Group 7

Cultural Adaptation of Durex’s Advertisement in Mainland China

Content
1. Background and Research Objectives
2. Literature Review
3. Hypotheses and Methodologies
4. Findings and Analysis
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions and Limitations
7. References
1. Background and
Research Objectives
 This part is a brief introduction of

1.1 Background Durex's adaptative approaches in

mainland China, with 2 typical
cases.
Brief explanation of the topic

Cultural Adaptation
of Durex’s Advertisement in Mainland China

Culture in Culture in
Britain TO Mainland China

Britain: the home country This research will be

of Durex introduced with two cases
in mainland China
Background
Approaching market Adapation strategies

Durex has made series of

In 1998, Durex had
adaptative changes on
access to China's
ads to fit into Chinese
market.
culture.
Cultural Dilemma Excellent copywriting
Chinese people is too Especially ads on Sina
reserved to talk about Weibo：fun without
sex . vulgar
Background - Case 1: 春日詩集/Successful Case

● Metaphors of sexuality
● Connection between sex & love
and common landscape of life
● Balance between “subtle” and
“naked”
Background
Approaching market Adapation strategies Administrative Penalty
Durex has made series of In October 2020, the
In 1998, Durex had
adaptative changes on company was
access to China's
ads to fit into Chinese administratively punished
market.
culture. for advertisements
containing obscene,
Cultural Dilemma Excellent copywriting superstitious, terrorist,
Chinese people is too violent and scandalous
Especially ads on Sina
reserved to talk about content.
Weibo：fun without
sex . vulgar
Success - Failure
Benchmark in Administrative
Advertising Penalty
● Championship in Administratively punished by the
Chinese market Shanghai Xuhui District Market
● The most popular sex Supervision Administration with a
ads in mainland China total fine of RMB 810,000

This punishment was mainly because of

the co-branded ad with Hi Tea on 19th April, 2019
Case 2: Durex and Hi Tea’s co-branded ad on 4.19/Failure case

The homophone of the date “4.19” sounds like “for one

night”. On that day, Durex launched a series of
advertisements cooperating with many brands. Among
them, the most controversial one is a tie-up with Hi Tea,
a famous milk tea brand in China.

Durex：Hi，還記得第二次約會，我對你說‘你的第一口
最珍貴’？
Hi Tea：Hi杜杜，我記得那次約會。說好了從那天起，
你唇上始終有我的芝士。
Content of Advertising poster：今夜一滴也不許剩
Case 2: Durex and Hi Tea’s co-branded ad on 4.19/Failure case

● This corporation was regarded as vulgar

and bad taste by Mainland consumers (see
comments and retweeting below its official
account ).

● From success to failure, Durex has shown

itself to be at a loss in adapting to Chinese
culture.This has implications for the study
of how international companies
successfully enter the Chinese market and
adapt their social media advertising
content to the local culture.
1.2 Research
Objectives
Research Objectves
... sexuality on Chinese social media is communicated through witty implicitness,
heteronormative idealization, cultural continuity and appreciation from Durex ’s
advertisements. Durex builds rapport through creating a celebrative or humorous
atmosphere, wordplay, word replacement, and ambiguity connoted by references to
traditional culture. (Wu, 2019)

Considering the above factors, this study aim to :

● Explore how Durex’s advertisements adapted in the mainland Chinese cultural context.
● Figure out the relationship between the shift from success to failure of Durex’s advertising
in China and Chinese sexual culture.
2. Literature Review
Given that the stereotype of Chinese is kind of ,
while plenty of western’s brands flooded into China along
with their cultural values embedded them and China is
one of the largest social-media marketing places in the
world. So the suppliers who want to open China market
are supposed to use or marketing
strategies that are different from its counterpart in the
western countries. In this case, Durex has once been
famous for its household branding copywriting in social
media, for its excellent eye-catching captions.

Unexpectedly, Durex ads tended to be tedious and led to

an unwanted marketing result in 2019, here were some
cultural gaps and Chinese adaptation towards Durex ads
afforded much food for thought.
Previous studies have indicated that there is a
discrepancy between cultural value and adaptation
towards brands and advertisements. Chang (2006)
has stated that individual differences can affect
preferences for brands and advertisements.

Accordingly, this research analyzes Chinese

adaptation towards Durex ads through Hofstede’s
theory, which includes five dimensions characterized
by Hofstede (1980) and Hofstede and Bond (1984,
1988) as cultural factors. These factors are
individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance,
power distance, masculinity versus femininity and
long-term orientation. .
3. Hypotheses and Methodologies
3.1 Hypotheses

H1 H2

Durex’s advertisement
Durex’s advertisement
suffers setbacks when
succeeds when it well
it not well adapted to
adapted to mainland
mainland Chinese
Chinese culture.
culture.
 This essay will use both qualitative
and quantitative methods for data
3.2 Methodology collection and content analysis, so
as to analyze and verify our
hypothesis.
3.2.1 Data collection and analysis method for case 1 & case 2

We will use data collection and analysis methods to determine Durex's cultural
adaptability performance in case 1 & case 2.

