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Course plan 1
Session 1
•
a) Course introduction
•
b) Cross-cultural consumer behaviour
Textbook: Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 (please focus on chapter 4)
Session 2
•
Standardization vs. adaption 1
Textbook: Chapters 5, 6, 8
From the text collection:
Theodore Levitt: The Globalization of Markets
William B. Werther, Jr.: Toward Global Convergence
Marieke De Mooij: Convergence and divergence in consumer behaviour: implications for
global advertising
Session 3
•
Standardization vs. adaption …continued
See lecture 2
Session 4
•
Cross-cultural marketing research
Textbook: chapter 7
From the text collection:
Eastin and Daugherty: Past, Current, and Future Trends…..
SIS6 F06
Macintosh Powerbook launch 1991
Background
Apple wanted int’l campaign (16 countries)
A’s first attempt at co-ordinated European launch
A’s country managers enjoyed much autonomy
A three years behind competitors
How it was done
Apple organizations in DK, D, GB, F, S, USA presented ideas for print ad
campaigns – checked by agency.
The 16 country managers were shown the ideas but origins were disclosed.
The French idea won; ”The Powerbook is for storing ideas not data.”
Idea based on ideas scribbled on paper tablecloth, which wouldn’t work in
other countries.
Each country made its own ads based on the French idea following written
guidelines form the agency.
Agency called it a ”campaign done multi-locally”.
SIS6 F06
Levitt: The Globalization of Markets
Technology is the main force of globalization.
”Which strategy is better is not a matter of opinion but of necessity.”
”Gone are accustomed differences in national or regional preference.”
"National rules of the road differ…."
"Everyone……wants products and features that everybody else wants. If the price is
low enough, they will take highly standardized world product…”
(Usunier (2000), p. 140: ”This naive view of world diversity states that we are all
converging towards a ’modern” lifestyle marked by standard products and
consumption patterns world-wide.”)
SIS6 F06
Levitt: The Globalization of Markets
”Of course, large companies operating in a single nation or even a single city don’t
standardize everything they make, sell, or do……..But although companies
customize products for particular market segments, they know that success in a
world with homogenized demand requires a search for sales opportunities in
similar segments across the globe in order to achieve the economies of scale
necessary to compete.”
”Such a search works because a market segment in one country is seldom unique;
it has close cousins everywhere precisely because technology has homogenized
the globe.”
SIS6 F06
Levitt: The Globalization of Markets
"Different cultural preferences, national tastes and standards, and business
institutions are vestiges of the past. Some inheritances die gradually: others
prosper and expand into mainstream global preferences." (Chinese food and
pita bread)
"In fact the customers said they wanted certain features, but their behavior
demonstrated they'd take other features provided the price and promotion were
right." = "..never assume that the customer is a king who knows his own
wishes."
"What we see today as escalating commercial nationalism is simply the last violent
death rattle of an obsolete institution."
There are differences "But the global corporation accepts and adjusts to these
differences only reluctantly…”
SIS6 F06
Forget about mass marketing
”In early 2000, the company’s new chairman and CEO, Doug Daft, announced a
new ’think local, act local’ mind-set. This ends years of Coca-Cola’s marketing
being strictly controlled form its Atlanta headquarters.”
”Coke’s mantra under Daft is to make connections with local people in a way that is
relevant to them.”
””So far, we have created a world of Coke and invited people into it. Going forward,
we will try to understand the world of people and provide the services and
brands they need.””
(strategieseurope, February 2001)
And don’t forget:
”So when the question comes up, why can’t we just use English? I always ask this
question: do you think that consumers should make the effort to understand us,
or should we be making the effort to be understood by them?”
(Simon Anholt: Another One Bites the Grass, p.48)
SIS6 F06
Werther
(1996)
Youth culture + freed markets = competitive convergence
The McDonald's Generation:
"Music…has become a global language uniting successive generations from
Santiago to Miami, Beijing to Moscow.."
"..the largely English-speaking media have permeated the globe, molding an
increasingly uniform teenage culture."
The marginalization of grandparents as transmittors of cultural values. – Role to
some degree taken over by technology.
Traditional values and aspirations of family, health, and well-being are not being
discarded, but we're witnessing the injection of new, widely agreed-upon values
of freedom ……….the pattern is far from universal, but it is moving towards
universality.
”Such a growing uniformity of culture results from billions of points of contact among
young people and media every day.”
