The Tiananmen Square Massacre

In June 5th 1989, Tiananmen Square had witnessed one of the darkest moment in China History – The Tiananmen Square Massacre.At least 3000 thousand people  had been killed by Chinese army (Timperlake, Edward. 1999).  However, younger generations  born after the massacre did not know anything about the incidents. The Government of China had blocked all kinds of communication that may lead to news about this incidents.  I was amazed to learn how the Government had filtered communication in China. For example, if we use Google Images in China, we will never be able to find a single picture about the Massacre while thousands of pictures about the Massacre can be found when we google from Singapore.  Even a free communication channel like the Internet is also controlled and filtered, what else can be truly free?  CheckVisible();

Unit 5: The social network – Virtual Societies

  Recently, a research from France had created a world map of Social Networks on the Internet. It is interesting to know that different cultures, continents have very different approach to CMC – Computer-Mediated Communication. 

    For example, as we can see from the map,  USians prefer MySpace over Facebook and other social networks like Bebo … It is not just because MySpace was born in US but the American’s  individualism has contributed largely to the widespread usage of MySpace – an ego-centric social network (social network that focuses on self-expression).

    On the other hand, Asia Pacific region adpots Friendster because of the friend network or its relationship-centric approach. Friendster allows people to keep/manage/add friends through friends’ networks. Friendster, in some ways, reflects Asian collectivism culture.  

    Another interesting finding from the map is Korea. They are the only nation endorses their own developed social network – Cyworld. Why Internet giants like Google, Six Apart and Yahoo! fail to meet Korean’s demand? It is the language or  culture barriers to communication had stopped foreign social networks to enter Korea market. In addition, Korean mentality of supporting national products plays a big part in their home-made Cyworld social network.

    We can simply conclude from the map that there is no social network that influence dominantly on the Internet. Technological Diffusion between nations also make this differences.

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Banned Advertisement – Condoms

Unilever’s Ads (Omo & Ala) – Cultural Barriers to Communication

 

   

The first advertisement is OMO (Unilever’s product) done for Vietnam’s market during Tet Holiday.

The second advertisement is also OMO ad with different name ALA, introduced in Argentina.

From these two advertisements (ads), I can see that Unilever has succeeded in avoiding Barriers to Intercultural Communication into getting notice from their customers. Perception of reality, images or sense of self, and language are some ways that communication can be influenced by culture.

The two ads above were made in the order to transfer a message from Unilever to their customers that ‘Dirt is Good.’ Understanding of perception of reality plays a significant role in advertising strategy of Unilever. Why they are not using a same advertising for both countries. It’s simply because Vietnam and Argentina have different perception of reality.

Sense of self can be noticed obviously through the ads as well.  Same idea ‘Dirt is Good’ was put smoothly in two different ways for both marketplaces to best fit their sense of self.

·      In Argentina, kids like to play in outside, discover the world themselves. Sometimes they are even a little bit naughty, playing with dirt and mud. The ad come up with the title ‘Pedon Mama’ which means ‘Pardon Mama’ in English is just so cute, just like the kids. They play, they discover, and they know their mum will not mind. How great it is!

·      Vietnamese like to help others. No wonder why Unilever has promoted the images of people helping people, no matter what. This has touched on the sense of self of Vietnamese. Especially when they even add in the traditional Tet Holiday in Vietnam, when everyone will try to do at least one good thing to other. So BOOM, they just Love the product!

Language is noticeably from the two ads. Spanish was used for ALA’s ad in Argentina, whereas Vietnamese was used for OMO’s ad in Vietnam. Would Unilever’s ad be effective anymore if the company only use one single English Ad for both markets? It would be a worse strategy ever. They even use two separated name for the product in the two countries. OMO for Vietnam and ALA for Argentina. Be flexible to change and adopt the language where the most of the products being consumed will bring best results to the company.

 

As I said at the beginning, Unilever is brilliant in avoiding the cultural barriers to communication when expend their brand to new and unfamiliar marketplaces. Something valuable for a future-businesswoman like me to learn.