A Comparative Case Study of Global Marketing and Ethnocentrism ...

A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF GLOBAL MARKETING AND
ETHNOCENTRISM: THE INTERNET AS A MARKETING TOOL AND ITS
EFFECT ON THE ETHNOCENTRIC MESSAGES PERCEIVED VIA US
COMPANIES MARKETING ACROSS CULTURES.
A Thesis
submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
of Georgetown University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Master of Arts
in Communication, Culture and Technology
By
Adrienne Marie Tony, B.S.
Washington, DC
June 20, 2002

Copyright 2002 by Adrienne Marie Tony
All Rights Reserved
ii

A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF GLOBAL MARKETING AND
ETHNOCENTRISM: THE INTERNET AS A MARKETING TOOL AND ITS
EFFECT ON THE ETHNOCENTRIC MESSAGES PERCEIVED VIA US
COMPANIES MARKETING ACROSS CULTURES.
Adrienne Marie Tony, B.S.
Mentors: Dorine C. Andrews, D.C.D.
Abbas Malek, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
This thesis studies ethnocentrism in global marketing, focusing on the Internet
as a global marketing medium. It asks whether or not the Internet as a marketing tool
aggravates or helps to break down the barriers of Western culture ethnocentrism in
cross-cultural marketing messages. The methodology examines three U.S. based
company websites marketing to Brazil to test the hypothesis that U.S. based companies
promote Western culture ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundaries when
marketing through the Internet. This thesis demonstrates that Internet marketing
allows for the same cross-cultural and ethnocentrism issues that are inherent in
traditional marketing, and it seeks to establish a prototype model for developing
culturally sensitive websites.
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I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all those whose encouragement
and support were instrumental in my completion of this thesis.
First and foremost many thanks go to my professor and thesis advisor, Dorine
Andrews, who constantly provided me with brilliant advice, read many drafts, and took
the time to thoroughly critique and edit my work. Thank you for not letting me settle
for anything less than my full potential, and for always pushing me to do my very best.
Thanks also to Abbas Malek, my second reader, whose course in Cross-Cultural
Communication solidified my intention to pursue this topic of study.
To each and every person who gave so generously of their time and allowed me to
survey and interview them as subjects for my case studies. You people are the
substance of this thesis. Thank you!
To my amazing parents, family and friends who have had to listen to all of my
graduate school trials and tribulations for the past two years. Thank you for being
there, for your endless backing, especially over the past six months, and for the many,
many times you told me I could do it. I love you.
I dedicate this thesis especially to my uncle, Mike Tony, without whom I would never
have had the courage to begin this program in the first place. For all the help and
encouragement you selflessly gave me whenever I needed it, you have my most
heartfelt gratitude.
Finally, to Matthew Porzio. Thank you for your unconditional support, for being my
source of strength, for talking me down from the ledge every night, for always pointing
out the light at the end of the tunnel, and for a million other reasons too numerous to
name. We did it!
Adrienne Marie Tony
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Chapter 1:
Literature Review 4
Ethnocentrism 5
Ethnocentrism Measurement 10
U.S. Ethnocentrism 12
Global Marketing and Ethnocentrism 15
Global Marketing Pre-Internet 21
The Internet as a Global Marketing Tool 23
Chapter 2:
Methodology 28
Testing the Hypothesis 28
Research Protocol 29
Case Studies 30
Measurement Scale 31
Survey and Structure 33
Marketing Factors Examined in Interview Questions 35
Data Analysis 40
Testing Survey Questions 42
Methodology Summary 43
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Chapter 3:
Research Results 44
Subjects 44
Modified CETSCALE Results 46
Evaluation Questions/Interviews 49
Consistent Response Patterns 50
CETSCALE Patterns 51
Patterns in Interview Responses: Ranking Pattern 52
Language 54
Message and Content 56
Image 57
Brand 62
Cultural Positioning 63
Data Validation 64
Results Summary 66
Chapter 4:
Results Discussion 67
Key Findings 67
Hypothesis: True or False? 71
Meanings and Implications of Other Findings 72
Message/Content 73
Brand 73
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Cultural Positioning 74
Discussion Summary 75
Chapter 5:
Conclusion 77
Prototype Model for Cross-Cultural Sensitive Internet Marketing 77
Limitations of Study 79
Appendix A:
Interview Transcripts 82
Appendix B:
Original and Modified CETSCALE 88
Appendix C:
Qualitative Interview Questions 91
Appendix D:
Raw Data From Scaled Survey 99
Appendix E:
Qualitative Interview Table 101
Works Cited 114
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1: Language Questions 36
Table 2-2: Message Questions 37
Table 2-3: Image Questions 38
Table 2-4: Content Questions 38
Table 2-5: Branding Questions 39
Table 2-6: Cultural Positioning Questions 40
Table 3-1: Demographics of Interview Subjects 45
Table E-1: Case Study of GM Website 102
Table E-2: Case Study of GM Website (continued) 104
Table E-3: Case Study of Chrysler Website 106
Table E-4: Case Study of GM Website (continued) 108
Table E-5: Case Study of Ford Website 110
Table E-6: Case Study of GM Website (continued) 112
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3-1: Graphical Representation of Survey Data 48
Figure 3-2: Graphical Representation of Same Survey Data-Varying Perspective 49
Figure 3-3: GM Uses Good Translation and Grammar 54
Figure 3-4: Ford’s Use of Quality Care 56
Figure 3-5: Ford’s Environmental Message 57
Figure 3-6: GM’s Environmental Message 57
Figure 3-7: The GM site Uses Colors of the Brazilian Flag 58
Figure 3-8: GM Uses Many Photos of People 58
Figure 3-9: GM Photos Authentically Brazilian 59
Figure 3-10: GM Homepage 59
Figure 3-11: Kid’s Section/Animation on the Ford Site 60
Figure 3-12: Chrysler Homepage 60
Figure 3-13: Chrysler Site Uses Inappropriate Photos 61
Figure 3-14: Ford’s “wow” Logo 62
Figure 3-15: GM Family Photo 63
Figure 3-16: Chrysler Using Camping Gear Photo 64
Figure 5-1: A Prototype Model for Developing Culturally Sensitive Websites 79
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INTRODUCTION
This thesis studies ethnocentrism in global marketing, focusing on the Internet
as a global marketing medium. It asks whether or not the Internet as a marketing tool
aggravates or helps to break down the barriers of Western culture ethnocentrism in
cross-cultural marketing messages. It tests the hypothesis that U.S. based companies
promote Western culture ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundaries when
marketing through the Internet. Additionally, it seeks to establish a prototype model
for developing culturally sensitive Internet marketing.
Ethnocentrism is a universal phenomenon that affects all kinds of interactions
between different groups of people (Sinkovics and Holzmuller 4). The term
“ethnocentrism” was coined in 1906 by William Graham Summer who defined
ethnocentrism as having a view of things in which one’s own group is the center of
everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it (Summer 13). It is
generally thought of as the feeling that one’s own culture is better than all others. Past
research in the area of global marketing and ethnocentrism shows that ethnocentrism
can determine how companies act in and toward certain cultures when conducting
business. Examples of many traditional cross-cultural marketing practices reveal that
ethnocentric thinking is detrimental to international advertising and product design.
This has been especially true for U.S. based companies marketing to non-western
cultures.
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The channels through which ethnocentrism has historically been communicated
include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, transit ads, and
infomercials. Today, however, the advent of the Internet provides a new path for
marketing messages to cross. The Internet seems to offer the potential for eliminating
barriers between country and cultural borders. Nevertheless, the same kinds of
ethnocentrism issues exist when marketing cross-culturally through the Internet.
In order to test the hypothesis that U.S. based companies promote Western
culture ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundaries when marketing through
the Internet, a two-phase methodology was formed. This methodology used three
cases comparatively, and examined three U.S. based companies that use the Internet to
market cross-culturally to Brazil. These companies were chosen because they are the
top three automobile companies in the Unites States. It incorporated elements of both
quantitative survey and qualitative interview techniques, and was administered to eight
Brazilian subjects. The quantitative survey was based on the CETSCALE, a well-
known scale which measures consumer ethnocentric tendencies (Shimp and Sharma
280). The scale used in this study was a modified version of the CETSCALE so as to
test the marketing company’s ethnocentric tendencies. The qualitative survey was
developed as a set of interview questions to analyze each of the three U.S. based
websites in terms of six basic marketing factors: language, message, image, content,
brand and cultural positioning.
2

Results from the modified CETSCALE and the qualitative interviews show that
Internet marketing does indeed allow for the same cross-cultural and ethnocentrism
issues that are inherent in traditional marketing. It neither overcomes ethnocentric
marketing, nor makes it worse. Merely, it acts as yet another tool through which
marketers can manipulate messages being sent to consumers. Key findings in the
results also show that people are sensitive to ethnocentric presentations in marketing,
and cross-culturally marketed websites demonstrate varying levels of cultural
sensitivity. Furthermore, certain marketing factors, such as language and image, have
the most significant impact on the cultural sensitivity of a website.
3

CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
This thesis explores the cultural issues companies encounter in global
marketing. There has been much discussion in recent years concerning global
marketing, and it seems impossible to talk about doing business globally without
considering the impact of cultural differences as on message and brand. Additionally,
one cannot begin global marketing discussion without focusing on the Internet as a key
in the marketing mix.
The hypothesis argues that U.S. based companies continue to promote Western
culture ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundries when marketing through
the Interent. In preparation for testing this hypothesis, this thesis will explore several
questions:
1) (a) How has Western culture ethnocenrism been experienced through
traditional marketing communications?
(b) Is there are way to measure the level of ethnocenricity in a
communication?
2) What characteristics of the Internet offer the potential for eliminating
ethnocentrism in marketing communication?
3) Have U.S. companies that market to other cultures leveraged the Internet to
reduce the Western culture ethnocentric experience?
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Therefore, the topics discussed in this chapter include ethnocentrism, ethnocentrism
measurement, U.S. ethnocentrism, global marketing, and the Internet as a global
marketing tool.
Ethnocentrism
The term “ethnocentrism” derives from a more general concept first introduced
by William Graham Sumner in 1906. Sumner defines ethnocentrism as the view of
things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled
and rated with reference to it (Sumner13). He goes on to say that each group nourishes
its own pride and vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts its own divinities, and looks with
contempt on outsiders (Sumner 13). In this initial concept, ethnocentrism was a purely
sociological construct wherein Sumner described “in-group” vs. “out-group” conflicts.
He relates that a differentiation arises between ourselves, the we-group or in-group,
and everybody else, or the others-group, the out-group (Sumner 12). This concept has
persisted for almost a century. A recent article in “MC Technology Marketing
Intelligence” discusses a similar “us vs. them” theory of ethnocentrism. It states that,
no matter what country you live in, people living in your country are considered “us”
and people living in other countries are “them”(Zhivago 97). Later studies then dealt
with ethnocentrism as a psychological construct, describing the tendency of an
individual to identify strongly with his or her own in-group and culture, the tendency to
reject out-groups, or the tendency to view any economic, political or social event only
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from the point of the in-group (Sinkovics and Holzmuller 3). In fact, psychologist
Donald Campbell and his associates have shown that all people have tendencies to:
Define what goes on in their own cultures as “natural and correct” and what goes
on in other cultures as “unnatural and incorrect”
Perceive in-group customs as universally valid, meaning what is good for us is
good for everybody
Think that in-group norms, roles and values are obviously correct
Believe that it is natural to help cooperate with members of one’s own in-group
Act in ways that favor the in-group
Feel proud of the in-group and hostile toward the out-group (Sinkovics and
Holzmuller 4)
From Campbell’s research one can conclude that ethnocentrism is a universal
phenomenon, that is rooted deeply in most intergroup, interracial and especially cross-
cultural relations. Therefore, it is a critical factor to be considered when conducting
research involving different groups of people. This is not to say that everyone is
always ethnocentric in their thinking; however, it does imply that this type of thinking
is natural and one may be ethnocentric without being conscious of such thinking.
Ethnocentrism has also been defined as a tendency to be ethnically centered and to
be rigid in the person’s acceptance of the culturally “alike” and in his or her rejection
of the “unlike” (Adorno 102). Dong-Jin Lee and M Joseph Sirgy write about this
6

concept in an article via the Journal of Business Ethics wherein they apply it to
marketing relations. Lee and Sirgy talk of individuals and groups, in their
ethnocentricity, viewing other societies as necessarily “abnormal” and therefore
“inferior” (78). From a marketing standpoint this statement is especially important.
Ethnocentric marketers are likely to believe that what is good for consumers of their
own country is also good for consumers in foreign markets. Thus they may not see a
need to enhance consumers’ well being in foreign markets with different marketing
approaches (Lee and Sirgy 79). This cultural insensitivity in marketing is discussed in
more depth in the section on global marketing and ethnocentrism.
Stephen Mailloux ponders the question, “Are cross-cultural comparisons
transcendentally absolute or sociohistorically relative?” He argues that Western
intellectual history has continually re-staged this conflict between relativism and
absolutism, and mere opinion and true knowledge (Mailloux 114-115). The relativist
says the text is measured by communal standards, while the absolutist says there is a
standard of value that transcends any historical community. In short, Mailloux is
posing a question and asking "who is right?", "who is wrong?", "what is better", and
"what is worse?" He goes on to say that any comparison of cultural productions from
different communities inevitably faces these questions, and comparing two demands a
third measure to which they are compared as a standard (115). He says right and wrong
depends on the situation at hand. He uses Richard Rorty’s notion of ethnocentrism as a
basis for his work, calling ethnocentrism an “inescapable condition”. He relates that
7

we are “we” because of being positioned within a culture in a particular set of practices
that empowers and constrains acts of interpretive and evaluative comparison (118).
He also argues that there is no absolute incomprehensibility or impassable boundary
permanently separating one culture from another’s (at least partial) understanding, and
that no community can be so different from another that cross cultural communication
is doomed to fail (120-121). It seems acceptable to agree with the author on this point
and that Rorty is correct in his thinking that ethnocentricity is in some form
unavoidable. However, his attitude toward its inevitability can be a dangerous point of
view. Mailloux should be considered as part of the total research on this subject,
however he uses certain assumptions that are better left for other research. This thesis
will not concern itself with what is “right” or “wrong” between cultures. It will only
posit the idea that being ethnocentric in one’s thinking in a business situation is a
detriment to effectively communicating with people not of your own culture.
Another perspective on ethnocentrism comes from the book, Cultural Otherness
and Beyond, a compilation of works edited by Chhanda Gupta and D.P.
Chattopadhyaya. According to these authors, the concept of culture stems from human
activities, ideas and ideals and their more or less durable expressions (Gupta and
Chattopadhyaya 1). They suggest that belief, knowledge, art and crafts, customs and
morals are all constituents of culture as are human abilities and dispositions. This
work also discusses extensively ethnocentrism between industrially developed
countries and the peoples of the underdeveloped or developing countries in the world.
8