SIS6 F06
Werther
Freed Markets:
Free trade agreements etc. = economic growth
Governments giving up economic controls
Competitive Convergence:
"Instead they [people] will slowly emerge to reveal a world increasingly devoid of
war, famine, bigotry, and oppression - because none of these conditions are
particularly favorable for free trade…"
"…as the drum grows louder, more people will march to its unifying beat.”
SIS6 F06
Local tastes: The Economist, 17 November, 2005.
Pernod
Diageo
•
•
•
•
•
Pernod gives local operations and
brands plenty of autonomy.
To cater to local demand Pernod
adapts its ad campaigns to each
country and employs a large
number of small local ad firms.
The Pernod strategy makes it
harder to cut costs through
centralization and to control a
brand’s image.
Pernod is better able to adapt to the
big differences in the way alcohol is
consumed in different countries
•
Believes in centralisation and
standardisation.
Hires fewer ad agencies and runs
big, global campaigns.
SIS6 F06
Made for each other: The Economist, 22 October, 2005
”Bharatmatrimony’s boss, Janakiram Murugavel, says that language is the biggest
criterion. His site is divided into 15 linguistic sections. Then comes status and
caste, which divides Indians at birth into thousands of groups. About 70% of his
customers want to marry within their caste. Most still use astrology.
Bharatmatrimony offers an online horoscope service.”
SIS6 F06
Burger and fries à la francaise: The Economist, 17
April, 2004
•
”Though it seems unlikely, France is the only place in Europe that has
consistently loved McDonald’s since the first outlet opened there in 1979.”
•
”And fast food would seem foreign in a society where a one (or two) hour
break for lunch is still sacrosanct.”
•
”McDonald’s was clever in adapting food and décor to local tastes and
concentrating on children…”
•
”The ham-and-cheese ”Croque McDo” is McDonald’s version of croque
monsieur, a French favourite.”
•
”McDonald’s teamed up with French companies to offer local fare, for
instance fruit yoghurts…”
SIS6 F06
One-Toy-Fits-All: How Industry Learned to Love the
Global Kid: Wall Street Journal 29 April, 2003
•
”Major toy makers are rethinking one of the basic tenets of their $55 billion
global industry – that children in different countries want different playthings.
The implications are significant for both kids and companies.
•
Two recent developments are changing kids’ tatses:
1: Rapid world-wide expansion of cable and satellite TV channels, which
along with movies and the Internet expose millions of kids to the same
popular icons.
2: The widening international reach of retailing giants such as Wal-Mart and
Carrefour and Toys ’R’ Us.
•
But still: ”American kids want Nascar toy cars, while European kids want
Formula One models. Cheerleader-themed anything is irrelevant outside the
SIS6 F06
The influence of culture on American and British
advertising (Journal of Advertising Research, May/June 1996)
•
•
•
•
Standardization or adaption of beer advertising in the two countries?
Interesting because researchers often look at countries that are very different.
However, many people often overlook the subtle but important differences
The study compared the cultural variables reflected in advertising messages
prepared in the US and GB:
*
If variables are similar: Standardize
*
If variables differ: Adapt
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The influence of culture on American and British
advertising
The variables chosen by the researchers:
1. American values
a) Individualism/independence
b) modernity/newness
c) achievement
2. British values
a) affiliation
b) tradition/history
c) eccentricity
3) Rhetorical style
4) Advertising appeals
5) Occasion for product usage
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Beer study: Hypotheses
H1:
A significantly greater number of American commercials reflect predominantly
American cultural values than British commercials, specifically
individualism/independence, modernity/newness, achievement
H2:
A significantly greater number of British commercials reflect predominantly British
cultural values than US commercials, specifically: Affiliation Tradition/history,
Eccentricity
H3:
A significantly greater number of US commercials use direct speech, while a
significantly greater number of British commercials use indirect speech.
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Beer study: Hypotheses
H4:
A significantly greater number of US commercials employ emotional and sex appeal
than British commercials
H5:
A significantly greater number of British commercials employ humor appeals than
US commercials
H6:
A significantly greater number of American commercials present the circumstances
under which beer is consumed as a special occasion, while a significantly
greater number of British commercials present the circumstances under which
beer is consumed as a regular occasion
SIS6 F06
Beer study: Methodological Approach
A combination of content analysis and semiology was used
Content analysis:
Its focus is normally limited to manifest content
–
that which is apparent only at the surface level
Semiotics (studying/interpreting signs and codes)
Offers an interpretive perspective to the meaning buried deeper within the text.
