Attitudes toward Culture and Approach to International Advertising

Author(s): James H. Donnelly, Jr.

Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul., 1970), pp. 60-63
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1249822
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MARKETING
NOTES

AND

COMMUNIC
Attitudes Toward Culture and Approach

JAMESH. DONNELLY,
JR.

to International Advertising
This article describes how U.S. international advertising managers view
cultural differences and how they relate to approaches to international
advertising.

IN 1963 only 26% of the international billings

of
U.S. advertising agencies were in areas other
than Europe. Today this figure is approximately
45%.1 This indicates that U.S. firms are advertising
in more areas of the world and are attempting to
communicate in a greater variety of cultures. As
a result, a controversy has developed in regard to
existing cultural differences between peoples of the
world and the importance of these differences in
international advertising decisions. One group of advertising managers believes that cultural differences
are significant and should weigh heavily in a firm's
international advertising decisions in order to insure a constant cultural empathy with the firm's
various foreign markets.2 Another group appears
to place less emphasis on cultural differences between peoples and believes they should be of only
minimal concern in decision making.3
Because these viewpoints express such opposite

ideas, one might expect an individual's approach

to advertising in a foreign country might be influenced by his particular assumptions about cultural
differences among peoples. In other words, an individual who believes people around the world are
basically the same might approach the problem of
international advertising differently than an individual who believes significant cultural differences
exist among people. This study examined this
relationship.

The Study
A study was recently completed among international advertising managers in the leading U.S.
consumer nondurable goods manufacturing firms.4
One of the major goals was to determine if a
relationship exists between an advertising manager's attitude toward the importance of culture in
international advertising and the approach taken
by his firm in international advertising. Questionnaires were sent to international advertising managers in all (175) nondurable goods manufacturers
in the Fortune directory of the 500 largest industrial corporations in the U.S. for 1966, and some
121 responses were received. Of the group, 57.9%
reported that their firm engaged in nondomestic
advertising. These 70 respondents provided the data
presented here.
Results

1 Dan Smith, "The Mixed-Up World of Advertising,"

International Management, Vol. 22 (July, 1967), p.

46.
2See Charles R. Williams, "Regional Management
Overseas," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 45 (Janu-

ary-February, 1967), pp. 87-91; and Alberta R. Edwards, "Organizing for International Market Information," in International Handbook of Advertising,

S. Watson Dunn, ed. (New York: McGraw-HillBook

Co., Inc., 1964), pp. 79-81; and Jere Patterson, "Coordinating International Advertising," The International Advertiser, Vol. VIII (December, 1967), pp.
35-39.
3See "Why U.S. Companies Are Being Out-De
Gaulled," The International

Advertiser

The study revealed that the attitudes of advertising managers toward the importance of cultural
variables is significantly related to their approach
to international advertising in two specific areas:
1. The degree of autonomy given to local branch

(January,

1967), p. 23; Arthur C. Fatt, "The Danger of 'Local'

International Advertising," JOURNAL OF MARKETING,
Vol. 31 (January, 1967), pp. 60-62; and Erik Elinder,
"How International Can EuropeanAdvertising Be?,"

4 James H. Donnelly, Jr., "An Analysis of the Role of

Cultural Forces and Other SelectedVariablesin NonDomestic Media Selection for Consumer Non-Durables: An Empirical Study,"unpublisheddoctoraldissertation, University of Maryland,1968.

in International Handbook of Advertising, S. Watson

Dunn, ed. (New York: McGraw-HillBook Co., Inc.,

1964), pp. 79-81.
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 (July, 1970), pp. 60-68.

60

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Marketing Notes and Communications

61

officials in making major advertising planning

decisions for the local area and
2. The approach used for preparation and placement of nondomestic advertisements.
Classification of Participants
In order to determine the degree of local branch
autonomy in planning nondomestic advertising campaigns the managers were asked to estimate: (1)
the percentage of major advertising decisions for
the local area made by the local branch officials in
the particular area, and (2) the types of advertising
decisions that are reserved solely for the home
office.
Two classifications were developed from the responses. If a manager indicated that less than
50% of the major advertising decisions were made
at the local level and the decisions reserved solely
for the home office included such major advertising
decisions as media selection, scheduling, creativity
and selection of appeals, the firm was classified as
centralized in planning their nondomestic advertising campaigns. If a manager indicated that the
majority of the major advertising decisions were
made at the local level and the decisions reserved
solely for the home office included budget appropriations, coordination of worldwide campaigns, and
to act in an advisory capacity to local branches, the
firm was

classified

as decentralized

in planning

their nondomestic advertising campaigns. In Table

1 the responses are classified based on their approach to planning. The table indicates that the
majority of firms are decentralized in planning their
nondomestic advertising campaigns.
TABLE1
RESPONSES
CLASSIFIED
TO PLANNING
BY APPROACH
INTERNATIONAL
ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGNS
(N = 68)
Classification

