From One Culture to the Next...

From ONE Culture TO the Next...

In case study 1.1 we are introduced to a student journalist, Cassidy Herrington, who takes on the challenge of wearing a hijab for a month. For clarification, a hijab is a garment worn by women of the Muslim faith that covers their hair. By doing this, this student is experiencing what it means to be a Muslim in America and quite possibly exploring the ramifications that some Muslims may feel while living in America. Out of respect for the culture, religion and people Herrington tells her fellow Muslim students about her plans and she receives their support. What Herrington soon discovers that this project is more about covering her hair; she is carrying a community and she would need to be mindful of her actions.



Often times in our culture and society that is a melting pot we are taught to tolerate one another. In my opinion, I don't believe that toleration is necessarily a positive attribute. We have simply been trained to put up with people's differences rather than accept their differences and treat them with humanity. For example, my dentist and I were having a conversation about how we are perceived by the way that we look. He explained that he had gone into Tiffany in shorts and sneakers. He felt the aura of the salespeople ignoring him because of the way he came dressed. He went on to say that it has been ingrained in them to perceive people a certain way even though they work for Tiffany and may only be making a little more than minimum wage themselves. On the other hand, he has been in a situation where a patient comes in and he does not expect them to be able to afford his services whereas the patient that drives up in a Mercedes forfeits his services. Initially, he had judgments and perceptions on both ends. This also further extrapolates the notion of meeting someone and in the first five seconds you have made up in your mind who this person is. Our initial impression is very limited to who this person truly is as a complex human being and I believe that this is what Cassidy Herington's experiment has ultimately taught her.

Culture is also widely important through marketing and advertising, especially taking the correct approach within an international aspect. Since different countries celebrate and practice different cultures, a marketer must always be aware of this and make the necessary/appropriate changes. One example of an advertising campaign gone wrong was a billboard for birth control in India. Marketers for this campaign did not take the time to learn the culture of India and how consumers respond. Instead they took a more traditional approach to subsidizing the idea of birth control through a series of billboards. The billboard was simply split in half, one side white, the other black. On the white side of the billboard was a family, two parents with one child dressed in all white, happy, affluent lifestyle portrayal, and in a nice background area. The black/other half of the billboard had a family of around 10 children with both parents, dressed in black torn clothing and in a less affluent and poverty stricken lifestyle. The idea behind this campaign was to show that with less children, a family could live a more luxurious lifestyle. Yet this idea and campaign completely backfired to consumer response. In India, the parents want more than one child because they want to be assured that they will be taken care of as they grow old. By having more than one child, it assures that they will most likely be taken care of by at least one of the children. Also, in India, the color white is associated with death, drawing the consumers to the black half of the billboard. In this case it goes to prove the importance of how cultural influence plays a massive part in success or not within in business.

So, as fellow students I pose the challenge to you. What can you do to step outside of your comfort zone? How do you think it will make you grow?