index, relative to other countries. Although the country scores were originally produced in the early 1970s, many repli- cations of Hofstede’s study using different samples have proved that the country ranking in his data is still valid. In the second edition of his book Cul- ture’s Consequences (2001), Hofstede describes over 200 external comparative studies and replications that have supported his indexes.

Understanding Cultural Diversities 169

Using national cultural dimensions to classify cul- ture has an advantage over the descriptive charac- teristics because of its empirical database. This method allows cultures to be clustered, thereby pinpointing which cultures are close enough to make similar and maybe even standardized man- agement approaches viable.

Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions has been subject to several criticisms over the years, about both the methodology used and the reli- ability of the data (Roberts and Boyacigiller, 1984; Søndergaard, 1994; Smith, 2002; Baskerville, 2003). Despite the criticism and limitations of Hofstede’s theory, it has however been applied in a great deal of management research in order to analyse web and mass communication characteristics in different cultures (Ju-Pak, 1999; Taylor, 2000; Calabrese et al., 2014).

Indeed, several studies (Marcus and Gould, 2000; Dormann and Chisalita, 2002; Robbins and Stylianou, 2002) starting from Hofstede’s own re- search (Hofstede, 1980, 1991; Minkov and Hofstede, 2011) confirm the importance of culturally adapting advertising, web sites and mass communication (Ackerman, 2002; Singh and Baack, 2004; Singh and Matsuo, 2004; Singh and Pereira, 2005; Singh et al., 2005; Burgmann et al., 2006; Callahan, 2006).

METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION

The methodology of this study is a qualitative con- tent analysis of the discourses among advertising viewers (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) collected in three contexts: focus groups, social network fan fo- rums and in-depth interviews. Given the qualitative nature of the work, triangulation across data col- lected through three techniques was carried out to improve the survey and reduce the uncertainty of interpretation of the data (Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

The qualitative content analysis was aimed at analysing the communication in advertising in the five target markets chosen as sample (Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, Argentina and Italy).

Data collection took place over a 10-month pe- riod. Five 1-h focus groups were conducted with fan page members (Facebook and Twitter) of the soft drink we chose for our study. We formed a Skype focus group for each country, consisted of 6 to 10 fans who participated voluntarily. Before the beginning of each focus group session, participants were informed that the purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of their feelings and atti- tudes towards the commercial of their favourite soft drink.

To maintain consistency, data collection through social network fan forums was guided by the initial findings of the focus groups. One of the authors subscribed and monitored the fan forums, selecting only the messages related to the study aims. Only

the messages inherent to the comments on commer- cials broadcasted in the study period were analysed. A procedure of purposive sampling (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) was applied in order to focus on Inter- net comments that seemed most significant to our study. Finally, five in-depth interviews were conducted

for each target market. Phenomenological inter- views allow the emergence of meaning from the re- spondent’s own experience (Thompson et al., 1989), and thus it is particularly appropriate for the study of brand commercials that affect purchase choices and consumer behaviour. As recommended by the guidelines of existential

phenomenology (Thompson et al., 1989), all inter- views, conducted via Skype by one of the authors, began with the question: “tell me about the feelings that this commercial of your favourite soft drink aroused in you”. To ensure anonymity of the participants, we re-

ported only the initials of the informant names. All focus group participants and the interviewees were told the aim of this study and asked for their con- sent. Even if all the areas of the Internet used in this study are unrestricted and public, in order to obtain a further degree of consensus, we contacted via email members whose direct quotes were used in this study. Before describing the analysis, it is necessary to

underline the aspects that may influence the nature of the data. In fact, the conditions of data collection are very different among the three types of samples used. On the one hand, sessions with focus groups offer the possibility for direct interaction with par- ticipants and, while this allows for a thorough eval- uation of group interactions, it may also reduce the willingness of some individuals to share their pri- vate feelings. On the other hand, fan forums are characterized by a greater level of anonymity and a strong sense of community among informants de- rived from belonging to the same virtual culture, making their Internet-based comments potentially more honest, as advocated by the naturalistic para- digm (Lincoln and Guba, 1985), but also occasion- ally excessive. Finally, the phenomenological interviews enable the development of trusting rela- tionships between interviewer and interviewee, thus providing a safe channel for the informants to fully and honestly express themselves. Even though there are differences in the data collection methods, we were able to recognize similarities in the viewers’ comments across the three samples, mak- ing the results of the study sufficiently reliable to moderate these potential limitations.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

