THE DILEMMA BETWEEN NEUTRAL. AND AFFECTIVE ORIENTATION

Reason and emotion both play a role in relationships between people. Which dominates will depend on whether we are affective-that is, display our emotions, in which case we will probably get an emotional response in return-or whether we are emotionally neutral in our approach. In the latter case we are still emotional, of course, but don't show it. What part does the display and role of emotion play, and/or is the display of emotion controlled? What shapes the purchasing decisions? Figure 2.7 shows the relative orientation of a number of countries on this dimension.

Figure 2.7: Relative degree to which a number of selected countries openly display emotions (affective = display, neutral = conceal)

Peter Darke and his research team argue that it doesn't matter whether you're buying a new car or a new shade of lipstick (Darke et al., 2002). In all cases you are likely to consider both tangible factors (product features, price, etc.) as well as intangible qualities (such as how the product makes you feel). Their research demonstrates how affective (emotional) experience can be influential even when consumers are highly motivated and fully capable of making rational decisions on the basis of tangible features. Indeed, marketing research has shown the importance of affective cues (preferences based on feelings) and informational cues (preferences based on features) in the consumer decision making processes. It appears that affective cues have an impact on judgement primarily when consumers are less motivated to adopt a rational, analytic approach, especially when they perceive they have a diminished ability to judge products. Further, choices made with a high affective component are often perceived as impulse purchases which consumers ultimately regret . This is the familiar "buyer's remorse" syndrome. Affectivity also explains why many women enjoy "retail therapy " even to the point of window shopping with friends rather than making actual purchases.

Typically reason and emotion are linked or combined. When the customer expresses satisfaction (or dissatisfaction), they are trying to find confirmation in their thoughts and feelings-and trying to show they have the same response as others. This is embodied in the well-known theory of conspicuous consumption. Customers whose response is neutral are seeking an indirect response.

Advertising should appeal to emotion, but what few advertisers understand is that this sentimental dimension of advertising has a logic of its own. Most companies make the mistake of assuming that people purchase products and services for rational reasons, and so they give them several rational reasons to buy. These reasons emphasize specific features, benefits, quality, or guarantees . Some companies, however, know that the real reasons people buy a product or service aren't scientific or rational. They understand that emotion plays a big role in making purchasing decisions, and they tap into this emotion through symbols.

Take the age-old dilemma of increasing demand for wood products and the need for forest preservation. Both are desirable outcomes , even for environmentalists. Most people's notion of the forest is deeply imbued with sentiments of camping and hiking when they were children; when you cut down a tree you are killing it. So the Californian Forestry Association used ads saying: "This year we planted 2,400,230 new trees." But people didn't get the right emotion. Did they cut down more than they planted? They changed their ads by using a picture of a mother with a baby in her arms-simple, touching, and a universal symbol of nurturing and protecting. The text read: "For every baby born in California, we plant 100 trees." The new ad brought to the public's awareness the entire life cycle of the forest, which was the side of the industry that had been ignored in the past.

Jingles

One marketing technique that has been exploited in the US is the use of jingles or songs. The songs tend to be short and upbeat (Americans love enthusiasm ), and they repeat the same chorus several times, making them easy to remember. In his sixteen tips on television advertising, David Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy & Mather ad agency, says, "If you do not have much to say [about a product], put it in a song, but make sure audiences can understand the words of your jingle." Although this form of advertising is sometimes viewed by non-Americans as silly, it is often the "silly" commercials that most stick in people's minds. They get the viewers ' attention, and they remember the name of the product. Consequently this type of advertising can be quite effective in the US.

Humor

Since the expression of positive emotions is encouraged in the US, many companies use humor to sell their products to an American audience. For example, a popular TV commercial for deodorant showed a head shot of an old woman saying "Grandpa says I need Ban roll-on for what ails me, but I don't feel sick." Next you hear the voice of the announcer saying "Maybe Grandpa does," and then you see Grandma with a shocked look on her face. It is very possible that this commercial would not be at all well received in other parts of the world because humor is culturally determined. Moreover, in some cultures, it would be considered inappropriate to joke about your product and/or to make fun of an old person. However Americans really liked it because it appealed to their sense of humor; for that reason, this commercial was very effective in selling its product to American consumers.

We might compare this with Carlsberg Humor. The British are relatively neutral, meaning that they like advertisements with understated humor. One particular Carlsberg (Danish beer brewer) advertisement is an example of this.

