The main goal of this thesis was to evidence the different communicative strategies taken by the same brand in different environments, how a global branding campaign has been modified to fit into the contrasting mindset of Taiwanese consumers and how cultural roots of each market have affected the implementation of brand values and marketing strategies from origin into Taiwan. Different sampled ads from both markets were scrutinized and decomposed in elements to understand the implicit and explicit cultural background.
One main characteristic noted across every sampled ad from both countries is that main target for the brand is consistent, however, ads in each market varies consistently with literature regarding values, theme and execution (De Mooij, 2013).
Findings in Mexican advertisements were consistent with Y. Lin, Koroglu, and Olson (2012) who concluded that in collectivistic countries, messages tend to flow easily due to interpersonal relationships within a group, this can be noted in the Mexican sampled ads with an elevated recurrence to use as a protagonist groups of friends with leaders. However, Taiwanese results contradicted the latter statement as sampled ads more frequently portray endorsers, which in these cases were all singers with high popularity within the targeted consumer profile.
Scholars (De Mooij, 2010; Y. Lin et al., 2012; Ros & Schwartz, 1995; Usunier et al., 2005) have concluded that cultural values in Western countries, for example some European countries and North America, have a culture’s level of individualism to strongly accentuate
“I” — denoting awareness of private opinions and self-actualization. In contrast, collectivistic cultures, like Africa, Asia, and Latin America, mostly uses “we” — denoting consciousness of the relationships within groups. In this regard, although no strong or explicit use of
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A group of friends having fun, enjoying their time together or having an adventurous moment is a recurrent scenario in Mexican versions (A, B, C, D & E). From the Mexican sampled ads only one starred an endorser (E) who used to be very popular in the 90’s, and some discussions among the public have been raised regarding whether or not the endorser is relevant to the targeted market.
In both countries, value paradoxes were much more recurrent and powerful than collectivistic appeals. It is pretty evident the use of value paradoxes across every sampled ad, as the core of Doritos’ brand campaigns is to encourage targeted audience to get involved in fearless activities whether or not those activities go against social norms.
Nevertheless, some appeals such as independence, self-expression, self-sufficiency, social acceptance and group actions with a leader (see appendix I, sections: A, B, C, D & E), would perfectly fit within an individualistic society. However, a paradox is created, as De Mooij (2013) asserted, paradoxes help increasing memorability and enhancing brand message.
Zhang and Gelb (1996) associated high context cultures with collectivism, and asserted that, low context cultures are commonly linked with individualism. Generally, in collectivistic countries, messages tend to flow easily because of interpersonal relationships within the group, but there is an extended need for more explicit content in individualistic societies. In this regard, Taiwanese sampled ads tend to diverge, as functional appeals are explicitly represented in every sample, elements like flavor and shape are constantly stressed, both visually and auditively.
One notorious appeal found in the Mexican sampled advertisements was sexual innuendo (A & B), subtly with double meaning elements scattered across ads, the brand tries hard to resemble sex, this appeal is largely used in masculine cultures like Mexico.
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Taiwanese sampled ads lack of sex appeal, instead they make use of musical appeals which according with De Mooij and Hofstede (2010) and Y. Lin et al. (2012) this is a common recurrence in feminine cultures like Taiwan (see appendix I, sections: F, G, H, I &
J), additionally, in certain discordance with collectivistic societies’ appeals, other than an endorser, no group activity is performed, instead, various characteristics from individualistic appeals are constantly adopted, for example: independence, self-expression and the importance of following one’s own goals (see appendix I, sections: F, I, J, K), according to Pasadeos and Chi (1992) and C. A. Lin (2001)those are persistent characteristics present in advertisements from westernized Chinese cultures like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
All implicit connotations strengthen the message given by Doritos’ campaign, encouraging viewers to go against the current, be different and stand out. Furthermore, functional appeals are depicted mostly at the end of the commercials, with phrases like
“extreme power of cheese” (see appendix I, section: H) or some style references like
“Electrify your night” (see appendix I, section: G).
Marketers at Doritos are making attempts to convey consolidated value paradoxes that would create discussion in each market, as seen in the case of samples E) and F), two different approaches for the same result, irreverence, it creates engagement and starts conversations (Piaster & Arn, 2001).
RQ 1: What appealing strategies are employed by Doritos in Taiwan to localize its product images?
From origin, Doritos’ marketers produced a bold brand with highly connoted sexual appeals, impertinence and incentives for young adults to live a limitless life. However, in Taiwan were in general terms society is more feminine and reserved, these topics were left out, instead, other values and functional appeals have been used in their advertisements, such as musical appeals, endorsement by famous characters, and messages reinforcing product
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benefits or differentiations have been broadly adopted. It was until the latest commercials that Doritos’ brought topics exalting irreverence but still in a very indirect way.
RQ 2: How are Doritos’ product design and packaging localized in Taiwan?
During the current research, the whole standard product line of Doritos in both Mexican and Taiwanese markets were subject of analysis, in general terms, localization in Taiwan has being strongly noted in reference with flavorings and spiciness level, but even though Doritos’ manufacturing sites are respectively fixed in each country, other elements, like packaging, product size presentations, chips’ coloring, shape and texture were find to be consistent in both markets. Flavors in Taiwan tend to be milder and even sweet in contrast with the counterpart flavors marketed in Mexico.