While the world may indeed be flat (Friedman, 2005) from the perspective of how communication takes place, it clearly is not flat from the perspective of what communication takes place or to whom. In marketing communications today it is easier than ever to disseminate an integrated marketing message globally. What companies like Wal‐Mart and Coca‐Cola have found is that to be more successful they must be more aware of cultural differences and not just in the similarities of consumers worldwide as they had in the past. Global Marketing and Advertising 2nd by Marieke de Mooij continues the campaign to justify the need for cultural segmentation and customization due to cultural paradoxes. It provides an even more convincing argument and foundation through principle and practice for applying a growing knowledge and appreciation of cultural differences to the successful execution of global marketing communications.
The general theme of this edition as was the first is that, more than ever, “there may be global products, but there are no global people.” It includes the new areas of the so‐called “cultural paradoxes” associated with the media, the internet, and public relations. Expanded topics include the discussions on consumer behavior, strategic management, brand positioning, and marketing communications. The number of illustrations and examples has increased with more contemporary campaigns added to the classic ones. With the benefit of time, de Mooij is able to track the development of her predictions. Like the first edition, the book's foundation is Hofstede's (1991) definition of culture (“the collective mental programming of the people in an environment”, p. 5), and his Five Dimensions of National Culture (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism‐collectivism, masculinity‐femininity, long‐/short‐term orientation).
The book has ten chapters (the 1st edition had 12 chapters with the information contained in the omitted chapters of “Cross‐cultural advertising research” and “Advertising styles” incorporated into other discussions or eliminated). The first six chapters provide the theoretical basis (paradoxes in global marketing and branding, culture, values, and behavior) for the more practical (advertising and marketing) recommendations and applications given in the remaining four chapters. The book begins with a similar presentation and discussion of value paradoxes (value statements/beliefs that appear contradictory but are actually true like freedom‐belonging). De Mooij argues that people's value paradoxes are part of the culture of the country in which they grow up and that, although different countries may appear on the surface to have similar values, they may actually be the reverse of those in another country. Value paradoxes, according to de Mooij include global‐local, technology, and media.
The strength of this book is clearly the author's background and training in communication theory apparent with references to media theorists like Marshall McLuhan and his “global village” (McLuhan, 1994). The author could have easily and appropriately mentioned McLuhan's “medium is the message” in the somewhat abbreviated media paradox section perhaps suggesting some type of “culture is the message” parallel. This section goes on to convincingly justify the belief that while global markets are products, local markets are people. This provides a challenge (and/or an opportunity) for researchers and advertisers to identify the values unique to each culture and market to them accordingly as part of a global branding strategy. Here de Mooij provides many examples of companies like Coca‐Cola and McDonald's who are increasingly localizing their global advertising, and many strategies to do so such as the cultivation of established local brands and adaptations, new brands, creation of new brands, purchase of local brands and internationalization, and brand extensions. De Mooij does a nice job of arguing with examples that successful global branding means adding “cultural value” to a product in the global marketplace. It is culture, de Mooij argues, that “binds groups together.” De Mooij proves to be very contemporary by including the “popular” in these so‐called cultural patterns, namely music. The fact that she writes that “music represents a sort of rhythmic consensus” suggests that her communication training included some attention to popular culture. This is further reinforced by her realization and recommendation that this and every aspect of popular culture influences perception.
The primary theme of this book, like the first, is that culture affects our communication systems. This can be observed by analyzing the degree of context, either high or low (Hall, 1984) and can be explained by identifying basic value differences. It is here that de Mooij introduces Hofsteade's Five Dimensions of National Culture and some examples of cultural dimensions including the USA, The Netherlands, and Japan. The discussion flows nicely into the practical effect of different cultures on the value concept or “an enduring belief that one mode of conduct or end‐state of existence is preferable to an opposing mode of conduct or end‐state of existence” (Rokeach, 1973, p. 5). This includes examples of Belgian, Dutch, Indian and Japanese values. The author argues that values do not transfer and that while some values (i.e. Belgian, Dutch, Indian, and Japanese) actually become meaningless others that have meaning are ignored.
Using the previous chapters as a basis, the next section begins with a rich discussion of the effect of culture on consumer behavior. The driving theme here is that most concepts and theories of consumer behavior are from the west and must be adapted or altered to other cultures with different values and principles. This segues nicely into the advertising section which begins with a brief but adequate discussion of the communication model. De Mooij rightly argues that to understand how advertising works across cultures one must first understand how culture affects styles of communication. The strengths of this section are the author's discussion of advertising appeals and the hierarchy of advertising effects. Each of these areas included relevant and recent examples to clarify the corresponding theory. The premise here is that the advertising models and assumptions of the USA may not translate internationally and that it is important to understand culture's influence on the process especially in regard to media. The author very clearly identifies three aspects of advertising that are most affected by culture: values and motives included in the message appeal; the advertising form; and the execution. This is followed by revealing but somewhat limited explanations of various value paradoxes. The strength of this section is its discussion of various types of advertising appeals by dimensions. Here the author is able to show how each culture has its own unique value paradoxes that will affect advertising executional style. De Mooij adapts a classification model of Franzen (1994) to provide seven basic worldwide advertising forms (announcement, association transfer, lesson, drama, entertainment, imagination, and special effects). These classifications are then used to suggest the need for cultural customization of advertising.
In the final chapter, de Mooij and Arne Maas attempt to apply the reader's newfound understanding of consumer behavior, brand, and advertising in developing global marketing communication strategy. The final cry here is that while some global advertisers may argue that a standardized message provides consistency and economies of scale, those who have failed to learn from history (that global means local) are doomed to repeat previous failures. Instead of looking for similarities, global advertisers should be looking for cultural differences or segmentation opportunities.
This book would be a great supplement to anyone with a basic western marketing and advertising foundation who wants to expand that knowledge base to include a global perspective either on the graduate or professional level. Its strength lies in the fact that the author stresses communications in marketing. Too many books fail to realize that successful marketing results from the successful exchange of ideas. If the communication objectives are not achieved then the marketing objectives will not be achieved. De Mooij does an exceptional job of referencing and utilizing her communication training and education through this brief but rich discussion of the effect of culture on global marketing and advertising. My only criticism of the book is that it does not give some attention to ethics from an individual, organizational, industry, societal, or stakeholder view. While I appreciate the author's decision to not include legal aspects of global marketing, I do not agree with the omission of at least a brief discussion of the ethical aspects involved in advertising, especially on the global stage, that is ignored. This would have been a nice addition to the discussion on values (Chapter 5) or on consumer behavior (Chapter 7) where, among other examples, de Mooij could have included an example/illustration of advertising and self in Asian countries were American models are used to represent true beauty to the detriment of Asian girls.
