A friend of mine had bought a flat in Krakow some time ago, and had decided to sell it. As I live in Krakow, and she lives in Dublin, she asked me if I could help by delivering keys to the Estate Agent, and occasionally representing her to interested parties. For this reason, I found myself in an empty flat one Saturday morning with an Estate Agent and a couple from Zakopane to discuss which furnishings they wished to have included in the sale of the flat, and which they wanted to get rid of. During this time, the husband received a phone call, and excused himself. In order to make smalltalk, I fell back on that old Anglo-Irish standard, the weather. I remarked that the summer was slowly disappearing (it was September, and the temperature had fallen to the low twenties during the day). This topic was taken up with enthusiasm by the estate agent and the lady, who then said that she had seen a woman out walking with her baby in a pram, and the baby was not wearing a hat! The tone in which she said this left us in no doubt that she felt it was far too cold to have a baby outside with no hat. The estate agent reacted suitably shocked, and said that some parents were truly irresponsible when it came to their children's welfare. As an example, he mentioned a couple who had a baby of no more than a month old asleep in a car-seat which they were carrying around in a hypermarket. The lady agreed that they were behaving really stupidly, bringing their children to a 'breeding-place for viruses'. At this point, I quietly mentioned that in Ireland it was a regular occurence for parents to bring their children with them when they went shopping, and that children don't wear hats or coats outside until the weather is much colder. The others were a little surprised and embarrased at this, but I explained the theory behind this, that in Ireland we haven't such extremes of temperature, so we are less sensitised to changes in temperature. They declared that it was an interesting theory, but I am quite sure that they thought I and my kind were mad. They were also probaby feeling a little foolish at their faux pas.
I remember feeling uch the same level of awkwardness when I was about 10, and my friend had just got a new bike. I had a go on it, and said it was obviously a Raleigh Burner (Raleigh's answer to the BMX), as it looked much cooler than a BMX, because most BMX's had the letters 'BMX' placed all over them. When he told me the new bike was in fact a BMX, I felt really stupid.
When we think about Cultural Awareness, we often forget how pervasive and deep-rooted our culture is. The above example is a lesson. We all know not to offend our business colleagues by referring to them by first names (or last names, as the case may be), and we all remember the golden rule of when in Rome..., but how often would you think that there are cultural differences in when to put a hat on a baby!? This potential gaffe is on the same level as telling your new boss you think dog-owners are stupid, only to find out in the next sentence that she has two Yorkshire terriers. Of course, we will never get any closer in a relationship if we do not offer any personal information regarding our likes and dislikes, or our tastes and opinions, but there are many ways to express our opinions without offending our audience. "I wouldn't bring a small baby to a hypermarket, as I would be afraid of catching a virus" is a fine way to express the same opinion to develop the conversation without calling any person -or nation- stupid and irresponsible!
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piątek, 11 września 2009
piątek, 10 lipca 2009
Cultural Awareness with fries, please!
There is a large difference between academic knowledge and intelligence, between theory and practice. A reasonably bright child will be able to explain how to drive a bus, but I wouldn't get on a bus that had a child as its driver! Society protects itself by placing age limits on doing certain things -for example only people over the age of eighteen can drive a car. Qualifications and procedures also prevent people from doing things they shouldn't -For example, only qualified surgeons working at a particular hospital can performa surgical operation.
In business, however, the childish and incompetent are free to do what they want, with only heirarchy and internal procedures stopping them. The result is that quite often businesspeople have to make decisions that they are not qualified to make. For this reason, we prefer it when intelligent people with some kind of experience are in decision-making positions. Sometimes, though, especially when a business is doing something new, the decision-maker has to use her or his own judgement. Because there is no heirarchy or procedure in place to control, the person must make a decision and then see what happens. Sometimes the results are quite unexpected. Hoover's famous free flights fiasco, or the famous Mitsubishi Pajero example come instantly to mind. However, the latest example is really quite upsetting as far as executive thinking -or lack of thinking- goes.