A Danish couple are shown receiving therapy. The wife says that she can't stand her husband any more, she despises him. The therapist asks how long this has been going on. The wife replies "since he started his new job." The therapist then asks what he does. The husband says that he's a long-distance lorry driver, delivering all over the world. The therapist asks what he delivers and the man looks at the floor, too embarrassed to answer. The wife turns on the husband and says angrily "tell her." The husband then admits he delivers Carlsberg Export. On hearing this, the therapist (a woman) leaps across the room and attacks him. The punchline, heard as a voice-over, says "Carlsberg-the Danes hate to see it leave as much as we like to see it arrive ."

Humor is an integral and valued part of the Irish communication style and, as such, it is generally successful in marketing products to an Irish audience. However, humor is notoriously difficult to transfer across cultures, so care should be taken to match the Irish style. An example of successful humor is a Guinness TV commercial where a comic actor dances in a crazy way to a catchy tune while drinking Guinness. The implicit message seems to be "I'm mad and fun, and I don't care what people think." It appeals to many Irish people's image of themselves or how they would like to be: individuals who express themselves in a funny , offbeat manner, with a happy-go-lucky, " devil -may-care" attitude.

Pop Songs and Artists

The use of popular songs associated with a product is often used in the UK. This is often more effective than using a jingle, which might be found irritating even though memorable. The songs tend to work better if they are linked with the product in some way. For example, Cadbury's launched a new hot chocolate drink. Their ad features supermodels on the catwalk . Everything starts to collapse and they fall in heaps, tearing their dresses. A singer begins to sing "when things go wrong, I'll be there for you"-well known in the UK as being by the soul band Hot Chocolate. He stands out as the one calm feature amidst chaos, dressed in a suit of Cadbury's signature purple, holding out a steaming cup of hot chocolate to the distressed models.

It isn't just the musical association that might be missed outside of the UK. It might not be appropriate in some countries to show models apparently being humiliated in this way, with their clothing in a state of disarray.

Presentation Styles

Presentation styles in Taiwan are subdued. The Taiwanese are used to sales representatives who are not very expressive. Therefore using a lot of hand gestures and body movement may be less effective when presenting to the Taiwanese. They may be suspicious of salespeople who are overtly enthusiastic or who spend a lot of time talking about the tremendous superiority of their product. Talking "too much" is often associated with not knowing much, or to use a Chinese saying, "You have more saliva than tea."

In contrast, the neutral orientation of the Dutch is reflected in their presentation style. Don't expect a Dutch salesperson or team to give a passionate presentation about their product. Presentations tend to be sober and low key, but at the same time informal and friendly. This style may be misinterpreted by people from other cultures. For example, since the Dutch are not inclined to show tremendous enthusiasm, Americans can misinterpret this to mean that Dutch presenters don't really believe in their products. Germans tend to interpret the Dutch informal presentation style as unprofessional; the Dutch tendency to use self-mockery may be seen by Germans as a lack of self-confidence .

Friendly Service in South Korea

Personnel in the service industry in Korea work hard, but given the neutral orientation of Koreans towards those who are not within their circle of intimates, it is difficult to get them to make a serious effort to be friendly to strangers. Expatriates in Korea sometimes perceive this as a lack of customer service. They also complain about unfriendly government officials. However once you get to know people in Korea, or have an intermediate contact person who knows them, service will be much more friendly. The lack of friendly customer service to those without contacts may lead to opportunities for those western companies that are especially good at delivering high-level customer service.

Creating an Overall Feeling Tone

Rather than displaying overt emotion to sell a product, the Japanese will strive to create an overall "feeling tone" in an advertisement. This approach is especially popular when advertising traditional Japanese products, such as tea or miso shiru (soup). For example, the tranquility of old traditional Japan requires little display of human emotion to get a message across. A recent ad for tea begins with four people in samurai costumes on a gondola-style boat. They are drinking the tea while slowly moving through the water as if they are in a dream. Then one calmly says "Lunch is just about over. We'd better return to the office." There are weak grunts of agreement. This hits a chord with the Japanese because they understand the feelings and atmosphere even though there are no strong changes in facial expression.

Ads that Caused Offence

What is considered funny in one culture can be misunderstood in another, interpreted at best as silly and at worst as offensive, with both reactions being contrary to the desired effect. For example, an Irish banking group recently introduced an advertising campaign portraying naked men with fig leaves and bibles. This ad had been successful in the UK. In Ireland, however, it caused much offence and there were so many complaints by the clergy in offices around the country that it had to be withdrawn. What was seen as a joke in the UK was considered bad taste in Ireland, where both nudity and religion are sensitive issues.

Another advertisement that bombed was a Benetton commercial, showing a new-born baby still attached to its umbilical cord. The " shock value" marketing approach of this image did not work and resulted in more offence than appreciation from the Irish public.

