Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis of Indian & Australian Ads

This essay conducts a cross-cultural analysis of advertising campaigns, comparing advertisements from India and Australia within the food industry, specifically focusing on McDonald's and Domino's. The analysis examines how these companies tailor their advertisements to resonate with the cultural values of each country. In India, advertisements emphasize family connections and emotional bonds, aligning with the collectivist culture. Conversely, Australian ads highlight individualism and convenience. The essay utilizes Hofstede's cultural dimensions to explain these differences, such as individualism vs. collectivism and masculinity vs. femininity. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural nuances for effective brand communication and marketing strategies, highlighting how companies must adapt their approaches to succeed globally.

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Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis
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Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 1
“Creative Advertising across Different Cultures”
The food industry of India has recently seen huge growth and prosperity that is increasing the
competitiveness of the companies present in this industry to grow and increase its sales and
profitability as well. In India, the food sector has emerged as a high growth segment that is
increasing day by day. Increment in the tasty food demand from the end of people is increasing
the need of food companies like Mc Donald’s to advertise their brand and attract them to
purchase the food items from them as well. With the increasing number of foodies in the nation,
the companies have started to think of ways through which they can attract these customers and
retain them as well. Resulting in which, the companies have started focusing on the cultural
aspects and factors that attract the customers towards them in the external environment.
Relating to the TV commercial of the Mc Donald’s company in India, it should be noted that the
company aims to create ads that develop a personal relationship with the customers in the
market. In the given advertisement of Mc Donald’s that was launched in the year 2016 where a
complete journey of a couple was depicted. The couple met at the MC Donald’s restaurant,
bonded over the MC food and then shared their lives with each other. MC Donald’s played a
huge role in making both the people close and connecting them with each other (Youtube 2019).
Talking about another advertisement in the food industry, it should be noted that the company
Domino’s also works on the similar notion so as to attract the customer segment in the market.
Focusing on one specific advertisement of Domino’s pizza that was launched in the year 2018 on
Mother’s Day that tapped the interest of several families present in India. In this country, there
are more people who are closely linked to their families and friends due to which, the company
aimed to attract people in a way that make them closer to their loved ones. In this advertisement,
a son left his mother to old age home because he was unable to give time to her (Youtube 2019).
Further, with passing time, his mother started working there to invest her time somewhere else
and not remember her son. However, when she got her first pay then instantly she ordered pizza
for her son because he likes Domino’s pizza. This act of his mother attracted him towards her
and increased their love connection and bond as well. Thus, it should be noted that this type of
sentimental advertisement helped the mothers and their sons in connecting to each other due to
which subsequently the sales will also increase (Berger 2016).

Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 2
Relating the advertisement made by the company MC Donald’s in Australia, it should be noted
that the company make use of similar objective to promote their products and services in the
external market. Talking about TV commercial of MC Donald’s that was launched in the year
2017 depicted the feelings of a small girl who was upset because her family was not listening to
what she was trying to tell. Thus, the advertisement depicted that the family lately bonded over
the MC Donald’s fries and burger that made the little girl happy as well. Thus, in this way, MC
Donald’s presented that they welcome families and help them to bond as well (Youtube 2019).
While talking about the Domino’s advertisement, it should be noted that Domino’s aimed to
attract people in Australia by providing them various schemes to save their money. Illustrating
the advertisement that was launched by Domino’s in Australia in the year 2019 that elaborated
about the pizza checker. The company has introduced a new feature in Australia that provides
confidence to the people that their pizza will look the way it should and if it is not looking in the
same way as it was pictured then the company will make it right for the customer and will
provide them discount as well (Valaei, et. al., 2016). The company make use of advanced
technology and artificial intelligence to identify the pizza type and check whether it is made
accordingly or not. Further, elaborating the advertisement that was launched by the company
depicted the satisfaction of few people to whom pizza was delivered after the DOM check-up.
This process increased the satisfaction level of individuals in Australia (Youtube 2019).

Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 3
Furthermore, before comparing all the advertisements on the basis of their cultural differences, it
is important to consider the cultural aspects of both the countries India and Australia. In
Australia, there is high degree of individualism as compared to India, which states that, the
degree of interdependence in more in the Indian society as compared to the Australian culture.
The people in India define everything with the term ‘We’ and not I. The collectivist societies
people live in groups and take care of their long and extended families as well. Whereas, people
of the country Australia, enjoy loosely knitted group where they have to take care about
themselves and their immediately family only. These people do not prefer depending on each
other for livelihood and survival (Hofstede Insights 2019).
Secondly, the indulgence aspect of the Hofstede dimension states that the extent to which people
in the country try to control their desires and impulses which is based on the ways they were
raised. Relatively weak control is called indulgence and relatively strong control is called
restraint in the society. Thus, culture of a country can be expressed as indulgent or restrained.
People in Australia are more indulgent as compared to the people in India which means that the
people of Australia are likely to spend more on the products as compared to the people of India.
Thirdly, the masculinity vs feminine aspect of the country explain the degree to which people are
seriously concerned about their job and what is their perspective of growth in a job. Countries
having masculinity aspect tend to thrive for competition and success, whereas a feminine aspect
focuses more on quality of life. Australia is more masculine than India in this case (Zukin 2018).
Relating the culture of the countries with the advertisements, it should be noted that all the
advertisements selected above are more creative than conventional because these advertisements
highlight the cultural features of the country. These advertisements explain the differences
present in both the cultures of the countries. As the commercials are formed to attract the interest
of the people prevailing in the environment, so the organizations, need to closely study the
culture and provide services to the people accordingly. If the companies will work opposite the
culture of the country then the customers will not initiate sales of the organization instead their
dissatisfaction level will increase (Prieler, et. al., 2015).
Relating all these aspects to the advertisement, it should be noted that in the advertisement of
Domino’s (India), the son was attracted towards the mother because his mother remembers his
choice of pizza and send it to him. However, in Australia, in no such advertisement was made

Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 4
because people of that country are less involved in their families as compared to India and they
do not have time to take care of their loved ones all the time. Resulting in which, in domino’s
Australia advertisement, people were depicted alone that signifies that they enjoy life alone and
are not dependent on any other for their happiness (Breves, Herget, and Schramm 2019).
Further, talking about the MC Donald’s advertisement that was represented in India, it should be
noted that the commercial expressed the relationship and bond of people in the country, while the
Australian commercial of Mc Donald’s expressed that the people of Australia are more involved
in their work and job due to which they fail to give enough time to their family. This aspect of
culture of Australia relates to the individualism and masculinity cultural aspect of the country.
As in Australia, people focus more on themselves and their happiness so they forget to take care
of their loved ones. Loosely knitted relationship are formed in the country, along with this people
focus more on their job and success due to which they do not share a healthy bond with their
family members (De Mooij, and Hofstede 2010). Mc Donald’s focused on this weakness of the
people of the country and made a commercial to spread awareness about love and family
bonding. This commercial illustrated that people need to focus on their family first and Mc
Donald’s is a way through which they can develop a bond with their loved ones. All four
selected advertisements tell different stories to attract the public, while the advertisements
formed for the Indian public focused on family, love and relationship etc. aspects. Whereas, the
Australian ad focused more on work life, discounts, individualism in the culture etc. Thus, in this
was it should be understood that the culture of both the countries Australia and India are
different. The advertisements in the food sector are based on the preference of the people of the
country (Fon, and Kitchen 2008). As the people living in India form closely knitted groups while
the opposite happens in Australia, so the commercials are made accordingly to attract the
customers of different regions based on their culture and expectations.

Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 5
References
Berger, A.A., 2016. What objects mean: An introduction to material culture. UK: Routledge.
Breves, P., Herget, A.K. and Schramm, H., 2019. Identifying Opportunities to Optimize the
Music in TV Commercials: A Systematic Content Analysis. Journal of Current Issues &
Research in Advertising, pp.1-16.
De Mooij, M. and Hofstede, G., 2010. The Hofstede model: Applications to global branding and
advertising strategy and research. International Journal of advertising, 29(1), pp.85-110.
Fon, S.O. and Kitchen, P.J., 2008. Older people as models in advertisements: A cross-cultural
content analysis of two Asian countries.
Hofstede Insights., (2019) COUNTRY COMPARISON [online]. Retrieved from
<https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,india/> [Accessed on 30 July
2019].
Prieler, M., Kohlbacher, F., Hagiwara, S. and Arima, A., 2015. The representation of older
people in television advertisements and social change: The case of Japan. Ageing &
Society, 35(4), pp.865-887.
Valaei, N., Rezaei, S., Ismail, W.K.W. and 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), pp.270-301.
Youtube., (2019) Celebrating 20 Years of McDonald's India [online]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uinj0JXQ8oI [Accessed on 30 July 2019].
Youtube., (2019) Happy Mother’s Day from Domino’s [online]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdSGSw3wI4Q [Accessed on 30 July 2019].
Youtube., (2019) McDonalds Australia - Macca's Made for Family [online]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dic-U0Ru5WM [Accessed on 30 July 2019].
Youtube., (2019) Pizza Checker - P2 - 60% Off [online]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuCJ2vZPBeY [Accessed on 30 July 2019].

Cross-cultural Advertising Analysis 6
Zukin, S., 2018. Point of purchase: How shopping changed American culture. UK: Routledge.