4.3 Analysis
4.3.3. Musical Appeal
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"We wanted to take his figure (Walter Mercado’s) to the extreme, Walter Mercado always looks at you. It makes enough sense although it seems surreal, from a 30-second commercial, we've got people talking, spreading the story of the ad, and wondering what it means, No one really understands the message of the advertisement, but many say it will change the course of your life, and that for a brand and an advertising agency is a great success." (Univision, 2016).
4.3.3. Musical Appeal F) Wilber Pan. MRT (2009). Taiwan.
A young teenager role played by famous singer Wilber Pan, defies the norms imposed by society, showing irreverence to the highly strict rules of Taipei Metro, that restrict eating after certain areas, he dances and mocks while eating Doritos crossing back and forth the limit line challenging the police officer trying to enforce the aforementioned. The first scene of the commercial will give away the context of the situation, using familiar sounds from the Metro system, next and almost immediately the line reading “ 禁 止 飲 食 ” which is equivalent to “Do not eat or drink” along with the face of a police officer giving a straightforward message, rules are everywhere, and you are being watched (Figure 12). The way the teenager behaves, dancing and mocking, crossing the limit line back and forth is a clear way to say: “rules are there but we still do whatever we want.” Another important element of the context is the people in the background, who is cherishing the teenager as he
Figure 11 – Doritos Walter Mercado
Walter Mercado eating Doritos and travelling to space.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2016)
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disobeys the norms, almost as a reminder that breaking rules could be accepted among peers, to a certain heroic level.
Figure 12 – Doritos MRT
Elements representing the general norm and how those rules are enforced.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2009)
This ad was aired four years before the For The Bold campaign was conceived, however, the message ever since then has been pretty much the same, to be irreverent, think out of the box, impose your own rules.
G) Crowd Lu. Electrify Your Nights (2011). Taiwan.
This sampled ad, is rather different than previously reviewed commercials, is what seems to be part of a series of advertisings where a strong endorsement is the fundamental core of campaigns and using irreverence as value paradox is a bit neglected, instead, different approaches take place, using appeals like music, with highly denoted elements like electric cords, synthesizers, drums, and neon lights recreate an ad hoc environment to promote Doritos limited-time product: “Late Night” with a matching slogan “Electrify your nights”
(Figure 13), which is apparently the center piece of this ad, thus the use of electronic-like elements.
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It is accurate to mention that this sample is focusing on functional appeals about this precise version of the product, highlighting the cut reminiscent of a lightning, thus, the electric style.
The only role depicted in this advertisement is played by a famous male singer, Crowd Lu, it starts in a set similar to an office, after eating the chips, he starts dancing and playing instruments in an electronic fast-paced melody. At the end he says: Electrify your night.
Figure 13 – Doritos Electrify your night
Electric Night; Electrify your night.
Crowd Lu, Taiwanese singer endorsing new product launch.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2011)
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H) Crowd Lu. The power of Cheese (2012). Taiwan.
Figure 14 – Doritos The Power of Cheese
Crowd Lu, Taiwanese singer endorsing new product launch.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2012)
This advert, just as the previous one, is part of a series-like commercials, embracing endorsement by young singer Crowd Lu, and functional appeals of the product.
Visual emotions of main character are best described as excitement and a feeling of adventure, while he is skating over a ramp made of a cheese wave, inferring how a big imaginary wave of cheese flavor will invade once the product is eaten, he screams out of elation, right before the ad finishes he eats one more chip and the cycle of cheese waves starts again, at the last frame some simple copies making reference to the flavor state: “Extreme Power of Cheese” and “Kiln Baked Cheese Pizza.” (Figure 14).
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35 I) Jam Hsiao. Explosive Cheese (2013). Taiwan.
Figure 15 – Doritos Explosive Cheese
Kiln baked cheese pizza flavor.
