From Inthinking website

Cultural sensitivity
Nooneunderstandstheimportanceofculturebetterthanadvertisers,whoconstructdifferenttextsfor
differentaudiences.Multinationalcorporations,suchasIkea,StarbuckorMcDonaldsarefacedwiththe
challengeofsellingthesameproductsworldwide,beitfurniture,coffeeorhamburgers.Theymustshow
culturalsensitivityintheirads.

Guess the origin

YouaregoingtoviewseveralMcDonaldsadsfromaroundtheworld.Guessthecountryfromwhicheach
adcomes.Donotbeafraidtodiscussculturalstereotypesandprejudices.Theseadsmayamuseyouor
annoyyou.Makeaninventoryofyourinitialresponsestotheadsinthetablebelow:

Letslookatthefirstadtogether:

Stereotypes
Thereisariskthatwerunwhenweplayaguessinggamewithculturesandnationalities.Thatrisk
isthatwebegintoclassifyculturesintostereotypes.Itisnotenoughtosayanadis'typically
French'.RatherwehavetoidentifythoseculturalcharacteristicsweassociatewithFranceand
questionhowtheyarebeingexploitedtosellaproduct.TheMcCafead(above),forexample,
seemstopointtoasmall,dainty,traditionalproductthattheFrenchareproudof:themacaroon.
Whatdoesthemacaroonstandfor?Howisitcontrastedwiththestereotypical,American
hamburger?HowisthecoloroftheMcDonald'slogointhisFrenchad(yellowongreen)different
fromthetraditionalMcDonald'sad(yellowonred)?Arethereculturalvaluesthatweassociate
withthesecolors?Dowefindgreenmoresophisticatedthanred,whichscreamsof
commercialism?DoesthismeanthattheFrencharemoresophisticatedthanAmericans?Isthe
macaroonmoresophisticatedthanthehamburger?It'samazinghowonesimplechoiceofcoloror
productcanopenupaconversationonhowstereotypesareconstructedinthemedia.

Country

Culturalindicators

France

McDonald's ad
1)Eidmubarak

Howanaudiencemightrespond
a) inthetargetcountry
b) inothercountries

2)McDonald'sbaby

4)Freecondiments

Footnotes
Conceptssuchas'stereotypes','culture'and'context'arenotonlykeytoPart1,buttothewholecourse.Just
asthislessonsuggeststhatmultinationalsexerciseculturalsensitivityintheiradcampaigns,wetoowill
wanttoexerciseacertainlevelofsensitivitywhenanalyzingvarioustexts.
Cultureandcontext
Culture
Whatisculture?Howdoweseeculturalvaluesintheseads?Firstofall,wetendtoadheretotwo
definitionsofculture:1)thesharedvaluesofagroup,and2)theartwhichagroupholdsinhighesteem.
Thefirstdefinitionisprimarilyrelevanttoourdiscussionoftheseads.Forexample,somepeopleare
offendedbyimageofthebabyclown.Whatculturalvaluedothesepeoplehavethatleadstosucha
response?Coulditbethattheyhaveanaversiontothenotionofbrandedbabies?Othersfindthebabycute.
Coulditbethattheirculturedoesnothavethisaversiontocommercialismandovertbranding?Inbrief,
whendiscussingtheseads,weshouldtrytodefinewhichvaluesarebeingconveyedandhowthesevalues
aresharedwiththeirtargetaudience.
Context
Thislessonshowsustheimportanceofthe'contextofinterpretation'.Thistermiskeytounderstanding
howmeaningisconstructed.AnonMuslimmayhavedifficultyinterpretingtheFrenchfriesinthe'Eid
Mubarak'ad(theyarethefingersofhandsthatarepraying).AScandinavianmayfeelthattheirtraditionof
placingcandlesinthewindowatChristmastimeisbeingtrivializedinthelastad(number10).Thisbrings
usbacktoreaderresponsetheory,whereinterpretationofthetextisinthe'eyeofthebeholder'.

Towards assessment
FurtheroralactivityYoucouldgivealessonlikethisasapresentation,inwhichclassmatesguessthe
originoftheadsandadiscussionensuesonculturalsensitivity.Thissameprinciplecouldalsobeapplied
toothermultinationalcorporations,suchasIkeaorToyota.
Writtentask2Severaloftheprescribedquestionsforwrittentask2areapplicabletosuchanactivity
onMcDonald'sads.Thisquestionmaybeexploredinrelationtoseveraladsfromvariouscultures.Besure,
however,tofocusonAnglophonecultures.

"Howcouldthetextbereadandinterpreteddifferentlybytwodifferentreaders?"