There’s a catch phrase in the environmental movement that says “Think Globally.   Act Locally.”  Global advertisers might be well served by doing  the reverse.

Of course companies selling internationally need to localize their messages to appeal to regional and national markets.  But they must also think globally. 

You have to assume that any ad, no matter how/where it’s targeted, can and will be seen by anyone, anywhere.

So, while Yum Brands (owner of KFC) pulled the ad in Australia, they seem to attribute the problem not to the content of the ad itself, but that  

“a KFC commercial being shown on Australian television has apparently caused offence, particularly in the United States, after a copy of the commercial was reproduced online without KFC’s permission.”

Indeed comments following the first ad, above, have said “you dont understand cricket or Austrialian Culture.”  Okay, so maybe you could give that one the benefit of the doubt, albeit a poor choice.

But, clearly not when coupled with this ad below, from Korea, featuring black, West Indian “savages” soothed by their civilized Korean captive, when he magically produces fried chicken for all.

Just a note about the ad content–while the lesson is that advertisers should anticipate response from anywhere to any ad, regardless of target market, that doesn’t excuse racist content to begin with. 

What do you think?

As someone married to an “Eugenio” (Brazilian Portuguese ay-oh-ZHEN-ee-oh) I was delighted to find the website Hearnames.com, which offers audio pronunciation by native speakers of hundreds of names in 44 language categories. 

Dale Carnegie taught millions how to Win Friends and Influence People with ideas like “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  And in today’s global market, interacting and selling “in any language” is indeed a reality. 

Telling Jianguo “how about if I just call you Jim,” especially if he’s the CEO, might not bode well for your big international deal!

I heard about the site from Andres Tapia, author of The Inclusion Paradox and Chief Diversity Officer of Hewitt Associates, on his blog (via @joegerstandt, @andresttapia on Twitter).  His point, well taken, is that

To achieve inclusion, we need to know how to constructively call out our differences. But what if you can’t even pronounce each others’ names?”

What if you need more advanced lessons?  You won’t want to miss twochinesecharacters tongue tennis.  I’m not even going to try to explain.  But, as a marketer I’ve got to respect their use of visuals, and it does work (take a look at the link above).

I finally wrote a love poem to my husband 10 years into our marriage.  In the poem I pointed out “I would have written sooner, but the problem YOU-MAY-KNOW, was finding the right word, to rhyme with EU-GEN-IO.” 

Hmm…any websites to help with that?  What about you?  Do you have a hard name to pronounce?  How is your pronunciation?

In today’s multicultural world (depending on where you live) it is common to engage with people for whom English is not their first language.  While sometimes the interaction may be casual, with not much at stake, other times business deals, potential sales or enduring relationships may be at stake. Here are three tips to spoil the relationship from the get-go.

1.  If he or she seems not to understand what you’ve said, repeat it verbatim, only louder.  In fact shout it out.  The louder you speak English, the easier it is to understand.

2.  If the person is with an interpreter, boyfriend, child, who speaks better English, speak directly to the interpreter, boyfriend, child.  Turn your body to face that person, so that your body language also communicates that you are speaking with latter.  Use the third person, as in “where is he from?”

3.  If he or she is speaking English with you, albeit with an accent, interrupt and ask what language they speak, or just assume they speak Spanish, and answer in Spanish.  That’s particularly effective if the person is from Russia.  Actually, on this last one, the reaction does vary from person to person.  Sometimes people are relieved to be able to communicate in their native language, others will be offended, because they are speaking English.

While speaking louder doesn’t work, re-framing what you’ve said, or simply coming up with another way to phrase it can help, and addressing the person with whom you are speaking is a matter of respect.  For the final one, it may vary depending on the context of your interaction, and you may be able to take your lead from the person with whom you are speaking.

Any langague barriers you have experienced?  Have you been on the receiving end, when in another country?  How did it feel?

photo credit, Flickr: Tranchis

It’s Hugh Jackman, who’s Australian.   It takes place at a hotel in Tokyo.   The voice over at the end is in English.  But apparently it’s made for…France?  That’s the only part I don’t get about this delightful Lipton Ice Tea spot, “Tokyo Dancing Hotel” by DDB Paris.

In the world of multicultural marketing and global markets, however,  it may not matter where the ad plays, if the ad is not language based. 

While it’s helpful if you understand the words in the song (I did not) or the tagline (I did), the action is very clear:  Drink Lipton Ice Tea and you will jump into action, full of energy.  Plus there is good product placement–drives me crazy when the creativity/script obscures the product.

Cute touch…in case you don’t know he is Hugh Jackman, in the opening shot he’s reading a magazine with his photo on the cover, headline “Hugh Jackman in Tokyo.”

What do you think?  Will this ad only work in an English speaking market?

Multilingal (20 languages!) Robot a la C3PO

RATS!  Looks like the government is moving yet closer to solving issues for multilingual, real-time translation, with the launch of Robust Automatic Translation of Speech  (this link is to the RFP to build the program–reminds me a little of hearing about a contest for 5th graders to come up with ideas for nuclear waste diposal that I heard on NPR during Clinton administration) program (RATS for short), as reported in the Danger Room on wired.com.  Apparently the process right now is handled by local interpreters, and the process has been “prone to garbled words and missed phrases.”

