08832323.2010.493902
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes
Jason Ryan
To cite this article: Jason Ryan (2011) Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes, Journal of Education for Business, 86:3, 171-177, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2010.493902
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2010.493902
Published online: 24 Feb 2011.
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 22:15
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 86: 171–177, 2011
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.493902
Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes
Jason Ryan
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University of Redlands, Redlands, California, USA
The author examines the use of the Web-based foreign advertisements for enhancing the international awareness of undergraduate marketing students. An analysis compares the adaptation
of advertisements for identical products to the cultural perceptions and values of consumers in
different countries. In a sample of 110 international marketing students, 41% rated the analysis
of foreign advertisements as “useful” and 41% “highly useful”; 71% of students observed
highly significant differences between foreign and domestic advertisements, 29% perceived
moderate differences.
Keywords: foreign advertisements, internet, marketing, teaching
In this article I suggest a simple and effective method for
sensitizing students to cultural differences by using the Internet to show them foreign advertisements and then engage
them in an exploration of why approaches to advertising
that differ sharply from those used in the United States appeal to selected foreign audiences. This relates to a wider
challenge in American education: enabling students to overcome the limits of their own circumstances and situations
and gain insights into the global world. This is especially
critical for marketing and business students who, whether
they stay home or go abroad, will be competing in a global
economy. Clearly, there are no quick fixes or magical solutions to opening minds to other cultures and societies.
What is required—as has always been the case—is serious study of many subjects (e.g., history, culture, foreign
languages, psychology, sociology, economic systems) and
in-depth encounters with the peoples and institutions of
other cultures. Universities have long dealt with this challenge through a variety of means, including lectures, exhibits and cultural events; foreign study programs; bringing
foreign students and professors to campus; and, in general,
trying to open the university to the world beyond it. Many
institutions proclaim the measures they have taken to make
their marketing curricula international, but research suggests
that such efforts reach only a relatively small percentage of
Correspondence should be addressed to Jason Ryan, University of
Redlands, Department of Business Administration, 1200 East Colton
Avenue, Duke Hall 306, Redlands, CA 92374, USA. E-mail:
jason ryan@redlands.edu
students and have little impact even on many of those who are
reached (Tyagi, 2001). Studies have shown, for instance, that
American students have alarmingly low levels of knowledge
of geography (Hise, 1991; Hise, Davidow, & Tray, 2000;
Hise, Shin, Davidow, Fahy, Solano-Mendez, & Troy, 2004).
Cunningham and Jones (1997) have, moreover, demonstrated that geographical knowledge has not been emphasized or encouraged in most international marketing courses.
Broader cultural knowledge is even more lacking and providing that is a considerably more serious and challenging
undertaking.
It is thus not surprising that the lament that many students
remain isolated from the powerful currents of globalization
that are transforming the world they live in is often heard
(Thanopoulos & Vernon, 1987). The students themselves
seem equally frustrated at the inadequacy of standardized
curricula and textbooks to prepare them for international
employment, especially careers in international marketing
(Turley and Shannon, 1999). The approach to this problem
advocated here is not to add new courses on different aspects
of globalization, but to find ways to enrich the content of existing courses with materials, exercises, and approaches that
may cause students to observe and reflect on cultural differences and values. Indeed, a proliferation of new courses intended to broaden the knowledge and experiences of students
might have a detrimental impact by drawing their attention
away from core courses and basic concepts and skills. In
most programs, the need is not to try to do more by packing
additional materials into already overstuffed curricula, but to
find ways of doing better by using class time more effectively
to develop an awareness of cultural differences and values
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J. RYAN
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and how they impact perceptions, including those relevant to
consumer behavior.
In this article I first present a brief review of the literature
examining the teaching of intercultural proficiency in business schools and then specific Web sites that feature a large
selection of foreign advertisements. I then provide practical
suggestions concerning the use of specific types of advertisements and the manner in which they can be effectively
presented and discussed. As an illustration, three examples
of advertisements are presented and discussed from an intercultural perspective. Finally, I provide statistical data on the
use of foreign advertisements in the classroom and student
reactions to them.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The growing reality and awareness that humans live in a
globalizing world has created a need for innovative teaching
methods that can help students relate to and understand other
cultures and peoples (Albers-Miller, Prenshaw, & Straughan,
1999; Ortiz, 2004). Yet, as Munoz, Wood, and Cherrier
(2006) recognized, teaching intercultural proficiency in a
traditional classroom setting can be challenging; students
learn best not from abstract discussions but from concrete
examples and actual or simulated experiences in interacting with other cultures. Mastering intercultural skills and
attitudes is increasingly important for students entering the
contemporary business world in which the ability to accept
and interact effectively with diverse cultures is becoming a
critical and valued skill (Jones, 2003). Cox (1991) added
that the ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment is based on an individual’s worldview and the
ability to accept differing perspectives, ideas, and behavior.
Although it is widely acknowledged that intercultural sensitivity is crucial in enabling individuals to live enjoyably and
to work productively in other cultures (Anderson, Lawton,
Rexeisen, & Hubbard, 2006), the means and methods for imparting the needed cultural skills remain a major challenge
that few programs can claim to be meeting in a satisfactory
manner.
Although there are certainly no panaceas for quickly overcoming the mindsets of insular students, there are numerous
materials, approaches, and exercises that, if used creatively,
can help students to gain glimpses of how other individuals
think of themselves and see their worlds. The particular example cited here, the www.culturepub.fr Web site, is one I
used in marketing courses in Europe and the United States.
The purpose in using it is to cause students to ponder how
and why products are marketed in particular and often very
different ways to consumers in various parts of the world.
Aaker and Maheswaran (1997) showed that national culture
has a strong impact on the process of persuading consumers
and also in shaping the pattern of emotions they feel in response to advertisements. The implicit contrast in the minds
of student—one which the instructional exercise seeks to
make explicit—is the difference between the approach used
in the economy they know best (typically, the United States
in courses taught in this country) and the country shown in
the video clips from the culturepub.fr site.
Making use of advertisements to expose students to other
cultures is by no means a new practice in teaching international marketing and international business. Web sites such as
Adforum.com have been used for years. The innovation that
Web sites such as culturepub.fr introduce—in addition to being free of charge—is that they allow professors to search for
advertisements on the basis of a wide range of attributes such
as humor, genre, nationality, product, brand, and popularity.
The useful search features of culturepub.fr allow professors
to search for highly specific and targeted advertisements to
illustrate their lectures.
