1. The Influence of Culture on Marketing & Advertising to Multicultural
Consumers – A Review.
By Neleen Leslie (Florida State University) – Re-Post From HispanicAd.com
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In the third chapter of her book “Communicating with the Multicultural Consumer: Theoretical
and Practical Perspectives”, Barbara Mueller looks at culture’s influence in marketing to the
multicultural consumer. She underscored the fact that culture plays an important role in shaping
the values, attitudes and characteristics of consumers, which is a key determinant of behavior.
It has long been acknowledged that culture is learned and in her description of the major
institutions which help to form cultures, Mueller included mass media. This is quite fitting as mass
media not only reflects the culture of the day but also influences culture, not only in America but
across the world. Not only does the media contribute to the “Americanization” of other cultures,
but it also serves as a vehicle for the preservation of the culture of immigrants and their families.
The proliferation of media outlets targeted at ethnic minorities have represented not only a piece
of the culture of the home countries of ethnic minorities but they also serve as a conduit for the
maintenance of connections with their home countries. Marketers have endeavored to target
multicultural consumers through these outlets and while it has been debated as to the best way to
reach multicultural consumers, media targeted to the multicultural consumer undoubtedly have
their place in this equation.
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The issue of language in advertising was also covered by Mueller and like Morse, she reiterated
the importance paying close attention to translation (and back translation) as well as portraying
stereotypes and using jargon unique to a particular ethnic group. While mainstream culture is
peppered with language, dress and symbols from other cocultures, there is no established
protocol for their use by marketers in trying to reach these groups. The general rule of thumb
seems to be “be genuine” and when in doubt: test and retest your messages before going public.
The debate still rages as to which language is best for reaching Hispanic consumers and while the
pundits have no shortage of evidence for either side of this debate, Mueller in this chapter raises
an important point: there are language differences within ethnic groups. I was quite surprised to
find out that while my Chinese and Taiwanese colleagues were perfectly at home conversing with
each other, my Thai friend could not understand a word. The situation is quite similar among the
Hispanic population, while most Hispanics (foreign born) speak Spanish, most countries have their

2. own dialects and prefer to be communicated to in their mother tongue. This represents and
additional challenge for persons targeting these markets, they have a choice between using a
more generic form of the Spanish language that will be understood by all but not be specific to any
particular group, or target a select group and use their dialects. This may be profitable for
companies targeting Mexican- Americans as they represent the majority of the Hispanic
population. The language debate in my opinion is just the tip of the iceberg, communicating with
ethnic groups in their mother tongues does not necessarily translate to speaking their language; it
has been established that language goes beyond words.
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The topic of the cultural values of the various ethnic groups is a very important one in
multicultural marketing. Ethnic groups respond better to ads that reflect their cultural values and
in order to reflect these values companies and their agencies have to first understand them. The
issue of religion is a very sensitive one and although some advertisers have been attempting to
integrate the religious beliefs of their target audiences into their campaigns, there is some
uncertainty as to whether or not it should be considered “hallowed ground”. Many ethnic groups
mistrust brands that try to use the religious beliefs of their target audiences as a platform for
connecting with these people. African- Americans for example, are very religious and are not very
happy with these new trends. This for me raises a question, have we gone too far as marketers?
Where does the buck stop? Do we, in our quest to reach consumers run the risk of alienating them
by violating their “spiritual space”?
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It is quite clear that there is much more that we can learn about the cultures of the various
cultural groups within the US that could give us greater insights into connecting with them. I think
the future of multicultural research lies in understanding the nuances of culture that determine
how multicultural consumers think feel and relate to brands in the marketplace. Further
investigation and analysis of culture is necessary and more instruments dedicated to that field of
research may need to be developed.
Vocabulary:
1. Values 2. Attitudes 3. Determinant 4. Proliferation 5. media outlets (idiom)
6. endeavored 7. Stereotypes 8. Jargon 9. Pundits 10. Hispanics
11. hallowed ground (idiom) 12. alienating13. trend