It is not surprising, they relate, that many people of the industrial cultures think that the
developing cultures are inferior to them (1). This hidden assumption is embedded in
countries like the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany Italy and Japan, which are rated
higher than most in terms of science and technology achievement. Such an assumption
prompts one to ask, why should industrial, scientific or technological achievements be
accorded such a high value in rating a culture? How can one discount the moral,
aesthetic, ecological and other aspects of a culture, which are often found to be
neglected in the economically developed societies (Gupta and Chattopadhyaya 2)? In
an anxious search for cultural universals, common structural features of all cultures,
one tends to lose site of the distinct identity of each (Gupta and Chattopadhyaya 11).
Kalyan Sen Gupta defines culture as a specific society with all of its tools,
possessions and characteristic ways and conceptions of life (115). In this sense culture
has a distinctive flavor of its own that is not shared by other cultures. Ethnocentrism is
described here in terms of failing to appreciate the normative traits and excellence of
other cultures besides one’s own. The more one can leave behind the pejorative sense
often attributed to such words as “savage” or “tribe”, the easier it becomes to
understand people who do not belong to one’s own culture (Gupta and Chattopadhyaya
1).
Richard Shusterman argues that understanding the other is a necessary means
of understanding oneself and vice versa (107). He is saying that to be culturally aware
is not only a good thing in terms of getting to appreciate another culture, but it is also
9

vital to appreciating one’s own culture. When pretenses are dropped, one tends to put
oneself in the proverbial shoes of the other person. Shusterman calls this being aware
of and, in fact, encountering the “culturally other” (111). This type of act will surely
diminish ethnocentrism in one’s thinking while helping to better know oneself. In
short, an encounter with the culturally other not only enlarges the self with the
experience and beliefs of others, but by providing a rich and articulate background of
comparison and contrast, enables us to form, define and assert our own distinctive
identity with greater richness and clarity (Shusterman 111).
Ethnocentrism Measurement
Over the years many scholars have attempted to find ways to measure the
amount of ethnocentrism perceived between cultures, individuals, nations…etc. Since
ethnocentrism is a socio-psychological concept rather than a concrete phenomena, it
has been difficult to find a way to accurately represent the level of ethnocentrism in
any place at any time. It should be studied as an attitude, a theoretical construct,
unobservable in a direct manner, and thus should be measured with socio-
psychological instruments such as questionnaire techniques (Sinkovics and Holzmuller
7-8). There are two specific studies referred to by scholars as the basis for scales of
measuring ethnocentrism - the E-scale by T.W. Adorno and more recently the
CETSCALE by Terrance Shimp and Subhash Sharma.
10

The E-scale was developed in 1950 and is hailed as the first scale ever to
accurately represent a measure of ethnocentrism. It uses a questionnaire method and a
Likert-type scale. It poses all questions in a negative format. That is, all items were
hostile to the group in question (Adorno, et al 104-105). However, it is a bit outdated
in its approach, as it was developed for the purpose of measuring classic attitudes of
racism and ethnicity. Some feel it is even inappropriate for the contemporary
American situation (Shimp and Sharma 281).
A more recent scale, based in part on the E-scale, is the CETSCALE
constructed by Shimp and Sharma, both professors of marketing in the College of
Business Administration at the University of South Carolina. The scale was developed
as the first ever to accurately measure consumer ethnocentrism in America (280).
Shimp and Sharma characterize this scale as a measure of ethnocentric “tendency”
rather than “attitude” because the latter term suggests a greater degree of object
specificity than the CETSCALE is intended to capture (Shimp and Sharma 281).
Shimp and Sharma felt that it was necessary to construct a unique scale that
would measure ethnocentrism differently than had ever been done before. The classic
measure of ethnocentrism developed by Adorno is not directly relevant to consumer
behavior, therefore Shimp and Sharma set out to create a better, more timely and
relevant model to study marketing phenomena specifically (Shimp and Sharma 281).
The CETSCALE was tested against specific facts of consumers’ orientations toward
foreign products: (1) consumer ethnocentric tendencies, (2) price-value perceptions,
11

(3) self-interest concerns, (4) reciprocity norms and (5) rationalization-of-choice, (6)
restrictions-mentality, and (7) freedom-of-choice views (Shimp and Sharma 281). It
was passed through a judgmental panel screening, two purification studies and a final
refinement, which took the 25 items remaining on the scale down to 17. The
CETSCALE was deemed reliable and valid and has been applied to consumer
ethnocentrism studies since its inception with fascinating results.
U.S. Ethnocentrism
The United States is a useful culture from which to study ethnocentrism in
marketing practices. In the Glen Fisher book, American Communication in a Global
Society, it is argued that the United States is the world’s most communicating nation
(1). He relates that the U.S. is the largest producer and exporter of information of all
kinds, and it is the most advanced “information society” in the world. Fisher also
illustrates the centrality of the United States in the world as having one of the most
highly advanced communications technological capacities, the advantage of a free
society and its own international initiatives in business travel and commerce (12).
Furthermore, according to the Handbook of Cross-Cultural Marketing, ethnocentric
thinking has led many U.S. companies down the path to unexpected, painful and
sometimes overwhelming failure (Herbig 2).
In an interview with Uwe Bergmann, one can see just how much work is
needed on the part of the U.S. when marketing to other countries and cultures because
12

of U.S. ethnocentric tendencies. Mr. Bergmann teaches German language classes at
NYU. He has a degree in Language instruction from Beijing University, has studied in
Moscow, and specializes in interpretation (Chinese, English, Russian and German).
Bergman translates, edits and supervises rather large U.S. advertising efforts to ensure
that meaning is not lost or completely changed when messages are transferred into
another language from English. He relates that there are many hundreds of mistakes
made by the U.S. companies in advertising to other cultures. U.S. companies and the
U.S. population in general are unaware of the fact that when English words are
translated into another language they might become offensive and actually provoke the
opposite reaction from what was intended. For example, Bergmann cites the well-
known “Got Milk?” campaign. The U.S. company who ran this ad did not feel they
needed any counseling before marketing in Mexico and Germany, however, in both
countries the phrase translated as, “Are You Lactating?” and was not well received.
(Bergmann interview transcript in appendix A). Keep in mind that U.S. ethnocentrism
may be used as an advertising advantage when marketing in the U.S. itself, and rising
consumer patriotic emotions may be successful in producing responses in favor of
American products (Beaudoin, Goldsmith and Moore 1240). However, Bergmann also
adds that there are many more problems than just translating. He relates certain images
of people, places and things can bring specific messages across to certain cultures, and
a negative reaction is often the result. Many U.S. produced ads fair terribly in
Germany for this very reason.
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More discoveries were made to support this notion of US ethnocentrism via
consumer interviews. While interviewing several consumers from cultures other than
the U.S. it became clear that these people tend to view the U.S. as the most
ethnocentric society they have experienced. For example, Carla Lopez, a Brazilian
native of Kenyan and Tanzanian descent, has lived in South America, Grenada,
Malaysia, Portugal and the United States. According to Ms. Lopez American
marketing very dominantly projects the image that the U.S. should be the standard and
others should follow its lead. She also added that it is difficult for developing
countries especially, as they depend heavily on the United States for so many
resources, but do not want to give up their own cultural identity (Lopez interview
transcript in appendix A). It is interesting to note from these interviews that people of
cultures other than the U.S. strongly feel that many countries of the world absorb the
U.S. culture, while the U.S does not reciprocate the same. Richard Rorty, a professor
of cross-cultural communication/specialist in the religion and philosophy aspect of
cross-cultural thought, comments on a similar point (Rorty 68). He states he cannot
imagine that any argument that the virtues of the West are commendable for the entire
world could ever show anything of the sort, any more than an argument can show that
the West should devote itself to studies of the East (68). According to Rorty, to have
such an argument would be to have premises which were neutral between cultures, and
he cannot agree with such a premise.
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Clearly the United States has a long history of failed attempts at marketing to
other cultures (Herbig 2). Nevertheless, some disagree that the U.S. is a particularly
ethnocentric society. Lee and Sirgy theorize that Americans are likely to have
comparatively lower ethnocentric tendencies than some other cultures because the U.S.
is a pluralistic society (80). They suggest the United States has many different
interacting ethnic groups within it, thus the boundaries and distinctions may be more
blurred here than in Korea, for example. In addition, Steven Mailloux writes in his
essay, “Making “Comparisons”, the “we” in ethnocentrism must always be understood
as sociohistorically specific and politically contingent. Especially in the multicultural
that is the U.S., this “we” needs to be specified in each ethnocentric claim (112-113).
Still, the dominance of the U.S. has often led to the neglect of other nations in the
Western Hemisphere, each of which has its own complex multicultural and
multilingual history (Rowe 24).
Global Marketing and Ethnocentrism
Many books, journal articles and white papers have been written about the
concepts discussed above. Of special interest are the ones that target the conceptual
identification of different areas of corporate strategy formulation, particularly
marketing strategy formulation, which are assumed to be influenced by varying levels
of ethnocentrism. Sinkovics and Holzmuller suggest that individual sentiments toward
other cultures might influence a manager or management as a whole in terms of certain
15

cross-cultural decisions (2). The level of ethnocentrism might determine how
companies act in and toward certain countries when conducting business. This section
considers the traditional ways in which U.S. companies have conducted their global
marketing practices, and it provides examples of problems that have occurred when
ethnocentrism is prevalent in global marketing campaigns.
When marketing internationally, culture should be viewed as the domain of
pure quality (Usunier 9). One cannot think in terms of good or bad elements of a
particular cultural group, and value judgements should be avoided as much as possible.
Obviously cultural differences exist, and they cannot be ignored, but this is no reason
for judging a particular culture as globally superior or interior to others (Usunier 9). In
marketing, cultures may be evaluated and indeed ranked, but only on the basis of facts
and evidence according to precise criteria and for very specific segments of culture-
related activities. When corporations overstep these bounds in their marketing
practices, problems of ethnocentrism tend to arise. According to Shuster and Harris in
their book, Newer Insights into Marketing: Cross-Cultural and Cross-National
Perspectives, doing business effectively in the global marketplace requires the
understanding of these elements of other cultures and the ability to adapt to them
successfully (2).
Global marketing (i.e. cross cultural marketing) is defined as the strategic
process of marketing to consumers whose culture differs from that of the marketer’s
own culture at least in one of the fundamental cultural aspects such as language,
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eligion, social norms and values, education and the living style (Tian
studyoversees.com). According to Robert Guang Tian, Ph.D., Associate Professor of
Business Administration, not only does culture influence marketing; but marketing also
influences culture. Marketers act as agents of change within a culture
(studyoversees.com). Thus, ethnocentric marketers would tend to force a foreign
culture to adopt the marketer’s culture.
Business managers and marketers, inevitably view the world from the point of
view of their own environment. This is called the Self Reference Criteria (SRC)
(Lewis and Housden 14). James Lee in 1966 recognized this unconscious reference to
one's own cultural values, and he identified a four-stage approach to mitigate
decisional bias related to the SRC when dealing with international operations.
1) Define the problem in terms of one's own domestic culture.
2) Define the problem in terms of the foreign culture making no value judgments.
3) Isolate the SRC which affect the problem. How does it complicate the problem?
4) Redefine the problem without the SRC. (Lewis and Housden 15).
The SRC is practical, but Usunier, in his book Marketing Across Cultures, reminds us
that it comprises a degree of naivety and insufficiency (384). It presupposes that it is
possible to easily penetrate the mysteries of culture without being a native of that
culture in question. Sometimes neither marketing experts from the original country nor
foreigners are capable of diagnosis in the second and third phases of the SRC, and the
effects of bias removal are not immediate (Usunier 384).
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In home markets self-reference criteria provide the marketer with insight and
intuition about how customers will respond to an offer. However in other cultural
markets, customers are a product of their own unique environment. Even when great
care has been taken to produce an international marketing strategy which avoids
cultural problems, many factors can lead to misunderstandings. Lewis and Housden
tell of one example involving the Nestle' corporation and Kit Kat (16). An
advertisement which used a local language voiceover was shown in both Italy and the
UK. It displayed duck hunters using duck callers and the universal language of ducks
(the quack) to attract birds toward their guns. The hunters became frustrated in the
commercial and needed a Kit Kat for a break. Since there are such fundamental
differences in the social norms between the marketer’s culture and the consumer’s
culture, the advertisement was a failure. The negative association with hunting in Italy
was more prominent than the humor in the ad. Additionally, the Kit Kat was believed
by Italians to be an expensive luxury confectionary item. It is clear that understanding
the customer is always a critical success factor of any marketing strategy, and it
becomes even more so with global marketing. The following are additional examples
provided by Lewis and Housden (25):
British racing green would be unlikely to succeed in China as green is a color
representing vegetable sellers in Chinese Markets
Yellow in Brunei is discouraged as it is a royal color
Purple may be perceived as mourning the death of old labor in Mexico
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The number 8 in China is considered lucky. Cars with the number 8 in the
license plate can command a premium in China, while the number 4 does just
the opposite.
As discussed in the previous section, it is often not adequate to simply translate an
advertisement or brand name into another language when marketing globally. Doing
so is a detriment to any marketing campaign. There are hundreds of examples of
inappropriate design and brand names that have failed because ethnocentric thinking
was not addressed. The following are further examples from Lewis and Housden (23,
25, 125):
Superpiss - a Scandinavian deicer which is not appropriate when translated into
English
Pschitt – this French Lemonade cannot be advertised to the Germans
Bum Crisps and Bimbo Bread in Spain are not acceptable names to advertise in
the United States
Smeg electrical appliances in Italy
Supermodel Claudia Scheffer initiated furor when she appeared on the catwalk
wearing a designer outfit featuring words from the Quran, hence offending
Muslim beliefs.
The Slogan "Come Alive with Pepsi" when translated into Chinese means,
"Pepsi raises relatives from the dead."
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The examples to this point have all demonstrated ethnocentrism in various
areas of advertising. It is prudent in this discussion to note also that advertising is not
the only marketing element in which companies often convey their ethnocentric
tendencies. Product design is another such area wherein companies have fallen victim
to ethnocentricity. Unilever, Federal Express, and Mattel provide some examples.
Unilever introduced a detergent version of Surf to the Japanese market, only to
find that the product was not designed to work in a new, popular low agitation washing
machine, and the "fresh smell" it advertised was not relevant in Japan since most
consumers hung their wash outside to dry (Herbig 69). When Federal Express went
into the European market they didn’t realize that keeping package pickup times set at
5:00pm (the typical end to an American workday) was detrimental in Europe where
close of business in normally much later (8:00pm). (Herbig 2). Another example
demonstrates how the U.S. company, Mattel, fell victim to ethnocentricity when they
attempted to market the Barbie doll in Japan. Most Japanese girls thought that the
doll’s breasts were too big and the legs unrealistically long. Once the doll was
overhauled complete with brown hair and brown eyes, Mattel sold millions in Japan.
Clearly, failure to correctly promote marketing messages for other cultures
creates irreversible and long-term issues. Customers do not easily reinvent a brand
position once it has been established in their minds through marketing and advertising.
20

