East Meets West in Advertising

Capturing consumers' interest in the marketplace is a mainstay of any business and it has been interesting to see how American companies do this via advertising to the Chinese culture. Through watching some television, reading newspapers, and traveling around the city, I have tried to take note of the dominant advertisers in this market.

Hands down, the health and beauty aids companies do the most advertising. Lancome, Nivea, L'Oreal, Pantene, Garnier, Eucerin, Listerine, and Johnson baby products are dominant. Some do a straight extension of their advertising visuals with the Chinese language overlay, such as Lancome, while others adapt their commercials to the market, such as Nivea. The Chinese women that L'Oreal uses are very Western in their look, melding the influences.

Food products, including restaurants, would come in second regarding frequency. McDonald's ads are all Chinese adapted with the exception of the 'I'm Lovin It' tag line. The only recognizable feature of the Pizza Hut ads is the red roof. If you weren't familiar with that icon, it would be difficult to decipher the company. The Colonel is prominent for KFC and that is the only similarity. Burger King does not do any television advertising but is very visible in the Metro stations. Pepsi and 7-Up signs are commonly found on street corner posts. Snickers has a different positioning strategy that is quite interesting; it is positioned as an energy bar. The commercial features a young man playing table tennis and appears to be losing his zest; he grabs a Snickers bar and returns to the game being rejuvenated. Coca-Cola, Dove chocolates, Doritos, Jack Daniels, and Heineken have seen minor air time.

Others who have entered the Chinese advertising arena include Apple and Sony; Apple airs constantly, featuring only the Nano. The advertisement is the same as in the States. Adidas and Nike were most prominent in athletic wear. In fact, a huge Adidas ad covered the side wall of the Nike store here. I took the picture thinking it was a Nike ad because of its location and then saw afterwards that it was the competition being friendly! Nike is known for its international perspective in its advertising and what aired on television attested to that--international athletes engaged in their sports with the 'Just Do It' tagline at the end. Also, Levi and Visa have had minor airtime.

What has been most interesting is to see how much Western influence is incorporated into the messages. Invariably, even if the Chinese culture is dominant, it has been tempered by East meets West.
















Nike Just Do it