Chapter 4:

 Social and Cultural Environments

• The Walt Disney Company, home to Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other iconic characters, has a stellar reputation in many parts of the world for its family-friendly entertainment offerings.  However, despite high worldwide awareness levels of the Disney brand, as of 2006, only 25 percent of the company’s revenues came from outside the United States.  Now, as the company targets China, India, South Korea, and other emerging markets, it is departing from its “one size fits all” approach.

• The changes underway at the Walt Disney Company illustrate how differences in the social and cultural environments impact marketing opportunities and dynamics around the globe.

• This chapter focuses on the social and cultural forces that shape and affect individual, group, and corporate behavior in the marketplace.  We start with a general discussion of the basic aspects of culture and society and the emergence of a twenty-first century global consumer culture. Next, several useful conceptual frameworks for understanding culture are presented.

• These include Hall’s high- and low-context culture concept, Maslow’s hierarchy, Hofstede’s cultural typology, the self-reference criterion, and diffusion theory. The chapter includes specific examples of the impact of culture and society on the marketing of both consumer and industrial products.

Lecture Outline

Discussion Questions

Test your knowledge
 

1.

  True

  False

Despite high worldwide awareness levels of the Disney brand, as of 2006, only 25 percent of the company's revenue came from outside the United States.

2.

  True

  False

Anthropological research offers support for the view that cultural behavior is innate, i.e., present at birth.

3.

  True

  False

Culture includes both conscious and unconscious values, idea, attitudes, and symbols that shape human behavior and that are confined to one generation.

4.

  True

  False

While marketers should be secure in their own convictions and traditions, generosity is required to appreciate the integrity and value of other ways of life and points of view.

5.

  True

  False

A "value" is an organized pattern of knowledge that an individual holds to be true about the world.

6.

  True

  False

Food taboos, language, marriage, medicine, music, dancing, courtship, body adornment, religious rituals, and residence rules are all examples of "cultural universals."

7.

  True

  False

"Mecca Cola" and "Qibla Cola" are brand names given to Coca-Cola for effective marketing in Muslim countries.

8.

  True

  False

Aesthetic elements that are attractive, appealing, and in good taste are perceived as decent and accepted universally.

9.

  True

  False

As cultural information and imagery flow freely across borders via satellite TV, the Internet, and similar communication channels, new global consumer cultures are emerging.

10.

  True

  False

KFC has made effective use of religious marketing themes in Indonesia and India where use of pork and beef are restricted due to religious reasons.