Preliminary analysis of the data indicated that the same set of feelings and perceptions emerged across

170 A. Calabrese et al.

all samples for each commercial in each target mar- ket. In particular, we focused on how the images, the setting, the gestures, the choice of the protago- nists of commercials reflected the values of the cul- tural dimension of the countries taken into account and, therefore, how the strategy chosen by the mul- tinational company recognized the importance of considering cultural peculiarities in the design of its advertising messages.

In order to determine whether the commercial reflected cultural diversity, we used the Hofstede’s model, whose values for the five considered coun- tries are reported in Figure 1.

Indonesia and Vietnam

Indonesia and Vietnam are analysed together be- cause of the similarities of the Hoftede’s values and commercials.

By analysing the Hofstede’s values (Figure 1) two sub-themes emerged: (i) high PDI and (ii) high col- lectivism. Also from the analysis of viewers’ dis- courses the same themes emerged.

The high collectivism of Indonesia and Vietnam stems from the low values of IDV (respectively, 14 and 20). In the sales process in collectivistic cultures it is necessary to first build a relationship of trust be- tween parties. This need is reflected in the role of the commercial: to create trust. Child protagonists are used in the commercial to create trust as they are spontaneous and honest without malice or second- ary motives. Therefore, a company must instil trust in its consumers and in doing so persuade them to buy its products. Furthermore, in collectivistic cul- tures communication varies with roles and relation- ships, paying attention to belonging and occupying one’s proper place (Singelis and Brown, 1995; Miyahara, 2004). This characteristic is highlighted through the use of a classroom full of children in the commercial. Everyone has their own clearly de- fined role to play, which is emphasized because of the high power distance Indonesian and Vietnamese cultures. In collectivistic cultures, people are ‘we’- conscious. Their identity is based on the social sys- tem to which they belong. In this case the children

have the role of pupils in a class. In the collectivistic model the self cannot be separated from others and the surrounding social context; thus, the self is an in- terdependent entity that is part of an encompassing social relationship (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2002). Indeed, in Eastern countries and cultures children’s very first words are people-related, whereas chil- dren in Western countries initially talk about objects (Tardiff et al., 2008). In collectivistic cultures, youth development is based on encouragement of depen- dency needs in complex familial hierarchical rela- tionships, and the group ideal is being like others, not being different (Triandis, 1995). Indeed, children in the classroom wear the same clothes like a uni- form: this is done to remove potential differences and standardize all children. The presence of collec- tivist values has also emerged from the comments of the fan forums. For example, H.N. writes about the Vietnamese commercial: “Football makes me happy; for me it is a symbol of friendship and being together”. Indeed, the low IDV score (both countries are among the lowest in the world) is also apparent from the scene showing children playing football, the collective game par excellence. Furthermore, I.P. regarding the commercial of Indonesia writes that he likes the scene showing people working together in the desert because “it is better to work in a group than alone”. The high PDI score for Indonesia and Vietnam (78

and 70, respectively) is apparent from the choice of having children as the protagonists in the commer- cials. This choice was also made in consideration of the young target group of the campaign, as con- firmed by the Indonesian advertising agency. This aspect is underlined by the A. P. Indonesian interviewed who says: “the thing that impressed me the most is that children are the protagonists of this TV commercial […] to see children in a class- room recalled pleasant memories of my childhood, when I was a schoolgirl with my uniform and I started going to school, sharing my first experiences of play and study with other children”. In these cul- tures, everyone has his or her rightful place in a so- cial hierarchy. The rightful place concept is important to understand the role of global brands. In high power distance cultures, one’s social status

