1. BEMM 103
Advanced Marketing Seminars
Assignment
By Siddhanth Nair
My Advanced Marketing Seminars assignment includes Seminars from:
·Snapshots Aesthetics in Brand culture by Jonathan E. Schroeder.
·Ethical Business Communication and Research on Benetton by Martin
Magnusson.
·Technologies of Sexiness: Theorizing Women’s Engagement in the Sexu-
alization of Culture and Sexualized clothing and the Porn Star T-shirt by
Adrienne Evans.
·Green Economy Coalition by Sally Jeanrenaud.
I have started out my research by initially understanding organizational
culture and its linkages with brand culture. Then I have researched
about the visual communication is important for brand culture though
snapshots aesthetics. My focus then was how culture was sexualized
and linking it with brand culture. Brands and ethics were the next area
of research and analysis of the Benetton case study. Corporate social
responsibility and Green economy being closely linked with Ethics were
also included in my research.

2. Organizational Culture
Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart (Mohandas Gandhi). Or-
ganizational Culture is like a human body having an ecosystem of interdepen-
dent relations (Stephen Covey). Organizational Culture is an integrated sys-
tem of behavior patterns formed by interaction of employees and guided by
the leaders. It is the workplace environment which includes all life experi-
ences, weakness, strengths, education and so forth. Organizational Culture
provides a sense of identity thereby enhancing commitment towards the or-
ganization and sets standards for behavior. It can also be a hindrance to
change in an organization and barrier to diversity of the workplace. Cultures
are also complex issue during Acquisition and Mergers.

3. Brand Culture
Brand culture is the extension of the organizational culture. Brand culture
helps to manifest the core values of the corporate culture into an external
form known as a brand. Brand material culture can be seen in logos and
packages, reflects the enterprises’ material culture. It is the destination of cor-
porate culture and responsible in external transmission of aesthetics in the
market. It helps to identify and differentiate the products of sellers in the mar-
ket. It aims to maximize the value derived by the company and consumer. So-
ciety has influence on the culture of a brand; consumers’ needs have to be

4. analyzed to help deliver value. Consumers experiences with the brand help
build the reputation and popularity of the brand. Customer loyalty has to be
maintained through brand relationship management. Corporate culture is the
basis for growth and survival of brand culture as it is influential in determining
the characteristics of a brand. A brand represents the image of an enterprise.
Brand culture focus on history and legacy and how these can create value.
Brands are interpreted in many ways so the way branding works keeps on in-
volving based on consumers responses but the culture a brand should por-
tray is missing as seen in the YSL 2008 ad campaign in which a model is
posing by leaning on the stairs.
Brand culture can also be represented through visual imagery and instead of
following the traditional rule of photo shoots in studios; nowadays natural real
life snapshots are being used. The visual marketing communication tool of
snapshots is followed by all reputed brands like Coca-Cola, IKEA, etc. Snap-
shots are natural and less formal so it is easy for people to relate to and feels
more authentic. It attracts the average consumer by making the brand fit in
the customer’s daily lives and by creating and delivering value. Snapshot
aesthetics also promote a casual image of the products so this tool can be
used for casual products having informal consumption. It also makes the
brand trendy and cool rather than being boring and classic and can be used
as an effective strategic and communication tool. Snapshots are a deliberate
genuineness as it is natural yet posed and real in spite of being constructed.
Snapshot aesthetics has relevant connection with the social networking sites.
Brands and arts are related, as art can help in depicting the cultural power of
brand imagery. Art centered approach to branding and marketing is being de-
veloped along with aesthetics and economics. Artists and brands are very
similar as value of the product changes from artist to artist, it is same for
brands. Art can give us insights into the consumer culture and branding pro-

5. cess and help understand the cultural aspects of brands. Visual Images
which sexualize women are also used for advertising a brand. E.g. Armani.
Sexualization of Culture
Raunch culture is an example of a trend of Sexualization of women’s bodies.
Sexualization of culture has taken place due to the democratization of the de-
sires of people and intersectionality. Neo-liberalization has changed the way
femininity was defined; it is now portrayed in terms of self-representation, ac-
tiveness, independence and liberation. Liberalization provided equal opportu-
nities to both men and women, thus the centrality of the male gaze has shift-
ed to female sexuality. Sexual products for women and the porno fashion