This approach is simple and easy to use, but requires that
instructors have a smart classroom with a reliable projector
and sound system as well as a fast Internet connection. It
simply involves showing students advertisements from other
cultures and opening a dialogue on why these advertisements take the particular forms and show the content that
they do. Although culturepub.fr is in French, an Englishlanguage shell for the site can be accessed through AOL
video by entering the term “channel:Culturepub” into the
site’s search engine. The culturepub.fr Web site can also be
searched in English by adding the term “channel:Culturepub”
to each search query on AOL video. Culturepub.fr is the
Web site for a highly popular and long-running program on
French television that is devoted to examining advertisements
from other countries. Culture Pub was first broadcast on the
French TV station M6 in 1989. The TV show, owned by
CB News, launched a Web site in 2007 to allow viewers to
watch their favorite foreign advertisements online. According to culturepub.fr, the Web site receives 4.6 million hits per
month.
As already noted, culturepub.fr is in French. Although it
is not essential to have a mastery of French to use the site,
some knowledge of the language greatly facilitates the task.
A useful feature for individuals who are challenged by their
limited knowledge of French is the fact that the most popular
advertisements are displayed on the homepage. Often useful
examples can be found simply by opening the home page,
without having to explore the site more deeply. Within the
site, users can search for advertisements in a number of ways.
They can bring them up by genre, age, product, theme, and
nationality. Other sites such as YouTube also have examples
of foreign advertisements but their selection is less broad
and varied. Indeed, the advertisements on YouTube seem to
have been selected precisely because they appeal to American users. Although that may be logical for maximizing
audiences, it works against the purpose pursued here—that
of opening minds to foreign cultures through the display
of advertisements that initially may seem puzzling or even
imponderable.
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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WHY FOCUS ON ADVERTISEMENTS?
It can be considered that advertisements offer a rather limited
and superficial insight into culture. Why not analyze newspaper stories, editorials, or other more serious materials? In
fact, the cryptic nature of advertisements, their use of innuendo, their evocation of shared experiences and values, and
their easily perceived if artfully disguised goals make them an
especially useful medium for peeking into other cultures and
pondering the concerns and aspirations that drive them. Typically, the message contained in an advertisement is simple
and direct; the context is usually only hinted at as the viewers are expected to supply it from their own cultural stores. It
cannot, of course, be assumed that students will quickly get
the message in a foreign advertisement or even with coaching interpret it in the manner intended by those who create or
sponsor them. Their reaction is often one of puzzlement or
amusement and the explanations they offer of the messages
disguised in the advertisement frequently miss the point completely. Generating this uncertainty is an essential value of
the exercise. In order that they may gain cultural understanding, it is often necessary to begin by putting learners in a state
of befuddlement. Learners need to recognize that they either
do not understand a message or are in considerable doubt as
to what its true meaning may be and why the presentation
takes the form that it does. It is often helpful to ask students to
recall advertisements for similar products in the culture they
know best and to then invite them to speculate on why another
culture would take a very different approach to accomplish
a similar or identical purpose: the marketing of a particular
product. This in effect is a way to help students understand
culture by proceeding from the specific to the general rather
than, as is usually done, by offering general explanations of
cultural variations and seeking examples to illustrate them.
It is not contended here that inductive approaches are always
superior to deductive ones, but that cultural generalizations
should normally be supported with realistic examples that
provide an insight into the subtle and ambiguous nature of
the cultural differences being illustrated. The critical examination of foreign advertisements is not, of course, an end
in itself, but a way of cautioning students that the traditional
lenses through which they perceive reality may be misleading
when applied to other cultures. The lesson is not to beware of
what your eyes and ears tell you, but to reflect more deeply
on how the sensory information received is to be interpreted.
Often there is no single or unambiguous interpretation of
a particular advertisement. In fact, the target viewers (e.g.,
Thais in Thailand) may offer a variety of interpretations of the
content and strategy of the same advertisement. By its very
nature, culture is often ambiguous and subtle. The goal is not
to enable students to expertly interpret other cultures—that is
expecting far too much—but to make them more conscious
and reflective about the need to approach other cultures cautiously and sensitively and to encourage them to test their
assumptions carefully before they act on them.
173
Classroom Presentation
Evidently, there is no standard formula for using the materials on the Web site in the classroom. It is probably better that the pedagogical approach changes to some degree
each time an advertisement is introduced. Initially, the instructor should simply ask the class to respond to the projected advertisement. This usually elicits a great variety of
views and often a good deal of controversy and discussion.
It could then be focused in on what the differences (as compared with an American advertisements for a similar product)
may be and how such differences might be explained. Such
structured comparisons clearly require and bring forth more
thought and analysis than does an open discussion. It can be
useful to seek to classify the points as they are made and
to list them on the board in order to make the differences
explicit.
On other occasions, the exercise would be handled more
formally. After watching an advertisement, students would
be asked to note down on a sheet of paper (a) what they found
most striking or, in some cases, troubling in the advertisement; (b) how the presentation differed from their expectations, usually based on how similar products are advertised on
television in the United States; and (c) what factors—cultural,
political, developmental—they felt could explain the perceived differences. Customarily, students would be given
about 10–15 min to complete this exercise.
These more considered accounts of the form of the advertisements and the messages contained in them are usually
more varied and generally far more thoughtful and insightful
than those resulting from an open discussion. Indeed, many
students observed that discussions based on these more carefully considered accounts were more animated and valuable
than earlier discussions based on mere brainstorming. In part,
this was because students found themselves with positions or
interpretations to defend. American students have generally
been raised with the belief that collective wisdom derives
from a spontaneous sharing of views; European and Asian
students, by contrast, are more likely to wish to reflect on
issues before expressing themselves on them publicly. By
using and comparing both approaches, students gain further
insight into important ways in which cultures differ.
These are obviously exercises in which there is no right
or wrong answer. Their purpose is to show that meaning is
often contingent on cultural context and understanding. In a
typical course, 30 or so advertisements can be used during
an academic year. In the session in which advertisements are
first introduced, a detailed explanation regarding their purpose and intended value is offered. The author of this article
usually integrates the explanation into a showing of ten to
twelve advertisements selected to illustrate the points being
made. In subsequent sessions, the instructor will as a rule
use only four to six advertisements selected to illustrate particular points. These subsequent sessions are shorter a half
an hour or so—and serve to reinforce the need for students
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174
J. RYAN
to develop their cultural awareness and interpretive skills.