100

PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO

Indonesia

Vietnam

Italy

Turkey

Argentina

Figure 1 Hoftede’s cultural characteristic values for the considered countries

Understanding Cultural Diversities 171

must be clear so that others can show the proper re- spect. Global brands serve this purpose which is why this soft drink company chose the classroom as the setting for its TV commercial in this country. Indeed, L.T. Vietnamese interviewed affirms: “I re- ally like this commercial since in the images there are always groups of people that play a role, such as children in classroom and the workers at work. Because I like team-working, this commercial evokes to me a sense of belonging to a group which for me is reassuring […]”.

In collectivistic and/or high power distance cul- tures, such as in Indonesia and Vietnam, people ac- quire information more via implicit, interpersonal communication and base their buying decisions more on feelings and trust in the company. More- over, for members of collectivistic cultures where context and situation are important, the brand con- cept plays a crucial role. Indeed, in these cultures it is very unlikely that people will buy unknown brands or brands that they have heard about, but never tried. This is why the final shots are dedicated to the brand, and the decision to have the brand at the end of the commercial comes from the type of culture and the way advertising works in this par- ticular culture (Miracle, 1987). In individualistic cul- tures, advertising must persuade, whereas in collectivistic cultures, such as in Indonesian one, the reason for advertising is to build a relationship of trust between seller and buyer, as mentioned above. The different purposes are reflected in differ- ences in timing and frequency of presenting the brand name verbally or visually in television com- mercials (Miracle et al., 1992). Indeed, in commer- cials in Eastern collectivistic cultures, brand acknowledgement appears later (typically at the end) than in Western individualistic cultures (Zhou et al., 2005). For example, a comment to report is that of B.N., Vietnamese participant in the focus group, who says: “I appreciate the idea that the brand is seen only at the end of the commercial and does not interfere in the history […]”.

A tendency towards relationships, including fam- ily values, is specific to collectivistic cultures, but it is also found in individualistic cultures that are rated as being more feminine (Watkins et al., 1998). The Indonesian and the Vietnamese cultures have average MAS scores (46 and 40); however, they are more feminine than masculine.

R.T. Indonesian participant in the focus group points out in seeing this commercial: “it seems to me to take a breath of fresh air”. Indeed, many frames of commercials are filmed in outdoor. The choices of these outdoor settings for the commer- cials, nondescript places which are neither specified nor recognizable, indicate the low uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) of the Indonesians and Viet- namese (respectively, 48 and 30). Low uncertainty avoidance cultures have a more active attitude to health, focusing on fitness and sports (De Mooij

and Hofstede, 2002; De Mooij, 2013) and an outdoor life. This may also be observed from the children playing football and the other people who appear in the advert that are always seen outdoors. The fact that the Indonesian culture is collectivist

is apparent from the long-term relationships Indo- nesians have with other members of their social groups. This serves to give some idea of the LTO score of this country. In the absence of available Hofstede’s data for the country, the collectivistic cul- ture characteristic mentioned above and the fact that the average long-term orientation of Asian countries is greater than 80 suggest that Indonesia’s LTO score would probably be very high. On the other hand, the LTO index of the Vietnamese culture is available, with a score of 80, which also leads us to believe that it is likely that the two countries will again prove to be similar in this regard. Long-term orientation implies investment in the future. This may be another reason for choosing children for the advertisement. Values included in long-term ori- entation are perseverance, ordering relationships by status, thrift, and having a sense of shame. The rela- tionship order through status is also related to the collectivistic characteristic that emphasizes roles and relationships, with concern for belonging and occupying one’s proper place. Even in this case the choice for a classroom underlines the long-term ori- entation of the two cultures. Finally, the qualitative content analysis of both

commercials emphasizes the values of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, showing the strategic choice by the soft drink company to adapt its television commercials to these values in order to be more effective.