The weaknesses of semiotics:
a) heavily reliant on the ability of the individual analyst
= suffers in its consistency and reliability
b) semiology is not easily quantifiable
= difficult to obtain general conclusions
c) works better on some ads than others
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Beer study: Sampling
1. Only ads created for domestic brewers of both countries were used
2. Ads must have been for the brand itself, not an event or contest sponsored by the
brand
3. The ads must have been current
Sample
The American sample: 24 commercial for 12 brands
The British sample: 38 commercials for 19 brands
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Beer study: Results (%)
Individualism/independence present
Modernity/newness
Achievement
Tradition/history
Eccentricity
Rhetorical style
Direct speech
Rhetorical style Indirect speech
Dominant advertising appeal
Emotional or sex
Humor
Occasion for product usage
Regular
Special or not applicable/
product not shown in use
USA
70.8
45.8
70.8
4.2
4.2
91.7
8.3
UK
15.8
0
10.5
44.7
81.6
2.6
97.4
78.9
21.1
8.1
91.9
14.3
83.8
85.7
16.2
SIS6 F06
Comparing the UK, Ireland and the U.S.
(www.iol.ie/ressource/bates)
UK
I'm trying to return to a more simple way of life
32%
Ireland
U.S.
28%
46%
Couples should live together before getting married
33%
37%
28%
The man should be the boss of the house
18%
18%
29%
Women should put their family before their career
54%
54%
58%
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Comparing the UK, Ireland and the U.S.
UK
Ireland
U.S.
42%
23%
49%
70%
63%
52%
I like to look attractive to members of the opposite sex
51%
49%
68%
42%
39%
28%
45%
Advertising insults my intelligence
I'll try almost everything once
It is important to me to make a lot of money
20%
I feel I'm under a great deal of pressure most of the time
32%
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 6
"Consumers are immersed in local marketing environments that tend progressively to
converge.“ (p. 155)
There are three major components of a local marketing environment that have a more
or less direct influence on how marketing strategy can be defined an implemented:
1. The general environment: political, legal, social, cultural, and linguistic elements.
2. "Much nearer to the actual marketing decisions": marketing institutions and
infrastructures: distribution, ad agencies, professional associations, regulatory
bodies and how marketing regulations are enforced.
3. Local marketing knowledge (often blatantly overlooked) – matters: if people, as
employees, consumers or viewers, do not know, misunderstand and/or do not
accept marketing concepts and practices, it is possible that strategies will be hard
to implement.
SIS6 F06
Cultural differences and toys
Ouch! There are other cultural differences. American parents want the top selling
kids kitchen upgraded to include a TV on the worktop like most US homes.
Meanwhile, the Spanish didn't like the packaging for the toy kitchen because it
showed a young boy doing the cooking and the French didn't like the pink kitsch
colors and demanded more realism."
The Express, 6 December 2001
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 6
”When trying to understand local marketing environments, self-criticism is a
necessary perspective because we understand our local environment from our
own ethnocentric perspective. There is always a reference point that makes
judgements implicitly comparative.”…”If local people do not properly understand
or appreciate the interviewing process in market research, a value judgement
would be to say that they are underdeveloped and need to be educated.” (P. 155)
Regional convergence/integration
The role of e.g. the EU?
The European consumer?
Borrowed concepts and practices (p. 159)
Interesting and relevant discussion
Usunier e.g. is French
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 6
”Marketing infrastructures are converging, because the standards of the marketing
profession are fairly constistent worldwide. Multinational companies have heavily
influenced the widespread adoption of similar practices even if to some extent
tailored to local environments.”
(P. 203)
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 8 – interesting points
”Consumer behaviour, a natural entry barrier related to culture, will diminish very gradually and
only over a long period: there are still many very different marketing ’villages’, not a global
one.” (P. 218)
”The trends towards global markets differ fairly widely depending on the industry. ” (P. 219)
”Cultural products which build on fairly universal feelings and ways of being are the ones to
which standardized marketing policy can be applied.” (p. 231)
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 8 – interesting points
”In fact, international marketing programmes have experienced a trend towards
greater standardization, but this needs to be differentiated, according to:
(1) the elements of the marketing mix considered;
(2) the type of market, e.g. developed or undeveloped;
(3) type of product; consumer or industrial;
(4) the control exerted over e.g. subsidiary.” (p. 230)
”Globalization is a process which occurs mainly at the competition level. Artificial
entry barriers, related to duties and standards, are now being progressively
replaced by natual entry barriers related to scale and experience. For
international marketing, culture-related experience is all the more important
since the natural entry barriers relating to consumer behaviour and marketing
environments will diminish very gradually and only in the long term.”