Instructors ought to be conscious of the danger of overkill.
The first advertisements shown always provoke a strong reaction and high interest from students. This interest, alas, can
diminish quickly unless efforts are made to keep the discussion focused and make it as penetrating as possible. While
often surprising and unusual, the advertisements must not
be presented as simple curiosities: “How strange those folks
are and what odd tastes they have?” The analysis must be
focused on trying to understand what is being presented and
why it is being done in the manner that it is. Although there
is no place for dogmatism in offering interpretations, there
is also little value in projecting advertisements if students
simply observe without reflecting on the purpose, content,
and strategies embodied in them. In brief, the Web site is not
self-instructional, but rather presents a valuable collection
of learning materials that can be used to good effect when
skillfully integrated into a marketing or business curriculum.
Three Selected Examples
Three examples of advertisements taken from the
www.culturpub.fr are presented below. The first, for SmoothE Babyface Cream, is intended to suggest how advertising
is affected by the aesthetic values and cultural images prevailing in a society. The second and third examples show
the very different ways in which the same products are sold
in different cultures: Heinz ketchup in the first example and
Apple’s iPod in the second.
Smooth-E Babyface cream. This is a facial cream,
produced and sold by a Thai company named Smooth-E Ltd.
It is marketed through a commercial that takes the form of
a soap opera: girl sees and seeks boy; girl is initially ignored by boy; girl then finds and uses Smooth-E Babyface
Cream; boy is smitten by her glowing complexion. The story
has many amusing and unpredictable twists, but the moral
is that improving your complexion with Smooth-E Babyface Cream improves your chances in life and help you find
love. Apart from the crassness and the claimed supernatural
powers of the cream in question, this is a universal fable.
What makes it Thai is that the aesthetic is Thai; the girl’s
beauty is one that Thai culture venerates, especially light and
clear skin. This has social importance in societies where, until quite recently, the majority of women and men worked
in agriculture, exposed to a searing sun. The name of the
cream, of course, must be in English. The implication is that
it is not a traditional product, but rather a product based on
the same high technology that makes Hollywood stars glamorous. In many cultures, a baby’s skin is a symbol of beauty:
individuals enter the world in a state of perfection, but then
the slings and arrows of a harsh and demanding life take
their toll. Smooth-E Babyface Cream, it would seem, can
remove the dents and dings of life and return its users to their
original pristine state. According to the Smooth-E Web site,
“the Smooth-E customer is a modern, educated, image and
health-conscious person.” In this instance, the Thai approach
to advertising beauty products differs markedly from the approach generally used in North America and Europe where
the pretentions and benefits of products are presented boldly
but more modestly and realistically.
The discussions this advertisement spark are usually farranging as, What is beauty? What is the status of women
suggested by such advertisements? Is it ethical to oversell
such products by suggesting they are a key to beauty? What
mystical powers does popular culture in developing nations
attribute to the West? What accounts for the power and mystique of the West? Is fact-based advertising more or less effective than suggestive advertisements that impute marvelous
qualities to quite ordinary goods and services? What control,
if any, should public authorities have to monitor, correct, and
punish such misrepresentations? Obviously, these questions
cannot be adequately explored on the basis of the information stated or suggested in a brief advertisement alone. Such
advertisement do, however, open the classroom to a set of
issues that compel students to reflect more deeply on other
cultures and in doing so perhaps gain some insights into
their own. Many of the issues raised, although perhaps not
directly relevant to a traditional marketing curriculum, are
components of the type of liberal arts education that future
business leaders require. They teach learners to look beyond
immediate purposes—selling a product—to the underlying
social consequences and implications of such actions.
Heinz ketchup. Another useful approach involves taking the same product and observing how it is advertised in
different cultures. One site, for example, shows how Heinz
ketchup and soups, products very familiar to Americans, are
advertised in three other cultures: India, the United States,
and Germany. In all three countries, Heinz makes humor one
of the central themes in its advertisements, but it emphasizes
different product attributes in each market. In India, for example, the emphasis is placed on the premium nature of the
product and its thickness. The fact that Heinz ketchup does
not gush out of the bottle, but has to be coaxed out with taps
and squeezes is one of the central points in the advertisement.
This may be necessary because Heinz competes with Indian
products, such as Kissan ketchup, that are generally priced
much more affordably and have a more liquid consistency. In
order to justify its premium price, Heinz has to insist that its
product is purer, thicker, and more chic. This better mousetrap approach suggests that the disparity in quality of the
products more than offsets the important difference in price.
In the United States, contrastingly, Heinz ketchup advertisements focus on the flavor of the product and the fact that
it enhances ordinary food. The Heinz advertisements from
Germany and other European countries emphasize the convenience and flavor of Heinz products. There the focus is
usually not on ketchup exclusively, but on sauces and soups.
This may be because the European market for ketchup is both
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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limited and mature, compelling Heinz to diversify its product
range in order to grow sales. Advertisements, although they
must be sensitive to cultural and the ways in which products
are used and regarded in different cultures, are primarily instruments for serving commercial and economic goals and
strategies.
Apple iPod. Another product for which advertisements
from more than one country are shown is the Apple iPod.
The culturepub.fr site has iPod advertisements from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although
the British and American iPod advertisements are quite similar, the German one is markedly different. The American
and British ads focus heavily on the trendiness of the product
and the fact that it has strong associations with the world
of hip hop. The advertisements resemble music videos. The
German advertisement, on the other hand, makes a mockery
of the fact that the iPod is perceived as a trendy accessory by
using a tall, lean, loud, obnoxious actor dressed in white and
silver to represent the iPod. The product itself is never actually shown in the advertisement. Does this show a German
proclivity to favor fantasy over literal presentations—an actor representing the phone and not the phone itself—whereas
Anglo-Saxon cultures might seem to favor more literal representations? The iPod actor is paired with an overweight,
middle-aged iPod user. The contrast between the tall and lean
iPod actor and the short and stout iPod user is vivid. The intent of the advertisement is both to mock and simultaneously
emphasize the idea of the iPod as a fashionable accessory.
This advertisement is careful to stress the technical merits
of the product: It is effectively the Porsche of its field—a
sleek and stylish companion, but also a proficient technical
masterpiece. The assumption here would seem to be that the
German consumer is more technologically exigent than his
American or British counterparts. There is a German saying
that a spring cannot be judged by a swallow. Students should
be reminded of that expression. If cultural stereotypes need
to be drawn, they should be penciled in until confirmed by
subsequent experiences.