Turkey

In comparison to the two countries analysed above, it should be noted that Turkey has two very differ- ent values from those seen so far; namely the MAS and UAI scores (see Figure 1). The high UAI index (85) highlights this country’s

great need for very clearly determined rules and laws. In order to minimize anxiety, worry and stress there is a widespread use of religious rites; this is also often found in rituals which originate from tra- ditions. In cultures with strong uncertainty avoid- ance, there is a need for rules and formality to structure life. This is reflected in a search for truth and a belief in experts. Cultures with a high level of uncertainty avoidance are less open to change and innovation than those with a low level of uncer- tainty avoidance. This explains their strong attach- ment to tradition and religion and the differences in the adoption of innovations (Yaveroglu and Donthu, 2002; Tellis et al., 2003; Yeniurt and Townsend, 2003). Many of the comments collected agree that commercial reflects the attachment to

172 A. Calabrese et al.

the tradition of the Turkish people. For example, B. D. in-depth interviewed explains that: “I admire the soft drink company because it showed respect for our culture and our traditions […] I like the fact that it refers to Ramadan and shows a number of cars and people all in a long queue of traffic waiting for the sun to set, to drink, eat and have fun together […]”. Although there are no specific references to Ramadan, the time of year is understood from the fact that everyone is waiting for sunset. The teen- agers hand out the drinks, lay the table on the bon- net of a car, and they open the bottles and celebrate the end of the fast the very moment the sun sets. Indeed, the Turkish advertisement is an example of a means of communication that has been specifi- cally studied for a culture strongly attached to tradition and religion. This concept is well-received in the comments, for example A.T., participant in the fan forum, writes: “a day of waiting deserves a soft drink!”.

The low IDV score (37) is highlighted by many comments. In particular, A.M. in-depth interviewed says that the scene that he likes the most is the one where “[…] all together await the sunset, cultivating a hope for the new day that will come […]”. In this case collectivism is evident from the group waiting together for the moment the sun sets. Indeed, in the collectivistic model the self cannot be separated from others and good feelings are negatively related to a sense of independence and interpersonal dis- tance (Nezlek et al., 2008). Turkey is a collectivistic society which means that the concept of ‘we’ is im- portant, communication is more indirect than direct and the harmony of the group is protected and of prime importance. Indeed, C.S. participant in the fan forum writes: “this commercial was damn beau- tiful! […] you don’t have to be a part of the same re- ligion or drink the same soft drink to appreciate the idea of togetherness and community presented here”.

In collectivistic cultures there is not a consistent relationship between attitude and future behaviour. It may even be a reverse relationship: behaviour (product usage) comes first and defines attitude (Chang and Chieng, 2006). This implies a high fre- quency and low time interval of verbal or visual ref- erences to the brand name in television commercials (Miracle et al., 1992). Indeed, even in this case, the fi- nal shot is dedicated to the brand in an attempt to create continuity between attitude and future be- haviour regarding the consumption of the product. In confirmation of this aspect E.E. says during the focus group: “[…] if the brand was not already well known I would definitely remember it because does not only appear during the commercial but also in the end […]”.

The high PDI score (66) and MAS score (65) are evident from the choice of protagonists who are mostly young adults and predominantly male. Fur- thermore, the waiting for sunset also emphasizes a

society characterized by a high PDI score, which in- dicates a strict hierarchy and with a high sense of re- sponsibility for keeping tradition alive. Indeed, in high PDI cultures the norm is to live up to the stan- dards of one’s position, to save ‘face’. Face moti- vates people to act in accordance with one’s social position and rules. If one acts contrary to expecta- tions of one’s social position, ‘a shadow is cast over one’s moral integrity’ (Malhotra and McCort, 2001). In a society with such a PDI, power is centralised and people follow the rules dictated by the author- ity meticulously and with a sense of submission, whether the authority is a family member, an em- ployer or a spiritual guide. The commercial is based on and emphasizes a strong sense of responsibility towards tradition and religion. For example, D.D. in the fan forum writes: “Good video… I like to see people wearing traditional clothes!”. The qualitative content analysis about the Turkish

television commercial emphasizes the values of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, showing the strate- gic choice of soft drink company to adapt its televi- sion commercials to these values in order to be more effective.