Centralized
Decentralized
Total

Number of

Per Cent

Firms

of Total

25
43

36.8
63.2
100.0

In order to determine the approach used for

preparing and placing advertisements, respondents
were provided a list of approaches and asked to
indicate the approach utilized by their firm. Approximately 80% of the respondents utilized one
of two approaches shown in Table 2.
Attitudes

Toward Culture

To determine the advertising managers' attitudes

toward culture, they were given several statements
relating to the importance of culture in international advertising. In order to determine their opin-

TABLE2
USEDFORPREPARATION
AND
APPROACHES

PLACEMENT
OFADVERTISEMENTS
(N = 68)

Number of

Per Cent

Firms

of Total

Approach
Use a U.S. based agency
with overseas branches in

the general area where the

advertisementis to appear
Use a foreign-based
agency in each area
where the advertisement is to appear
Miscellaneous
Total

28

41.2

25
15

36.7
22.1
100.0

ions about the various statements, a ten-point

forced choice bi-directional scale was utilized ranging from disagree (-5) to agree (+5) with the
statement placed in the middle. There was no neutral
block. For example:
Strongly
Disagree
-5

-4

Strongly
Agree

Statement
-3

-2

+11+3+2

--1

4 +5

Analysis
When the responses to the statements were analyzed based on the classifications developed in the

previous section, many significant relationships became apparent. These are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 indicates that a relationship

appears to

exist between the managers' views concerning the

importance of cultural variables and their approach
to planning and placing nondomestic advertising.
For example, more respondents in firms having
centralized international advertising decision making and using a U.S.-based agency agree that
the only major difference between foreign markets is language and idiom, and that an individual
approach in each country is unnecessary, less respondents in firms characterized by decentralized
decision making and using an overseas-based advertising agency agree with the above view.
This relationship is also illustrated in the responses to the other statements. Managers in firms

* ABOUT THE AUTHOR. James H.

Donnelly, Jr. is associate professor of
marketing at the University of Kentucky. He received his DBA from the
University of Maryland. Professor Donnelly has contributed to the JOURNAL
OF MARKETING,
the Journal of Marketing Research, and is coauthor with
John M. Ivancevich of Analysis for
Marketing Decisions.

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62

Journal of Marketing, July, 1970

TABLE3.
RESPONSES
TOCULTURALLY-ORIENTED
STATEMENTS
BASEDON APPROACH
TOPLANNING,
AND PLACEMENT
OF NONDOMESTIC
ADVERTISING
PREPARATION,

Statement

Strongly
Disagree
-5 or -4

Classification

1) In most cases, the only

major difference between
foreign markets will
be that of language
and idiom.
2) Standardized ads can
now be readily applied
throughout the world
because cultural lag
between most nations
is minimal.

Strongly
Agree
+4 or +5

Base

Centralized

12

40

36

12

25

Decentralized

32

44

19

43

Centralized

24

24

48

25

Decentralized

35

44

16

43

12

32

40

16

25

32

47

19

43

24

12

48

16

25

32

44

16

43

Use a U.S.based agency

14

32

32

21

28

Use a foreign-.01
based agency

36

56

25

Use a U.S.based agency

25

29

32

14

28

Use a foreignbased agency

24

56

20

25

3) In practical marketing
Centralized
situations, an individual
approach in each country
is entirely unnecessary.
Decentralized
4) Girls in Tokyo and Berlin
are sisters "under the
skin," on their lips, finger- Centralized
nails and in hair styles.
Therefore, ads using
basic appeals can success- Decentralized
fully reach all of them.
5) An international agency
preparing the ad in the
U.S. can serve as effectively as a foreignbased agency.
6) In most cases the only
major difference between
foreign markets will be
that of language and
idiom.

Percentb
Disagree
Agree
-3, -2, -1 +1, +2, +3

Significance
Levelc

-.01

5.025

5.01

-.025

5.025

Use a U.S.7) In practical marketing

based agency
39
18
28
14
28
situations, an individual
approach in each country Use a foreign5.08
is entirely unnecessary.
based agency
32
44
16
8
25
"These statements were adapted from the writings of the following individuals. (In some cases the statements were
altered from positive to negative to serve as a check on the respondents.) Therefore, they do not necessarily represent the views of the writers.
Statement 1-Arthur C. Fatt, "A Multi-National Approach to International Advertising," The International Advertiser, Vol. V (September, 1964), pp. 17-19.
Statement

2-Ilmar

Roostal, "Standardization

of Advertising

for Western

Europe," JOURNALOF MARKETING,Vol. 26

(July, 1962), pp. 17-23.

Statement 3-Richard Penn, "The International Marketing Plan," in International Handbook of Advertising, S. Watson Dunn, ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1964), pp. 3-13.