No People of Color in Canada This Year

Kind of like studying art history in the 80’s where apparently there were no female artists before 1950 (except for Marie Cassatt, the impressionist painter, who somehow got in), David Kiefaber points out on adfreak.com that British Columbia’s new celebrity driven tourism ad seems to have missed out on any ethnic minorities living in the country.  Oops.

I’m not the only with with Internalized Sexism

Thanks so much to Rebecca Cullers on adfreak.com (you can watch the ad on this link as well) for pointing out her surprise and latent sexism at the punchline on the Mastercard ad about joining the gym.   Mr. Man needed is WIFE to Open the jar for HIM!  I’m glad I’m not the only one caught off guard by sudden glimpses into my own unconscious bias.

Thanks to Intercultural Talk contributer Dillon, age 8, who is learning to recognize great multicultural advertising. 

“I chose it because it showed that in English culture it’s polite to finish everything, but in Chinese culture they think you want more if you finish everything,” said Dillon.

Look at the fun (depending on your perspective) that ensues when two cultures collide.

Dillon gives this HSBC ad 5 out of 5 stars.

People love to reinforce stereotypes of others by making %$&*# up. They think it has more of an exotic appeal.  Check out all the other British-made HSBC ads about the UK, it’s all nice and middle-class, whereas all the other ones about foreign countries are all run down, chaotic and “exotic”.

So the importance of knowing local customs was made, but, despite HSBC being based in Hong Kong for years (or perhaps because?) there was still an unconscious hierarchy in presenting the two cultures.

What do you think?

 Good news?  These tips apply whether you are traveling around the globe, interacting in a diverse work environment, or, my favorite this time of year, trying to better understand and appreciate the unique traits of key family members over the holidays!

1.  Beware of making assumptions about people based on physical characteristics:  race, ethnicity, age, ability, gender, etc. (That can’t be reiterated enough!)

2.  Do good research in advance, but do not take ‘country guides’ as being the final word.  Individual preferences vary and will trump any group customs, but might be helpful to know that the clock you about to give as a gift to your Chinese host might imply death.

3.  Welcome feedback as a gift.  Thanking someone for his or her suggestions is a great way to solicit ‘insider’ knowledge.  Once you say thanks for the insight, he or she may be willing to share more.  When a business deal is at stake that could be just the ticket to your success.

4.  Embrace your own identity and use that as a platform to communicate with others.  (I statements instead of you statements—as in “that’s so interesting, I do it this way, how do you do it?

5.  Asks questions to understand what motivates others.

6.  Be open to learning, and learn to teach without without being judgmental or making the learner feel embarrassed.  Remember Emerson (sic) Everyone is my master because I can learn something from everyone.

7.  Be an Anthropologist.  Ethnographers or Participant Observers are keen to watch the interactions of others closely when approaching new communities or situations.  How are items being used?  How do people greet one another?  It’s a chance to really listen with your whole being.  Think “don’t drink the water in the finger bowl.”

8.  Be sure to try new things, particularly foods when in another country.  But, allow a little latitude when ordering food in restaurants, as in, you may understand the word for lasagna, but it may not be served as you expected…enjoy-seeing how similar concepts are enacted in different countries is part of the fun.  (on the flip side, ff you have allergies or things that don’t allow latitude, like a peanut allergy, bring a dictionary to know key words.)

9.  Be patient with yourself and others.  Anger, unease, defensiveness, etc. may come with the territory.  Just remember, that moment of discomfort is usually when you are at the cusp of learning!  Kind of like in weight lifting—the moment the weight is too much and the muscle fails, is the moment the muscle gets stronger.

10.  Be brave but safe, confident but humble…don’t be afraid to simply open the dictionary to the right page and just show it to the person with whom you are speaking;  learn where the street signs are-sometimes they are on the corner, sometimes on the side of the building, sometimes on the sidewalk.  If you go out alone, bring a piece of paper with the phone number and address where you are staying.

Bug Buffet, source foodista.com

Sorry, I know it’s sophomoric, but when I wanted an image to communicate Culture Shock (from a United States/Western European perspective) I couldn’t resist the photo of basically a ‘bug buffet.”  I know I’ve heard they are full of protein, even tasy, but from my own cultural perspective, I don’t see myself digging in!

But that was not really the topic of the day.  I’ve spent the last three days at a conference on Higher Education and International Volunteer Service, presented by Partners of the Americas, the International Volunteering Project at Brookings, and the Building Bridges Coalition. 

Over 300 people from across the US and across the Americas have convened to look at ways to work in partnership with government agencies, NGO’s, Universities and Volunteer Service Organizations to spread the power of Person to Person Diplomacy via international volunteer service.

I facilitated a session on “Preparing, Training, Tracking and Reinegrating volunteers.  Combined, the members of my panel, in just the past year alone had sent 11,000 volunteers to 75 countries to work in partnership with local entities on service projects:   Projects-Abroad, United Planet, University of Minissota Learning Abroad Center, and World Learning Global Dialogues.