Argentina

With regard to the power distance index (PDI), Ar- gentina is centrally placed with a score of 49, which is very different from the high scores typical of other Latin–American countries. This is because of the enormous wave of migration in the last century that enriched the country with a strongly European in- fluence. Furthermore, appearances and social status are of great importance in this country; in such soci- eties clothes and accessories undoubtedly play an important role. The Argentine television commer- cial reflects this aspect, for example in the fan forum V.P. writes: “I found the wedding scene fantastic, one day I’d like to marry me so!”. Indeed in the commercial there is a wedding scene, a special event where people usually pay particular attention to the appearance and, therefore, to clothes and accesso- ries. The commercial also shows an image of television journalists, supporting this cultural char- acteristic of the country. In confirmation of this as- pect G.C. in depth interviewed says: “As a child I dreamed of becoming a TV journalist for their reli- ability, professionalism and elegance”. Indeed, tele- vision has always been a place where the image and appearance are very important and, therefore, expensive and elegant clothes and accessories are essential to witness people’s status. The Argentinean MAS score of 56 reflects the pre-

dominance of masculine rather than feminine char- acteristics in Argentinean society. Among the most important of these characteristics are seeking to be successful, to achieve results and to be promoted at work. Women managers also have a ‘masculine’

Understanding Cultural Diversities 173

attitude in their approach to work, at times neglecting their personal life to dedicate more atten- tion to their careers. This value is highlighted by the choice of the woman reporter dressed in a business suit with a masculine cut and by the athlete at the rings. Indeed, sport competitions and physical per- formances have always been linked to the male world more than to the female one. These aspects are confirmed by the comments within the focus group; e.g. R.C. says about the athlete: “I would like to have that body”.

With an uncertainty avoidance score (UAI) of 86, Argentina shows a strong need for rules and elabo- rate laws designed to improve society’s lifestyle. The individual needs orders to obey, although the loyalty to these is very weak. The black market and corruption are in fact very widespread.

In order to combat this problem, if any rules are not followed, other rules are made, and so on. As the recent Nobel prize winner LIosa Vargas put it “a logical consequence of such abundance is that each legal disposition has another that corrects, de- nies or mitigates it. That means, in other words, that those who are immersed in such a sea of juridical contradictions like transgressing the law, or that— perhaps even more demoralizing—within such a structure, any abuse or transgression may find a le- gal loophole that redeems or justifies it”.

The high uncertainty avoidance index is also de- duced by the interviewed C.C. who says: “this com- mercial impresses me because showing people who work in important and caring sectors: ICT and healthcare. The image of doctors providing aid to the patient gives me a sense of trust in these profes- sionals”. The configuration of high uncertainty avoidance of Argentine people explains the impor- tance of personal appearance. People are judged by the clothes they wear which explains the choice of the two categories of profession depicted. Social status and doing things ‘properly’ give people their outward appearance and, as a result, provide them with credibility and importance in society.

With regards to the individualism dimension Ar- gentina is placed centrally (IDV =46), resulting as the most individualistic of the Latin–American countries. The individualistic traits are more visible from within the huge metropolises in which workers separate their work life from their private life markedly. Public opinion and unanimous con- sensus, which are collectivistic traits, are given con- siderable importance in a group or family.