(p. 231)
SIS6 F06
Usunier, chapter 8
Cultural affinity zones:
"Geography based"
Correspond to a large extent to national cultural groups.
Cultural affinity classes:
People within a cultural affinity class…”have a tendency to share common values,
behaviour and interets, and tend to present common traits as a consumer
segment; their lifestyles converge world-wide irrespective of national borders. As
such, we see lifestyle convergence in teenagers in Europe who spend time
watching MTV.” (P. 232)
"Cultural affinity classes…….are probably an ideal means of defining an
international target for standardized products." (p. 233)
SIS6 F06
The de Mooij text:
Convergence and divergence in consumer
behavior…
Some points for discussion 1:
•
”His [Levitt} argument was based on the assumption that consumer behaviour is rational.
Increasingly, however scholars find that consumers are often not rational and do not
make purchase decisions that maximise utility. The assumption of rationality is
increasingly regarded as unrealistic and places consumers outside a cultural context.”
•
”Although there is evidence of converging economic and demographic systems in
Europe, there is no evidence of converging value systems. On the contrary, there is
evidence that consumer behaviour is diverging in Europe as reflected in the
consumption, ownership and use of many products and services.”
SIS6 F06
The de Mooij text:
Convergence and divergence in consumer
behavior…
Some points for discussion 2:
•
”The assumption that economic systems homogenisation will lead to homogenisation of
consumer behaviour is supported only by anecdotal evidence.”
•
”As people become more affluent, their diverge.”
•
”Global advertising, however, does not appeal to universal values because there are no
universal values.”
•
”The model developed by Hofstede explains most of the variation of consumption and
consumer behaviour across countries and enables marketing executives to quantify the
effects of culture.” ?????
SIS6 F06
Values
Values are the basis for segmentation and positioning decisions.
All people everywhere possess the same values to different degrees (Rokeach)
Two levels of values (Rokeach):
1. Terminal (end-states): e.g. freedom, equality, self-respect
2. Instrumental (motivators to reach end-states): ambitious, cheerful, forgiving.
Some values may change over the long term
Age and point in time of people's lives can cause value differences
(de Mooij)
SIS6 F06
Values
”Values offer an opportunity to differentiate brands by going beyond a focus on
attributes and benefits, or the deliverance of higher-level consequences to
consumers.”
Modern advertising strategy development includes:
A)
Selecting values or end-states to emphasize in advertising.
B)
Determining how advertising will connect the product to key end-states
C)
Developing advertisements connecting the product to the end value.
(de Mooij)
SIS6 F06
Rokeach - values
Intrumental values (motivators)
Terminal values (end states)
Ambitious
Broadminded
Capable
Cheerful
Clean
Courageous
Forgiving
Helpful
Honest
Imaginative
Independent
Intellectual
Logical
Loving
Obedient
Polite
Responsible
Self-controlled
A comfortable life
An exciting life
A sense of accomplishment
A world at peace
A world of beauty
Equality
Family security
Freedom
Happiness
Inner harmony
Mature love
National security
Pleasure
Salvation
Self-respect
Social recognition
True friendship
Wisdom
SIS6 F06
Value structure maps –
A VSM links the product’s attributes and benefits to values
Toothpaste – an example
Values
security
self-confidence
Consequences/
benefits
prevents
cavities
clean, white teeth
Attributes
sugarless
strong
SIS6 F06
Value structure maps
– Corona Extra, Germany (de Mooij)
SIS6 F06
Value structure maps
– Corona Extra, Spain (de Mooij)
SIS6 F06
Cross-cultural value research problems
(de Mooij)
Research reflects values/culture of the researcher
Differences in rankings of priorities of values
Terminal values of one culture may be instrumental in other cultures
Certain values of one culture may not exist in another culture
Until recently mainly been based on U.S. tools
SIS6 F06
Values, lifestyles and psychographics
"the softer side of science"
Values are beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or end-state is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of
conduct or end-state of existence.
