Global Advertising in a Cultural Context

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: The ongoing process of the globalization of markets in context with the innovation of technologies caused that more and more companies expand their market activities internationally. At the same time product offers at saturated markets are qualitative more and more alike and thus, exchangeable. A differentiation just through product attributes is not possible anymore. Advertising became a key function in marketing as communication through advertising provides the only opportunity for companies to differentiate from their competitors. Both, the globalization of markets and the great importance of advertising raise returning discussions whether global advertising and its planning should be standardized or not. Standardization means that an identical advertisement can appeal different cultures in the same way. On the one hand it can not be denied that things like ethnical cuisine, tourism, and worldwide media lead to an exchange between cultures. On the other hand it is questionable if this exchange causes an automated homogenization of cultures. In 1983 Theodore Levitt already was dealing with the necessity of standardized advertising in the course of globalization. However, Levitt asserted that a standardization of advertising is necessary but did not go into detail how this can be realized best. Furthermore, he did not consider the enormous impact of culture on the perception and behavior of people and the resulting difficulties to use one single advertising campaign across cultures. In addition to that different national advertising restrictions have to be taken into account. As it is assumed that the trend to globalization will continue and strengthen, the issue of global advertising is always relevant. In the following thesis, the focus is exact on the obstacles of standardized advertising in front of the cultural background. Furthermore, characteristics of various approaches to overcome cultural differences and their suitability for standardized advertising will be examined.Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: List of Figures and TablesII 1.Objectives and Structure of this Thesis1 2.Concept of Culture2 2.1Definitions of Culture2 2.2Elements of Culture3 2.3Culture and Consumer Behavior8 2.3.1Hofstede's Five Dimensions8 2.3.2High-Context Cultures versus Low-Context Cultures11 3.Global Advertising13 3.1Characteristics of Advertising13 3.2Advertising as a Communication Tool16 3.2.1Advertising [...]