Analysing the commercial for this country, the first shots recall values such as unity and love, values which are in accordance with the low IDV in- dex score; the opening shots in fact show a wedding scene. In collectivistic cultures, people’s ideal char- acteristics vary by social role, and behaviour is in- fluenced by contextual factors (Church et al., 2006). Easterners believe in the continuous shaping of per- sonality traits by situational influences (Norenzayan

et al., 2002). This is the reason why a public event such as a wedding was chosen to represent their col- lectivistic vision of life and social role. Indeed, peo- ple of collectivistic cultures consider the context in which they are embedded and the situations they live every day as being very important. Hence the purpose of a commercial, in collectivistic cultures such as that of Argentina, is to build relationships and trust between buyer and seller. A wedding has the same need to build a relationship based on trust between parties and thus the wedding is a metaphor for the relationship that must exist be- tween the brand and the consumers. Collectivistic cultures are more effective at focus-

ing on in-group benefits, harmony and family. A wedding is an action taken to announce to the entire community the beginning of a project to create a family. Another aspect related to collectivism is empha-

sized by F.D. that says: “In this TV commercial I like the fact that they are all with open hands and the palm facing the viewer […] when a person speaks with open hands I tend to regard it as open and sin- cere”. Indeed, the choice of showing the palms of all the protagonists’ hands is done to stimulate feelings of trust and openness. This simple gesture in our body language transmits innocence, willingness and honesty because it shows that one has nothing to hide. In the past an empty hand would indicate that a person was not holding a weapon and came in peace. The nature of this gesture also has psycho- logical implications which induce people to be more honest and sincere when they make such a gesture. Another element in the commercial that high-

lights the collectivist nature of the country, even though the value IDV is higher than in the other countries analysed above, is the choice to put the image of the brand at the end of the advertising spot. We can therefore consider the finding made for the other three countries still valid for Argentina. Also in this case, by the comments collected, we

can highlight how the values of Hofstede are con- sidered in the creation of the commercials.

Italy

The highest score for the Italian culture was the IDV (76). This score classifies Italy as one of the most in- dividualistic countries in the world, with a culture centred around ‘I’ and ‘me’. The concepts of self and personality, as developed in the individualistic Western world, include the person as an autono- mous entity with a distinctive set of attributes, qual- ities or processes. The configuration of these internal attributes or processes causes behaviour. People’s attributes and processes should be expressed consis- tently in behaviour across comparable situations (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). In Italy, this individ- ual focus is marked especially in the rich cities in

174 A. Calabrese et al.

Northern Italy. While family and friends are very important, stating and achieving personal objectives are even more so. For Italians having one’s own ideas and objectives is the most motivating factor, as well as being the source of the happiness which is reached through personal satisfaction. However, it should be noted that in Southern Italy, a less indi- vidualistic conscience allows people more room for taking a greater interest in the group and the family, and in social relations and rituals such as weddings and family celebrations. In fact people who move from Southern Italy to Northern Italy say that they find the North ‘colder’, not only from a meteorolog- ical point of view but also because of a somewhat less zealous approach to relationships. This may be observed from the commercial, which mainly de- picts people who are on their own. Although a scene shows a young couple hugging each other, indeed it shows only the girl because the boy is back turned and is unrelated to the scene. Therefore, between the two people, the girl attracts the viewer’s atten- tion, denoting an individualistic approach. This is confirmed by the comments about the scene of a young couple embracing, for example F.P. writes in the fan forum: “I did not noticed the guy!! I only noticed the girl and thought that guy’s back was ac- tually her dress!!”.

People in individualistic countries are self-centred and tend to form a larger number of looser relation- ships. They are expected to look after themselves and their immediate families only. People want to differ from others and values are to be found in the individual rather than in the group. Individual decisions are more important than group decisions and people seek personal time, freedom, alternation and adventure (Hofstede, 1991).