175
TABLE 1
Usefulness of Advertisements for Understanding
Other Cultures (N = 110)
Response
n
%
Cumulative %
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
25
11
29
15
9
21
23
10
26
14
8
19
23
33
59
73
81
—
Note. Results are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
FINDINGS
As shown in Table 1, 59% scored the usefulness of studying
the advertisements at 5, 6, or 7 and 41% assigned a score of
8, 9, or 10.
Table 2 displays the responses of students when asked
to rate the degree of difference between American and foreign advertisements on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (little difference) to 5 (extreme difference). As can
be observed, over 70% of students rated the differences as
highly significant (4) or extreme (5). None of the students
considered the differences to be minor or insignificant.
DISCUSSION
It must be noted that the sample size is relatively small (110
cases), all collected from a single University in California
campus. If the different findings were small and subtle, they
could easily be attributed them to sampling error. But on both
of the issues discussed previously, student opinion was close
to unanimity. All students considered the presentation and
discussion of foreign advertisements to be of use to them in
seeking to understand other cultures: rating the utility 5 or
higher on a 10-point scale. On the second issue, the perceived
difference between American and foreign advertisements,
106 out of 110 students rated the degree of difference as 3 or
higher on a 5-point scale. Roughly three quarters of the 110
METHOD
To assess the effectiveness of using foreign advertisements
in lectures, and to collect feedback, I circulated a questionnaire to 110 undergraduate students in six sections of a global
marketing course taught between the spring semester of 2008
and the spring semester of 2009 at a university in California.
Students were asked for their views on two subjects relating
to the foreign advertisements shown in class. The first question, scored on a 10-point scale, was whether they had found
the exposure to and analysis of foreign advertisements useful
in gaining insights into foreign cultures. All students scored
the utility of the exercise at 5 (useful) or above.
TABLE 2
Degree of Difference Between American
Advertisements and Foreign Advertisements
(N = 110)
Response
n
%
Cumulative %
2.00
3.00
3.50
4.00
5.00
4
24
3
30
49
4
22
3
27
44
4
26
29
56
—
Note. Results are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
176
J. RYAN
TABLE 3
Mean and Median Scores for Both Questions
Statistic
M
Median
Usefulness of advertisements Degree of difference between
American advertisements and
for understanding other
foreign advertisements
cultures
7.318
7
4.141
4
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Note. N = 110 for both questions.
students (79 out of 110) considered the advertisements to
be either “very different” or “completely different” from the
advertisements presented on American media (see Table 3).
In sum, the survey strongly suggests that for a small sample
of students at least, the exploration of foreign advertisements
developed an enhanced awareness that different cultures approach similar issues—how to market product X or Y—in
very different ways.
The value they found in the examination of advertisements stemmed mainly from the degree of difference in the
approaches taken by foreign advertisements as compared
with American advertisements. Indeed, in discussions with
students, the point that was emphasized was the value
students found in not only observing striking differences, but
also in being pushed to analyze and explain such differences.
To be sure, an awareness of differences does not permit
an individual to fully understand or make practical use of
different advertising idioms, but it does caution students
that their instincts and tastes are the products of their
experiences and values and that others, building on their own
experiences and values, may see the world quite differently.
Although it would be a gross exaggeration to maintain
that an understanding of other cultures can spring from a
few classroom exercises, they can launch and advance that
process by eroding cultural egocentrism. This is a limited
but nonetheless important and necessary step in preparing
culturally aware students for a global economy.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR
FUTURE RESEARCH
The need to prepare students to understand their roles as
responsible world citizens and effective business professionals in an increasingly integrated and interdependent global
economy and society is one of the major challenges confronting education in the 21st century. This paper sets forth a
modest proposal—one that is virtually cost-free and demonstrated to motivate and draw students out about how to advance the international awareness and sensitivity of undergraduate marketing students through the use of a Web site
(www.culturepub.fr) featuring foreign advertisements. The
empirical data cited on student evaluations, while based on
a small and limited sample, strongly indicates that a sample
of undergraduate students in the United States found examination of foreign advertisements both insightful and useful in stretching their cultural perceptions. Lastly, it should
be emphasized again that the challenge of preparing students to understand and act effectively and responsibly in the
emerging global village must become an increasingly central
element in business education and, indeed, in the liberal arts
curriculum. Exercises such as that suggested here if used
intelligently can assist in developing cultural sensitivity and
understandings, but the overall challenge cannot be met by
any single exercise or class. Developing international and
cultural understanding must be understood as an overarching
educational objective to which all aspects of university life
and study should contribute.
Research on the key issue of building intercultural proficiency is being approached from a number of directions, as
is necessary and appropriate given the complex and multifaceted nature of the issue. Developing the ability to perceive
and act upon realities in a culturally sensitive and effective manner should be conceptualized as a long-term process
to which numerous experiences can contribute (e.g., study
abroad programs).
Studies of cultures and a wide-range of special interventions, such as that discussed previously. Although even modest initiatives are needed and should be welcomed, the main
thrust of further research should concentrate not on single
interventions, but rather on combinations of different approaches. Measures such as Hett’s (1993) global-mindedness
scale and Olson and Kreuger’s (2001) intercultural sensitivity
index provide promising tools for measuring the development
of different aspects of intercultural proficiency over time and
in relation to particular experiences. Longitudinal studies that
examine the growth of cultural competence from entry into
university until graduation would shed useful light on the
value, variety and sequencing of different instructional and
experiential approaches in enhancing the cultural sensitivity, intercultural-communication skills, global-mindedness
and other key components of intercultural proficiency. As
Munoz, Wood and Cherrier (2006) rightly note, the promotion of cross-cultural understanding and competency is
a subject that urgently requires cross-cultural collaborative
exercises and careful investigation of pedagogical methods
capable of opening minds to new worlds, different peoples
and the full range of cultural experiences. While it is fitting
that we should set ambitious goals, it is also important that we
remain mindful of the limited means that both students and
academic programs possess in this season of austerity. Thus
it is important that we search out resources and approaches
that are economical as well as effective. It has been argued
that the approach suggested in this paper is successful on
both scores. The Web-based resources are free; they can be
fitted into normal classroom activities and if used skillfully,
they push students outside of their normal frames of reference and expose them to the realities of other cultures and
societies.
