When it comes to ensuring the commercial appeal of a particular product, it is crucially important to remain thoroughly aware of what accounts for the specifics of the targeted audience’s consumer behavior. In their turn, these specifics are best discussed within the context of how the cultural affiliation of consumers affects their perception of the surrounding social reality, and, consequently, their purchasing choices (De Mooij, 2007, p. 27). In my paper, I will aim to substantiate the validity of this suggestion at length in regards to the print advertisement-poster of Korean alcoholic beverage Soju (hard liquor), branded as CharmSoju:
Advertisement Explanation
The advertisement-poster of CharmSoju was found on the weblog KoreaBANG, dedicated to the mission of enlightening Westerners on what accounts for the socio-cultural realities in modern South Korea. It features the centrally positioned (sexually suggestive) image of a young girl, with the image of the actual product (CharmSoju) being shifted towards the ad’s lower right corner. According to the advertisement: “CharmSoju is the genuine Soju because it is smoothly going down and leaves you feeling fresh the next day!”.
Underlying Assumptions
The ad’s main conceptual assumption is that the members of the targeted audience (young Koreans) happened to be closely associated with the so-called Oriental (or holistic) cultural values, largely reflective of the provisions of Confucianism/Buddhism. These values are concerned with the affiliated people’s lack of ego-centrism unlike that, what happened to be the case in the West, East-Asians tend to proceed with highly communal lifestyles, while considering themselves to be the integral part of the surrounding environment (Keegan & Green, 2012, p. 103). Therefore, these people are naturally prompted to pay close attention to the contextual subtleties of a particular product, rather than to what can be deemed as the product’s actual ‘substance’ (de facto value). As Bower noted, “In a variety of reasoning tasks, East Asians take a ‘holistic’ approach. They make little use of categories and formal logic and instead focus on relations among objects and the context in which they interact” (2000, p. 57). In its turn, this explains the compositional aspects of the ad in question. As can be seen, its designers made a deliberate point of ensuring the visual decentralization of the marketed product, the move that is being fully consistent with how one’s Oriental mentality operates. Being affiliated with the ethical values of Confucianism/Buddhism, East-Asians do not consume for the sake of enjoying the process, as a ‘thing in itself’. They do it rather as a part of trying to attain social self-actualization. Therefore, the mentioned proportional aspect of the ad’s design does make much sense.
The same can be said about the significance of the textual message, featured in the ad. Those who came up with the idea for it were well aware that in the eyes of potential consumers, the main appeal of CharmSoju would be concerned with the beverage’s presumed ability to help young people to socialize, rather than with whatever happened to be its actual flavor.
Advertisement Exclusion
The important aspect of the analyzed ad is its sexual suggestiveness. After all, multiple images of a young girl in a short dress leave no doubt as to the fact that, in the aftermath of having had CharmSoju, she grew aware of the sheer seductiveness of her bodily curves; this explains the actual significance of the model’s poses. Therefore, identifying consumer groups, that this advertisement excludes, will not represent much of a challenge. First, the concerned ad will not appeal to older people with a weakened sex-drive. Moreover, it would be rather likely for them to find this particular advertisement of CharmSoju somewhat offensive, especially given the fact that the featured model does not appear to be of legal age. Second, the advertisement-poster in question excludes those women who have feminist views. This simply could not be otherwise, because the depicted model does not seem concerned about the prospect of being turned into the subject of a sexual exploitation, but, on the contrary, she appears thrilled contemplating such an eventual scenario. And, it does not represent much of a secret that feminists are strongly opposed to the idea that the sexually suggestive images of women can be used to boost sales of a particular product.
Advertising Culture
The advertisement-poster of CharmSoju does conform to the cultural values of Korean society and does not attempt to challenge them. The best proof of the validity of this statement can be considered because the poster’s earlier mentioned sexual overtones appear thoroughly consistent with the Oriental (traditional) outlook on what constitutes a ‘proper’ relationship between men and women. According to it, men enjoy the ‘natural’ right to dominate women, and the only way for women to be able to attain a social prominence in the society is to make sure that they never cease being capable of triggering a sexual desire in men (The Grand Narrative, 2008, para. 12). This explains the strong spirit of sexual suggestiveness, emanated by the poster. In the West, however, it would have been considered rather distasteful, if not altogether illegal.
Another indication, that the advertisement-poster of CharmSoju fully correlates with the Korean cultural values/traditions, can be the fact that its main compositional components are: a young girl, on the one hand, and the bottle of hard liquor, on the other hand. This implies that the ad was designed to target consumers in the alcohol-tolerant society. Korean society can indeed be described as something that is best illustrated in regards to the fact that the country’s rate of alcohol consumption is one of the world’s highest (Janice, 2012, para. 10). Therefore, as far as Koreans are being concerned, there is nothing unnatural about the mentioned compositional dichotomy.
Conclusion
As it was shown earlier, in regards to the ad of CharmSoju, when it comes to marketing a particular product, it is I crucially important to remain thoroughly observant of what seems to be the cultural specifics of the targeted market. After all, in the light of what has been said previously, there can be only a few doubts left that the particulars of one’s cultural background do have a strong effect on his or her behavior as a consumer, just as it was suggested in the Introduction. This, of course, presents marketers with the challenge of keeping the mentioned provision in mind while trying to ensure the commercial success of the marketed products on their part. At the same time, however, it simultaneously creates several new opportunities for managers to be able to turn their awareness of this provision in the instrument of guaranteeing the effectiveness of marketing strategies, meant to be deployed in one or another part of the world.
References
Bower, B. (2000). Cultures of reason. Science News, 157 (4), 56-58.
De Mooij, M. (2004). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Janice (2012). Korean Soju is world’s most popular spirit. Web.
Keegan, W. & Green, M. (2012). Global marketing (7th ed). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
The Grand Narrative (2008). Women’s bodies in Korea’s consumer society, part 1: Their neo-Confucian heritage. Web.