Besides individualism, masculinity explains vari- ation in the concept of ‘self’ across cultures. In mas- culine cultures self-enhancement leads to self- esteem. With a MAS index of 70, Italy has one of the highest scores and is observed to be a masculine society that is strongly motivated by success. Chil- dren are brought up with the idea of competition from an early age, and even in the most simple of competitions the idea of victory is pursued.

The configuration of a high masculinity score is reflected in the Italian commercial. Indeed, this con- cept is also highlighted in many in-depth inter- views, for example S.G. affirms: “I really like the guy who smashes his picture in the frame […] it brings me to mind a superhero […]”. Indeed, the guy in the commercial could be an example of mas- culinity that recalls to the comic book heroes.

Masculine societies aim for maximum social dif- ferentiation between the sexes. Hence, the norm is that men are given the assertive and tough roles, whereas, women are given the caring, nurturing roles (Chanchani and Theivanathampillai, 2002). Be- ing a winner is crucial and status, which is funda- mental in order to demonstrate one’s success, is

often achieved through consumption and focusing on materialistic success (Hofstede, 1991). Another important value of masculine cultures is

achievement. Italians display their personal success by acquiring a ‘status symbol’ such as a beautiful car, a big house, a yacht or even by travelling to far-off, exotic places. In the Italian commercial we can highlight some elements that characterize this aspect. For example within the focus group, P.P. says: “I recognize myself in the young boy drinking the famous soft drink in a trendy bar, because I like to go to places of that kind with my friends”. The comment of N.L. is instead referred to the house where the last scene of TV commercial is filmed: “what a beautiful villa! I hope one day to have one like that!”. Indeed, a high masculinity score explains the status needs of Italian people. Possessions with high status brands demonstrate one’s role in a hier- archy and one’s success in masculine cultures such as in Italy. Italy has an average PDI score of 50. Italian soci-

ety is one in which hierarchies are respected, but in- equality between people is accepted at the same time. Given the value of this index it is unsurprising that no particular reference to this index was found in the commercial. The Italian UAI score was very high (75), indicat-

ing that Italians do not feel at ease in uncertain and ambiguous situations. Furthermore, innovativeness and the desire for change are low in high uncer- tainty avoidance cultures. In point of fact the com- mercial shows reassuring, common, everyday situations. This aspect is also found by analysing the in-

depth interviews; indeed many respondents con- sider the locations and situations depicted in the commercial as familiar. For example, B.P. says: “the flight of steps behind the embracing young couple reminds me about my university, so much so that I thought that the commercial was filmed there and I went on the internet to check it, but I could not find confirms about it”. Individuals in uncertainty avoiding countries are

more emotional and motivated by an inner nervous energy. Tension and anxiety are released by talking loudly, using hands while communicating or by em- bracing others emotionally. In the commercial great emphasis is placed on the gestures of the people putting up their hands in salutation and on the young couple’s embrace. Italy’s LTO score is 34, indicating that Italy is a

nation which is more focused on the short-term, or else focused on the present or past and consider them more important than the future. Short-term orientation also includes personal steadiness and stability, and respect for history and tradition. Focus is on pursuit of happiness rather than on pursuit of peace of mind (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). Short- term orientation cultures care more about immedi- ate gratification than long-term fulfilment. These

Understanding Cultural Diversities 175

concepts also emerge from the focus groups, for ex- ample F.B. states: “the images that I like most about this spot are those where there are the boys having fun, for example the group of friends at the concert or the lunch all together outside”.

Even in this case the research done through inter- views, focus groups and fan forums confirms the at- tention of the soft drink company to the cultural characteristics of the target country.