Sales Promotion

In promoting their products, Germans may often appear to be less enthusiastic than their counterparts from more affective cultures. Rather than trying to create a positive emotion in their customers, German salespeople prefer to emphasize the "objective" characteristics of the product and often use complex, pseudo-technical terminology to describe the product's advantages. When a new product is launched, it is therefore often more important to convince one's own salespeople of the benefits of the product rather than appealing to their emotions.

Cheering and publicly celebrating individual star performers in the sales team is also rather unpopular. The recognition of such achievements is often done in a very neutral way that excludes hype or dramatic effects.

Verbalizing Emotions

A remarkable way of neutralizing the expression of emotions is to describe them in words, rather than showing them through gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. Just saying "I'm happy" without the nonverbal display of the emotion may strike affective people as unbelievable. For more neutral people like the Chinese, however, it is common to verbalize the emotion without a trace of the other signs of happiness. This can be observed in Chinese commercials. A person or a group of people will tell you, completely straight faced, how happy they are with a certain product. They will then continue by explaining why they are so happy. Just being happy is not enough to convince the reader or viewer; there has to be a reason as well.

German advertising rarely intends to be funny. Jokes are very rare and advertisements avoid making the product or its manufacturer look ridiculous at all costs. Slapstick or silly rhymes and jingles are therefore rather unpopular. Seriousness and a neutral, stereotypical happiness rule supreme. For more intangible products, advertisers usually choose the conservative setting of a happy family or loving couple whose perfect world is maintained by having the advertised product. For more technical products, on the other hand, advertisements clearly focus on the "objective" product features.

Endorsements by Authorities in China

One way in which neutrality towards displaying emotions is reflected in Chinese advertising is the frequent use of experts rather than enthusiastic users of the product being advertised. A common western way of advertising pharmaceuticals-for example, let's take an antacid-is to first show a person suffering from heartburn, followed by a shot of the same person after taking the antacid. The expression on the face of the sufferer leaves no doubt about the effectiveness of the drug. While such techniques are also used in China, pharmaceuticals are most frequently endorsed by a person wearing a long white coat (a doctor). Even when a happy patient is shown, the doctor will also be there confirming that the product is approved by experts. In a similar way, candy may be recommended by happy children, but a parent, doctor, or kindergarten nurse will also be there to add that the product is good for the child's health, does not harm the teeth, etc.

Reconciling Affective and Neutral Cultures

Overly affective (expressive) or neutral cultures have problems in relating with each other. The neutral person is easily accused of being stone cold and having no heart; the affective person is seen as way out of control and inconsistent. When such cultures meet it is essential for international managers to recognize the differences, and to refrain from making any judgments based on emotions-or the apparent lack of them. This aspect of culture is quite clearly seen in the amount of emotionality people can stand across cultures.

Figure 2.8: The emotional-neutral dilemma

Let's look at one example of reconciling passion and control, which we have mentioned in previous books, but which is clearly relevant here.

Club Med's prodigious growth had overstrained its traditional management structure. It had become intoxicated by its self-celebrations, week after week, and was not keeping track of costs or logistics. The company's downward spiral had begun and chronic under-investment made it worse . It was not competent in the more neutral hard side of the business (travel, finance, logistics, etc.) Resorts were not profit centers and several had lost money without anyone realizing . Opening was often too early in the season or not early enough. Moreover, hospitality had simply been increased with no awareness of diminishing returns; the food and wine expenditure had escalated too far. When it is about esprit, ambience, and all the affective and diffuse aspects of life-leave it to Club Med. This was also their under-sponsored strength. At this point CEO Philippe Bourguignon was very aware that he had to reconcile these neutral and affective necessities. He helped Club Med to refine the art of placing immaterial experiences above the bits and pieces of the material world, while insuring that the bits and pieces paid off.

The wholeness of experience with its esprit is vital . But taken too far, (as Club Med had in the early 1990s), the personalized and unique vacation was driven to the point of destruction. It had become a vendor of incomparable experiences but couldn't survive in a more cost-conscious world. But the opposite , more neutral approach, where elements are standardized into a reliable, high volume and therefore affordable holiday, would risk abandoning Club Med's founding values.

With ever-advancing living standards, the separate elements of luxury and good living are available to more and more people. What is often missing and is more elusive is the integration of these elements into a diffuse and affective sense of satisfaction, a savoir vivre. Bourguignon no longer manages villages, but a shared spirit, a seamless scenario of satisfactions, an ambience or atmosphere, like Planet Hollywood or the Hard Rock Caf s, augmented by food and wine. The dilemma is shown in Figure 2.9.

Figure 2.9: The global ingredients of a personal dream