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes
Jason Ryan
To cite this article: Jason Ryan (2011) Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes, Journal of Education for Business, 86:3, 171-177, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2010.493902
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 22:15
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 86: 171–177, 2011
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.493902
Using Web-Based Foreign Advertisements in
International Marketing Classes
Jason Ryan
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University of Redlands, Redlands, California, USA
The author examines the use of the Web-based foreign advertisements for enhancing the international awareness of undergraduate marketing students. An analysis compares the adaptation
of advertisements for identical products to the cultural perceptions and values of consumers in
different countries. In a sample of 110 international marketing students, 41% rated the analysis
of foreign advertisements as “useful” and 41% “highly useful”; 71% of students observed
highly significant differences between foreign and domestic advertisements, 29% perceived
moderate differences.
Keywords: foreign advertisements, internet, marketing, teaching
In this article I suggest a simple and effective method for
sensitizing students to cultural differences by using the Internet to show them foreign advertisements and then engage
them in an exploration of why approaches to advertising
that differ sharply from those used in the United States appeal to selected foreign audiences. This relates to a wider
challenge in American education: enabling students to overcome the limits of their own circumstances and situations
and gain insights into the global world. This is especially
critical for marketing and business students who, whether
they stay home or go abroad, will be competing in a global
economy. Clearly, there are no quick fixes or magical solutions to opening minds to other cultures and societies.
What is required—as has always been the case—is serious study of many subjects (e.g., history, culture, foreign
languages, psychology, sociology, economic systems) and
in-depth encounters with the peoples and institutions of
other cultures. Universities have long dealt with this challenge through a variety of means, including lectures, exhibits and cultural events; foreign study programs; bringing
foreign students and professors to campus; and, in general,
trying to open the university to the world beyond it. Many
institutions proclaim the measures they have taken to make
their marketing curricula international, but research suggests
that such efforts reach only a relatively small percentage of
Correspondence should be addressed to Jason Ryan, University of
Redlands, Department of Business Administration, 1200 East Colton
Avenue, Duke Hall 306, Redlands, CA 92374, USA. E-mail:
jason ryan@redlands.edu
students and have little impact even on many of those who are
reached (Tyagi, 2001). Studies have shown, for instance, that
American students have alarmingly low levels of knowledge
of geography (Hise, 1991; Hise, Davidow, & Tray, 2000;
Hise, Shin, Davidow, Fahy, Solano-Mendez, & Troy, 2004).
Cunningham and Jones (1997) have, moreover, demonstrated that geographical knowledge has not been emphasized or encouraged in most international marketing courses.
Broader cultural knowledge is even more lacking and providing that is a considerably more serious and challenging
undertaking.
It is thus not surprising that the lament that many students
remain isolated from the powerful currents of globalization
that are transforming the world they live in is often heard
(Thanopoulos & Vernon, 1987). The students themselves
seem equally frustrated at the inadequacy of standardized
curricula and textbooks to prepare them for international
employment, especially careers in international marketing
(Turley and Shannon, 1999). The approach to this problem
advocated here is not to add new courses on different aspects
of globalization, but to find ways to enrich the content of existing courses with materials, exercises, and approaches that
may cause students to observe and reflect on cultural differences and values. Indeed, a proliferation of new courses intended to broaden the knowledge and experiences of students
might have a detrimental impact by drawing their attention
away from core courses and basic concepts and skills. In
most programs, the need is not to try to do more by packing
additional materials into already overstuffed curricula, but to
find ways of doing better by using class time more effectively
to develop an awareness of cultural differences and values
172
J. RYAN
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and how they impact perceptions, including those relevant to
consumer behavior.
In this article I first present a brief review of the literature
examining the teaching of intercultural proficiency in business schools and then specific Web sites that feature a large
selection of foreign advertisements. I then provide practical
suggestions concerning the use of specific types of advertisements and the manner in which they can be effectively
presented and discussed. As an illustration, three examples
of advertisements are presented and discussed from an intercultural perspective. Finally, I provide statistical data on the
use of foreign advertisements in the classroom and student
reactions to them.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The growing reality and awareness that humans live in a
globalizing world has created a need for innovative teaching
methods that can help students relate to and understand other
cultures and peoples (Albers-Miller, Prenshaw, & Straughan,
1999; Ortiz, 2004). Yet, as Munoz, Wood, and Cherrier
(2006) recognized, teaching intercultural proficiency in a
traditional classroom setting can be challenging; students
learn best not from abstract discussions but from concrete
examples and actual or simulated experiences in interacting with other cultures. Mastering intercultural skills and
attitudes is increasingly important for students entering the
contemporary business world in which the ability to accept
and interact effectively with diverse cultures is becoming a
critical and valued skill (Jones, 2003). Cox (1991) added
that the ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment is based on an individual’s worldview and the
ability to accept differing perspectives, ideas, and behavior.
Although it is widely acknowledged that intercultural sensitivity is crucial in enabling individuals to live enjoyably and
to work productively in other cultures (Anderson, Lawton,
Rexeisen, & Hubbard, 2006), the means and methods for imparting the needed cultural skills remain a major challenge
that few programs can claim to be meeting in a satisfactory
manner.
Although there are certainly no panaceas for quickly overcoming the mindsets of insular students, there are numerous
materials, approaches, and exercises that, if used creatively,
can help students to gain glimpses of how other individuals
think of themselves and see their worlds. The particular example cited here, the www.culturepub.fr Web site, is one I
used in marketing courses in Europe and the United States.
The purpose in using it is to cause students to ponder how
and why products are marketed in particular and often very
different ways to consumers in various parts of the world.
Aaker and Maheswaran (1997) showed that national culture
has a strong impact on the process of persuading consumers
and also in shaping the pattern of emotions they feel in response to advertisements. The implicit contrast in the minds
of student—one which the instructional exercise seeks to
make explicit—is the difference between the approach used
in the economy they know best (typically, the United States
in courses taught in this country) and the country shown in
the video clips from the culturepub.fr site.
Making use of advertisements to expose students to other
cultures is by no means a new practice in teaching international marketing and international business. Web sites such as
Adforum.com have been used for years. The innovation that
Web sites such as culturepub.fr introduce—in addition to being free of charge—is that they allow professors to search for
advertisements on the basis of a wide range of attributes such
as humor, genre, nationality, product, brand, and popularity.
The useful search features of culturepub.fr allow professors
to search for highly specific and targeted advertisements to
illustrate their lectures.
