Assignment 3 – Bilingual Case Study – Tariq Halela

1. For each advertisement, identify the usage of cultural symbols and identify the target
audience. Considering each company’s brand image, what is the purpose of the
advertisement?

In the target advertisement, one of the key cultural symbols used is the language.
Having Spanish lyrics linked with English in the advertisement is a great way to target a
culturally mixed and multicultural community, where we know that language is an
integral part of the salient culture and the ‘phonosemantic’ (Reading1) element of the
advertisement will bring feelings of closeness and assimilation to the front of the mind
for the Hispanic population. Considering Target is a discount retailer, it makes sense for
them to focus their advertisements on communities that look for and value such offers
and pricing. The purpose of the Target advertisement was to target Americans and
people who of South American origin, who identify with the Spanish language and are
expecting children or are parents of infants and induce them to purchasing their baby’s
happiness and safety from Target Stores.

In the Coca-Cola commercial, they have used multiple languages to show the diversity
of the land and have linked the different languages to the “God Bless America”
soundtrack, to bring about the understanding that America is a melting pot of different
people and cultures. In this advertisement as well, cultural symbols of language, such as
Spanish, and Hindi are used to activate the salient cultural elements and have people of
different backgrounds connect with the Coca Cola Brand. Clearly the artists used in the
advertisements are also of people from diverse backgrounds, and this will help a wider
audience connect with the brand. The target audience for the Coca-Cola commercial is
all people of different race, color, language, and background living in the United States.

2. Which of these commercials could be the strongest example of cultural contamination,

and why? Which should have generated more (less) controversy and why?

I believe the Coca Cola commercial to be a stronger example of cultural contamination,

as a highly patriotic song in the United States – the National Anthem, which is used to
activate the inner emotions of Americans, has been translated and sung in different
languages and is being used by an American brand to link themselves to a wider multi-
cultural audience. This would never happen in the country if there weren’t a large
number of immigrants, hailing from different cultures and languages making themselves
a part of American Culture.

I believe the Coca-Cola advertisement should have generated a greater controversy, as

a National Anthem is considered a scared song to many nations and many individuals
believe that it should be sung in the language that it was originally intended as
translating the lyrics will lead to a loss in meaning and value of the anthem itself.
Additionally, the fusion of an alternate language into a National Symbol can be taken as
unconstitutional and a contamination of the culture of the United States.
 Immigrants that live in America would be excited to see the advertisements or other
content from their home country translated into English in the USA, as they identify with
the foreign culture and are assimilating to American Culture. For many Americans
though, they do not see any cultural mix with the Spanish, Indian or Chinese Cultures
and hence, the translation of an American national symbol will induce an exclusionary
response from them. This is more of an emotional reaction which tends to be
“spontaneous and reflexive” (Live Session) and is seen within people who identify
strongly with American Culture and see the translation of the anthem as a threat to the
American way of life.

3. As a brand manager, what could have been done differently to avoid controversy?
Would you have taken these steps? Explain why or why not.

As a brand manager, I would have chosen a different song for the Coca Cola
Advertisement to avoid controversy. There are many popular songs, such as “Born in
the USA” and more, that ‘truly define’ America, which could easily have been used for
the advertisement to evoke the sense of American Culture and yet, mix it with another
culture to appeal to a wider audience. This alternate would also evoke a sense of pride
and belonging in the country, but it would not impose on the national sentiments of the
people of the land.

In light of the preservation of the image of the brand, I would have tried my level best to
change the song used, at least for the American Audience. The US National Anthem is
known worldwide, and if this advertisement was to be aired as-in in a different country,
say Venezuela or India, the use of the American National Anthem would support the
cultural mixing of an American Brand with the local culture and language. But in the
United States, I believe the use of the National Anthem with lyrics from other languages
could be taken in the wrong way and is best avoided to not tarnish the brand image or
build any negativity towards the brand.

References:

1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2016). “What’s in a name? For young

Chinese consumers, its about culture mixing”. https://phys.org/news/2016-10-young-
chinese-consumers-culture.html