Global Marketing Pre-Internet
A review of the tools that have been used to conduct global marketing prior to
the Internet provides a foundation for the discussion of Internet marketing. These tools
will continue to be used, but they will be integrated with Internet marketing strategy.
There are many components used to market across cultures besides a
company’s advertising. However, when the average consumer thinks about and speaks
of global marketing practices, one typically refers to the visual aspect of the marketing
- the advertising. Advertising is the most widely used promotional tool, and mass
media advertising has paved the way for global marketing in the past. According to
Paul Herbig, it is not unusual for consumer product firms to spend 10% or more of
their annual revenues on mass media advertising (109). In the United States, entire
industries rely upon mass media advertising. In fact, global advertising revenues in the
U.S. were approximately $650 billion in the year 2000 (Herbig 109).
Global marketing via mass media advertising is executed through mass media
channels of communication designed to reach the general public. It includes but is not
limited to television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, transit ads and
infomercials. It is these channels through which ethnocentrism in global marketing has
historically been communicated.
As shown previously, when marketing internationally using these channels of
media, companies must be entirely aware of the cultural norms and issues upon which
successful marketing is so dependent. Additionally the availability of certain media
21

channels in a particular country is a real concern for marketers (Herbig 124). Many
cultures have underdeveloped or lack of channels. The following list provides a series
of examples to this effect:
In many parts of rural India, television does not exist or is very minimal;
In northern and central Europe, radio is the most important medium, while southern
and Western Europeans are more apt to respond to television commercials;
Seventy percent of people in Scandinavia and Germany read the newspapers,
whereas only 15% do so in Portugal;
The average Japanese consumer is an avid television watcher and newspaper
reader, therefore the fold-in advertisement for newspapers (called orikami) is
widely used;
Transit advertisements work well in Japan because of the high reliance on public
transportation and the long commutes for the typical worker;
With Mexico’s traffic clogged main streets of slow moving traffic at nearly all
hours of the day, billboards provide a large captive audience. Mexicans also enjoy
being outdoors more so than Americans (Herbig 124-125).
In addition to media constraints, certain cultural situations should be avoided to
prevent global marketing failure. Marketers continue to make errors in mass media
advertising when going global. Case in point: Pan American erected huge billboards
in Japan showing a reclining Japanese woman in a kimono. Unaware to Pan-Am, in
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Japan only prostitutes recline in such a manner. The public found the advertisement
extremely offensive (Herbig 125). Thorough market research, extensive knowledge
of the targeted customer and cultural norms is required to overcome ethnocentric
thinking in promotional marketing. It is the goal of this project to determine whether
or not the Internet, when used as a global marketing tool, follows these same lines of
global marketing mishaps due to ethnocentric thinking.
Today, the Internet is challenging the fundamental basis of traditional
marketing discipline. The Internet is transforming the practice of marketing as well as
the way marketers think about marketing. This change is not happening overnight and
it is not absolute, but the changes that are occurring are real and are not reversible.
The Internet as a Global Marketing Tool
Increasing access to advanced technologies such as the Internet has
significantly reduced the distances between the most remote parts of the world during
the 20 th century, allowing the catch phrase “global village” to appear in many
discourses. According to Richard Rorty, a consequence of this technological closeness
becomes that our awareness of the conceptual and cultural distances that divide us has
been augmented considerably (Rorty 9). Ed Clark, General Manager of the Internet
consulting firm, m5I, contends, based on his company’s experience, that although the
Internet may indeed be a global community it does not erase the cultural and linguistic
barriers, but rather it magnifies them (Clark brandchannel.com). Like non-Internet
23

media, he suggests that Internet website design, presentation, and formatting that
appeal to one culture may not necessarily appeal to others. The uniqueness of the
Internet is that as a distribution and communication medium it provides either a
powerful opportunity or an immense challenge to a global marketer (Clark
brandchannel.com).
Although many people consider the Internet as the first truly global
marketplace, the previous discussion demonstrates the inherent flaws in such thinking.
The Internet is something that marketers worldwide are only just beginning to deal
with sufficiently. Situations now exist where one cannot assume that a television
commercial shown in the U.S. will not be seen by someone in Japan. The barrier
between borders no longer exists. But what of the Internet itself? Is there evidence of
ethnocentrism, particularly on the part of the U.S. one can readily discern? Of the 160
million people browsing online, almost half are from outside North America (Georgia
108). Moreover, that number is expected to reach 65% by 2003. These numbers imply
that U.S. marketers must be cognizant of a new kind of audience, a global audience
consisting of many different cultural segments. Yet the Web is almost entirely
dominated by the English language. Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg observes that of the
2.5 million Web pages on the Internet about 85% of the text is in English (Nunberg
prospect.org). He adds that the prevalence of English on the Internet threatens to
impose linguistic and cultural uniformity on the world. It is essential for marketers to
keep in mind that while many people can speak English, they do not necessarily think
24

in English, work in English, negotiate or like to be marketed to in English (Zhivago
98).
Wind and Mahajan in their book, Digital Marketing, provide insights into what
global marketers must face now that the Internet is the global marketing tool. They
discuss branding and he believes that branding has become significantly more
important with the advent of digital technology (11). Brands become a vehicle of trust
for Internet purchase decision-makers, therefore establishing a positive brand on the
Internet is critical. Where so many choices are available, marketers need good brand
positioning to compete for the buyer’s attention. Digital technology transcends
national borders, raising the need for more attention to global brand development
(Wind and Mahajan 12). However, as documented with pre-internet international
marketing, companies cannot simply transfer their U.S. brand strategies and business
models to oversees markets. Brands still must be shaped and tailored to succeed in
different parts of the world.
As discussed eariler, the hypothesis of this thesis poses a set of questions. One
of these underlying questions addresses the characteristics of the Internet that offer the
potential for eliminating ethnocentrism in marketing communication. Wind and
Mahajan contend that the Internet is more addressable and responsive than broadcast
media. Interactivity within the architecture of the Internet releases customers as passive
recipients of ads. It affords them an active role in marketing. Consumers study the
products while being entertained and persusaded by the ads (Wind and Mahajan 16-
25

17). There is the possibility of continuous diaologue between the customer and the
marketer when a website is the communication medium. Finally, the Internet has the
potential of eliminating ethnocnetrism in marketing because it holds the promise of
powerful and subtle interactivity. Many cycles of “send” and “respond” can occur in a
short time. The result is a medium unlike any other with the potential to be more
flexible and uniquly more responsive (Wind and Mahajan 344). However, despite
these seemingly ethnocentrism-preventing characteristics, many of the same cross-
cultural marketing issues still exist. For example, most U.S. company webistes that
have links marketing to other cultures, also have very promininet navigation buttons
linking the consumer back to the U.S. centered website. This gives the impression that
the webiste is not authentic to that particular culture, and in many cases it is not. A
more specific example is seen on the website for Chrysler, a U.S. based company, that
has an internet componenet for Brazil. The domain name for this site shows the word
“brazil” written with a “z” rather than “brasil” with an “s”. This is a sure sign of U.S.
ethnocentrism, as no Brazilian would spell his or her country name with a “z.”
Interactivity provides a beginning, but alone cannot eliminate a problem as
grandiose as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is an issue which we can eventually hope to
overcome, but one in which we currently do not have the tools to do so (Rorty 73).
The Internet allows every company to think globally (Zhivago 97). Lars Hallen
and Madelene Sandstrom talk about the relationship atmosphere in international
business citing that personal interaction becomes more important than ever and more
26

sensitive as personal interaction is necessary to neutralize the possible cultural barriers
to business exchange (108). Perhaps the Internet can be seen as an attempt to make the
most of this personal interaction because of its two-way architecture. Again, this may
be a step in the right direction, but certainly not a solution to overcoming
ethnocentrism issues in this type of marketing.
This review has attempted to bring together the relevant thoughts that have
been circulated over the years in relation to global marketing, the cultural issues
therein and the new technology that is taking over the global marketing scene.
Obviously much had been written and discussed on all of these topics independently,
however little has been written to find a correlation between the U.S. related
ethnocentrism involved in global marketing and the advent of the Internet. Therefore
the question is, “Does the Internet continue to foster the problem of U.S. ethnocentrism
in global marketing, or is it a marketing tool that U.S. companies can leverage to help
to overcome it?”
27

CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY
As discussed in the literature review, the testable hypothesis of this thesis is:
U.S. based companies continue to promote Western culture ethnocentrism across
country and cultural boundries when marketing through the Interent. Subsequently, the
primary research question is: “Does the Internet amplify, or perpetuate, the problem of
U.S. Western culture ethnocentrism in global marketing practices, or is the Internet a
marketing tool that can be used to reduce it?” The questions examined as subsets of
this one overarching question are:
(a) How has Western culture ethnocenrism been experienced through
traditional marketing communications?
(b) How can the level of ethnocenricity in a communication be measured?
(c) What characteristics of the Internet offer the potential for minimizing
ethnocentrism in marketing communication?
(d) Have U.S. companies that market to other cultures leveraged the Internet to
Testing the Hypothesis
reduce the Western culture ethnocentric experience?
According to King, Keohane and Verba in their book Designing Social Inquiry,
a good way to begin testing a hypothesis is to formulate the hypothesis so that larger
generalizations can be made (10). The contribution of this project shall hopefully
28

eflect an idea that can be applied to many organizations within most any type of
industry. The literature review has shown that ethnocentric thinking should be
eliminated in cross-cultural marketing. This testing of the hypothesis will attempt to
either confirm or deny that this is especially true where the Internet is concerned. It
will examine whether or not the Internet is a global marketing tool that further
contributes to the ethnocentrism problem, as it does not create the "global village” that
many perceive.
King, Keohane and Verba offer a way to merge the two realms of quantitative
and qualitative research. They suggest that if one holds a variable constant, and
changes the value of another variable, a causal effect can be found which answers the
original question or hypothesis (King, Keohane and Verba 10).
Research Protocol
This research is structured based on a protocol that administers the study in two
parts. Subjects were first given a survey consisting of 17 Likert-type scaled questions
to which they must answer with a response ranging from strongly disagree (a score of
1) to strongly agree (a score of 5). This portion of the study was completed while the
subject was not in the presence of the researcher. Secondly, the subjects participated in
qualitative interviews conducted by the researcher wherein the subject is asked to
exercise each of three websites and answer predetermined interview questions. To
prepare for the interviews, approximately one week before the interviews, the subjects
29

were given the list of websites to be analyzed along with the interview questions that
deal with each of six marketing factors in the websites. In this way the subjects
became somewhat familiar with the website content and had an opportunity to
formulate thoughts in relation to the marketing questions before the researcher
conducted the qualitative interviews.
Case Studies
Case study methodology was used for this research. It uses three cases
comparatively. If the three cases prove true to the thesis, then the results provide
strong indicators as to what should and should not be done to mitigate ethnocentrism in
marketing. This methodology adopts the explaining/outsider model of qualitative
research, wherein variables are tested in each of the cases for causality, to either prove
or disprove the hypothesis (King, Keohane and Verba 75-85).
The case studies chosen for this project are corporations in the U.S. automobile
industry, all of which are marketing to Brazil. They are the “big three” in the U.S. auto
industry: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Each uses the Internet as a global
marketing tool to reach the Brazilian population. By using these three companies there
is an attempt to control as many variables as possible to isolate the factors that
determine the level of ethnocentrism communicated in the marketing message. The
control variables in this case are the industry (automobile), the culture from which the
30

marketing is origniating (United States), the culture the marketing is directed toward
(Brazil), and the marketing medium (the Internet).
Measurement Scale
The most well known scale to measure ethnocentrism is the CETSCALE
developed in 1987 by Shimp and Sharma. The 17 item scale was rigorously
formulated, refined and validated in the United States, and was subsequently applied
and validated internationally (Bandyopadhyay and Muhammad sbaer.uca.edu). The
acronym stands for Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale, and was designed as a
way to measure consumer ethnocentric tendencies related to purchasing foreign versus
American made products. Shimp and Sharma wanted to formulate this concept to suit
the marketing discipline, something that had not been done before (Mavando and Tan
1). Their construct involved normative beliefs in people’s buying behavior. They
tested the hypothesis that U.S. consumers prefer not to buy foreign made products
because ethnocentrism carries with it the notion of consumer's patriotic emotions. It is
important to note that the reliability of the CETSCALE is extremely high. Validity
testing included panel screening, two purification studies, refinement (consisting of 25
items), and finally an aggregate test that deemed the 17 items acceptable as they
satisfied the .5 reliability criterion (Shimp and Sharma 282).
This methodology does not use the CETSCALE directly but rather a
modification of the CETSCALE. This hypothesis is testing reverse ethnocentrism, a
31

modified CETSCALE to measure the ethnocentrism on the part of the corporations
doing the marketing rather than the ethnocentrism of the consumer. It measures how
much or how little the consumer perceives the company as ethnocentric in their
marketing. Shimp and Sharma use the term “consumer ethnocentrism” to represent the
beliefs held by American consumers concerning the purchasing of foreign products
(Shimp and Sharma 280). Therefore, this thesis considers "corporate ethnocentrism”
as seen through the eyes of the consumer. Since the CETSCALE has paved the way
for measuring ethnocentrism in the marketing arena, and it has been validated
thoroughly for reliability, it is appropriate to use it as a basis for the scale developed in
this methodology.
The Shimp and Sharma 17 scaled questions were inverted to test the hypothesis
(original and modified scales in appendix B). The response format uses a 5 point
Likert type scale with “strongly disagree” (value = 1) to “strongly agree” (value = 5).
For example, question number 5 on the CETSCALE states “Purchasing foreign made
products is un-American” then question number 5 on the modified scale states,
“Purchasing American products makes me feel like I am compromising my culture.”
Keep in mind, the CETSCALE surveyed American consumers, the modified scale
surveys Brazilian consumers.
In the reporting of results, some of the question values were transposed in order
to maintain reporting consistency. For example, a response of “1” indicates a
perception of very low ethnocentrism coming from U.S. companies. However,
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subjects’ scores were inverted on statements that are worded in an opposite manner
wherein a response of “1” (strongly disagree) indicates the perception of extreme
ethnocentrism rather than very low ethnocentrism (i.e. question 9 states “It is best to
purchase American products rather than Brazilian”). In this case an answer of “1” or
strongly disagree, represents a perception of high U.S. company ethnocentrism, which
is equivalent to the answer of “5”.
Additionally, in the modified version of the CETSCALE a score of “3”
indicates that the subject is “indifferent” in his or her perception of ethnocentrism
regarding that particular statement, because when looking at something as subjective as
perceived ethnocentrism, indifference conveys possible feelings on both sides of the
spectrum. It should not be interpreted as an outlier, but rather as a point on the
continuum of ethnocentricity.
Survey and Structure
To fully understand people’s perceptions, qualitative interview questions were
developed to supplement the 17-item scale. When analyzing something as qualitative
in nature as the perception of ethnocentricity, quantitative analysis should be
supplemented to increase understanding (Berg 2). Therefore, open-ended questions
were added to the survey (appendix C).
According to Oppenheim, it is likely that no other skill is as important to the
survey research worker as the ability to conduct good interviews (65). Open-ended, or
33

exploratory interviews, require significant interpersonal skills in order to put the
subject at ease, ask questions in an interested manner, and give support without
introducing bias (Oppenheim 65). There are essentially two different kinds of
interviews: standardized (such as those used in public opinion polls and government
surveys), and exploratory, which probe in-depth to develop ideas (Oppenheim 67).
The interview questions used in this study are of an exploratory nature. Exploratory
interviews can be thought of as collecting ideas rather than information, and must pick
up on what is not said in a subject’s response as well as what is said. The gaps and
hesitations given by the respondents in an exploratory interview can be just as
important as the main responses.
The interview questions in this study apply to each of the three case study
websites, in each of six marketing factors: Language, Message, Image, Content,
Branding, and Cultural Positioning. The research is sequenced so that each subject
exercises a website, then completes the interview questions. Too often surveys are
carried out on the basis of insufficient design and planning or on the basis of no design
at all (Oppenheim 7). Therefore, this study adheres to A.N. Oppenheim’s suggestion
that the researcher makes certain to establish operational aims. Doing so should lead
directly to clarity in the variables to be measured, and an established set of questions,
scales, and indicators to support each variable (Oppenheim 7). The study protocol
requires the researcher to be present while the survey is being completed to observe
34