6. style like the Porn Star or the FCUK T-shirt has provided new ways for wom-
en to express their sexuality and celebrate the sexualized culture. After that
came the post feminism period in which emphasis was given to sexual sub-
jectification which means that view on sexuality depends from person to per-
son and there is a need to constantly look good. Coming back to the Porn
Star T-shirt, women wore this to depict their emotions and attitudes. These
sexualized clothes are very risky to wear as it portrays a bad image, may lead
to misinterpretation of personal emotions and women being made sexual ob-
jects, as the psychology of the person is evident in their clothing style. Men
on the other hand may wear such clothes just for fun and not as a means of
self-expression.
Branding no more follows the traditionalist view but includes culture, ideolo-
gies and aesthetics view but to understand these ideas it should be repre-
sented into known branding concepts. Brands without culture won’t last in the
market, so will such organizations. The invisible culture of firms should be ef-
fectively converted into visible brand value. Deeper understanding of the cor-
porate culture will help to identify the key for driving brands competitive edge.
Thus, organizational culture has dual roles, to shape the internal culture and
integrating the culture in brands.
Brands and Ethics
Brand culture represents the corporate identity by providing an external chan-
nel for the firm’s attributes and core values. If the attributes are socially re-
sponsible and values are ethical, these qualities will be evident in the func-
tioning of the firms. Corporate identity should be fully operationalized in the
firm for them to be able to portray it in their communications. Organizations
are regularly denounced for failing to entrust on their ethical position. Corpo-
rates have institutionalized business ethics programs; these include codes of

7. conduct, ethics officers and training. There are various pressures on the orga-
nizations to follow the codes of conduct and ethics by the government,
NGO’s, pressure groups, employees and consumers. The corporations thus
follow instructions, rules, concerning behavior and encourage employees to
display certain characteristics like virtue, honesty and devotion to follow the
code of conduct and ethics. Following these codes will benefit in many ways,
it limits the damage by courts when they are sued for individual negligence.
They also help guide and regulate the behavior of employees. The codes act
as a standard for discipline of the employees and help in analyzing the pun-
ishments and appeals deserved by employees. Codes express the behavior
to external environment and helps establishing internal procedures for deal-
ing with ethics like the whistleblowing work in health and social services.
The codes of conduct also face certain objections to their implementation. Ev-
idence of codes being useful in shaping behavior of employees is very limit-
ed, as employees always are demotivated when organizations show lack of
trust in them, these leads to negative affect of the codes. Due to lack of struc-
ture within an organization employees find it difficult to follow the codes of
ethics as the executives fail to create a community of trust within the employ-
ees. Business tries to limit talks about ethical issues within an organization
due to reasons like efficiency, image of the company and not to harm the har-
mony present in an organization leading to cynicism being fueled in the busi-
ness. Codes are treated as a constraint upon the work by employees rather
than integrating these codes in their work, these leads to activities not being a
representation of business’ values and beliefs. Codes help in setting a pattern
for behavior for employees who blindly follow them without taking into consid-
erations present complexities. It then becomes hard to isolate responsibility
and morality thus becomes someone else’s headache as employees find it

8. easier to follow rules as it is safer rather than using their own moral judge-
ment.
Ethics can never be universally acceptable as it concerns organizations in dif-
ferent societies and cultures having different. Ethics thus contains negotiable
and non-negotiable codes and not a single code of conduct. Multinationals
have to change their negotiable codes to adapt to different cultures in envi-
ronment and follow their fixed codes; this is very hard to follow and has led to
many arguments. Managers have to understand and adapt to the values and
beliefs of foreign partners which can be very hard to do and can lead to costly
errors but if effectively managed can be very beneficial for the firm. A concep-
tual framework should be developed which is sensitive to different cultural
practices and helps in understanding the various ethical standards and con-
ducts. A social cognitive model of business ethics should be used by interna-
tional managers to conduct profitable business across cultures.
According to research by Hofstede in IBM and Trompennars research in
Netherlands revealed certain factors which help distinguishing between cul-
tures like power distance, uncertainty avoidance, Individualism vs. Collec-
tivism, specific vs. diffuse, Neutral vs. emotional, etc. These research helped
organization to understand cultures in different countries.
Within a social context human actions is determined by three factors that are,
Institutional factors (legislation and ethics), Personal factors (Values, beliefs
and Morals) and Organizational factors (Code of conduct and ethics), these
help in setting a business’ ethical standards. Macro level forces are organiza-
tional and institutional factors and along with individual forces result in ethical
behavior. Ethics legislation is the apt example for institutional factors, on a
broader view it can also include politics, societal morality or cultural diversity.

9. Legislation of ethics affects cultures so its presence or absence can influence
cultures in countries, as seen in the U.S., France and Germany. Code of
ethics which is an organizational factor also affects the ethical standards
more directly than the former.
Organizations emphasize on the practice and importance of ethics in doing
business and are different across cultures. Majority of the fortune 500 compa-
nies had adopted a code of ethics about ten years ago. Personal factors like
psychology, morals, and values also affect the ethical business standards.
Employees can use self-regulation to help them adhere to ethical standards.
Symbolizing experiences helps the employees to learn and accordingly adapt
themselves to the environment. Employees should also possess good ob-
serving skills to help them in learning from the behaviors and mistakes of oth-
ers. Reward systems set by international managers can be effective to pro-
mote ethical behavior in employees across cultures. This model can surely
help to build a framework for ethical behavior in organizations but a social
cognitive approach would be more effective if added to it.
Benetton and Ethics
Benetton group which is spread across 120 countries and has 5000 retail
stores is one of the most visible firms following ethics and being socially re-
sponsible. Benetton is dealing certain global ethical issues which have
formed a part of the company’s marketing strategy; this has helped to create
a visual identity. It is not visible in their stores and online website but is surely
evident in their marketing campaigns and organizational activities. Fabrica in
Italy holds the key of the company’s communication strategy, they focus on
two marketing efforts, one is creating campaigns for products features and
qualities and the other is about what the company stands for.

