7/29/2019 Non Verbal Commun
1/5
Cultural Awareness in International Marketing
Lets take some concrete examples to understand the possible
consequences of a lack of cultural awareness in
marketing campaigns:
A toothpaste brand Pepsodent tried to market a product in South
Asia which would whiten the teeth but itfailed Why? The company
failed to do any research into local culture and if they had, they
would have
realised that local people in South Asia actually chew on betel
nuts to blacken their teeth as they think that
having black teeth is more aesthetically pleasing.
An American cosmetic brand tried to market an underarm deodorant
in Japan by showing an octopus applyingthe deodorant under its
arms. This may have been a great marketing idea to the American
company, but again
they failed to research into Japanese culture and therefore
missed the fact that in Japanese culture, an
Octopus is known to have legs and not arms.
As you can seem cultural awareness is important, however, try to
stay away from the clichs. We have to keep in mind
that nothing can be simplified; each person is different even
within one same culture.