In the 'Global Market', local marketing is quite important, to show that, although a company is a multinational conglomerate, it still thinks about the locals. Good examples of this are McDonalds, who even ditched their trademark red colour to use a blue sign in Israel to show that the restaurants serve kosher meals, and Canal+, who finance so many programmes and films in each of the countries it operates in, the locls often forget it is actually a French company. A very bad example has been made by Burger King, who wanted to advertise its Texican Whopper, and chose a symbol of success and wealth to promote it. Their choice? the Hindu deity Lakshmi, goddess of Wealth and Beauty. At no stage of the marketing and advertising project did anybody involved point out the fact that beef is forbidden in Hinduism.
The Texican whopper includes an all-beef patty, a beef chilli slice, and egg-based Cajun mayonnaise -all of which are forbidden by Hinduism. Displaying one of the religion's most popular deities about to eat this unholy trinity of products is sacrilege.
The advertisement ran in Spain, with the slogan "La merienda es sagrada" -the snack is sacred.
Hindus around the world protested, and Burger King quickly removed the ad and apologised, stating that it was not their intention to offend anyone.
They have also recently offended Mexico with an advert featuring a dwarf, a cowboy, a mask and a Mexican flag.
Perhaps for the executives at Burger King, it is time to think in a new area, and make the decision to change the advertising company?
In business, however, the childish and incompetent are free to do what they want, with only heirarchy and internal procedures stopping them. The result is that quite often businesspeople have to make decisions that they are not qualified to make. For this reason, we prefer it when intelligent people with some kind of experience are in decision-making positions. Sometimes, though, especially when a business is doing something new, the decision-maker has to use her or his own judgement. Because there is no heirarchy or procedure in place to control, the person must make a decision and then see what happens. Sometimes the results are quite unexpected. Hoover's famous free flights fiasco, or the famous Mitsubishi Pajero example come instantly to mind. However, the latest example is really quite upsetting as far as executive thinking -or lack of thinking- goes.
In the 'Global Market', local marketing is quite important, to show that, although a company is a multinational conglomerate, it still thinks about the locals. Good examples of this are McDonalds, who even ditched their trademark red colour to use a blue sign in Israel to show that the restaurants serve kosher meals, and Canal+, who finance so many programmes and films in each of the countries it operates in, the locls often forget it is actually a French company. A very bad example has been made by Burger King, who wanted to advertise its Texican Whopper, and chose a symbol of success and wealth to promote it. Their choice? the Hindu deity Lakshmi, goddess of Wealth and Beauty. At no stage of the marketing and advertising project did anybody involved point out the fact that beef is forbidden in Hinduism.
The Texican whopper includes an all-beef patty, a beef chilli slice, and egg-based Cajun mayonnaise -all of which are forbidden by Hinduism. Displaying one of the religion's most popular deities about to eat this unholy trinity of products is sacrilege.
The advertisement ran in Spain, with the slogan "La merienda es sagrada" -the snack is sacred.
Hindus around the world protested, and Burger King quickly removed the ad and apologised, stating that it was not their intention to offend anyone.
They have also recently offended Mexico with an advert featuring a dwarf, a cowboy, a mask and a Mexican flag.
Perhaps for the executives at Burger King, it is time to think in a new area, and make the decision to change the advertising company?
środa, 1 lipca 2009
Just find an English-speaking friend, and ask...
Every now and again, a new story comes along to be added to the great list of terrible brand names that have been used. Usually, the examples are given in business school case studies as warnings to double check everything.
The last example is of the Russian Gas concern, Gazprom, and their new joint venture with Nigeria's state oil company. The name of the new company is Nigaz.
Of course this is causing a lot of comment, and there were a number of articles looking at the fau pas. The deal between was supposed to show off the Kremlin's growing interest in Africa's energy reserves, and instead, it will be used to show how provincial businesspeople can be, and that it is very important to have a good grasp of English.
The mistake was first pointed out on the popular site twitter, (which I will definitely have to write about in the near future!), and before long, it had moved on to marketing website Brand Republic, and finally onto the Guardian website.
I wrote that it was a mistake, but is it a mistake? It is common practice in Eastern European languages to form a name by putting the first syllables of all the important words together (Some Polish building companies -budownictwo- in Krakow are called Krak-Bud, Budokrak, PolBud, Budopol, etc.)