This approach is simple and easy to use, but requires that
instructors have a smart classroom with a reliable projector
and sound system as well as a fast Internet connection. It
simply involves showing students advertisements from other
cultures and opening a dialogue on why these advertisements take the particular forms and show the content that
they do. Although culturepub.fr is in French, an Englishlanguage shell for the site can be accessed through AOL
video by entering the term “channel:Culturepub” into the
site’s search engine. The culturepub.fr Web site can also be
searched in English by adding the term “channel:Culturepub”
to each search query on AOL video. Culturepub.fr is the
Web site for a highly popular and long-running program on
French television that is devoted to examining advertisements
from other countries. Culture Pub was first broadcast on the
French TV station M6 in 1989. The TV show, owned by
CB News, launched a Web site in 2007 to allow viewers to
watch their favorite foreign advertisements online. According to culturepub.fr, the Web site receives 4.6 million hits per
month.
As already noted, culturepub.fr is in French. Although it
is not essential to have a mastery of French to use the site,
some knowledge of the language greatly facilitates the task.
A useful feature for individuals who are challenged by their
limited knowledge of French is the fact that the most popular
advertisements are displayed on the homepage. Often useful
examples can be found simply by opening the home page,
without having to explore the site more deeply. Within the
site, users can search for advertisements in a number of ways.
They can bring them up by genre, age, product, theme, and
nationality. Other sites such as YouTube also have examples
of foreign advertisements but their selection is less broad
and varied. Indeed, the advertisements on YouTube seem to
have been selected precisely because they appeal to American users. Although that may be logical for maximizing
audiences, it works against the purpose pursued here—that
of opening minds to foreign cultures through the display
of advertisements that initially may seem puzzling or even
imponderable.
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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WHY FOCUS ON ADVERTISEMENTS?
It can be considered that advertisements offer a rather limited
and superficial insight into culture. Why not analyze newspaper stories, editorials, or other more serious materials? In
fact, the cryptic nature of advertisements, their use of innuendo, their evocation of shared experiences and values, and
their easily perceived if artfully disguised goals make them an
especially useful medium for peeking into other cultures and
pondering the concerns and aspirations that drive them. Typically, the message contained in an advertisement is simple
and direct; the context is usually only hinted at as the viewers are expected to supply it from their own cultural stores. It
cannot, of course, be assumed that students will quickly get
the message in a foreign advertisement or even with coaching interpret it in the manner intended by those who create or
sponsor them. Their reaction is often one of puzzlement or
amusement and the explanations they offer of the messages
disguised in the advertisement frequently miss the point completely. Generating this uncertainty is an essential value of
the exercise. In order that they may gain cultural understanding, it is often necessary to begin by putting learners in a state
of befuddlement. Learners need to recognize that they either
do not understand a message or are in considerable doubt as
to what its true meaning may be and why the presentation
takes the form that it does. It is often helpful to ask students to
recall advertisements for similar products in the culture they
know best and to then invite them to speculate on why another
culture would take a very different approach to accomplish
a similar or identical purpose: the marketing of a particular
product. This in effect is a way to help students understand
culture by proceeding from the specific to the general rather
than, as is usually done, by offering general explanations of
cultural variations and seeking examples to illustrate them.
It is not contended here that inductive approaches are always
superior to deductive ones, but that cultural generalizations
should normally be supported with realistic examples that
provide an insight into the subtle and ambiguous nature of
the cultural differences being illustrated. The critical examination of foreign advertisements is not, of course, an end
in itself, but a way of cautioning students that the traditional
lenses through which they perceive reality may be misleading
when applied to other cultures. The lesson is not to beware of
what your eyes and ears tell you, but to reflect more deeply
on how the sensory information received is to be interpreted.
Often there is no single or unambiguous interpretation of
a particular advertisement. In fact, the target viewers (e.g.,
Thais in Thailand) may offer a variety of interpretations of the
content and strategy of the same advertisement. By its very
nature, culture is often ambiguous and subtle. The goal is not
to enable students to expertly interpret other cultures—that is
expecting far too much—but to make them more conscious
and reflective about the need to approach other cultures cautiously and sensitively and to encourage them to test their
assumptions carefully before they act on them.
173
Classroom Presentation
Evidently, there is no standard formula for using the materials on the Web site in the classroom. It is probably better that the pedagogical approach changes to some degree
each time an advertisement is introduced. Initially, the instructor should simply ask the class to respond to the projected advertisement. This usually elicits a great variety of
views and often a good deal of controversy and discussion.
It could then be focused in on what the differences (as compared with an American advertisements for a similar product)
may be and how such differences might be explained. Such
structured comparisons clearly require and bring forth more
thought and analysis than does an open discussion. It can be
useful to seek to classify the points as they are made and
to list them on the board in order to make the differences
explicit.
On other occasions, the exercise would be handled more
formally. After watching an advertisement, students would
be asked to note down on a sheet of paper (a) what they found
most striking or, in some cases, troubling in the advertisement; (b) how the presentation differed from their expectations, usually based on how similar products are advertised on
television in the United States; and (c) what factors—cultural,
political, developmental—they felt could explain the perceived differences. Customarily, students would be given
about 10–15 min to complete this exercise.
These more considered accounts of the form of the advertisements and the messages contained in them are usually
more varied and generally far more thoughtful and insightful
than those resulting from an open discussion. Indeed, many
students observed that discussions based on these more carefully considered accounts were more animated and valuable
than earlier discussions based on mere brainstorming. In part,
this was because students found themselves with positions or
interpretations to defend. American students have generally
been raised with the belief that collective wisdom derives
from a spontaneous sharing of views; European and Asian
students, by contrast, are more likely to wish to reflect on
issues before expressing themselves on them publicly. By
using and comparing both approaches, students gain further
insight into important ways in which cultures differ.
These are obviously exercises in which there is no right
or wrong answer. Their purpose is to show that meaning is
often contingent on cultural context and understanding. In a
typical course, 30 or so advertisements can be used during
an academic year. In the session in which advertisements are
first introduced, a detailed explanation regarding their purpose and intended value is offered. The author of this article
usually integrates the explanation into a showing of ten to
twelve advertisements selected to illustrate the points being
made. In subsequent sessions, the instructor will as a rule
use only four to six advertisements selected to illustrate particular points. These subsequent sessions are shorter a half
an hour or so—and serve to reinforce the need for students
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174
J. RYAN
to develop their cultural awareness and interpretive skills.