subject behavior and ensure question completion. This observation protocol allows the
researcher to watch the subject’s reactions and capture non-verbal behavior.
The study subjects were required to be thoroughly familiar with Brazilian
culture, as the researcher is not in Brazil and not qualified to analyze Brazilian
websites. It was necessary that the subjects have lived in the Brazilian culture for a
significant portion of their lives. They must understand the cultural norms and values
of Brazil in order to appropriately assess whether or not the websites are marketing to
this culture ethno or non-ethnocentrically. Finally, all subjects were required to be
fluent in the Portuguese language, the national language of Brazil.
The sample size of subjects for this study is relatively small consisting of eight
subjects. A larger sample size would have been preferred, but additional subjects were
not available. Hopefully, the study is a model for a larger, more statistically valid
research effort. Subject demographics are provided in the following chapter.
Marketing Factors Examined in Interview Questions
The marketing factors used to assess website ethnocentrism are the foundation
of the open-ended questions in the survey. Each is defined on the survey to prevent
any subject confusion or misunderstanding.
Marketing Factor 1: Language. This factor includes issues of translation inaccuracy
that so often occurs when American companies attempt to translate messages into
35

another language. When message meaning is skewed by poor translation and
inappropriate language, the reaction of the consumer can be very negative. Usunier
states that language differences are one of the primary barriers to effective
communication in cross cultural marketing (411). Interview questions relating to
language are included in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1: Language questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 1: Language
Issues of translation inaccuracy
Does the language in this website seem to be translated well? (i.e. Does it read clearly
and make sense as if it was not first written in English?)
Do the words convey any strange or negative meanings?
Is it well written and articulate, or does the working seem choppy and rough?
Would you say there is much “Americanism” coming through in the language of this
website?
I specifically noticed with Ford that there are several English words being used.
Comment? (ex. Quality Care).
Marketing Factor 2: Message: This factor is concerned with the meaning conveyed
through the marketing message. When cultural differences become a part of marketing,
the message received by the consumer might be entirely different than what the
marketer intended. Messages should be persuasive or informative, and should target
specific types of consumers directly with meaning that is clear to the receiver.
Interview questions relating to message are included in Table 2-2.
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Table 2-2: Message questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 2: Message
Meaning conveyed through the marketing message
What is the marketing message being conveyed in this website? (i.e. What is the site
saying to you, other than “buy this car”?)
Is the message specific to Brazilian culture? If not, should it be?
What kind of message is being conveyed with the timeline section of the GM site?
Do you think the message is aimed with an American consumer in mind rather than a
Brazilian consumer? If so, does that make the product seem less appealing to you?
Marketing Factor 3: Image. This factor includes the photos, drawings, animation
and other visual stimuli used to convey meaning in a marketing message. When
messages are presented through the Internet, photographs rather than language can be
more effective than words alone. What is aesthetically pleasing is culturally linked, so
it is essential to understand the tastes and preferences of the audience in this type of
marketing. Colors and symbols that communicate positive messages in one country
may have a completely different meaning in another. Interview questions relating to
image are included in Table 2-3.
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Table 2-3: Image questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 3: Image
The actual photos, drawings, animation and other visual stimuli being conveyed
Image is extremely important in marketing. What meaning do the images in this
website convey to you?
Are there photos of people in this website? Do you think their image is too American?
(Look specifically at the timeline section of the GM site and the professional section)
Is there any meaning inherent in color in Brazilian culture? Do the color choices in
this website follow such cultural “rules” about color?
Does the animation of the Ford site appeal to you as a Brazilian consumer of American
products?
Marketing Factor 4: Content. This factor asks the question, how meaningful and
comprehensive is the information being conveyed? Content is very closely related to
message, but it refers to the factual information the message is trying to convey.
Interview questions relating to content are included in Table 2-4.
Table 2-4: Content questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 4: Content
How meaningful and comprehensive is the information being conveyed
Is there enough appropriate information given in the content to make you comfortable
shopping on this website?
Is there anything in the site content that is inappropriate to Brazilian culture?
Do you consider this to be a sophisticated website by Brazilian standards?
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Marketing Factor 5: Branding. This factor is testing whether or not the brand is
established in the mind of the international consumer. Consumers in certain countries
view the brand as suggesting the overall desirability of a product (Batra et al. 84). For
example consumers in developing countries often view Western brands as portraying
Western practices and lifestyles, therefore making brands that symbolize affluence
seem highly desirable (Batra et al. 84). Certain brands have the capacity to convey
meaning internationally, while the majority are only conceived on a national level
(Usunier 293). It is important, then, to consider how a brand will fair in its
international appeal. Interview questions relating to branding are included in Table 2-5.
Table 2-5: Branding questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 5: Branding
Does the brand ring familiarity in the mind of the subject/consumer
Is the brand being marketed in this website a familiar brand in Brazil?
Do the slogans/taglines being used convey the brand well?
Is the corporate logo familiar to you? Would you be able to tell one logo from the
other without seeing its name?
Is the site assuming a consumer familiarity with the product? Should it be? Are you
familiar with this brand?
Marketing Factor 6: Cultural Positioning. Cultural positioning looks at the kind of
cultural scenarios at work in the marketing (i.e. how many women, men,…etc are
shown, and does that type of positioning matter to a particular culture?). Traditional
roles that people play in one culture may not be the same as in the other culture.
39

Therefore, the way people are portrayed in marketing messages and ads matters a great
deal. For example, an originally U.S. brandy advertisement transformed to target the
South African Bantu market showed a couple seated at a table with a bottle
superimposed over them. This created an unintended contrast between the traditional
local aspect of the culture and the situation as the audience assumed the woman was
carrying the bottle on her head as many African women do (Usunier 413). Interview
questions relating to cultural positioning are included in Table 2-6.
Table 2-6: Cultural Positioning questions (not in survey format)
Marketing Factor 6: Cultural Positioning
What kind of cultural scenarios are at work in the marketing (i.e. how many women,
men,…etc are shown. Doing what? Does that matter to this culture?)
Do you see any cultural scenarios being played out in the marketing of this site?
(either American or Brazilian cultural situations)
Consider the images discussed previously. Are the images of people doing things
appropriate to Brazilian culture? (i.e. A girl doing Yoga is not an appropriate ad in
Germany as it conveys laziness to the German people).
Are automobiles as important (i.e. do they carry the same status) in Brazilian culture as
they do in American culture? Do these websites show an understanding of the cultural
positioning of automobiles in Brazil?
Data Analysis
Bruce Berg in his book, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences,
talks about analyzing the data gained from qualitative research and that it is
simultaneously the most difficult yet creative aspect of any research project (Berg
40

102). Although qualitative analysis sometimes is thought to lack the precision assumed
to be present in quantitative research, this is not necessarily the case because if it is
done correctly it demonstrates a much deeper understanding of the project (Berg 102-
103).
The data from the modified CETSCALE is numerical. It contains Likert scale
answers, and it provides a general sense of the subjects’ overall perception of U.S.
marketing ethnocentricity. These survey results were plotted using graphical
representation on a charted scale of ethnocentrism. The X-axis represents each of the
17 CETSCALE modified questions, and the Y-axis measures the amount of
ethnocentrism perceived via the average of combined subjects’ Likert scale answers.
A second set of graphical representations illustrates the average ethnocentrism score
for each of the eight individuals. In this way one can see the results of each individual
as well as the group as a whole. It provides a quantitative baseline for the study.
The qualitative answers provide a richness and in depth understanding by
allowing insights into the ethnocentrism survey results. They are presented according
to website and subdivided into each of the six marketing factors using a chart of tables
shown in appendix E. The analysis of this qualitative data is modeled after Bruce
Berg’s pattern of systematic filing systems and his “Major Topic/Theme” chart (Berg
104).
41

Testing Survey Questions
As discussed in the previous chapter, this research was structured based on a
protocol that administers the study in two parts. Subjects were first given the modified
CETSCALE survey, which was completed by each before meeting with the researcher
to assess subjects’ general ethnocentric perception of U.S. cross-cultural marketing.
Secondly, the subjects participated in qualitative interviews conducted by the
researcher. Subjects were asked to exercise each of three specific websites and to
answer predetermined interview questions which were given to the subjects for
consideration a week in advance.
The questions were pre-tested using subjects who were not involved in this
research project. By doing this, many potential problems were averted, and general
misunderstanding was kept to a minimum during the actual interview process.
The pre-test interview subjects signaled revisions that were necessary to clarify several
of the questions on the CETSCALE survey portion, and various spelling and
grammatical errors. Additionally, the subjects indicated that many of the qualitative
interview questions could be answered with a simple yes or no, and that they should be
expanded upon in the interview process with probes to ensure more complete answers
that include examples.
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Methodology Summary
This methodology administered a three-step protocol which uses both
quantitative and qualitative techniques to test the hypothesis.
Step 1 (Quantitative): Administered the modified CETSCALE to subjects in the
form of 17 Likert-type scaled survey questions. Subjects completed this survey
prior to any face-to-face meeting with the researcher.
Step 2 (Qualitative): As a preparatory step, subjects were given the list of websites
to be analyzed along with the interview questions approximately one week prior to
the qualitative interviews.
Step 3 (Qualitative): Conducted qualitative interviews with each subject as he or
she exercised each website and answered pre-determined interview questions
regarding six marketing factors. The six factors discussed were language, message,
image, content, brand and cultural positioning.
43

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH RESULTS
This chapter summarizes the results of 8 subjects who answered scaled survey
questions and analyzed three U.S. based Brazilian websites for Western U.S
ethnocentrism to answer the question of whether or not the Internet helps overcome the
problem of U.S. ethnocentrism in cross-cultural marketing. These results also attempt
to prove the hypothesis that U.S. based companies promote Western culture
ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundaries when marketing through the
Internet.
Subjects
These 8 subjects were chosen because of their extensive knowledge of
Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language, as well as basic capability to navigate
the Internet. There was a mixture of male and female subjects with an age range from
19 to 74 years old. Table 3-1 presents the subject demographics:
44

Table 3-1: Demographics of interview subjects
Age Sex Education
Level
Ethnicity Years
lived
Brazil
45
Familiarity
w/Brazilian
Culture
Knowledge
Portuguese
Language
Subject 1 23 F College Brazilian 6-10 Average Excellent
Subject 2 37 M Post Grad/
Doctorate
Brazilian 20 + Excellent Excellent
Subject 3 26 F Some Grad Brazilian 6-10 Excellent Excellent
Subject 4 31 M Graduate Brazilian 20 + Excellent Excellent
Subject 5 74 F Post Grad/
Doctorate
Brazilian 20 + Excellent Excellent
Subject 6 28 F Graduate Brazilian 20 + Excellent Excellent
Subject 7 19 F Some
College
American 6-10 Excellent Excellent
Subject 8 24 F Some
College
Brazilian 11-20 Good Good
The subjects’ demographics are somewhat homogeneous in terms of education
and knowledge of the Brazilian language and culture. However, such similarities bode
well for the focus of this study. Although the Internet came to Latin America in 1995
and has been growing rapidly, only 1.5 percent of Latin Americans have access to the
Internet today (Treverton and Mizell xiii). Internet penetration is projected to be less
than 12 percent in Latin America in 2005, and most of this Internet use is concentrated
in the wealthiest 20 percent of the population (Treverton and Mizell xiii). The
wealthier people of Brazil tend to be the ones with the highest levels of education, and
so it follows that Brazilian subjects with more education are better able to assess
Internet issues. They are the people who have access to the Internet.

Modified CETSCALE Results
The response data from the modified CETSCALE represents the subjects’
general perception of U.S. company ethnocentrism when marketing cross culturally.
The perception was scored according to a 5-step Likert type scale, which was applied
to 17 questions and given to the subjects as the first part of the research to be
completed before meeting with the researcher. The subjects answered each of the 17
questions by indicating a score of one, two, three, four or five. An answer of “1”
indicates the subject strongly disagrees with the statement, while and answer of “5”
indicates the subject strongly agrees with the given statement. Perception of U.S.
ethnocentrism is indicated with a score of “strongly agree” or “5” in that the subject
perceives U.S companies as being extremely ethnocentric in attempting to reach other
cultures. Conversely, if a subject answered “strongly disagree” or “1” he or she is
indicating a perception of very low ethnocentrism on the part of U.S. companies.
The results are shown in figures 3-1 and 3-2. In both graphs, the Y-axis
represents the Likert types scores from 1-5. Figure 3-1 presents a total perspective of
how these Brazilian subjects view U.S. company ethnocentrism as the average score of
all subjects on each question is given.
Figure 3-2 represents the same data, but displays it from a slightly
different standpoint. This graph shows how each subject individually perceived
ethnocentrism, by showing the average and median scores of each subjects’ total
46

answers to all 17 questions. A table of the raw data from this survey is available in
appendix D.
47

*
*
*
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Figure3-1: Graphical Representation of Survey Data
Total Perception of U.S. Company Ethnocentrism:
Across all Subjects
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
17 CETSCALE Questions (modified)
Ethnocentrism Perceived (Average score) Ethnocentrism Perceived (Median score)
Scaled Questions 1-17
* * *
1. American companies should primarily market to non-American cultures using the Internet.
2. Only those American products that are unavailable in Brazil should be marketed to Brazil through the
Internet.
3. American companies encourage Brazilian consumers to buy American products.
4. American companies promote their products as being the first, last and foremost.
5. Purchasing American products makes me feel like I am compromising my culture.
6. It is not right to purchase American made products because it puts my own people out of jobs and at
a disadvantage.
7. American marketing is aimed at me to make me perceive American culture as better than mine.
8. We should purchase products manufactured in America because they show us that they are the
standard.
9. It is always best to purchase American products rather than Brazilian.
10. The perception I get from American marketing is that there should be very little trading or purchasing
of goods from non-American countries unless absolutely necessary.
11. American do not buy foreign products.
12. American Internet marketing is significantly different than American traditional marketing (i.e. Print
advertisements, TV commercials, Billboards, Radio advertisements).
13 . American companies encourage me to support for American products, even when it will cost me
more in the long run.
14. American companies should not be allowed to market products in Brazil.
15. American products should be taxed heavily so as to reduce entry into Brazil.
16. I do not want to rely on American products, however I feel there is no choice but to do so.
17. American companies who market to Brazil are responsible for putting the value of Brazilian
consumers below the value of American consumers. * Results reversed to appropriately parallel scale.
48

Figure 3-2: Graphical Representation of Same Survey Data-Varying Perspective
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Individual Perception of U.S. Company Ethnocentrism:
Across all Questions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Evaluation Questions/Interviews
Subjects
Ethnocentrism Perceived (Average score) Ethnocentrism Perceived (Median score)
To supplement the scaled survey answers and enhance the understanding of
various perspectives on U.S. ethnocentricity, open ended interview questions were
administered as the second phase of research. As discussed in the methodology
chapter, the subjects were given the websites and the interview questions one week
prior to each interview so that they did not begin the interview unaware of the subject
matter. The answers to interview questions were given while the researcher observed
each subject as he/she analyzed the three cases (websites) in relation to six marketing
factors. The researcher posed questions in a conversational dialogue. The interview
results are tabulated below using the “Major Topic/Theme” method suggested in
qualitative research method literature (Berg 102-105).
49