Take the name of the country first -perhaps out of respect- and you have 'Ni'. Take the first syllable from the Russian company, 'Gaz', and you must get 'Nigaz'. Some people have laughed that President Medvedev didn't ask anyone what it might mean before announcing the company at a press conference in Nigeria, but who on the president's staff has such a role -Cultural Omniscient? Another question is why should he?
The word may be offensive in English, but here we have a company which has a final product that will be marketed in Nigeria, where the Nigerians were not upset by the word, and Russia, in whose language the word is not insulting.
And what about where people are proud of the name? I lived in Germany where the Real hypermarket chain had outsourced the butcher's section to a family company whose name was the surname of its founders. With every piece of steak I bought, I would receive a label with the price, and the friendly greeting "Vielen Dank, Fuck GmbH". What should you do if your name is offensive in another language?
I'm sure for every product that has a funny or taboo meaning in English, there are more English product names that have taboo or funny meanings in other languages.
For example, Osram lightbulbs sell their products with no shame in Poland, where the name means "I defecate all around it". There is also the famous story of Mistubishi's 4x4 vehicle, the Pajero ( a name in Spanish for someone who enjoys masturbating a lot), which some argue well defines the drivers of these vehicles! The car was renamed the Montero in some regions of the world. The fact that we see these multimillion dollar concerens making mistakes like this is, for some reason, comforting. It gives us the feeling that everyone makes mistakes, and we aren't so worried by it. I wanted to see if the president of the German meat merchant agreed with me, but when I put 'Fuck President" into Google, a lot of websites about George W. Bush came up.
The last example is of the Russian Gas concern, Gazprom, and their new joint venture with Nigeria's state oil company. The name of the new company is Nigaz.
Of course this is causing a lot of comment, and there were a number of articles looking at the fau pas. The deal between was supposed to show off the Kremlin's growing interest in Africa's energy reserves, and instead, it will be used to show how provincial businesspeople can be, and that it is very important to have a good grasp of English.
The mistake was first pointed out on the popular site twitter, (which I will definitely have to write about in the near future!), and before long, it had moved on to marketing website Brand Republic, and finally onto the Guardian website.
I wrote that it was a mistake, but is it a mistake? It is common practice in Eastern European languages to form a name by putting the first syllables of all the important words together (Some Polish building companies -budownictwo- in Krakow are called Krak-Bud, Budokrak, PolBud, Budopol, etc.)
Take the name of the country first -perhaps out of respect- and you have 'Ni'. Take the first syllable from the Russian company, 'Gaz', and you must get 'Nigaz'. Some people have laughed that President Medvedev didn't ask anyone what it might mean before announcing the company at a press conference in Nigeria, but who on the president's staff has such a role -Cultural Omniscient? Another question is why should he?
The word may be offensive in English, but here we have a company which has a final product that will be marketed in Nigeria, where the Nigerians were not upset by the word, and Russia, in whose language the word is not insulting.
And what about where people are proud of the name? I lived in Germany where the Real hypermarket chain had outsourced the butcher's section to a family company whose name was the surname of its founders. With every piece of steak I bought, I would receive a label with the price, and the friendly greeting "Vielen Dank, Fuck GmbH". What should you do if your name is offensive in another language?
I'm sure for every product that has a funny or taboo meaning in English, there are more English product names that have taboo or funny meanings in other languages.
For example, Osram lightbulbs sell their products with no shame in Poland, where the name means "I defecate all around it". There is also the famous story of Mistubishi's 4x4 vehicle, the Pajero ( a name in Spanish for someone who enjoys masturbating a lot), which some argue well defines the drivers of these vehicles! The car was renamed the Montero in some regions of the world. The fact that we see these multimillion dollar concerens making mistakes like this is, for some reason, comforting. It gives us the feeling that everyone makes mistakes, and we aren't so worried by it. I wanted to see if the president of the German meat merchant agreed with me, but when I put 'Fuck President" into Google, a lot of websites about George W. Bush came up.
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