Individual 6

Individual Assignment The successes in advertising products rely on the producers’ understanding of the characteristics of the majority of the population that would be watching or hearing the advertisement. Depending on the prevailing culture of the people, themes used in advertisements could either give the product a strongly positive or negative impact. For example, in cultures with high feminism and collectivism, certain themes such as the use of non-humorous forms of advertising like artistic development and heartfelt moments reflect the values of the society such as caring for others and giving importance to the quality of life (De Mooij 80). Societies with a collectivist culture also shares the same ideals, especially since people in a collectivist culture pay particular attention to the relationship between certain objects, such as developing their trust in the brand depending on the overall reputation of the parent company and how their products contain the values and characteristics they promote (113). The idea of standing out is rather unheard of in feminist and collectivist cultures.
On the other hand, highly-individualistic and masculine cultures are much more impacted by humorous and unruly advertisements, and this is mainly due to the common belief of having the need to belong to the strongest, and the desire to rise above everyone else, as well as wanting to shape all individuals into the same winning image (79). Brands become separate entities that are relatively detached from the parent company, and each brand competes for the top of the product category, which is a characteristic that every person can relate to, especially those wanting to be recognized as the best. Also, because there is much more importance in standing out rather than blending in, thus using strong and hard approaches in advertising and directly going straight to the point works far better in masculine and individualist cultures than subtlety and modesty (82). Thus it is more effective to show individual strengths than to elucidate on the consensus.
Work Cited
De Mooij, Maireke K. Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009. Print.