CONCLUSIONS

An ever increasing need to focus on strategies that address globalization generates new business sce- narios, where organizations must deal with multi- national and multicultural customers, suppliers and competitors, as drivers of value creation (Grimaldi et al., 2013). Nevertheless, only organiza- tions’ dynamic capabilities can translate these drivers in an innovation process based on the ex- ploitation of multicultural capital. Understanding the impact of national culture on these organiza- tions is then a crucial factor for their competitive- ness (Sagiv and Schwartz, 2007). In this context, also the organizations’ marketing strategies, in par- ticular the advertising ones, must take into account multicultural variables (Pan and Xu, 2009). Indeed, nowadays, a company can broadcast to people of all the world an advertising campaign, exploiting one of the most visible forms of marketing commu- nication (Hollensen, 2004). Almost everyone on the planet grows up in a world flooded with mass me- dia, e.g. television, advertising, films, videos, bill- boards, magazines, movies, music, newspapers, Internet (Latif and Abideen, 2011) and social media (Mangold and Faulds, 2009; Alberghini et al., 2014). Of all the means in the marketing strategy, TV com- mercials are renowned for their long lasting impact on the viewer’s mind, as its exposure is much more widespread (Katke, 2007).

Advertisers and companies need to understand what makes potential customers behave the way they do and, therefore, how to convince potential customers to purchase their products. Therefore, cultural considerations play an important and cru- cial role in the advertising development.

Considering the definition of advertising given by Schweiger and Schrattenecker (2001, p. 102): “Ad- vertisement is the intended influence of market rele- vant attitudes and behaviours […] with the use of advertising material and paid media”. The term ‘intended influence’ implies that this attempt to ma- nipulate the consumers is not necessarily successful. This is especially true for intercultural advertising where companies try to communicate to heteroge- neous groups of cultures that differ in their values, norms and habits. Within the intercultural studies, the Hofstede’s model, characterized by five dimen- sions, has been used to characterize different

cultural characteristics is particularly relevant. In- deed, as the market is saturated with several prod- ucts or services, many companies make similar functional claims; it is therefore extremely difficult for companies to differentiate their products or ser- vices based on functional attributes alone. In adver- tisements, differentiation based on functional attributes is never long lasting as they may be cop- ied by competitors (Hussainy et al., 2008). Therefore, we would argue that cultural sensitivity to differ- ences and their translation into adverting cam- paigns may spell the difference between the success and failure of international advertising campaigns. One of the most important factors of international

advertising development relates to needs and pref- erences. We have indicated in this paper that Hofstede’s framework can provide a way of identi- fying how advertising campaigns may be tailored in different markets to focus and exploit specific needs and preferences in order to improve their effectiveness. It is clear that it is absolutely necessary to have a

comprehensive knowledge of the underpinnings and nature of consumer behaviour of the target group. How can this behaviour be characterized? What are the target group’s needs and preferences? How can the product satisfy these needs? We have argued that Hofstede’s five cultural characteristics may be used to provide a framework for modelling these needs and preferences at a general level. Fur- thermore, we have shown that specific campaigns can be analysed using Hofstede’s framework. Such analysis also allows organizations seeking to develop global campaigns adapted to different markets to develop more effective advertising campaigns. In this paper we have analysed commercials of a

well-known soft drink company in five different countries, in order to examine to what extent the cultural characteristics are understood and taken into consideration by advertisers and multinational companies when developing their commercials. We have used qualitative content analysis of com- mercial viewers’ comments. In particular, we have analysed comments collected over a 10-month pe- riod in three contexts: focus groups, social network fan forums and in-depth interviews. Our results confirmed the importance of being aware of a country’s cultural characteristics when creating and developing a commercial. Indeed, in all the countries examined, it would appear that Hofstede’s cultural characteristics have been taken into account for the development and realization of the commercials. De Mooij (2013) confirms this, stating that classi-

fying cultures with the help of cultural dimensions has proved to be the most constructive method to support the necessary differentiation of advertising strategies across countries.

176 A. Calabrese et al.

It is important to underline that ‘culture’ and ‘na- tion’ are not synonymous. National and cultural boundaries partially overlap, and there will always be cultural differences between and within almost all nations. Therefore, the cultural adaptation of commercials is still a challenging issue.

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