Lifestyle is an exhibited set of shared values of tastes
Or
Lifestyle is the manner in which people conduct their lives, including their
activities, interests and opinions.
Psychographics: the concept of dividing markets into segments on the
basis of consumer lifestyles, attitudes and interests.
(Kahle & Chiagouris: Values, Lifestyles and Psychographics)
SIS6 F06
Emotional appeals
”Emotional appeals relate to the customers’ social and/or psycological needs for
purchasing a product or service. Many of consumers’ motives for their purchase
decisions are emotional, and their feelings about a brand can be more important
than knowledge of its features or atributes.”
Personal states or feelings
Social-based feelings
Safety
Love
Happiness
Nostalgia
Excitement
Sorrow/grief
Achievement
Actualization
Ambition
Recognition
Status
Respect
Involvement
Embarrassment
Affiliation/belonging
Rejection
Acceptance
Approval
Security
Affection
Joy
Sentiment
Arousal
Pride
Self-esteem
Pleasure
Comfort
(Belch & Belch, Advertising and Promotion)
SIS6 F06
Some major motives for consumption
Power/masculinity/virility
Security
Eroticism
Moral purity-cleanliness
Social acceptance
Individuality
Status
Femininity
Reward
Master over environment
Try to imagine different cultures and products affiliated with the different motives.
(Adapted from Solomon: Consumer Behavior)
SIS6 F06
de Mooij’s ”Value Paradoxes”
"Paradoxial values are found within cultures and between cultures. Every
culture has its opposing values."
"Value paradoxes are part of people's systems; they reflect the desirable
versus the desired in life. On the one hand, one should not sin; on the
other hand most of us do sin now and again. We don't want to be fat, we
should eat healthy food, yet we do eat chocolate or drink beer and we do
get fat.”
”Because the important value paradoxes vary by culture, value-adding
advertising cannot be exported from one culture to another.”
(de Mooij, Global Marketing and Advertising, p. 2)
SIS6 F06
de Mooij’s ”Value Paradoxes”
VPs must be understood or you delude yourself and think that the world is
becoming one global culture with similar values.
VPs reflect the desirable versus the desired in life
USA: freedom/belonging
Germany: freedom/order
Holland: freedom/affiliation
France: freedom/dependence
De Mooij: understanding and using the VPs of individual cultures =
effective marketing communications
SIS6 F06
Some of the ”problems” in global marketing
The "Think global, act local" paradox
(You are always product of your own culture)
The technology paradox
(Technology hasn’t led towards similar needs for similar products)
The media paradox
(Technology hasn’t meant increased viewer freedom)
The culture-free versus culture-bound paradox
(There are no culture-free products)
Local markets are people, global markets are products
(Many global advertisers are not market oriented, they are product oriented)
SIS6 F06
Some of the ”problems” in global marketing
The paradoxes in marketing
(Marketing practice and theory often based on U.S. values and thinking)
Focus on the individual
(Traditionally focus has been on the individual)
Effective advertising needs a shared culture
(If buying motives for standardized products vary by country, how can a
standardized campaign be equally effective in all countries?)
The research paradox
(Value and lifestyle research is culture-bound, but studies and techniques are often
exported”)
How advertising works
(de Mooij)
SIS6 F06
Remember SIS-4?
We briefly touched upon postmodern marketing
”As Firat, [describing the postmodern existence], rightly observes, ’In an
overwhelmingly marketized existence, individuals experience practically all
aspects of their lives as consumers’. Whereas consumption was not always
highly regarded in modern consumption, the postmodernist consumer pursues,
with little afterthought, the construction of their self-image.”
”Because the postmodern consumer experience is not one of committing to a single
way of being, a single form of existence, the same consumers are willing to
sample the different, fragmented artifacts. The consumer is ready to have Italian
for lunch and Chinese for dinner, to wear Levi’s 501 blue jeans for the outdoor
party in the afternoon and to try the Gucci suit at night – changing not only diets
and clothes but also the personas and selves that are to be (re)presented at
each function.”
(Firat in Usunier & Lee, p. 136)
SIS6 F06
Remember SIS-4?
We briefly touched upon postmodern marketing
”Consumption is no longer just about a simple purchase or the satisfaction of basic
needs and wants, but a culturally determined behavioral pattern which forces us
to choose and change the elements of our lifestyle.”
