Intercultural communication is significant in marketing and advertisement due to globalization and international marketing. Multinational firms like Coca-Cola and Apple Company’s products are used globally. Therefore, intercultural communication skills help marketers reach different markets segmented in terms of culture to promote and sell their products. Martin & Nakayama (2017) defines intercultural communication as sharing information on different levels of awareness between people of different cultural backgrounds or boundaries. Intercultural communication is crucial in establishing and harmonizing the relationship between cultures. It also avoids conflicts that may stir enmity or market failure in cases of advertisement and marketing. Communication across cultures is often marked with different barriers which limit the credibility and intention of the message being passed from one culture to the other. The core barriers include anxiety, racial discrimination, prejudice, ethnocentrism, and stereotyping. In contemporary society, stereotyping is common among the markets since their advertising messages, videos, and images often provide a generalized belief about a specific group of people. The essay explores stereotyping as a core intercultural communication issue hindering marketing and advertisement in business firms.
Stereotyping in communication encompasses oversimplifying the idea of a group of people or a particular culture. The stereotype may be based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender, and any other trait. Though stereotypes can be positive, for instance, relating good mathematics scores to Asians, they are often negative and offend the targeted persons. An example is linking being overweight to being lazy or eating a lot. The marketing or advertising form may miss the market share by stereotyping a particular class or people intentionally or intentionally. An example of a stereotyping advertisement was made in 2017 by the Dove Company. The company’s marketing video demonstrated a black woman becoming white instantly after using Dove products (Brooks, Charland & Cox, 2020). The company was trying to inform the public of the significance of its products in enhancing the beauty and giving the users light skin; the advert takes people back to hundreds of years of racism which is diminishing in American society (Allen, 2022). The advert is offensive to the blacks because they never choose to be black. Also, it shows a higher degree of racial discrimination not only to the back community but also to the white who culturally co-exist with the black Americans.
Another marketing campaign that portrayed stereotyping of intercultural communication is the advert on Mr. Clean. The printed advert inquired people to celebrate Mother’s Day with a friendly sexiest reminder that cleaning is a role task for women. The P&G brand Mr. Clean presented an ad of a smiling mother and daughter cleaning with the slogan, “this Mother’s Day, get back to the job that matters (Weebly, 2022).” What was the company trying to imply? That women working in different professions do not deserve those jobs? Is the women’s role primarily attached to cleaning? Or is teaching the daughter to clean the most important job a woman should do? The company highlighted the highest degree of gender stereotyping in the adverts by dedicating them to cleaning as the most important work in their life. Stereotyping messages are a core intercultural communication barrier that may limit the sales of the company products and services to the stereotyped and predominant cultures.
Intercultural communication views the universe as a global village (19), where offending one culture may significantly offend another. The marketer, therefore, needs to apply ethics and diversify their bilinguals (249) to promote effective communication across cultures. For the Dove Company, considering persons of color and white was necessary for marketing to avoid offending the black community. The target message should also be communicated with humility and humanity to avoid conflict among different cultures. Martin & Nakayama (2017) also noted the significance of understanding other people’s cultures to avoid passing information that leads to cultural shock (339), particularly to the immigrants that may feel offended when information directly stereotypes them. Cognitive consistency is also needed to streamline communication among different cultures. In the second advertisement, P&G Company underrated the role of women in the company. The marketer lacked the cognitive conscience and intercultural relationship (397), which allowed the women to serve in the equal position as men and not mere washing.
Marketers often fall into stereotyping communities and cultures because they stick to the racial histories (136) in the case of Dove Company. The company still associates the black skin color with darkness and an unfulfilling future, thus prompting them to develop a product that may change their skin tone to white. Even though ethical identity (189) and family identity are important to the lives of individuals, they should never be used against them in a discriminating or stereotyping manner, as done in the two adverts. Avoiding cultural imperialism (384), where one culture is seen as predominant by the company, should also be stopped by the marketers to avoid stereotyping the customers. Dove saw the white community as predominant, thus stereotyping the black for the whites to have their way. Moreover, cross-cultural training (45) is also necessary among marketers and advertisements to limit discrimination (294), thus upholding the cultural values (95) of all communities. This will ensure that the information passed through marketing and advertisement is not interpreted otherwise by different cultures based on cultural stereotyping.
Conclusively, intercultural communication challenges often manifest in marketing and advertisement, where companies stereotype people differently. Marketers must be culturally cautious and avoid cultural imperialism that may dictate that one culture is superior to another. The stereotyping advertisement may lead to reduced sales due to the high level of cultural diversity, making the world appear as a village globe.
References
Allen, E. (2022). Jess Weiner and the Dove Real Beauty Campaign: Selling Feminism for Profit or Social Change? Women Leading Change: Case Studies on Women, Gender, and Feminism, 6(1), 18–37. https://journals.tulane.edu/ncs/article/view/3663
Brooks, B., Chanland, D., & Cox, S. (2020). Dove’s Advertising Campaign Highs and Lows: From Real Beauty to Real Success to Real Controversy. Business Case Journal, 27(1).
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2017). Intercultural communication in contexts Seventh edition. An Introduction. McGraw Hill.
Weebly. (2022). Modern Stereotypical Ad. Stereotypes in Advertising. Retrieved 18 October 2022, from http://genderinsocietytoday.weebly.com/modern-stereotypical-ad.html.
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