Text 31 pr and culture

The Public Relations (PR) industry is responsible for creating and maintaining relationships between clients and customers. Through areas such as brand management, advertising, media relations and crisis management, PR practitioners seek to foster interest, trust and belief in a product or company.

PR practitioners are aware of how best to carry this out when dealing within their own nations and cultures, however, when dealing with a foreign audience it is critical that cross cultural differences are recognized. Cross cultural differences can make or break a PR campaign. It is therefore crucial that PR practitioners dealing with PR campaigns that incorporate a cross cultural element analyze likely cross cultural differences. A few key areas shall be highlighted in order to help PR practitioners begin to consider how culture may affect future projects. Robert L. Wakefield asserted that in the 21st century, public relations practitioners face new challenges. Once primarily a domestic undertaking, public relations have gone global. The increased number of multinational organizations, ease of transnational and worldwide communication, and global marketplace has redefined the practice of public relations. Although some organizations and industries are more often affected, changes reverberate throughout organizational practice. Thus, skills in communicating with multiple publics across different cultures are essential. Sriramesh noted that “PR practice in the 21st century has, and will continue to, become multinational and multicultural in nature”.

However, “precious little information exists to help multinational organizations to understand the global nature of their public relations or to guide them as they develop resources not only to get their messages out to increasingly cross-cultural publics but also to anticipate and respond to behaviors by those publics that could affect the organizations” This lack of information hampers efforts and places achieving organizational goals in jeopardy. Multinationals need to understand the nuances of public relations between countries, or even in different regions within countries, and how misunderstandings of those nuances can bring problems on a global scale. PR practitioners employ many different communication channels when trying to circulate information relating to their campaign. The main channels of communication in the UK or America are the radio, the press, TV, internet and public spaces. However, these channels may not always be applicable abroad.

In many countries the radio, TV or newspapers may not be the primary source of information. Literacy rates may be poor and/or radios may be expensive. In Africa, only 1.4% of the population have access to the internet. Even where such channels of communication do exist, such as TV, some methods used by PR practitioners, namely guerrilla marketing, would be interpreted differently in foreign countries. For example, interrupting live TV may be laughed at in the UK but in other countries it would be seen as irresponsible and rebellious.

The usual channels of communication in some countries would simply have no effect in terms of PR. In such countries, local alternatives need to be sought such as religious leaders, tribal chiefs, school teachers or NGO's. Information coming from such figures will not only reach the audience but be perceived as more credible than if it were from foreigners. Every public relations professional dreams of developing a campaign that puts his or her company’s tag line on the lips of the entire world. However, the tried and true rules of continuity, consistency, and even practicality don’t always apply when it comes to international or cross-culture campaigns. Before you try to recycle your PR campaign in a foreign market, consider that you are dealing with a completely new audience with its own characteristics, ideals, and preconceived notions about what you’re selling. Industry experts recommend using a public relations or advertising agency that specializes in international campaigns.

In order for a PR campaign to be successful abroad, an appreciation of the target language and its cultural nuances is necessary. The PR and advertising industries are littered with examples of poor translations and a lack of cross cultural understanding leading to PR failure. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la,” meaning “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax,” depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent, “ko-kou-ko-le,” which translates into “happiness in the mouth.”- Pepsi also had trouble in China with the slogan “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation,” which translated into “Pepsi Brings your Ancestors Back from the Grave”.- Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)’s experience in China has been fraught with a few obstacles. For example, the company’s slogan “finger-lickin’ good” was translated as “eat your fingers off.”

- A T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish-speaking market that promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I Saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I Saw the Potato” (la Papa).

- A curling iron called the “Mist Stick” was released in Germany, where the word “mist” is slang for “manure.”

- A Scandinavian company marketed their vacuum in America using the slogan, “Nothing Sucks Like Electrolux.”

- A major beer company directly translated their slogan “Turn it Loose” to Spanish, where it was understood as “Suffer from Diarrhea.”- A slogan for chicken, “It Takes a Strong Man to Make a Tender Chicken,” was translated into Spanish as “It Takes an Aroused Man to Make a Chicken Affectionate.”

- In translating the slogan for a ballpoint pen, “It Won’t Leak in Your Pocket and Embarrass You,” the Spanish word embarazar, meaning to impregnate, was used instead of “embarrass.” The ad read, “It Won’t Leak in Your Pocket and Make You Pregnant.”

Questions:

1. What is Public Relations responsible for?

2. Why can cross cultural differences make or break a PR campaign?

3. What has redefined the practice of public relations in the 21st century?

4. What do public relations practitioners face in the 21st century?

5. What difficulties exist to help multinational organizations to understand the global nature of their public relations?

6. What does every public relations professional dream about?

7. What should every public relations professional consider before trying to recycle his PR campaign in a foreign market?

8. Why do the usual channels of communication in some countries would simply have no effect in terms of PR?

9. What should every public relations know about a simple translation?

10. What misunderstanding may happen if the public relations practitioners have no idea about the culture of another country?