Crowd Lu, Taiwanese singer endorsing new product launch.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2013)
Once again, this sample follows the endorsement of the product by a famous singer, this time Jam Hsiao very popular among Doritos profiled target, back in the day, Hsiao was in the spotlight as he was participating in one of the most famous singing reality shows in China, Duets, also, he had just released his latest album The Song, which had some of his songs featured in different and important forums for the Taiwanese society, his song Let Go was selected as the official theme for the Brazil World Cup in the Taiwanese broadcasts (Qing, 2014). Although no musical appeals or value paradox effect is used in this ad, a similar feeling of adventure remains alive, in a mix that focus the effort to let viewers understand all main values of the brand while at the same time explaining visually the explosiveness of the cheese flavor. In this edition, Hsiao portrays some sort of motocrosser traversing in a hostile world made out of cheese, with volcanos erupting cheese and hot melted cheese all over the place, he successfully manages to go about his day, along with his motorcycle. He looks adventurous with his futuristic clothes, he seems unstoppable. The ending copy goes well
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along with Doritos values and reads: “多力多滋，易脆口感，爆濃起司，啟動妳的大膽能 量，多力多滋，放膽挑戰妳的能量” or its equivalent in English, “Take Courage and Challenge Your Limits”, (Figure 15), a copy that reflects the brand’s main values, to stand out, be different, go against the flow and to be bold.
J) Jam Hsiao. Detonate Your High (2013). Taiwan.
This sample, keeps in line with endorsing and functional appeals, again, famous singer Jam Hsiao is seen endorsing the brand, this time in a more realistic environment filled with lively elements, the musicalization of this ad, has rock style.
The ad starts with the singer holding up in the air a Doritos chip while energetically screaming followed by a scene where he is portrayed playing a vigorous guitar solo using a Doritos chip as plectrum, accompanied by his band, live performing in a public space in Taipei City, near a famous building, in front of a big crowd that jumps and slams while waving bags of Doritos rhythmically to the song, an interesting fact is the platform where he and his band plays, it floats at certain altitude over the ground and crowd aided by some kind of crane, making the singer stand out even more, rendering the scene quite imposing, additionally, some lights and fireworks effects extol the ad. For the ending frames, the copy says: “多力多斯, 引爆妳的 High” or translated into English “Doritos Detonate your High”
complemented by the product pictures of their “Cheese” and “Electric Night flavors.” (Figure 16).
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37 Figure 16 – Doritos Detonate your high
Jam Hsiao using a Doritos chip as plectrum.
Detonate your high! Slogan used in this advert.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2013)
K) Taxi Bold. For The Bold (2016). Taiwan.
Figure 17 – Doritos Bold Taxi
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2016)
It was until 2016 when Doritos Taiwan finally fully embraced the global campaign For the Bold, in a very different form, rather than executing a TV advertisement like in Mexico, Doritos Taiwan made use of a BTL or below the line strategy, and used the brand’s social media channels to deliver. It consisted of two main parts, first, a nearly five minutes long
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video used to promote the campaign (Figure 17) and a Facebook dynamic intended to create engagement among online audience (Figure 18).
For the video, a good-looking Caucasian men plays the role of a modern and luxurious taxi driver, on board a shiny yellow Mustang, he parks near Taipei 101, and invites people to play some kind of roulette to get a challenge, people who accept, is then invited to solve the challenge and get some prizes. The ad starts with this gallant copy: “人生最大的風險， 就 是你不冒險，你敢就會得到，問題是你敢嗎？” interpreted in English: “The biggest risk in life is you never taking adventures, you try and you will make it, but do you dare?”.
The first audacious participant is an old lady (Figure 19) whose challenge is to sing a cappella on board the taxi using a microphone and speakers, her prize is a free of charge ride within Taipei area, she decides to go to Shilin.
Figure 18 – Doritos Bold Taxi; Facebook Post
Source: Doritos Taiwan Facebook Post (2016)
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Up next, a young couple (Figure 20) is lured by the sexy driver to approach the bold taxi, he then pulls out a tablet and invites the two curious passers-by to play, their challenge is a bit bolder, he must shave his head onboard the cab, while live broadcasting on Facebook, in the meantime she needs to run into stranger guys, and ask for a cellphone number before the taxi driver finishes shaving the guy’s head, their prize is a bit more appealing than the single-way ride offered before, and it reaches a sum of one thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
Lastly for this ad, a couple of girlfriends (Figure 21) is signaled by the driver to approach the taxi and then again he shows a tablet where the two should tap a button on-screen in order to roll the roulette and get their challenge and prize, the prize is a round trip ticket to visit the United States island, Guam, without further explanation, the driver asks the suspicious girls if
Figure 19 – Doritos Bold Taxi; First Challenge.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2016)
Figure 20 – Doritos Bold Taxi; Second Challenge.