Capture the data of consumers’ comments on the

case1 & case 2 from a variety of social platforms.
- Big data collection
Analyze consumers’ sentiment to determine the
communication effect.

Select the top 20 hot comments, and analyze their

sentiment from the posts on the official account of Durex on
Weibo about the case1 & case 2.
- Purposive sampling survey
Justify the attitudes of these responses to infer the
attitudes of most consumers towards the case1 & case
2 to determine whether it is successful.
3.2.2 Content analysis method for H1 & H2

Cultural Adaptation Process (CAP)

model (Domenech-Rodriguez &
Wieling, 2004)

Content analysis method Make a timeline for two cases

for H1 & H2

High-Context and Low-Context

Orientation and Cultural Dimension
Theory

Analyze H1 and H2 in depth

3.2.2 Content analysis method for H1 & H2

keywords
public Cloud of
comments sharing
and forward
of the
relevant
posts
CAP Model
analyze the effectiveness from
4 aspects

viewpoints
of KOLs
about the
media two cases
viewpoints
3.2.2 Content analysis method for H1 & H2

Durex's success factors and failure

reasons in different phases

High- and Low- Context deeper analysis

Orientation and explore

How Durex adapted to the culture

We will also elaborate on Durex’s cultural adaptation process by comparing

the Chinese and British advertisements with the help of the High- and Low-
Context Orientation and the Cultural Dimension Theory.
4.Findings & Analysis
Using Cultural adaptation process
Model (Domenech-Rodriguez &
Wieling, 2004) to make timeline for
two cases
4.1 Analysis of the effectiveness of Initial adaptation from 4 aspects

(1) Public comments below this post

(2) Media viewpoints: Positive（甜，撩人）

(Data from Weibo Reach)
4.1 Analysis of the effectiveness of Initial adaptation from 4 aspects

(3) Keyword Cloud of sharing:

Positive words（春天，成長，時
尚，詩集） Research
(4) Viewpoints of KOL on Sina
Weibo: Positive（唔錯，犀利，
加雞腿，牛逼）(Data from Weibo Reach)
4.2 Analysis of the effectiveness of Adaptation iterations from 4 aspects

(1) Public comments & Forward below this post:

Negative（失敗，恶心，翻車） Forward messages
4.2 Analysis of the effectiveness of Adaptation iterations from 4 aspects
(2) Media viewpoints: Negative（低俗，露骨，翻車，軟色情）(Data from Weibo Reach)
4.2 Analysis of the effectiveness of Adaptation iterations from 4 aspects

(3) Keyword Cloud of sharing:

Negative words（低俗，翻車）
Research (Data from Weibo Reach)
(4) Viewpoints of KOL on Sina
Weibo: Negative（low，吐，下流，
無底線）
Therefore
Durex did good job in the initial
adaptation and suffered setbacks
in adaptation iterations

Analysis
Why this happened?
According to High- and Low- Context Orientation from Edward Hall

Why successful in Initial adaptation stage?

China is a high context country and Chinese people

tend to indirect verbal interaction and understand
meanings embedded at many socio-cultural levels.

Durex used the form of poetry in this stage, which

adapted the characteristics of the Chinese local
context. Therefore, it cater to the taste of Chinese,
and made it easier for Chinese to accept.
According to High- and Low- Context Orientation from Edward Hall

Why suffered setbacks in Adaptation iterations

stage?

The context of the advertisement was not only

barefaced and exposed, but also trigger internet
users to consider the feminism within the sexual
problem, which made Chinese customers feel
affronted because the high context people rely
more on context and feeling.

Chinese are more accessible to implied meanings,

too straight-forward publications will make it
difficult to accept.
5.Discussion
Discussion

“A low context (LC) communication is that the

mass of information is vested in the explicit
code, whereas a high context (HC)
communication is that the information is in the
person, while very little is in the coded (Samovar,
E.Porter, McDaniel 2009, 215-217) .”
The Cultural Dimension Theory-Hofstede and Bond

- Individualism vs. Collectivism

China is a collective society, it’s impolite to express

opinions about sexuality as personal privacy in the public,
people prefer the advertisements with metaphors and
implied meanings.

Britain is an individualist country, everyone has the

freedom to express their privacy, and people respect
different opinions, the context of advertisements can be
more straight-forward.
The Cultural Dimension Theory-Hofstede and Bond

- High Power Distance vs. Low Power Distance

As a high-power distance society, the Chinese
government centralizes decision making and controls
the direction of media. If media disobeys
traditional/reserved culture, the government will
intervene to cater to the “universal value”.