The Major Topic/Theme method of data analysis provides a way to organize
and arrange open-ended interview data so that it can be studied in a comprehensive
form. The data is divided into naturally occurring classes of things, events and
important characteristics of the items so that one can find similarities, dissimilarities
and patterns in the data (Berg 104). The findings that emerge from the data are among
the most interesting and important results obtained in this research. In this case, the
major topics listed are the observed websites, and the themes involve the various
marketing factors applied to each one. The tables in appendix E display a break down
of qualitative data gathered through observational interviews of eight subjects’ scrutiny
of three cross-culturally marketed websites.
Consistent Response Patterns
This research produced outcomes and patterns that speak to the original
hypothesis. The quantitative data reveals a commonality in the way these subjects
view ethnocentrism as projected by U.S. companies marketing internationally.
Additionally, the majority of subjects responded consistently when analyzing each of
the three American created/ Brazilian targeted websites. In many cases different
examples were given to justify the response, but the majority of those surveyed had the
same thoughts involving the six given marketing factors.
50

CETSCALE Patterns
Subjects have the relatively strong perception that U.S. companies are
ethnocentric in their cross-cultural marketing. Eleven out of the 17 questions (65%)
yielded a response of 3 or higher where subjects were indifferent (but not in
disagreement), in agreement, or in strong agreement with statements that make U.S.
companies seem heavily ethnocentric. The average and median scores for these
subjects did not fall below a 1.5 on any of the questions, meaning that on average none
of the subjects had “strong” disagreement with statements that exposed U.S.
ethnocentrism. The lowest score, meaning the strongest disagreement in perception of
U.S. ethnocentrism, occurred on question 14 where both the average and median scores
of all eight subjects were 1.5. Respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that,
“American companies should not be allowed to market products in Brazil.” It appears
that even if subjects agree that American companies market to Brazil from a U.S.
centric perspective, they are hard pressed to suggest that these companies should not be
allowed to market in Brazil.
Subjects consistently viewed U.S. companies as being ethnocentric in their
marketing. Survey question numbers 3, 4, 8, and 9 were given the highest scores
(medians of 4 and 5, average of 4.3 and 4.5). The questions presented statements such
as, “American companies promote their products as first, last and foremost,” and
“American companies encourage Brazilians to buy American products.” The high
51

esponse scores given to these statements indicate that the subjects perceive U.S.
international marketing as being forced on them and presented as the “best”.
In looking at the average and median scores of the individual subjects’ responses to all
17 questions, similar patterns appear. No single subject yielded an average or median
score of less than 3. Interestingly, the one subject who is American with immersion in
Brazilian culture, scored highest on perceiving U.S. companies as being ethnocentric.
Patterns in Interview Responses: Ranking Pattern
The interview results gathered during the analysis of the sites provide rich
detail on these subjects’ perceptions of American ethnocentrism. The data reveal
ethnocentrism in relation to Internet marketing and the reasons for these perceptions.
Several patterns were detected in the analysis of the qualitative interview data.
The broadest and most consistent pattern is seen in the way the subjects
“ranked” the websites from the one which seems to do the best job of marketing to the
Brazilian culture, to those which do not. In other words, which of the U.S. companies
was least or most ethnocentric in its marketing, which are appealing to Brazilians
because it appeared to be authentically “Brazilian,” and which is not appealing because
it markets from a Western cultural perspective.
Six of the 8 subjects (75%) reported that the General Motors (GM) is the most
authentically Brazilian and therefore presents the least ethnocentric perspective. These
subjects also reported that Chrysler does the worst job of marketing to Brazil, and is
52

therefore not appealing to a Brazilian consumer. Perceptions of U.S ethnocentricity in
the Ford website were mixed. All subjects reported that some aspects of the Ford site
were very culturally appealing, while other parts were very “American”. The study
shows that 75% of subjects interviewed felt the websites can be placed in the following
order of best to worst case of cross-cultural Internet marketing:
1) General Motors;
2) Ford;
3) Chrysler.
An interesting aspect is that there is a relationship between the amount of
product oriented content on a site and the level of cultural sensitivity the site displays.
It appears that the more authentically Brazilian the marketing is, the more difficult it is
for one to navigate to specific auto information. The subjects who perceived GM as the
least ethnocentric also said that the General Motors site is the most difficult on which
to find meaningful and pertinent car purchase information. The opposite was true for
Chrysler. Chrysler seems to do the best job of providing the car content, but it is the
most U.S. ethnocentric. All eight subjects (100%) agreed on this point. Subjects
suggested that this may be so because the people are more interested in other aspects of
a company than the product (i.e. does the company care about the people or is it just
trying to make money?). Conversely, American consumers are more immediately
interested in the type of car, how much it costs, and where to purchase it, not about the
company. Therefore, marketing that understands this cultural trait for Brazil, as does
53

GM, would clearly have the least ethnocentric, yet most difficult to find product
information, while ethnocentric companies such as Chrysler are less in tune with the
culture, but have easy, immediate access to content about the product.
Many specific patterns and examples were found to support this finding. These
patterns and examples are presented by the six marketing factors of language, message,
image, content, branding and cultural positioning.
Language
The ability of the marketers to make the site appear to have been written in
Portuguese rather than translated from English was a major factor in determining the
cultural authenticity. All of the subjects interviewed conveyed that, as a whole, these
websites were generally well written and easily understood. However, 100% of those
interviewed said that they could definitely tell General Motors’ website was originally
written in Portuguese. The
language was absolutely flawless, and
one subject noted that the punctuation
was very good as seen in Figure 3-3.
Mistakes normally made by
Americans when writing in
Portuguese are not made in the GM
Figure 3-3: GM Uses Good Translation and Grammar
54

text. For example, one subject reported that many Americans, when writing or
translating in Portuguese, fail to put a comma between the word “and” and the last
word in a series of elements because it is not done in English grammar. However, this
punctuation was correctly displayed in Portuguese all through the GM website. Two
of the eight subjects also noted that there is a little bit of “Americanism” coming
through in the phrase “Fear this” on the GM site, because is not easily translated into a
meaning Brazilians can understand.
Conversely 75% of the subjects related that the language in the Chrysler
marketing is very awkward and appeared to be translated verbatim from English. The
general response was that although there are no strange or negative meanings in the
language, it is not well written for the target culture. For example, one subject
indicated the translation of the American phrase, “any less ordinary” is very poorly
done and would not make sense to a Brazilian. This site also uses many English words
that could have been translated (i.e., limited, preferred, suede, airbags). Another
subject related that the site uses a lot of American words and innuendoes, such as
“exciting” in the wrong context when describing the Sebring model. Also, one portion
of the section on PT Cruisers translates as, “get close physically and emotionally,”
which really does not make sense.
Translation on the Ford site falls somewhere in between. It is generally well
written and articulate but does tend to use some English words could have been
translated. For example, in the page that talks about “quality care” (Figure 3-4), the
55

phrase “Quality Care” would be more appealing to Brazilians if translated into
Portuguese. However, all of the subjects thought most of the English words used by
Ford are well known Internet Jargon
such as, “chat room,” “e-gifts,”
“newsletter,” and “wallpaper,” which do
not pose the same negativity as do other
English words.
Message and Content
56
Figure 3-4: Ford’s use of “Quality Care”
One subject related that Ford is sending a negative message in the 1995 bullet
of the timeline section where it states that Ford had put all Latin car makers out of
business and that good cars cannot be produced in Latin America. It talks of the
“dissolution of the Latin Auto.” Furthermore, only 50% of the subjects said both Ford
and General Motors do a good job of presenting a message of caring about the
Brazilian people, community, and environment (Figures 3-5 and 3-6). Both sites give a
detailed account of the company histories, which is important to the Brazilian culture,
and they work hard to establish credibility, another important cultural factor. For
example, most agree that GM presents a message of the company caring about the

Figure 3-5: Ford’s Environmental Message Figure 3-6: GM’s Environmental Message
country, the Brazilian community and the environment. It is a message that is very
contextualized to Brazil, which is a high context culture (Hall 39).
The message that subjects take from the Chrysler site is nothing more than “buy
this car.” In fact, one subject cited that the message overwhelmingly conveys, “you
should want an American car,” a consumerism message. Five out of the eight
interviewees (63%) feel the Chrysler message targets the very wealthy, elite, upper
class Brazilians.
As discussed previously, the less product content a site provides, the more
authentically Brazilian the site is perceived to be. Several subjects report that although
General motors is correctly appealing to the culture, it is virtually “not shoppable.”
Inversely, Chrysler provides easy to access and pertinent product information, but
misses the mark when it comes to understanding its audience culturally.
Image
The images in these sites heavily influenced the subjects’ perception of
marketing ethnocentrism. Again, the majority of subjects selected GM as having the
most authentically Brazilian marketing style with respect to images, followed closely
57

y Ford. Chrysler fell short of the mark as it presented a very American look and feel
and was perceived as portraying a U.S. ethnocentric perspective.
Color has meaning in culture (Usunier 257-259). The incorrect use of color can
be detrimental or supportive to the message text. Seven of the eight subjects
interviewed (88%) recognized General Motors’ use of Brazilian flag colors. The blue,
yellow and green are on each page of the site (Figure 3-7). One subject commented on
the appealing nature of these colors
because Brazilians are generally
extremely patriotic people. Also, the GM
site uses many photos of people, which is
very appealing to the Brazilian
culture (Figure 3-8). Ford and
Figure 3-7: The GM Site Uses the Colors of the Brazilian Flag
Chrysler are both lacking in this area.
Figure 3-8: GM uses
Many Photos of People
in the Website
58

Photos on Ford and Chrysler sites depict the products almost entirely. One subject
pointed out that the photos of people make the entire site appeal real and not staged.
GM used pictures of real events, not stock photos. The other two sites do not take this
approach to image use and, as a result,
tend to appear more sterile and less
“Brazilian.” The images on the GM site
also depict regular working people to
which the consumers can relate. One
subject reported that the photo of the
elderly woman on the GM site presents an image of the “essence” of Brazilian culture
(Figure 3-9). Additionally, another subject posited that the yellow license plates
shown in the timeline section are a subtle but sure sign of Brazilian authenticity.
Although General Motors presents a total image that Brazilians find extremely
favorable, there were a few places where the company’s ethnocentrism was revealed.
Figure 3-10: GM Homepage
59
Figure 3-9: GM photos Authentically Brazilian
For example, 4 of the 8 subjects (50%)
reacted negatively to the picture on the
homepage showing a blond girl as the
focus of the image (Figure 3-10).
Seemingly, this image is very American
looking. One subject commented that

you would very rarely see a blond in Brazil, and others surmise that even the posture
and indifference portrayed has an American style to it.
Ford has a cleaner, more Americanized look than General Motors, however, it
does make use of animation, a favorite in the Brazilian culture. The Flash used on the
homepage was very appealing to all subjects and the “kids” section, shown in Figure 3-
11, appealed to five out of the
eight subjects (63%).
Other than the use of
animation, Ford presents a
fairly generic image that did
not “grab” the majority of the
subjects one way or the other culturally.
The image presented by Chrysler is riddled with Western culture ethnocentrism
according to 6 of the 8 subjects (88%). It has the look and feel of everything that is
culturally American and almost nothing that is Brazilian. This site is very dull in color,
Figure 3-12: Chrysler Homepage
Figure 3-11: Kids Section/Animation on the Ford Site
60
very bland and extremely linear in the
way it is structured (see homepage in
Figure 3-12). One subject remarked that
Brazilians prefer blocky sites with lots
of movement. They like a page that

looks busy, almost to the point where it is hard to navigate. Another subject said that
Brazilians would not like the clean, sophisticated look of the Chrysler site, but rather
like a busy look because that seems more casual and fun. Several subjects also pointed
out the use of photos that are not appealing or unknown to Brazilians. For example, the
photo of the PT Cruiser with a set of skis loaded in it was ridiculous in several
Figure 3-13: The Chrysler Site Uses Inappropriate Photos
subjects’ estimation (Figure 3-13). There is no place to ski in a country like Brazil and
skiing is not part of the common culture. Furthermore, two subjects commented that
the image of a New York City building would not be something most Brazilians would
recognize (Figure 3-13). Most agreed also that the Chrysler site looks like a typical
American car commercial with no attempt to adjust it culturally to Brazil.
Edward Hall, in his book Beyond Culture, discusses high and low context
cultures. He categorizes that Western culture is low context, meaning people are
individualistic and do not require interaction with their surroundings (Hall 85-86).
Low context cultures are also time and space-oriented, paying particular attention to
61

punctuality and time limits. American culture, in particular, is a linear or
monochromatic society, because it tends to prefer to address one thing at a time (Hall
17). The Chrysler site marketing is perceived as highly linear and obviously American
in nature for this reason. It is straightforward and it presents its products very
succinctly, one after the other without much to detract from the product. Latin
American culture, on the other hand, is a high context society. People are more apt to
immerse themselves in the context of their surroundings and multitask. They take in
many things at the same time and deeply involve themselves in the context of the
culture. This is likely why marketing like that of GM and Ford is more appealing to
Brazilians when it has a lot of color and animation. It also demonstrates why the
Brazilian culture finds marketing that focuses on company information rather than
product information more culturally engaging.
Brand
All eight subjects acknowledged the extremely sophisticated presentation of
these three sites. They said it is obvious that these sites represent large name, big
brand companies. Half of the subjects interviewed agreed that GM is the most well
known brand in Brazil. One subject commented that it is so familiar that most
Brazilians do not even consider it to be foreign. The other
half say that Ford is by far the most recognizable automobile
brand in Brazilian culture. In both cases the majority report
62
Figure 3-14: Ford’s
“Wow” Logo

that the websites assume a consumer familiarity with the brand in a culturally sensitive
manner. Actually, the Ford logo, which incorporates the word “wow” in Portuguese
(Figure 3-14), was a positive branding aspect for 3 of the 8 subjects (38%). Chrysler is
another largely familiar brand, but all eight subjects agreed that it does not come close
to the brand recognition of either GM or Ford.
Cultural Positioning
Cultural positioning is always at work in marketing, and it is particularly
noticeable when marketing across cultures. All eight subjects said that none of the web
sites present a negative or offensive position culturally. However, there are some
cultural scenarios in each site that can be considered not sensitive to the Brazilian
culture.
One of the subjects commented on a “people” photo on the GM site that was
culturally positioned in a very non-Brazilian way. The photo of a family dressed for
the outdoors, going hiking using their SUV, “could not look more American,” said one
subject (Figure 3-15). On the other hand, the
photos of the beach are positioned very well, as
they convey the traditional image of Brazil with its
exotic landscapes. The photos of children position
GM positively to Brazilians as well, and the
63
Figure 3-15: GM Family Photo