Shave head and get stranger’s phone number for NTD$ 10,000.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2016)
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they suffer from high blood pressure or heart disease, both say no and ultimately accept their challenge, next they’re both taken somewhere outside Taipei by the mysterious taxi, once at their destination, an extremely adventurous test is disclosed, to perform a bungee jump without hesitations, in the next scene both girls are encouraging themselves to finally perform their jump, lastly, before wrapping up, they’re driven to the airport by the luxurious taxi and they run into the check-in lounge pushing a fully loaded luggage kart. For the final frames, the audacious yellow taxi rides high-speed through Taipei main avenues and streets by Xinyi district.
Doritos Taiwan, used this video to create engagement in social media, particularly on Facebook, via sponsored posts, this campaign got picked up by many followers of their page and turned into viral reaching more than 1.3 million views, after promoting this video, the second part of their strategy was lunched on November 2nd, 2016, it encouraged followers to make bold performances involving one of the many yellow cabs available in Taipei, then post those videos to their page and make people vote, prizes for the top three videos were a net amount of ten thousand New Taiwan Dollars for the third and second places, while one round ticket to Guam for the first place, nearly two hundred videos from followers were uploaded and subjected to voting.
Figure 21 – Doritos Bold Taxi; Third Challenge.
Bungee jumping for a free trip to Guam, USA.
Source: Compilation from YouTube (2016)
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41 4.4 Packaging and Flavors
In both markets packaging has not varied abruptly, part of the global campaign adopted by Doritos since 2013, was to standardize the look and feel of their packaging.
Outer colors used for their bags are correlated with flavors, gammas used go from red to different variations of green, purples and black colors, differentiation takes place according to spiciness level. Original flavor Nacho Cheese remains linked to red color in both markets, likewise other variations in chips shapes and flavors are similarly linked (Table 2).
Table 2.
Doritos’ Flavors No Spicy - Mild Spicy
Mexico
Nacho 3Ds Diablo Pizza
Taiwan
Nacho Extreme Cheese Golden Cheese Thai Pepper
Source: Self-elaboration Doritos Mexico and Doritos Taiwan (2017).
Doritos has separated flavors in two segments spicy and not spicy (Table 3), and colors in both markets are correlated in every segment.
The whole idea of the brand to be bold and to dare audiences to try new things, is no doubts embedded in the seasoning of the chips, even Taiwanese are not as prone to indulgence with spicy snacks as Mexicans are, Doritos has wagered to bring fiery flavors into market so far have proven to be successful as more of these have been added to the portfolio.
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42 Table 3.
Doritos’ Flavors Very Spicy
Mexico
Flaming Hot Incognita Salsa Verde
Taiwan
Spicy Chicken Spicy Garlic American Hot Wings
Source: Self-elaboration Doritos Mexico and Doritos Taiwan (2017).
Each package portrays a Doritos logo as a banner followed by a heading that reads the flavor, additionally, a representative image of the chip’s shape contained in the bag is depicted.
Also, Doritos in Taiwan, fashions a translation of the brand’s name, “多力多滋 ” which is a phonetic translation, according to the pinyin transliteration system its equivalent in roman alphabet is “duō lì duō zī”, however, there is also a possible reason of why those very characters were chosen for this translation, 多 duō means many or much; 力 lì represents power or energy; 滋 zī has different meanings some could be flavor, taste or even excitement depending on the context, with this in mind one could say that the Chinese name of Doritos means something like Much Energy, Much Taste / Excitement.
One of the few differences found is that for Taiwanese versions, graphical flavor representations accompany the design, for example cheese splashes or other imagery to further illustrate the flavors. Occasionally and for limited time, Doritos’ unveilings cobranded
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campaigns to capitalize marketing momentum on events like, movie premieres this has been adopted in both markets (Table 4).
Table 4.
Doritos’ Cobranded Packaging.
Batman Vs. Superman The Movie (2016)
Mexico Taiwan
Source: Self-elaboration Doritos Mexico and Doritos Taiwan (2017).
Ultimately, Doritos’ chips shape variation is consistent in each market, three main shapes are constantly shuffling, (1) the traditional triangular shape with rounded corners, (2) three-dimensional pyramid, and (3) the lightening shaped chip (Table 5).
Table 5.
Doritos’ Chips Shape
1. Triangular 2. 3D Pyramid 3. Lightning shape
Source: Self-elaboration Doritos Mexico and Doritos Taiwan (2017).
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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
Marketers at Doritos are making attempts to convey consolidated value paradoxes that