Whereas in Britain, which has low-power

distance, the government gives great power to
media, brands and individuals to freely express
their value and themselves.
The Cultural Dimension Theory-Hofstede and Bond

- High Uncertainty Avoidance vs. Low Uncertainty Avoidance

There are many rules in Chinese society and people

emphasize uniformity, people think differences or creativity
may cause anxiety and problem.

In Britain, exceptions are allowed to exist and people can

accept differences. New ideas are welcomed and will
embody its meaning and value.
6. Limitations and Conclusions
Limitations

• The limitation of sample sizes

Due to lack of time, only 20 comments of each post were collected and
analyzed.

• Inaccuracy in big data analysis

Comments extracted could be ambiguous and lead to inaccurate
results. For example, the sentence ‘I don’t think it’s not good’ might be
regarded as a negative one.

• Comments being controlled

The comments that we see at this moment are the ones left, instead of
all that ever existed. Since some platforms are highly controllable by
specific companies, comments could be eliminated intentionally. Thus
some valuable information could be missed.
 Cultural adaptation is the process of understanding culture, belief, emotional
Conclusions system and communication system in cross-cultural context.
The British brand, Durex adjusts the advertisement strategies to fit in Chinese
culture. In Britain, the ads are straightforward and easy to understand due to the low
context habits, while in China it was obscure cause in the Chinese culture, which
should be high context. There could always be setbacks and failures in intercultural
communications under the global background of cultural differences.
In conclusion, when it comes to different cultural backgrounds, it is essential to
note the cultural adaptation in terms of branding strategies. Applying different
strategies for different culture backgrounds is critical to many international
companies, especially in marketing and advertising. If conduct inappropriately, it
could be awkward, even to little avail.
7. References
References
I. Chen, G. M. (1989). Relationships of the dimensions of intercultural communication competence. Communication Quarterly,
37(2), 118-133.
II. Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C. and Lampe, C. (2010). Connection strategies: social capital implications of Facebook-enabled
communication practices. New Media & Society, 13(6), 873–92.
III. Guan, M. (2019). A study on effect of Durex social media marketing on Chinese consumer’s purchase intention and Durex’s brand
equity.
IV. Gut, A., Wilczewski, M., & Gorbaniuk, O. (2017). Cultural differences, stereotypes and communication needs in intercultural
communication in a global multicultural environment. The Employees’ perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication,
43(1), 1-20.
V. Oiarzabal, P. J. (2012). Diaspora Basques and online social networks: an analysis of users of Basque institutional diaspora groups
on Facebook. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1469–85.
VI. Peltokorpi, V., & Clausen, L. (2011). Linguistic and cultural barriers to intercultural communication in foreign subsidiaries. Asian
Business & Management, 10(4), 509-528.
VII. Ilie, O. A. (2019, June). Intercultural Communication Barriers. China and the USA, The Difficulties of a Dialogue. In
International conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION (Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 258-263). Sciendo.
VIII. Rodriguez, M. M. D., Baumann, A. A., & Schwartz, A. L. (2011). Cultural adaptation of an evidence based intervention: From
theory to practice in a Latino/a community context. American journal of community psychology, 47(1-2), 170-186.
IX. Ryan, S. D., Magro, M. J., & Sharp, J. H. (2011). Exploring educational and cultural adaptation through social networking sites.
Journal of Information Technology Education, 10.
References
X. Sawyer, R., & Chen, G. M. (2012). The impact of social media on intercultural adaptation.
XI. Sheldon, P., Rauschnabel, P. A., Antony, M. G., & Car, S. (2017). A cross-cultural comparison of Croatian and American social
network sites: Exploring cultural differences in motives for Instagram use. Computers in human behavior, 75, 643-651.
XII. Valaei, N., Rezaei, S., Ismail, W. K. W., & Oh, Y. M. (2016). The effect of culture on attitude towards online advertising and online
brands: applying Hofstede's cultural factors to internet marketing. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising,
10(4), 270-301.
XIII.Wooley, S. (2013). Constantly connected: the impact of social media and the advancement in technology on the study abroad
experience. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 4(2). www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=822 (last accessed
20 March 2019).
XIV.Wu, J. (2019). The Construction of sexuality on social media in China: a semiotic analysis of Durex condom advertisements.
XV. 袁登华, 吴秋林, & 朱丽叶. (2020). 微博中品牌拟人化对线上消费者品牌投入的影响: 以杜蕾斯为例. 心理科学, (4), 963-968.
Thanks for your listening 
20079385G 俞紫荧 20040908G 熊程晨
20091138G 梅跃 20053074G 岑苑君
20083218G 揣雅菲 20086262G 奔善
20041484G 方伊璇 20078411G 罗德诚
20088235G 杨子熠
Q&A