Figure 3-16: Chrysler Using
Camping Gear Photo
community service projects seem to be especially
culturally oriented.
The Chrysler site is not very creative in terms of
Brazilian culture. Four of 8 (50%) subjects said it
positions itself as being incredibly elitist and conveys a
foreign, upscale cultural position. Additionally, the
camping gear shown in the photos is not very Brazilian (Figure 3-16). As discussed
above, this site is positioned more toward the “rich” audience who can afford such
luxuries.
Ford, again, falls somewhere in between. It does not offend, yet it does not
particularly impress in a culturally sensitive way. The environmental section of Ford is
much more Brazilian though as it positions the forests and the beaches to be culturally
appealing.
Data Validation
Some subject data verification was done through interviews with website
managers. Electronic Data Solutions (EDS) is a leading global information technology
services company that provides strategies and solutions to help companies succeed in
their digital marketing strategies. They work to eliminate boundaries and collaborate
in new ways so that their clients understand the implications of marketing in a digital
world, and in doing so across cultures. In speaking with two executives at EDS
64

esponsible for the GM Brazilian website operations, one can see the legitimacy in the
subjects’ perception of which websites are Western U.S. ethnocentric and which are
not. Teri Takai is the Vice President of Internet Operations with the GM Global Supply
Chain division of EDS. Paul Durrer is the president for EDS GM Latin America,
Africa and Middle East Operations. Personal interviews with these individuals provide
study results validation.
Mr. Durrer noted that the data gathered in this study make sense, as the GM
Brazil website is almost entirely managed directly by Latin American administration.
The marketing, sales and technical staff is entirely Latin American and therefore they
understand the cultural issues at the source. GM uses local people to produce the
website. He believes that both GM and Ford produce uniquely Brazilian products and
use local Brazilian marketing staff. This supports the study’s findings that GM was
seen as the most appealing site for Brazilians, followed by Ford.
Furthermore, an article titled, “GM Sees Net Car Sales Boom in Brazil,” stated,
“General Motors believes they are still scratching the surface of a car market with
enormous potential.” GM realizes that the challenge is to bridge the gap between
Internet use and new-car buying patterns specific to the Brazilian culture (Mohoney
ecommercetimes.com). GM appears to have succeeded in using the Internet not only to
help it produce and distribute a car, but also to penetrate a market segment that largely
lacks online access (Conner kioskcom.com). It is able to do this by eliminating
ethnocentric thinking and tendencies. The company also responded to the cultural
65

issue of lack of online access by working with 500 of its dealers to set up electronic
sales kiosks in Brazil (Conner kioskcom.com).
Results Summary
The results reveal several important findings. The most prominent finding is
that people are sensitive to ethnocentric presentations in marketing and can distinguish
differences as seen in the consistent ranking of these three automobile websites. A
second significant finding is the apparent relationship between Western ethnocentrism
in the website marketing and the usability of the website for finding actual product
information and using e-commerce capabilities. A third significant finding is that out
of the six marketing factors studied, language and image have the biggest impact for
developing cultural sensitivity in website marketing. The following chapter discusses
these key findings in greater detail.
66

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS DISCUSSION
Key Findings
As summarized in the previous chapter, these study results reveal three
prominent findings:
1) People are sensitive to ethnocentric presentations in marketing and can
distinguish differences as seen in the consistent ranking of these three
automobile websites.
2) There is a relationship between Western ethnocentrism in the website
marketing and the usability of the website for finding actual product
information and using e-commerce capabilities.
3) Of the six marketing factors studied, language and image have the biggest
impact for developing cultural sensitivity in website marketing
The results support the notion that marketing across cultures is quite different
from marketing domestically, and it requires an understanding of issues inside as well
as outside the realm of marketing. For example, knowing the target audience is an
essential aspect of any marketing effort. However, as demonstrated by this study,
when marketing across country and cultural boundaries the marketer’s knowledge of
the target audience must expand to include psychodemographic factors like social
norms, lifestyles, values, religion, and education (Usunier 385).
67

The relationship between Western ethnocentrism in the website marketing and
the site usability for product information and e-commerce is striking. A high context,
culturally sensitive website is more likely to focus its marketing on information other
than products. For example, a website that appeals to the Brazilian culture, makes it
simultaneously more difficult for the Brazilian consumer to locate information about
products and to purchase them online. This demonstrates a fundamental difference
between the U.S. and Latin American cultures. It is difficult for a low context, U.S.
based company to understand a consumer that is not as interested in product purchases
as in the company itself. Inversely, it is equally difficult for a high context, Brazilian
based company to understand a consumer that is more interested product information
than in the company standards and commitment to its culture and community.
Nevertheless, understanding these cultural differences is key to building culturally
sensitive Internet marketing, and hence creating a website that appeals to the target
audience. General Motors was able to achieve this cultural sensitivity and develop a
culturally sensitive website; Chrysler, on the other hand did not.
Language and image are key marketing factors that make a statement about
cultural understanding. Since Internet marketing is extremely visual in nature, the way
a website looks and how effortlessly it reads determines, in large part, how appealing
the marketing message is from the consumer viewpoint and that of his or her entire
culture.
68

When marketing domestically, poorly structured sentences create a negative
reader reaction. Language is especially important in marketing as specific words can
make or break positive consumer attitudes. But more importantly, language is crucial
when marketing across cultures because translation determines many aspects of
consumer interpretations and attitudes about the company. Incorrect grammar can
cause the company to appear uneducated and may be a telling sign that an effort was
not made to understand the consumer’s culture. If words appear to be directly
translated from English, as was the case with the Chrysler site, then the language may
become confusing and not read smoothly. It is yet another sign to the consumer of
carelessness on the part of the marketing company. A consumer should never have to
read a sentence more than once to understand the message. Even the smallest sign of
incorrect language is noticeable and can impact cross-cultural marketing effectiveness.
For example, several subjects in the study expressed disapproval of the Chrysler site
using the letter “z” in “Brazil” when it appeared in the domain name. Authentic
Portuguese language always spells Brazil with an “s” (i.e. Brasil). By the same token,
most of the positive reaction toward authenticity of the GM site can be credited to how
well it was written, how clearly the language read, and the care that was taken to use
correct grammar. The use of English words that could have been translated into
Portuguese had a negative impact on subjects’ reactions to both the Ford and Chrysler
sites. Again, the general perception was that the marketing company should have
69

taken the time to learn how to translate these words so they made as much sense in
Portuguese as they did in English.
Image is another factor that has a large impact on consumer’s perception of
ethnocentrism in Internet marketing. Image is the “face” of the website, and it causes
consumers to form an opinion almost immediately. Most of the immediate negative
reaction to the Chrysler site had to do with the look and feel of the photos, the color,
and entire layout of the site. As discussed previously, there was very little color, and
the site had a clean, upscale, American look. This image projected onto the Brazilian
culture had an adverse affect, as the Brazilians subjects were not drawn to it in any
way. Subjects reported that they like to see people, color, and animation in the
Brazilian culture. Also, some of the photos that were shown on the Chrysler site were
out of place in this particular culture and gave the impression that the company did not
care about the Brazilian people.
In summary, it is important, when building websites for cross cultural
marketing, to understand the contextual nature of the culture and express that context
through the site design, the images, the text used, and the content that is emphasized.
For example, images of people appeal to the Brazilian culture because the typical
Brazilian consumer wants to know that the company cares about them and not just
about making a sale. Images focused on products only create the opposite effect in the
consumer’s mind, and therefore make the marketing company appear to be
ethnocentric.
70

Hypothesis: True or False?
The hypothesis of this thesis stated that U.S. based companies promote Western
culture ethnocentrism across country and cultural boundries when marketing through
the Interent. Based on the results of this study, this hypothesis has not been confirmed
or denied conclusively. However, the results do show that the same cross-cultural and
ethnocentrism issues that are inherent in traditional marketing are hard at work in
Internet marketing as well. Therefore, there is a tendency for some, perhaps many,
companies to demonstrate Western culture ethnocentrism when marketing through the
Internet. Furthermore, in response to the original research question, “Does the Internet
aggravate the problem of U.S. Western culture ethnocentrism in global marketing
practices, or is it a marketing tool that can help to overcome the problem?”, the answer
is that it does neither. It is a medium through which either can occur.
According to the results of this study, the same basic issues involved in
marketing across cultures exist just as powerfully when marketing through the Internet.
At this time, the Internet as a medium neither overcomes ethnocentric marketing, nor
makes it worse. Merely, it acts as yet another tool through which marketers can
manipulate messages being sent to consumers. If the marketing company understands
the ways in which the end consumer will view ethnocentrism, as GM appears to, then
the message comes across successfully. If the company uses the Internet without
considering the fundamental cross-cultural issues, as does Chrysler, it can be a
hindrance. In the interview with Paul Durrer, he concurred adding that it is very hard
71

to determine the Internet’s impact on a marketer’s ability to reach customers across
cultures.
An interesting result that corroborates this finding may be found in the answers
subjects gave to the scaled survey question that stated, “American Internet marketing is
significantly different than American traditional marketing.” Five of eight subjects
(62%) responded with “indifferent.” Additionally, during the open-ended interviews,
each subject was asked how he or she perceived the ability of the Internet as a
marketing medium to reach consumers cross culturally compared to traditional
marketing media. The answers were consistently either “not sure” or “the same.” This
may be because they felt that the Internet marketing is not significantly different than
traditional marketing. These responses support the position that the Internet provides
neither a help or a hindrance, but rather another path for ethnocentrism to cross.
Meanings and Implications of Other Findings
Of the six marketing factors studied, results show that language and image have
the most significant implications for developing cultural sensitivity in website
marketing. However, the other four factors should not be ignored. These factors are:
message, content, brand and cultural positioning.
72

Message/Content
Message and content tend to work in tandem. The message expressed through
the content of a culturally sensitive website is often not related to the typical message
of, “buy this product.” The study results demonstrate that when companies understand
their audience they can adjust the overall message of the website accordingly, and thus
rid themselves of an unappealing ethnocentric facade. The GM and Ford sites in
particular exude a message of caring about the Brazilian community and the people
while at the same time enticing the consumer into buying a car. They both place great
emphasis on environmental consciousness, and GM takes the message further by
showing a concern for the Brazilian people who work for the company.
Messages that go beyond the traditional U.S. buyer/seller relationship and show
concern for issues that are important to a target audience have far reaching
implications. If the audience perceives the marketing message is empathetic to their
core issues, they will be more apt to enjoy using the website, favor the company, and in
turn, become a buying customer. Cultural awareness in the marketing message can
translate into the bottom line, company profit.
Brand
Consumer brand familiarity appears to parallel the level of Western culture
ethnocentrism that comes through in the website marketing. This study shows that GM
and Ford are far and away the most recognizable automobile brands in Brazil. A 1999
73

eport by Adbrands.net named General Motors as a leading advertiser in Brazil in 1999
(mind-advertising.com). Accordingly, AV’s World Automobile Industry reports that
General Motors and Ford are among the leading automobile producers worldwide
(pommert.de). It is not surprising, then, the GM and Ford websites were found to
demonstrate the least ethnocentricity in their marketing respectively. These two issues,
brand familiarity and ethnocentric marketing, appear to correlate. The less
ethnocentrism detected in a company’s marketing, the more likely it is to appeal to the
end consumer, thus establishing consumer familiarity and brand recognition.
The reverse of this statement may also be true and is demonstrated by the
results found in the Chrysler website. Of the three companies studied, the Chrysler
brand and logo are the least recognizable in the Brazilian culture, and simultaneously
the Chrysler site was the most ethnocentrically expressive. This implies that
consumers will likely become more familiar with a brand if it is positioned in their
minds with marketing that displays cultural sensitivity.
Cultural Positioning
Cultural positioning in this study tends to have the same meaning and
implications as image because positioning a company online has everything to do with
visual marketing. The results reveal that certain photos in these sites can influence the
way a culture will react positively or negatively toward the company. The images of
the people and the scenery that culturally position the company as being Brazilian, or
74

of appreciating and supporting Brazilian culture, appeal to the consumer and entice
them to linger at the site. The images that position a company as culturally American
convey an attitude of cultural carelessness to Brazilians, and in turn, cause consumers
to go elsewhere for product purchases. Clearly, the way in which a company chooses
to position itself in a cross cultural setting can determine whether or not it will succeed
in a particular culture.
Discussion Summary
This chapter focused on the study results and their key findings which have
implications for Internet marketing across cultures. A culturally sensitive website
depends heavily on the contextual nature of the consumers’ culture. Therefore, to
market successfully, the cultural high or low context atmosphere needs to be
understood and subsequently expressed through the website images, language and
other site design elements.
The hypothesis has not been confirmed or denied conclusively, however, the
results show that the same cross-cultural and ethnocentrism issues that are inherent in
traditional marketing exist in Internet marketing as well. Therefore, there is definitely
a tendency for companies to demonstrate Western culture ethnocentrism when
marketing through the Internet. The Interent provides a new medium through which
ethnocentrism can exist, and does not necessarily serve to aggrevate or overcome this
issue.
75

Finally, all six of the marketing factors (language, message, image, content,
brand and cultural positioning) were found to have cultural implications for consumer
purchases. All six place great importance on cultural concoiusness, and can work for
or against positive consumer reactions depending on the marketer.
76

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
The results discussed in the previous chapter can be translated into a prototype
model for low context cultures like U.S. companies to follow for developing culturally
sensitive website marketing to high context cultures such as Brazil. To validate the
model, a full scale, in depth research study should be conducted. The study should
validate the model in multiple industries and cultures. In this way a comprehensive
understanding of the cross-cultural issues can be obtained. The study methodology
applied in this thesis, and the prototype model, are the foundation for conducting this
broader research.
Prototype Model for Cross Cultural Sensitive Internet Marketing
Any well-designed marketing website model must have the prospective
consumer in mind. Therefore, the first step in developing a culturally sensitive website
is to determine whether the target culture is high or low context.
Cultural context is determined by performing extensive market research into
the culture. The marketer must conduct a survey with a large sampling of subjects
from the target culture, asking pertinent questions involving marketing preferences,
social norms, values and lifestyle customs to determine cultural traits. This cultural
research should also include economic trend developments, pricing, distribution and
77

selling activities within the culture. Other differences to consider are in the
environment and parameters such as business rules and regulations.
Once high or low context is determined in the target culture, the company
should compare that cultural context to its own. If the home culture is the same as the
target, marketers must understand the cultural issues at work within the target culture
and subsequently, use marketing approaches similar to those already in use in the home
culture. If the context is the opposite, the marketer must design the site to be culturally
sensitive to the target culture. Most importantly, if the target culture is high context,
marketers should focus the site content on information in addition to product
information (company history, credibility, and care for cultural issues like environment
or needy people). If the target culture is low context, marketers should design the site
to be a “shopping site” and focus on products, prices, and how to make purchases.
Designing website sensitivity across cultures requires staffing the web design
and development team with local people and local advertising. The language must be
written directly in the target culture’s language, not translated, and all images must be
tested to be sure they are being used appropriately. When the site design is complete,
interviews must be conducted with consumers from the target culture. The consumers
should exercise the website for usability, as marketers assess consumer reactions.
Based on the usability results, adjustments should be made to the website accordingly.
The prototype model for developing culturally sensitive websites is shown in figure 5-
1.
78

