THE RAINBOW CHALLENGE: TOWARDS TRANSCREATION

At first sight it makes a lot of sense to differentiate the messages to possible consumer groups when a society is highly differentiated in its ethnic groups. However, it has been noted that amongst some clusters - such as the young in particular - many interactions occur and shared core values develop that can be elicited. Some commentators also raise ethical issues, such as the role marketing and the media play and should play in making or developing the multicultural society.

When we go back to the experiences within South Africa, we observe interesting approaches to reflect the nature of interactions that developed between black and white societies . According to Siera, there are interactive ads where whites and blacks do cross-communicate. In these types of ads, children often play a central role in crossing boundaries. Obviously this is because they are unburdened by the past and have an innocent openness in their relationships. When adults come to play out their roles, it becomes an interesting picture. White men and women often represent the so-called yuppie role or other "successful" character stereotypes. Black people seem to play a much wider range of roles, ranging from unthreatening players of sports to artists or workers. In the first two categories they represent highly talented people. When blacks are represented in their traditional role of workers, white men or women doing similar jobs often accompany them. The reverse paradigm occurs hardly at all - that is where blacks play the professional roles with whites. In other words, when multiracial groups appear in South African ads, lots of attention is given to make them appear equal in either class. The overall mechanism is one whereby whites are easily "downgraded" rather than blacks upgraded. Exceptionally, a white man may be put in a stereotypical underdog position vis-a-vis a black person; humor takes over, so a slight reverse political correctness dominates and overcomes any potential criticism.

Consider these two examples.

Just great fun

A white journalist - obviously the " open sandals and socks" type - is sitting in the middle of the bush typing up his report. In the same room sits an imposing black man, watching silently. The journalist says to the black man in a pedantic tone: "Look, push button and type. Easy, huh?" When he has finally finished, he asks the black man the way to the post office: "Post office?" The man, still silent, points at a sign that says that the post office is thirty miles away, then gets up and asks: "Why don't you fax it?" As they are standing at the fax machine, he says, in the same pedantic tone the journalist used earlier: "Look, push button and fax it. Easy, huh?"

A second example makes the point very clear:

An old black man, who looks very neat, is selling souvenirs made from iron wire at the side of the road. A fast red car stops; its occupants are a rather unsavory-looking white man and his unattractive girlfriend. She is obviously charmed by the souvenirs. As she looks over them at length, the white man speaks to the black man in a belittling tone that implies that he thinks that he speaks Zulu fluently: "Yebo gogo," However, "yebo" is not a greeting but an answer to a greeting, and "gogo" means "grandmother" - but is insulting when you speak to an old woman you are unacquainted with, let alone when, you speak to a man. In short, he is making a fool of himself. Meantime, they find out that the souvenirs cost 100 rand apiece and the white man announces that it is too much for a " piece of scrap iron," He wants to get back in his car and drive off. Then we see his car keys in the ignition, and, of course, the doors are locked.

The old black man produces his mobile phone and calls the AA.

 

In PepsiCo, trans-creation through reconciliation is achieved by focusing on core values and interests shared across ethnic groups. Although Pepsi did its first African American ad in 1948, the colagiant has evolved from the ethnic segmentation most companies still use, into looking at young ethnic consumers as tribes (of young people) bound more by shared interests than ethnicity . Pepsi's director of multicultural marketing Giuseppe D'Alessandro says: "Race is not the unifier. The multicultural mindset is more about your interests, like music, than whether you're African American or Latino. They see their reflection in the popular culture, almost to the point of exaggeration. We call it the multicultural heart" (Wentz, 2003).

In analyzing the Pepsi spots we can see a variety of them in various languages but all uniting a common idea. They often reflect a world of imagination and passion when famous singers such as Beyonc and Shakira sell "The Joy of Pepsi."

Joining greater ideas, however, doesn't mean that Pepsi doesn't use different language-version spots. One Shakira music spot has two versions, one sung in Spanish and one in English. And the Hispanic market was the first to be targeted for a joint promotion involving Pepsi and PepsiCo sibling Frito-Lay's Doritos. In all, relevant ads for Pepsi and Doritos were combined because it made sense for all markets, but the expression and product mix were different. The promotion was titled "El Reventon de Sabor," which loosely translates as a "huge, flavorful party," and was heavily advertised on Spanish-language TV, since Latins love a fiesta.

Another type of integration occurs in the reverse direction. Saker and Brooke (1989) found that reliance on the ethnic market (for ethnic food retailers) was insufficient to sustain many small ethnic businesses. Whilst they benefit from an initial base market in selectively selling to their own targeted group , those that survived engaged the community at large and outside of their ethnic core as a new market for growth. Eating and dining in ethnic restaurants became the "thing to do" for many native residents. Successful ethnic-market-orientated businesses thus integrate their own ethnic customer businesss with the host society at large.

Figure 7.3: Relative degree to which several US ethnic groups display or conceal emotions

When comparing ethnic and non-ethnic orientation, two main differences are seen. Firstly, ethnic-market-orientated businesses tend to exploit more readily the social network of their own ethnic peers during their start-up phase - using family- funded cash flow, for example, and suppliers from the extended family. In contrast, non-ethnic-oriented businesses seek more conventional sources of support (e.g., bank business loans). Second, entrepreneurs from non-ethnic-oriented businesses tend to access business support networks to help them grow and survive, rather than an overdependence on the extended family, as is the case with more ethnic-oriented businesses.

Thus the reconciliation approach to ethnic marketing is not about exaggerating the differences as a means of subdividing and subdividing into ever smaller segments, but integrating markets by appealing to common identifiers that don't challenge any one subgroup at the expense of the other. They let each ethnic subgroup retain their own passion and belief systems while at the same time being part of the greater community.

This reconciled approach is represented by US company Hallmark's highly successful Common Threads collection. Rather than trying to target a particular segment, this line was intended to broaden the ethnic market by appealing to consumers who appreciate cultural diversity. Hallmark's Ethnic Business Center oversees their popular Mahogany (African Americans), Primor (Hispanics) and Tree of Life (Jewish) lines, but the Common Threads collection is not under its auspices. The unity cards are not reflective of a specific culture, nor are they directed at a particular ethnic group. Instead, messages are chosen to represent shared truths found in poetry, proverbs, and lyrics drawn from a variety of the world's cultures, emphasizing a philosophy of global community and diverse cultural expression.

After only a few months on the market, sales tallies confirmed that the Common Threads idea was sound. Not surprisingly, the line sold particularly well among students and teachers , but especially noteworthy was that demand was strong in almost all areas of the country, not just in major metropolitan centers (Brandweek, 2001).

Ethics

As societies become more multicultural, ethnicity becomes an increasingly important factor in differentiating purchasing motives. Ethnicity can affect a range of consumer behaviors such as styles of dress, tastes in music, and leisure time pursuits, or in food and drink consumption. These socio-cultural variations can also take on a political dimension and be used to delineate differences between groups, to demarcate boundaries between ethnic groups, to mark out some as members and others as outsiders.

The above debate also reveals an ethical issue. Does marketing play a role only as reacting to societal trends or does it need to play a role to create a culture of harmony and interaction between groups? Many scholars have shown that marketing and advertising play a very important role in the creation of a culture. We suggest that reconciled values that respect differences and create a context within which these differences are shared could be the most important orientation for the future success of ethnic marketing.