Textappeal Blog

The lead story in a major media outlet in the UK, Skynews, features citizen outrage against McDonald’s.  Skynews reports that a single word in a McDonald’s ad has provoked incensed debate and outcry. It is not an insulting or offensive word, and looks like a perfectly innocent choice by McDonald’s. But online chat rooms are buzzing with indignation.

The TV commercial promotes the Pound Saver Menu, and begins with the phrase “the pound, also known as a bob”.

A bob is slang for a shilling (one twentieth of a pound), which was eliminated from the British monetary system in 1971 (a pound is a little more than a dollar or a euro).

As someone ironically posted:

  “I suspect the nearest it (the commercial) got to the UK before transmission was when it was dreamed up in an English themed pub in Hollywood.”

Others have demanded that McDonald’s serve them twenty burgers for one pound.

But language does evolve, and it can be argued that today a few people actually do call a pound a bob.

McDonald’s spokesperson swiftly responded to the outcry: “Although a ‘bob’ was formerly used as a slang term for the shilling until the introduction of decimalisation in 1971, research has shown it is now more commonly used as slang for a pound or money in general.”

BEHIND THE NEWS

What’s the big deal? With vegetarian burgers in India and locally farmed meat in France, McDonald’s has worked hard to be a culturally sensitive company and a good local citizen. But don’t worry — the brand is unlikely to be damaged, and the debate provides valuable free media space for the “one pound” offer. Perhaps Skynews didn’t have any other headline news that day.

Still, this is a good reminder of three important cross-cultural facts:

1.    People DO NOT like it when their language is misused, even slightly, by big foreign companies. It can be felt as insulting to their sense of national pride. After all, we spent years at school struggling to master our language’s unlikely grammar and vocabulary. And now some giant from abroad tells us how to speak! Never mind that local brands mix up their words and grammar all the time.

 

2.    We tend to be most sensitive when the one making the mistake is our neighbour or shares a common language. An Austrian Marketing Director once said to me, tongue-in-cheek: “the Germans speak the same language as us, minus the humour”. And we all know the saying “America and Britain are divided by a common language.”

 

3.    Would “Consider Different” have had the same impact as Apple’s “Think Different”? Would the BMW campaign work as well by promising “Happiness” rather than “Joy”? As every advertising copywriter knows, a single word CAN make a world of difference – whatever the language.

As this blog demonstrates, global brands sometimes shoot themselves in the foot because they do not take local culture difference and sensitivity into account.

 

However there is such a thing as being TOO oversensitive.

 

Google’s strategy in China has been to portray the brand as completely Chinese. This “when in Rome do as Romans do” tactic has now gravely backfired.

 

Facing the well-established, dominant Chinese search engine Baidu, not only did Google adjust to local censorship requirements. It dressed itself from head to toe in local clothing.

 

First Google translated its name to mean “Valley Song”.

Then it used refined Chinese calligraphy and even traditional Chinese poetry in its advertising.

 

If you didn’t know, you would have thought Google is Chinese.

 

Google turned a blind eye to two cultural facts.

 

1. There is very high sensitivity in China to foreigners “stealing” Chinese culture, due to colonial history and a fierce, renewed sense of patriotism.

 

Baidu swiftly countered Google’s advertising with a violent but effective patriotic commercial.

 

It portrayed a “wild west” dressed American (representing Google) in an intense calligraphy competition against a genuine Chinese master (representing Baidu). The Chinese master wins, showing the American for what he is – a fake.  The American spits blood and falls dead, to the delight and cheers of the Chinese audience.

 

2. You cannot underestimate the importance of the Chinese government.

 

When you say a company is “good”, it is generally NOT understood to mean “it does no evil”, but simply that it is approved by the government.

 

The government portrayed Google’s efforts to digitalize Chinese books as a foreign attempt to steal Chinese heritage – again undermining Google’s attempts to look like a “good Chinese company”.

 

The result

 

Today, after all Google’s efforts, Baidu retains more than 70 percent of the Chinese market. Its brand is severely damaged in the biggest growth market in the world.

 

Although there may be a genuine plot to sabotage Google, it may be that the search giant’s “threat” to pull out of China is a mask for commercial and cross-cultural failings, and possibly a counter-tactic to put pressure on the government.

 

It will be fascinating to see how “Google vs. China” plays out.

 

In the meantime, it is worth remembering one fact: going completely local may not only betray your international brand’s DNA, it is also a high risk cultural strategy that can easily backfire.