10. Benetton has also been criticized for using tragedy and trauma in their cam-
paigns, like the AIDS patients or the war. Benetton has also been working
with the United Nations to end hunger in developing nations and the Human
Rights campaigns. Benetton has also come up with anti-racist campaigns
promoting equality, as seen in the campaign containing the image of three
hearts having the same color of people from all races. Benetton fails to bring
the ethical values which are the part of its identity to its retail outlets, employ-
ees and fashion shows but it is successful in tapping into issues which affect
the people. Benetton fails to build on the ethical identity it has been building
through years due to the disconnection between the identity and ethics.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Ethics is of utmost importance in business. It includes sales, marketing, and
product development and customer service efforts and helps the organization
to live up to the Corporate Social Responsibility. A new term of corporate citi-
zenship is being used which means Corporations act like citizens and has
certain responsibilities towards the society, consumers, employees, stake-
holders and the environment. Corporations have been proactive in promoting
growth and eliminating things causing harm. Business ethics is very essential
to maintain long term relationships with customers facilitating the branding ef-
forts. It builds goodwill and image of the firm if customer service is timely and
supportive. Training and development of employees is needed so that activi-

11. ties are carried accordingly to business policies as each individual has their
own predefined notions.
The only social responsibility of corporates is to increase its profits (Friedman,
1970), rather than good deeds. Corporate power had turned to authority with-
out any responsibility. Instead of following the triple bottom line of economic,
social and environmental issues corporates focused only on the bottom line
of profits to achieve long term sustainability (Birch, 2001). Corporates are
concerned with return on their investment so donating to charities and other
social causes is considered a bad allocation of capital; moreover they have to
give shareholders their returns so activities should be in accordance to that
goal. So corporates show philanthropy in only such situations in which dona-
tions could in return prove profitable, this can be considered prudential altru-
ism. All business activities should be aimed at adding value (Windsor, 2001).
According to Friedman, ‘only individual have responsibilities not corporations.’
Coca-Cola and Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate giants like Coca-Cola indulge in corporate social responsibility in a
big way. Coca-Cola aims to develop sustainable communities through eco-
nomic growth and involvement of the people. It addresses many critical is-
sues like water supply. Their new motto is ‘Live Positively,’ aims at holistic
global community of care and trust. It aims to be a transparent, accountable
and credible organization through open and honest communication.
Coca-Cola supports active healthy living activities and improving the environ-
ment. Coca-Cola has come up with many healthy and nutritional beverages
for every lifestyle, life-stage and occasion. It also tries to educate consumers
about their product, its ingredients and nutritional content. The Coca-Cola
also follows responsible marketing by bring accurate and protecting children

12. under 12. They are carrying out activities to eliminate waste caused by the
packaging by using recycled materials and making it recoverable and
reusable. The company desires to give back the amount of water it uses
yearly. The also aim to go green, to protect the environment from carbon
emissions and other harmful factors. They also try to create a safe and
healthy workplace for its employees. The company also tries to conserve and
manage energy and the climate.
Going Green
Companies are concerned about the environment and are investing in
environment friendly technology, as it also good for the bottom line.
Reduction of emissions from factories helps in reducing greenhouse gases
and global warming. Companies are now focusing on sustainability in a low
carbon economy. Green economy coalition represented by Dr. Sally was
successful in committing the G-20 countries in November 2009, to phase out
fossil fuel subsidies that buoy up inefficient consumption as it will help to
stabilize the climate and reduce carbon. Being environmental conscious also
benefits the image of the companies and help in instilling consumer
confidence. Going green helps in cost saving and increase in revenues.

13. Companies are looking to reduce, reuse and recycle. The cap and trade
system also helps companies to limit their emissions and sell off their
emission credit to other firms, thereby bring a source of revenue and limiting
emissions.
Organizations thus perform many roles in not only earning profits themselves
but also helping the society and environment. Organization has to take into
consideration a lot of things if it needs to achieve sustainability and
competitive edge. Corporate image is benefited in being attached to societal
issues and this helps in building the organizations and the brands value. Thus
brand culture is evident in the firm’s activities and gives the organization an
identity which helps it to be different. “We have to shift our emphasis from
economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life and
to healing of our society, of our people and our ecological systems (Janet
Holmes a Court).”
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