Same
Figure 5-1: A Prototype Model for Developing Culturally Sensitive Websites
Market
Normally
If High
Context
Culture
Determine extent
of differences
between home
and target culture
Limitations of Study
Opposite
Staff With
Local Team
Write
Authentically,
Do Not
Translate
Focus on
Product Info
Research
target culture
The primary lesson learned from this work is that one cannot attempt to
generalize from a small study to all Internet marketing as was originally thought. This
study presents a direction as to how non-western cultures tend to perceive U.S.
ethnocentrism and is worthy of further research. The results established here are
79
Same
Market
Normally
If Low
Context
Culture
Determine extent
of differences
between home
and target culture
Opposite
Staff With
Local Team
Write
Authentically,
Do Not
Translate
Focus on Info
other than
products

specific to the companies that were studied and the specific culture to which they are
marketing. However, in some instances a generalization using case studies may be
possible if the three cases demonstrate direct cause and effect relationships (King
Koehane, and Verba 45).
The limitations in this study were in the subjects and the case studies chosen for
analysis. The sample size was not large enough to achieve statistically applicable
results. Trends and patterns in the subjects’ responses did clearly emerge, however
with a small sample, the results should be considered indicators, rather than predictors
of cross cultural marketing sensitivity. A random sample of subjects from the total
population is needed to truly represent Brazilian cultural reaction to U.S. marketing.
Additionally, the subjects in this study were very homogeneous in their demographic
characteristics, which do not reflect the full range of Brazilian diversity, only the
current Brazilian Internet users.
The study was not conducted in Brazil, but rather in the U.S. with Brazilian
subjects who were equally familiar with American culture. It is possible that this
factor may have biased their answers because they may have been more aware of both
cultural perspectives than the majority of Internet users who live in Brazil.
In conclusion, the Internet itself is not the answer to eliminating ethnocentrism
in marketing, nor is it the problem. The issue at hand is that U.S. companies must have
a full understanding of the cross-cultural marketing fundamentals, whether or not the
medium is the Internet. The subtle social norms and values of the audience drive how
80

consumers will react to marketing directed to them from a foreign culture. In many
ways, the Internet provides the technology to make cross-cultural marketing easier, but
it is the marketers’ job to acknowledge, understand and overcome ethnocentrism in
marketing messages.
81

APPENDIX A
82

Interview with Uwe Bergmann
Date: Feb 7, 2002. Phone Interview. 10:00 am
Your Position/titles….expertise? Doctor?
He is a consultant who teaches at NYU-German, Business German language,
Financial German language. He also has a degree of Beijing University in Language
Instruction. Went to school at U of Moscow as well and specializes in interpretation.
His expertise is in Chinese, English, Russian and German are his language areas of
work and study. He started in the translation business by doing voiceovers in
Germany.
I understand you do some translation for American Companies Advertising in
Germany? Explain?
He does translating, editing and supervising of ad companies. Mostly huge
International corporations. He specializes in the translation of the language used in
the ads so that the meaning is not lost or completely changed when put into another
language from English.
In your experience, are there a lot of mistakes made on the part of the US when
trying to market across cultures? I have been reading about the many problems
especially in translation.
YES! He can only really speak for the German market expertly, but absolutely. U.S.
companies, and the US population in general are unaware of the fact that when words
are translated to another language, they might become offensive and in turn provoke
the opposite reaction from what was intended.
Ex) The well known GOT MILK? Campaign. The company did not feel that they
needed any counseling before marketing in Mexico and Germany. In both countries
that phrase translated as, “Are you Lactating?”
Ex) United Airlines just recently wanted to advertise to Germany with a campaign that
said something like “We are Americans and nothing is going to knock us down.” But
it sounds awkward when translated becoming more like, “We are Americans and we’ll
fall from the sky”. Not a good image to portray especially when advertising and
airline. With Uwe’s help they changed it to “We all live in a free world”. They chose
this phrase because it cannot be constructed to mean anything other than what it says.
Companies lose millions of dollars because of these types of mistakes all the time.
83

Would you classify this as U.S. Ethnocentrism?
Certainly! The majority of U.S. citizens do not even have a passport. They have never
been anywhere else in the world so they basically have no clue. They think that the
U.S. way is and should be the standard way of doing things. This attitude translates
into corporations when they are trying to market to other countries. Many U.S.
corporations are getting more aware these days, however. They have to because they
are beginning to realize, if you are going to spend million of dollars on an ad
campaign overseas…it has better be done right so it works.
Are there more factors than just translation problems? Content, message of
advertising? Brand names?
Certainly! Certain images of people, places and things will bring specific message
across….some of which provoke a negative reaction from the audience. For Example
in East Germany they are not into any kind of spiritual experiences…they consider
these “silly”. There was a U.S. produced ad campaign that flopped terribly in
Germany because of problems other than the words and translation. It was an as for
tea, pictured a girl in a NYC studio doing yoga with her tea sitting beside her. This
provoked a message of laziness to the East German audience….especially at a time
when unemployment was very high there. As you can see, economic factors come into
play as well.
Advertisers also need to be aware of this problem within the same country…..ex) East
and West Germany see things very differently. This ad might have done fine in West
Germany.
Do you think the Internet has made any kind of impact one way or another on
this problem of U.S. Ethnocentrism in advertising across cultures? Is it basically
the same issues as involved in print and other kinds of traditional advertising or
have U.S. companies leveraged the Internet to help overcome the ethnocentrism?
He thinks this is a generational question and the target group for Internet marketing is
entirely different than traditional marketing (not sure if I agree with that). The
Internet appeals to the younger generation and it is a more universal way of
advertising. They older generation is still swayed by tradition media ads more so. In
any case Uwe thinks the same issues and problems are arising when companies use the
Internet to market across cultures.
84

Do you know of any way to measure ethnocentrism by way scale or model?
Nothing universal that he knows of. Measuring ethnocentrism is a very individual
thing and has a lot to do with perception.
85

Interview with Carla Lopez:
Date: November 12, 2001 Personal Interview 9:00 am
Where are you from?
I was born in Brazil. My mother was born in Kenya and my father in Tanzania.
Where have you lived?
Northern Brazil, the Caribbean island of Grenada, Malaysia, Portugal and
currently the United States.
So you have experienced many different cultures other than and including
American?
Yes, definitely.
What are your views on Ethnocentrism in American versus other cultures?
Definitely feel that the U.S. is the most ethnocentric culture I have experienced.
It very dominantly projects the image that US is the best culture and others should
follow its lead. It’s hard for developing countries because they depend heavily on the
U.S. for so many resources, but they don’t want to give up their own cultural identity.
The above questions were scheduled and pre-planned before the interview. The
following bullet points contain the major information gained from the rest of the
interview, which was basically a casual conversation:
• Other countries take in the U.S. culture but that is not reciprocated by the U.S.
• Many developing countries are resentful of American influence on their culture.
• There is a lot of British influence in Malaysia and Granada. Especially in terms of
business and popular cultures, the U.S. and Britain are very ethnocentric.
• Brazilian economics are heavily based on the U.S. therefore U.S. thinking
dominates these institutions. Brazilian film industry is non existent…it is
American.
• People of other cultures absolutely feel that the U.S. thinks they are better than
everyone else.
• World powers have managed to reshape the economics in developing worlds;
therefore developing countries have to tailor their economies to suit this.
Conversation turned more toward marketing and ethnocentricity:
86

• Carla definitely sees U.S. (and British) ethnocentricity in marketing.
• T-shirts in Brazil are sold in English.
• Brazilian name brands are often English sounding words.
• In Japan a lot of logos there have English words in them but they don’t make sense.
People buy them just because they are written in English.
• Carla was not really on the Internet much until she came to the U.S. She did
mention the overwhelming domination of American websites.
• In Brazil you need a good command of English in order to use the Net, especially
to shop on line.
87

APPENDIX B
88

Original CETSCALE
1. American People should always buy American made products instead of imports
2. Only those products that are unavailable in the U.S. should be imported.
3. Buy American-made products. Keep America working.
4. American products, first, last and foremost.
5. Purchasing foreign made products is un-American.
6. It is not right to purchase foreign products because it puts Americans out of jobs.
7. A real American should always buy American-made products.
8. We should purchase products manufactured in America instead of letting other
countries get rich off us.
9. It is always best to purchase American made products.
10. There should be very little trading or purchasing of goods from other countries
unless out of necessity.
11. Americans should not buy foreign products because this hurts American business
and causes unemployment.
12. Curbs should be put on all imports.
13. It may cost me in the long run but I prefer to support American products.
14. Foreigners should not be allowed to put their products in our markets.
15. Foreign products should be taxed heavily to reduce their entry into the U.S.
16. We should buy from foreign countries only those products that we cannot obtain
within our own country.
17. American consumers who purchase products made in other countries are
responsible for putting their fellow Americans out of work.
Modified CETSCALE
1. American companies should primarily market to non-American cultures using the
Internet.
2. Only those American products that are unavailable in Brazil should be marketed to
Brazil through the Internet.
3. American companies encourage Brazilian consumers to buy American products.
4. American companies promote their products as being the first, last and foremost.
5. Purchasing American products makes me feel like I am compromising my culture.
6. It is not right to purchase American made products because it puts my own people
out of jobs and at a disadvantage.
7. American marketing is aimed at me to make me perceive American culture as
better than mine.
89

8. We should purchase products manufactured in America because they show us that
they are the standard.
9. It is always best to purchase American products rather than Brazilian.
10. The perception I get from American marketing is that there should be very little
trading or purchasing of goods from non-American countries unless absolutely
necessary.
11. American do not buy foreign products.
12. American Internet marketing is significantly different than American traditional
marketing (i.e. Print advertisements, TV commercials, Billboards, Radio
advertisements).
13. American companies encourage me to support for American products, even when it
will cost me more in the long run.
14. American companies should not be allowed to market products in Brazil.
15. American products should be taxed heavily so as to reduce entry into Brazil.
16. I do not want to rely on American products, however I feel there is no choice but to
do so.
17. American companies who market to Brazil are responsible for putting the value of
Brazilian consumers below the value of American consumers.
90

APPENDIX C
91

Qualitative Interview Questions
Marketing Factor 1: Language
Issues of translation inaccuracies
• Does the language in this website seem to be translated well? (i.e. Does it read
clearly and make sense as if it was not first written in English?)
• Do the words convey any strange or negative meanings?
• Is it well written and articulate, or does the working seem choppy and rough?
• Would you say there is much “Americanism” coming through in the language of
this website?
• I specifically noticed with Ford that there are several English worlds being used.
Comment? (ex. Quality Care).
• In assessing this factor of marketing (language), how would you say the Internet as
a medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
92

Marketing Factor 2: Message
Meaning conveyed through the marketing message
• What is the marketing message being conveyed in this website? (i.e. What is the
site saying to you, other than “buy this car”?)
• Is the message specific to Brazilian culture? If not, should it be?
• Do you think the message is aimed with an American consumer in mind rather than
a Brazilian consumer? If so, does that make the product seem less appealing to
you?
• What kind of message is being conveyed with the timeline section of the GM site?
• In assessing this factor of marketing (message), how would you say the Internet as
a medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
93

Marketing Factor 3: Image
The actual photos, drawings, animation and other visual stimuli being conveyed
The actual photos, drawings, animation and other visual stimuli being conveyed
• Image is extremely important in marketing. What meaning do the images in this
website convey to you?
• Are there photos of people in this website? Do you think their image is too
American? (Look specifically at the timeline section of the GM site and the
professional section)
• Is there any meaning inherent in color in Brazilian culture? Do the color choices in
this website follow such cultural “rules” about color?
• Does the animation of the Ford site appeal to you as a Brazilian consumer of
American products?
• What do you think about the images in the kids’ section of the Ford site?
• Do the color changes within Ford site help or hurt the overall image?
• In assessing this factor of marketing (image), how would you say the Internet as a
medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
94

Marketing Factor 4: Content
How meaningful and comprehensive is the information being conveyed
How meaningful and comprehensive is the information being conveyed
• Is there enough appropriate information given in the content to make you
comfortable shopping on this website?
• Is there anything in the site content that is inappropriate to Brazilian culture?
• Do you consider this to be a sophisticated website by Brazilian standards?
• In assessing this factor of marketing (content), how would you say the Internet as a
medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
95

Marketing Factor 5: Branding
Does the brand ring familiarity in the mind of the subject/consumer
• Is the brand being marketed in this website a familiar brand in Brazil?
• Do the slogans/taglines being used convey the brand well?
• Is the corporate logo familiar to you? Would you be able to tell one logo from the
other without seeing its name?
• Is the site assuming a consumer familiarity with the product? Should it be? Are
you familiar with this brand?
• In assessing this factor of marketing (branding), how would you say the Internet as
a medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
96

Marketing Factor 6: Cultural Positioning
What kind of cultural scenarios are at work in the marketing (i.e. how many
women, men,…etc are shown. Doing what? Does that matter to this culture?)
• Do you see any cultural scenarios being played out in the marketing of this site?
(either American or Brazilian cultural situations)
• Consider the images discussed previously. Are the images of people doing things
appropriate to Brazilian culture? (i.e. A girl doing Yoga is not an appropriate ad in
Germany as it conveys laziness to the German people).
• Are automobiles as important (i.e. do they carry the same status) in Brazilian
culture as they do in American culture? Do these websites show an understanding
of the cultural positioning of automobiles in Brazil?
• In assessing this factor of marketing (branding), how would you say the Internet as
a medium compares to traditional marketing mediums.
Better
Worse
Same
97

Confidentiality Statement
Signed by all interview subjects
The individual responses given during this investigation will have no association with
the subjects personally. Only the aggregate data obtained via subjects’ responses will
be summarized and used in the thesis report.
Signature of Subject
Signature of Investigator
98

APPENDIX D
99

Raw Data from Scaled Survey
Subject
questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Average Median
1 2 3 3 1 2 2 2 1 2.00 2.00
2 1 4 2 2 4 2 2 1 2.25 2.00
3 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4.38 4.00
4 5 4 5 3 5 4 4 3 4.13 4.00
5 3 4 2 2 3 4 4 2 3.00 3.00
6 3 4 4 3 4 2 4 2 3.25 3.50
7 5 2 5 2 4 2 5 2 3.38 3.00
8 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 4.63 5.00
9 5 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 4.63 5.00
10 3 5 5 5 5 2 3 3 3.88 4.00
11 2 5 2 1 2 1 2 1 2.00 2.00
12 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 3.38 3.00
13 4 3 3 3 2 3 4 3 3.13 3.00
14 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1.50 1.50
15 4 4 2 3 2 2 4 2 2.88 2.50
16 4 4 1 1 3 1 2 4 2.50 2.50
17 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2.25 2.00
Average 3.41 3.65 3.24 2.65 3.41 2.71 3.35 2.59
Median 4 4 3 3 3 2 4 2
CETSCALE Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism
Questions Perceived Perceived
Perceived Perceived
(modified) (Average score) (Median score) Subject (Average score) (Median score)
1 2.0 2.0 1 3.41 4
2 2.5 2.0 2 3.65 4
3 4.4 4.0 3 3.24 3
4 4.1 4.0 4 2.65 3
5 3.0 3.0 5 3.41 3
6 3.3 3.5 6 2.71 2
7 3.4 3.0 7 3.35 4
8 4.6 5.0 8 2.59 2
9 4.6 5.0
10 3.9 4.0
11 2.0 2.0
12 3.4 3.0
13 3.1 3.0
14 1.5 1.5
15 2.9 2.5
16 2.5 2.5
17 2.3 2.0
100

APPENDIX E
101

Table E-1: Case Study of General Motors Website
General Motors for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Language Message Image
Subject 1 Reads clearly, is well
written and articulate.
Some English words
show a bit of
“Americanism”
coming through (i.e.
gifts, screen savers,
wallpapers, fear this).
These could have been
translated authentically
Subject 2 Well translated.
Articulate. No strange
or negative meanings
in the language here.
Subject 3 Informal and
articulate. Some very
technical terms but
nothing really strange
or negative. Very well
written, easy to read
and understand. Seems
like Brazilians wrote
this site.
Subject 4 Seems very good, very
articulate Portuguese.
Was obviously not
translated from
English.
A company that cares.
The timeline talks
about the history of
GM specifically in
Brazil and its
contributions to Brazil.
Very contextualized to
appropriate culture.
Good.
Concern about
environment and
diversity. Trying to
humanize the work of
making cars with the
Solidarity program.
Not really good for
making Brazilians
want to buy a car.
Saying that cars have a
purpose and
convincing people that
the company is doing a
good job
environmentally. Very
Brazilian message.
Message of adventure,
community, family,
leisure. Very Brazilian.
102
People look “real” and
authentically Brazilian.
Not generic.
Background colors and
banner are the 3 colors
of the Brazilian flag.
Nothing other than that
is inherent in meaning
of color to a Brazilian.
Pictures trying to give
an idea of diversity.
Concerned with not
hurting feelings in
Brazil. Images seem to
target younger market.
Strange to see Afro-
Brazilian photos. Rare.
Very Brazilian looking
images. Kid pictures
are good for this
culture. Colors of the
Brazilian flag
displayed. Blond on
homepage a surprise
though.
Timeline shows links
w/ Brazilian images
(yellow license plates).
Mix of races shown on
homepage. Colors
change to more serious
on the section about
careers at GM.