”…and it is first of all through our way of consuming that we define ourselves as
individuals.”
(Frandsen, Johansen & Nielsen, 1997, p. 7)
SIS6 F06
Remember SIS-4?
We briefly touched upon postmodern marketing
Post-modern marketing:
•
De-differentiation – e.g. the blurring of ”fine culture” and ”mass-culture” (e.g.
advertisng.) And, marketing not only used commercially.
•
Fragmentation – e.g. we all play different roles, e.g. during the day.
• Today consumers play important roles in shaping their own lifestyles so
marketers have to take part in the process where the consumers try to choose
lifestyles. For marketers it is no longer enough just to ”learn”, they have to get
”involved”.
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
”Rather than converging towards a single mode of being or living that is deemed to be the best,
as envisioned by the project of modernity, postmodernity allows for the recognition that various
communities will have preferences for different ways of being and living, and that these
preferences most likely will be shaped by a multiplicity of goals and values.”
&
”The postmodern sensibility, in other words, does not envision the posibility of consensus on any
foundational or fundamental essentials representing ’a universal.’ Instead, a multiplicity of
perspectives, truths, and life experiences are sought and expected.”
(Kimmel, Allan J. (ed.): Marketing Communication, Oxford University Press 2005)
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
Some of the conditions of postmodern culture:
Hyperreality: …the becoming real of that which was or is hype or simulation; that is, when a
substantive and powerful segment in society believe certain conditions that are forcefully
represented to be the case, these conditions then become their reality. E.g. when a group of
young people believe that wearing athletic shoes of a certain brand will bring them popularity, it
indeed becomes the case.”
Fragmentation: …the condition that life is disconnected or disjointed. Home life, work life,
recreation time, tv time, time with pets etc. are all separate experiences and lack a center of
unity.
Decentering of the subject: …is the condition in modern life that the subject (the human agent),
who was considered to be the center of all reason, has lost his/her agency, and has to share the
capability to act upon things with objects (of desire), or is often acted upon by objects. An
obvious example is the influence of objects such as television or the automobile on human
beings.
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
Some of the conditions of postmodern culture:
Paradoxical juxtaposition of opposites: …is the condition that many so-called ’proper’ ensembles
are no longer exercised. This is a condition that is especially recognized in architecture, where
architectural elements from different systems considered to be incompatible are combined, but is
also found in everyday clothing and liftstyles, for example, in the combined use of punk hairdos
with high-fashion clothing.
Tolerance for difference and multiplicity: There is a tacit understanding among peoples of the
world who realize the futility of seeking a consensus among all different perspectives, values,
and worldviews, and instead accept an openness toward a multicultural existence.
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
”Together these conditions represent a blurring of distinctions that were fundamental to the
constitution of modernity; the distinctions between reality and fantasy, mind and body, subject
and object, material and symbolic, production and consumption, order and chaos. Through these
distinctions, modernity attempted to construct a normative order for the realization of the modern
project.”
”In the postmodern sensibility, these bipolar or oppositional dichotomies that determine what is
proper and improper, what is a privileged norm or unworthy, are diffused, offering instead
multiplicity and complexity. Under these conditions, to expect a single meaning or interpretation
to be derived from one’s communication is neither possible nor fruitful.”
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
”Modern communication”
For example:
What was communicated was the result of the communicator’s decision, whereas the
audience merely was exposed to the message and expected to decode it.
The emphasis is on communication management, predictability and control.
In the modern context communication is not considered an active.
Communication is merely a carrier of messages between producers and consumers
SIS6 F06
Firat & Christensen: Marketing Communications in a
Postmodern World
”Postmodern communciation”
For example:
Now the assumption is that in whatever the author wrote, there are unspoken or
hidden agendas, historical baggage, and political imperatives that the author may or
may not be aware of. Therefore, from each reader’s point of view, era, and culture
there can and should be different, critical readings, which effectively reconstitute what
is written.
From a marketing communication perspective, one of the most important implications
of postmodernity is the loss of control, consistency, and predictability that the modern
perspective took for granted.
Contemporary marketers need to realize that they no longer are the masters of
meaning, that their products and messages are creations with a life of their own, and
that their intended receivers are not passive targets but creative partners in the
production of experiences and identities.
SIS6 F06