Statement

4-Arthur

C. Fatt, "The Danger

of Local International

Advertising,"

JOURNAL OF MARKETING,Vol. 31

(January, 1967), p. 62. Also see Fatt, same reference as statement 1.

Statement 5-Arthur O. Fisher, "Advertising of New Products in Foreign Markets," in International Handbook
of
Advertising, S. Watson Dunn, ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1964), pp. 102-108.
are
rounded.
bPercentage figures
cThe data were analyzed using a two-tail "T" test on group means.
characterized by centralized decision making agreed
more strongly on the global application of standardized advertising. They believed basic appeals can
successfully reach consumers regardless of their cultural environment. Managers in firms where local
foreign branches are given a great deal of autonomy
in making major advertising planning decisions for
the local area felt less strongly about this global
application.

Implications
Apparently in the firms where managers feel
cultural differences are important these attitudes
have reflected themselves in advertising policies and
practices (i.e., decentralized planning and use of
local advertising agencies). This differs from firms
where management believes such differences to be
either nonexistent or of little importance. Since
the study was conducted among the nation's largest

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Marketing Notes and Communications

63

firms, we cannot infer that the recognition or nonrecognition of cultural variables makes a firm more
or less effective in its overseas promotion activities.
This study does indicate, however, that the approach taken by an international advertising manager to planning and placing foreign advertising
may be affected by his assumptions about the importance of cultural variables. If this is the case,

then it is vital that the assumptions he makes about

the role of culture be valid ones. Since this study
found two distinct groups making contradictory
assumptions, there appears to be a great need to
provide sound answers to such questions as: Is
culture important? Does the importance of cultural
differences vary by area? And if so, what are the
most important cultural variables?

MarketingFunctions and MarketingSystems:

A Synthesis-A

THOMASL. SPORLEDER

Comment

This is a commentary on "Marketing Functions and Marketing Systems:

A Synthesis" published in the July, 1969 issue of the JOURNAL OF
MARKETING. The author maintains that the conceptual framework for
the functional approach to marketing in the original article is clarified
and strengthened by explicitly recognizing that marketing activities performed by a firm are dependent on the nature of the firm's demand for
its output.
PROFESSORS Lewis and Erickson have exposed

some fundamental issues worthy of attention by

those concerned with marketing in their JOURNAL

OF MARKETING
article.' They have performed a serv-

ice by indicating that "the functional approach

serves as the foundation for a systems approach to
marketing." This comment is directed toward clarification and extension, rather than criticism, of their
discussion concerning the functional approach. In
addition, it is intended to make the authors' presentation more universally applicable.
This note centers around their "fresh look at the
functional approach." A diagrammatic presentation
of their two marketing functions (servicing demand
and obtaining demand) and related activities is presented in Figure 1 of their article.2 ,Nowhere in
the article is there an explicit statement that these
marketing functions and their related activities are
not necessarily performed by each and every firm.
In fact, the authors imply that each firm does perform both functions and their related activities. For
example, they state that "These are descriptions of
marketing activities, but their common function is
to obtain demand for the firm's goods and services."3
There is a certain lack of clarity here concerning
the relationship between functions and activities
and the firm, especially their "obtaining demand"
function.
1 Richard J. Lewis and Leo G. Erickson, "Marketing
Functions and Marketing Systems: A Synthesis,"
JOURNAL OF MARKETING, Vol. 33

(July,

10-14.
2 Same reference as footnote 1, p. 12.
3 Same reference as footnote 1, p. 12.

1969),

pp.

The relationship between functions and activities

and the firm depends, among other things, upon the
structure of the market within which the firm operates. It is not the case that each and every firm
performs both functions and their related activities,
as the authors' defined them. Dependency exists between "how marketing accomplishes its functions"
(activities) and the nature of the demand for the
firm's output. This is so because the nature of
the firm's demand may dictate that certain activities
are "uneconomic"to perform. An "uneconomicactivity" may be defined as an activity for which marginal cost exceeds marginal revenue for the firm.
Alternatively, an uneconomic activity could be
termed an irrational activity.
Firms may be classified according to the demand
for their output on a continuum from perfect
competition through monopolistic competition and
oligopoly to monopoly.4 In order to understand that
some of the activities specified in the authors' article may be uneconomic to perform for some firms
(given the nature of demand), consider a firm
operating in near-perfect competition. The demand
for this firm's output is infinitely elastic (i.e., average revenue equals some constant). A realistic example of such a firm is a wheat farmer, or any one
of a number of other possible examples from agriculture. An examination of this firm's functions and
related activities a la Professors Lewis and Ericksons' Figure 1 is revealing.
4 On this point, consult any standard elementary economics text such as R. H. Leftwich, The Price System and Resource Allocation (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), Chapter 6.

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