Media Essay: Cross-cultural advertising analysis

Cross-Cultural Advertising Analysis
Name:
Institution:
Introduction
Doing business in the current age of globalization usually calls for an all-round awareness about everything. Globalization has ensured that people of diverse cultures or walks of life meet up in various places to conduct business. To this end, therefore, it is quite important for businesses to come up with such an approach that captures all the diversity. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory provides a framework used in understanding the differences in culture across different countries. Understanding the cultural dimensions is often critical for companies committed to conducting business abroad and would help comprehend how natural culture impacts the business setting. Usually, cultural communication influences various aspects, such as communication between individuals, and would also affect people’s ability to establish connections and interact. Besides, the culture is determined as the mind’s collective programming, and it helps differentiate between different groups of individuals. The need for international advertising requires that companies and businesses comprehend cultural differences in target countries and promote adverts’ effectiveness. Therefore, proper implementation of advertising appeals should be based on the local culture to maximize their impacts.
The paper will be based on the fashion industry. Additionally, the film adverts selected include “2020 Chinese New Year” by Adidas’ and “You Only HBL Once” by Nike.
Figure 1: Adidas: 2020 Chinese New Year (Haomai, 2020).
Figure 2: Nike: You Only HBL Once (Wieden + Kennedy, 2018).
The two adverts have been shown how fashion products from the two countries can be utilized in different types of sports activities and exercises. However, the creativity of the two ads has been expressed through the effective use of the globalized approach. For instance, in the Adidas’ advert, different factors have been considered to promote the Chinese culture; these include the venue where the ad was recorded; it has Chinese art designs. Most importantly, the individuals involved in the art are also performing kung fu skills, which are common among the Chinese people. Additionally, the Nike ad uses the Chinese language; this is critical because it is targeted towards Chinese people, and it would have better persuasion. Further, Nike’s ad also uses subtitles, which are critical for helping target individuals who may not be conversant with the Chinese language. As can be seen, there is an elaborate and concerted effort by the company to really reach out to the Chinese populace and to endear itself to them as much as possible.
The advertisements may be analyzed using different Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, such as individualism versus collectivism. Individualism involves the realization that an individual becomes the main focus of the society and is the only approach people can use to achieve their aims. On the other side, collectivism is founded on a rigid social framework that differentiates in and out-groups. In collectivism, people have collective interests, and people protect themselves through forming close team relationship...