Instructors ought to be conscious of the danger of overkill.
The first advertisements shown always provoke a strong reaction and high interest from students. This interest, alas, can
diminish quickly unless efforts are made to keep the discussion focused and make it as penetrating as possible. While
often surprising and unusual, the advertisements must not
be presented as simple curiosities: “How strange those folks
are and what odd tastes they have?” The analysis must be
focused on trying to understand what is being presented and
why it is being done in the manner that it is. Although there
is no place for dogmatism in offering interpretations, there
is also little value in projecting advertisements if students
simply observe without reflecting on the purpose, content,
and strategies embodied in them. In brief, the Web site is not
self-instructional, but rather presents a valuable collection
of learning materials that can be used to good effect when
skillfully integrated into a marketing or business curriculum.
Three Selected Examples
Three examples of advertisements taken from the
www.culturpub.fr are presented below. The first, for SmoothE Babyface Cream, is intended to suggest how advertising
is affected by the aesthetic values and cultural images prevailing in a society. The second and third examples show
the very different ways in which the same products are sold
in different cultures: Heinz ketchup in the first example and
Apple’s iPod in the second.
Smooth-E Babyface cream. This is a facial cream,
produced and sold by a Thai company named Smooth-E Ltd.
It is marketed through a commercial that takes the form of
a soap opera: girl sees and seeks boy; girl is initially ignored by boy; girl then finds and uses Smooth-E Babyface
Cream; boy is smitten by her glowing complexion. The story
has many amusing and unpredictable twists, but the moral
is that improving your complexion with Smooth-E Babyface Cream improves your chances in life and help you find
love. Apart from the crassness and the claimed supernatural
powers of the cream in question, this is a universal fable.
What makes it Thai is that the aesthetic is Thai; the girl’s
beauty is one that Thai culture venerates, especially light and
clear skin. This has social importance in societies where, until quite recently, the majority of women and men worked
in agriculture, exposed to a searing sun. The name of the
cream, of course, must be in English. The implication is that
it is not a traditional product, but rather a product based on
the same high technology that makes Hollywood stars glamorous. In many cultures, a baby’s skin is a symbol of beauty:
individuals enter the world in a state of perfection, but then
the slings and arrows of a harsh and demanding life take
their toll. Smooth-E Babyface Cream, it would seem, can
remove the dents and dings of life and return its users to their
original pristine state. According to the Smooth-E Web site,
“the Smooth-E customer is a modern, educated, image and
health-conscious person.” In this instance, the Thai approach
to advertising beauty products differs markedly from the approach generally used in North America and Europe where
the pretentions and benefits of products are presented boldly
but more modestly and realistically.
The discussions this advertisement spark are usually farranging as, What is beauty? What is the status of women
suggested by such advertisements? Is it ethical to oversell
such products by suggesting they are a key to beauty? What
mystical powers does popular culture in developing nations
attribute to the West? What accounts for the power and mystique of the West? Is fact-based advertising more or less effective than suggestive advertisements that impute marvelous
qualities to quite ordinary goods and services? What control,
if any, should public authorities have to monitor, correct, and
punish such misrepresentations? Obviously, these questions
cannot be adequately explored on the basis of the information stated or suggested in a brief advertisement alone. Such
advertisement do, however, open the classroom to a set of
issues that compel students to reflect more deeply on other
cultures and in doing so perhaps gain some insights into
their own. Many of the issues raised, although perhaps not
directly relevant to a traditional marketing curriculum, are
components of the type of liberal arts education that future
business leaders require. They teach learners to look beyond
immediate purposes—selling a product—to the underlying
social consequences and implications of such actions.
Heinz ketchup. Another useful approach involves taking the same product and observing how it is advertised in
different cultures. One site, for example, shows how Heinz
ketchup and soups, products very familiar to Americans, are
advertised in three other cultures: India, the United States,
and Germany. In all three countries, Heinz makes humor one
of the central themes in its advertisements, but it emphasizes
different product attributes in each market. In India, for example, the emphasis is placed on the premium nature of the
product and its thickness. The fact that Heinz ketchup does
not gush out of the bottle, but has to be coaxed out with taps
and squeezes is one of the central points in the advertisement.
This may be necessary because Heinz competes with Indian
products, such as Kissan ketchup, that are generally priced
much more affordably and have a more liquid consistency. In
order to justify its premium price, Heinz has to insist that its
product is purer, thicker, and more chic. This better mousetrap approach suggests that the disparity in quality of the
products more than offsets the important difference in price.
In the United States, contrastingly, Heinz ketchup advertisements focus on the flavor of the product and the fact that
it enhances ordinary food. The Heinz advertisements from
Germany and other European countries emphasize the convenience and flavor of Heinz products. There the focus is
usually not on ketchup exclusively, but on sauces and soups.
This may be because the European market for ketchup is both
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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limited and mature, compelling Heinz to diversify its product
range in order to grow sales. Advertisements, although they
must be sensitive to cultural and the ways in which products
are used and regarded in different cultures, are primarily instruments for serving commercial and economic goals and
strategies.
Apple iPod. Another product for which advertisements
from more than one country are shown is the Apple iPod.
The culturepub.fr site has iPod advertisements from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although
the British and American iPod advertisements are quite similar, the German one is markedly different. The American
and British ads focus heavily on the trendiness of the product
and the fact that it has strong associations with the world
of hip hop. The advertisements resemble music videos. The
German advertisement, on the other hand, makes a mockery
of the fact that the iPod is perceived as a trendy accessory by
using a tall, lean, loud, obnoxious actor dressed in white and
silver to represent the iPod. The product itself is never actually shown in the advertisement. Does this show a German
proclivity to favor fantasy over literal presentations—an actor representing the phone and not the phone itself—whereas
Anglo-Saxon cultures might seem to favor more literal representations? The iPod actor is paired with an overweight,
middle-aged iPod user. The contrast between the tall and lean
iPod actor and the short and stout iPod user is vivid. The intent of the advertisement is both to mock and simultaneously
emphasize the idea of the iPod as a fashionable accessory.
This advertisement is careful to stress the technical merits
of the product: It is effectively the Porsche of its field—a
sleek and stylish companion, but also a proficient technical
masterpiece. The assumption here would seem to be that the
German consumer is more technologically exigent than his
American or British counterparts. There is a German saying
that a spring cannot be judged by a swallow. Students should
be reminded of that expression. If cultural stereotypes need
to be drawn, they should be penciled in until confirmed by
subsequent experiences.