Subject 5 Very good use of
language. Well written
and articulate. No
Americanism coming
through in language.
Subject 6 Absolutely well
translated. Very well
written. “Fear this”
section is not easy to
understand.
Subject 7 Very good translation.
Obviously written by a
Brazilian, even
punctuation is good.
Subject 8 Doesn’t seem to be
translated at all, but
rather written
originally in
Portuguese.
Looks like a Brazilian
message. Appealing to
Brazilian consumer.
Good use of people
and places in culture.
Message is not so
much culturally
specific as it is to a
specific audience.
Big on establishing
credibility and history
which is important to
Brazilians. Site talks
about investing $1
billion into Brazil by
2005. “We care about
country.”
Difficult to find a
message about cars
because it’s saying so
many other things
(community, we care,
protect environment)
103
Brazilian flag colors,
obvious cause not
generally used
together. Color
changes with the
context. Images of GM
workers shows the
company cares.
Nothing specific in the
colors. Design of site
looks American and
the people in
homepage photo look
very American is style
and posture.
Nothing odd in photos,
they are very
Brazilian. Blond on
homepage is odd, but
likely because of their
fascination with
Blondes. Unappealing
to me though.
Everything looks
Brazilian, especially
the people. Time line
has some section that
really have a Brazilian
look. Flag colors.

Table E-2: Case Study of General Motors Website (continued)
General Motors for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Content Branding Cultural Positioning
Subject 1 Not a lot readily
available about kind of
cars. Cars specified as
having “Brazilian”
design. Nothing
offensive in content.
Subject 2 Color meaning is flag
colors. Content shows
a lot about how cars
are produced and
company ethics.
Sophisticated looking
site.
Subject 3 Can’t make purchase
here but good at telling
where and how you
can buy car. Nothing
inappropriate. A well
done site.
Subject 4 Great. First car
company in Brazil to
allow building an
entire car online.
Nothing inappropriate.
Very sophisticated site.
Subject 5 Nothing inappropriate
in content.
Sophisticated design.
Very recognizable in
Brazil, not necessarily
as GM, but as
“Chevette.” Website
assumes this consumer
familiarity by not
readily providing
profile of cars.
People know this
brand well and the
slogans/taglines in this
site convey the brand
well.
Familiar brand but not
the most well known
in Brazil. Site assumes
the consumer knows
the brand, but still
gives good info.
Huge familiarity in
Brazil. The site
conveys this well.
Familiar brand in
Brazilian culture. Logo
is very recognizable.
104
Community service
projects are specific to
Brazil. Nothing
inappropriate. Very
much in the context of
a Brazilian website.
Nothing really
culturally negative to
brazil. The beach
photo portrays a
traditional image of
Brazil as exotic
paradise.
Generic Brazilian
cultural positioning. A
lot about how the
company cares.
Nothing offensive here
One very culturally
charged image
showing the old
woman in the section
on literacy issues.
Positions itself as
being part of the entire
world with pictures
and content.

Subject 6 Good content, except
for the expression
“fear this” = makes no
sense to Brazilian.
Subject 7 A lot of useful info in
content. Sophisticated
site. Nothing
inappropriate to
Brazilian culture.
Subject 8 Hard to find info on
specific cars, not very
shoppable.
Sophisticated site
though.
Very familiar, and site
shows that knowledge
but only a specific
public has access to
the Internet anyway.
Familiar brand. It’s
been there a long time
so it’s not facing Anti-
Americanism as much
as other companies.
GM has been around
in Brazil for so long
that people don’t even
think of it as
American.
105
Image of boys in
sprinkler could be
happening anywhere.
Could be more
appealing if positioned
as more typically
Brazilian.
Some photos are really
American looking as
you get deeper into
site. (ex, outdoor
family, clothes, big
cars) All these not very
Brazilian positioning.
Nothing inappropriate
culturally but that may
be simply because it is
hard to defend
Brazilians.

Table E-3: Case Study of Chrysler Website
Chrysler for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Language Message Image
Subject 1 Nothing seems odd or
strange. Not really
enough text to tell if it
makes sense.
Subject 2 Language is more
personal here. No
negative meanings,
conveys that the car is
made for you. The car
is personalized (it’s got
charm, attractive).
Subject 3 Some parts are hard to
understand where they
mix English w/
Portuguese. Mostly
well written, but some
very poorly translated
phrases. Domain name
shows it’s not an
authentic Brazilian site
Subject 4 Big technical
descriptions, hard to
understand. Some
choppy sections but
mostly good. Bad
translation of “not your
usual Sedan”.
Subject 5 Reads well. Well
written.
No message. They
don’t even have a link
to social support like
the others. Not specific
to any culture. Generic
Makes you feel more
comfortable with the
car rather than the
company itself.
Overall pretty generic
message. Aimed
toward picky buyer.
Fairly general
message, but very
“high class”.
Definitely a
“foreigners” in the
message.
Very neutral site, but
certainly not Brazilian.
Message is all about
buying cars and not
empathetic to the
people of Brazil as is
GM.
Very informative car
info but not much else.
Not culture specific at
all.
106
No people. Very
sterile. Not contextual
to Brazilian culture at
all. Nothing
meaningful in the
color. Bland.
A monotone image
look. No people but
that’s probably good in
this situation. Not
customized at all to
Brazil.
Images of van are not
really Brazilian. Very
non-Brazilian look in
the color of the site.
Railway photo
completely non-
Brazilian.
Really bad use of ski
image in the Sebring
section, as there is no
place to ski in Brazil.
No people images
make it much less
appealing. Very bland
use of color, no
meaning attached.

Subject 6 Very bad translation.
A lot of American
words and innuendoes.
This site is full of
Americanism in
language.
Subject 7 Many translation
mistakes. Awkward
sounding. Definitely
not written originally
in Portuguese.
Incorrect grammar,
American sounding,
non-user friendly.
Subject 8 Appears to be
translated from
English. Uses a lot of
words not typically
used in Brazil. Has an
American style of
writing.
No message other than
“but this car”.
Message has a lot of
English. It is saying,
“you want an
American car.” Maybe
it’s appealing to an
upper class Brazilian
consumer.
Specifically for buying
cars. Looks like
anything you’d see in
America.
107
Couldn’t look more
American than this.
Colors are very
neutral, very
American. Designs are
very linear, a very
American way of
organizing.
Very American.
Entire site looks like
an American car ad.
Boring neutral colors.
Brazilians like
movement and bright
colors.
Doesn’t look Brazilian
at all. Kind of bland.
Has a clean look and
sleek feel whereas an
appealing Brazilian
site is usually Blocky
and harder to navigate.

Table E-4: Case Study of Chrysler Website (continued)
Chrysler for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Content Branding Cultural Positioning
Subject 1 Gets job done but
doesn’t go out of its
way. A bit static, not a
lot of links but info
about cars. A clean site
though.
Subject 2 Info given is too
general at first, but
gets more detailed with
clicks. More
sophisticated than GM.
Nothing inappropriate
in content.
Subject 3 Gives a lot of info
about the cars
themselves. Images of
Chrysler building and
railway. Sophisticated
in an elite sense.
Subject 4 Info aimed at rich
people. Vans are not
big in Brazil. Easily
seen as an “American”
content site.
Not familiar to
Brazilians. Because of
this the site should do
a better job of
conveying the brand.
Doesn’t grab the
consumer.
Not as familiar. Brand
conjures up images of
trucks. PT cruiser not
familiar in Brazil, yet
site assumes a
familiarity.
Not as familiar. Much
less than GM. The site
shows 31 places to buy
the car in mostly
upgraded areas.
Not very familiar
brand. Site does not
do good job of making
Brazilians feel
familiarity with brand.
108
Not enough images to
tell. Cars not shown in
any kind of context
here. Nothing
offensive, but nothing
appealing either.
No cultural scenarios
here. Only cars. Very
generic. Chrysler is
very prestigious.
This culture would not
recognize the Chrysler
building. Conveys a
foreign, upscale image.
Ski picture is very
inappropriate.
Trying to position an
American car as being
better because it is
imported. Several
images that are not
offensive but that
Brazilians shouldn’t
recognize (New York,
camping gear).

Subject 5 A lot of good
information about the
cars. Not much about
company. Would be
better if content
included more social
issues and company
info. Not as
sophisticated as others.
Subject 6 Content doesn’t
connect with
Brazilians.
Subject 7 Not enough info to
decide on buying a car.
GM is more
informative. Language
is inappropriate, as is
the “z” in the domain
name.
Subject 8 Could use more
information but it is
really sophisticated.
Not as familiar brand
in Brazil because of
the very dry
marketing.
Less known in Brazil.
Obvious in this site.
Familiar but not as
much. Obvious in the
look and feel of this
site.
Not at all a familiar
brand in brazil, but the
logos on site convey it
well.
109
Nothing special here.
Just cars and locations.
Very stale culturally.
Missed the mark with
cultural positioning to
Brazil. Especially in
the language use and
design of the site.
Positioned more for
Americans.
Positioned as an
American car with a
feeble attempt at
targeting an authentic
Brazilian culture.
Too bland and neural
to get a feel for
whether or not there is
positioning at work.

Table E-5: Case Study of Ford Website
Ford for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Language Message Image
Subject 1 Seems clear if not a
little flamboyant. Sort
of an anti-Latin
comment on the
timeline. “Quality” is
not a word in Brazilian
vocabulary. Uses a lot
of Internet words that
are in English.
Subject 2 Easy to understand.
Nothing negative.
There are some
English words that
could be translated but
it’s an upper-class
connotation not to.
Subject 3 Well written. The
“wow” logo is good.
Words like e-gifts,
pickup, airbags,
showroom are no good
to use, but mostly the
language is very
Brazilian.
Subject 4 Some bad Portuguese,
but mostly well
written. Ford “direct”
should be translated.
Many English words
used. Ford “mobility”
makes no sense in
Brazil.
Fairly generic except
for message about
imports putting an end
to the Latin car. Some
social causes but only
about what Ford has
done, not Brazil.
Message shows
“courage and
determination…etc.”
Not specific to
Brazilian culture,
pretty general
message.
Seems very balanced
between American and
Brazilian.
There is environmental
message
110
No people, so not very
culture specific. No
preference for the
colors used. Animation
looks fairly Brazilian,
especially in kids’
section.
Images are appropriate
for what they are
trying to sell. Rustic,
earth, country, off road
cars. The interactivity
and animation are very
appealing to Brazilians
Great animation. The
red and brown go well
with the site for off
road, but not
particularly culturally
specific. Animated
sections much more
Brazilian than the rest.
Overall nice images,
but not necessarily
Brazilian. Kids section
is good culturally.

Subject 5 Good use of language.
Gives a history of
Ford. A bit of
Americanism coming
through in the English,
some words should
really be translated.
Subject 6 Good translation for
the most part, good car
descriptions. English
words are used but are
not a detriment here.
Subject 7 Much better translation
than Chrysler but not
as good as GM. Words
establish credibility
through history. Uses
English but mostly for
well-known Internet
Jargon.
Subject 8 Good language. Reads
normally. Seems to be
written originally in
Portuguese.
Conveys fun, clubs,
contests, and kids.
Pretty generic
message. More
American idea and
impression overall.
Message here could be
applied to any culture.
Could focus more on
the Brazilian people
for this culture though.
Environmental policy
trying to show
message of concern
and compassion.
Brazilian message,
especially with initial
pop-up.
Fairly neutral
culturally where
message is concerned.
111
More modern look and
feel than GM. Generic
use of color.
Animation is really
good for targeting
Brazilian culture.
Animation is
appealing. Great use of
colors and photos for
this culture.
Great animation on
homepage, very
appealing. Images of
building, mountains,
beaches, very good
representation of
Brazil. Color is good
overall, not boring like
Chrysler. Kid’s section
is a little odd.
Yellow boxes on top
make it appear to be
something you’d see in
Brazil. Nothing else
meaningful in color.

Table E-6: Case Study of Ford Website (continued)
Ford for Brazil
Marketing Factors
Content Branding Cultural Positioning
Subject 1 A lot of good content
given on cars but fairly
generic. Seems like a
sophisticated site.
Subject 2 Trying to make you
feel like part of their
family or club. A lot of
info about cars and
price. A sophisticated
site but you can get
lost in the info.
Subject 3 Good. Can easily
research car. Much
less busy that typical
Brazilian web content.
Subject 4 Good info on car but
not as much as other
two. Nothing really
inappropriate in
content but they use
too much English.
Subject 5 Almost too text heavy.
More images would be
appealing, but nothing
inappropriate.
Subject 6 Good content for the
most part. Good car
descriptions and info.
Hugely familiar brand
in Brazil. Website
conveys this
familiarity well.
Very popular brand in
Brazil. The site
assumes a familiarity
by saying “our home is
the size of Brazil.”
Huge brand in Brazil.
Site really gets at this
familiarity, especially
with the modification
on the logo (wow).
Huge brand in Brazil.
Site recognizes this
and acts on it in certain
ways.
Familiar Brand. Most
Brazilians recognize
immediately.
112
Very sterile, not really
conveying anything
culturally. No people
images in the site.
Not much of this
because of lack of
photos, but it does use
a lot of English words
which can either be
negative or give the
site distinction.
Rugby section is not
Brazilian, rather very
American.
Environmental part is
more Brazilian, but
would be better
culturally with people.
Uses a lot of car
names, which can or
cannot be seen as
culturally specific.
“Action,” for example
is in English and may
be negative to culture.
A mix of American
culture with Brazilian.
Nothing stands out
either way, except the
flash animation.
Huge brand in Brazil. Neutral positioning,
nothing significant
either way (Brazilian
or American).

Subject 7 Good graphics and
generally good
content. Very
sophisticated site.
Subject 8 A little difficult to find
things. Better info than
GM but not as good as
Chrysler.
Really huge brand and
very familiar. The site
makes us aware of this.
Well known brand.
The site definitely
assumes this consumer
familiarity.
113
Nothing offensive.
Appeals to Brazilians
in general especially
with the water images.
No specific scenarios
that stand out.

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