175
TABLE 1
Usefulness of Advertisements for Understanding
Other Cultures (N = 110)
Response
n
%
Cumulative %
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
25
11
29
15
9
21
23
10
26
14
8
19
23
33
59
73
81
—
Note. Results are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
FINDINGS
As shown in Table 1, 59% scored the usefulness of studying
the advertisements at 5, 6, or 7 and 41% assigned a score of
8, 9, or 10.
Table 2 displays the responses of students when asked
to rate the degree of difference between American and foreign advertisements on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (little difference) to 5 (extreme difference). As can
be observed, over 70% of students rated the differences as
highly significant (4) or extreme (5). None of the students
considered the differences to be minor or insignificant.
DISCUSSION
It must be noted that the sample size is relatively small (110
cases), all collected from a single University in California
campus. If the different findings were small and subtle, they
could easily be attributed them to sampling error. But on both
of the issues discussed previously, student opinion was close
to unanimity. All students considered the presentation and
discussion of foreign advertisements to be of use to them in
seeking to understand other cultures: rating the utility 5 or
higher on a 10-point scale. On the second issue, the perceived
difference between American and foreign advertisements,
106 out of 110 students rated the degree of difference as 3 or
higher on a 5-point scale. Roughly three quarters of the 110
METHOD
To assess the effectiveness of using foreign advertisements
in lectures, and to collect feedback, I circulated a questionnaire to 110 undergraduate students in six sections of a global
marketing course taught between the spring semester of 2008
and the spring semester of 2009 at a university in California.
Students were asked for their views on two subjects relating
to the foreign advertisements shown in class. The first question, scored on a 10-point scale, was whether they had found
the exposure to and analysis of foreign advertisements useful
in gaining insights into foreign cultures. All students scored
the utility of the exercise at 5 (useful) or above.
TABLE 2
Degree of Difference Between American
Advertisements and Foreign Advertisements
(N = 110)
Response
n
%
Cumulative %
2.00
3.00
3.50
4.00
5.00
4
24
3
30
49
4
22
3
27
44
4
26
29
56
—
Note. Results are rounded to the nearest percentage point.
176
J. RYAN
TABLE 3
Mean and Median Scores for Both Questions
Statistic
M
Median
Usefulness of advertisements Degree of difference between
American advertisements and
for understanding other
foreign advertisements
cultures
7.318
7
4.141
4
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Note. N = 110 for both questions.
students (79 out of 110) considered the advertisements to
be either “very different” or “completely different” from the
advertisements presented on American media (see Table 3).
In sum, the survey strongly suggests that for a small sample
of students at least, the exploration of foreign advertisements
developed an enhanced awareness that different cultures approach similar issues—how to market product X or Y—in
very different ways.
The value they found in the examination of advertisements stemmed mainly from the degree of difference in the
approaches taken by foreign advertisements as compared
with American advertisements. Indeed, in discussions with
students, the point that was emphasized was the value
students found in not only observing striking differences, but
also in being pushed to analyze and explain such differences.
To be sure, an awareness of differences does not permit
an individual to fully understand or make practical use of
different advertising idioms, but it does caution students
that their instincts and tastes are the products of their
experiences and values and that others, building on their own
experiences and values, may see the world quite differently.
Although it would be a gross exaggeration to maintain
that an understanding of other cultures can spring from a
few classroom exercises, they can launch and advance that
process by eroding cultural egocentrism. This is a limited
but nonetheless important and necessary step in preparing
culturally aware students for a global economy.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR
FUTURE RESEARCH
The need to prepare students to understand their roles as
responsible world citizens and effective business professionals in an increasingly integrated and interdependent global
economy and society is one of the major challenges confronting education in the 21st century. This paper sets forth a
modest proposal—one that is virtually cost-free and demonstrated to motivate and draw students out about how to advance the international awareness and sensitivity of undergraduate marketing students through the use of a Web site
(www.culturepub.fr) featuring foreign advertisements. The
empirical data cited on student evaluations, while based on
a small and limited sample, strongly indicates that a sample
of undergraduate students in the United States found examination of foreign advertisements both insightful and useful in stretching their cultural perceptions. Lastly, it should
be emphasized again that the challenge of preparing students to understand and act effectively and responsibly in the
emerging global village must become an increasingly central
element in business education and, indeed, in the liberal arts
curriculum. Exercises such as that suggested here if used
intelligently can assist in developing cultural sensitivity and
understandings, but the overall challenge cannot be met by
any single exercise or class. Developing international and
cultural understanding must be understood as an overarching
educational objective to which all aspects of university life
and study should contribute.
Research on the key issue of building intercultural proficiency is being approached from a number of directions, as
is necessary and appropriate given the complex and multifaceted nature of the issue. Developing the ability to perceive
and act upon realities in a culturally sensitive and effective manner should be conceptualized as a long-term process
to which numerous experiences can contribute (e.g., study
abroad programs).
Studies of cultures and a wide-range of special interventions, such as that discussed previously. Although even modest initiatives are needed and should be welcomed, the main
thrust of further research should concentrate not on single
interventions, but rather on combinations of different approaches. Measures such as Hett’s (1993) global-mindedness
scale and Olson and Kreuger’s (2001) intercultural sensitivity
index provide promising tools for measuring the development
of different aspects of intercultural proficiency over time and
in relation to particular experiences. Longitudinal studies that
examine the growth of cultural competence from entry into
university until graduation would shed useful light on the
value, variety and sequencing of different instructional and
experiential approaches in enhancing the cultural sensitivity, intercultural-communication skills, global-mindedness
and other key components of intercultural proficiency. As
Munoz, Wood and Cherrier (2006) rightly note, the promotion of cross-cultural understanding and competency is
a subject that urgently requires cross-cultural collaborative
exercises and careful investigation of pedagogical methods
capable of opening minds to new worlds, different peoples
and the full range of cultural experiences. While it is fitting
that we should set ambitious goals, it is also important that we
remain mindful of the limited means that both students and
academic programs possess in this season of austerity. Thus
it is important that we search out resources and approaches
that are economical as well as effective. It has been argued
that the approach suggested in this paper is successful on
both scores. The Web-based resources are free; they can be
fitted into normal classroom activities and if used skillfully,
they push students outside of their normal frames of reference and expose them to the realities of other cultures and
societies.
USES OF FOREIGN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MARKETING
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