Linxiao Fu
Writ-1133
Instructor: Eric Leake
4/6/2013
Food
Advertisement in Different Culture
After analyzing various food advertisements, I became more aware of the
close relationship between the food and culture. Since I have been in the
United States for almost two years, I saw a lot of food advertisements in
American styles on TV, especially the fast food, such as McDonald’s and KFC. In
advertisements, the producers tried to represent the value of food have, and
they have different foci to make their food more attractive to customers. By
comparing the ads, I found out that the advertisements of same kinds of food in
different counties have different contents because of the different culture
behind them. This essay aims to compare a KFC advertisement in China and
another McDonald’s ad in US to see the different ad’s design for different
audiences as well as the different culture behind the ads.
Although originated from the United States, the KFC gained an incredible
success in China. Many people believed that it was because the KFC has been localized
and introduced many now kinds of food that contains Chinese elements. The KFC
also had some new policies to adapt the special culture in China. There was a KFC’s
ad about its new products in breakfast impressed me a lot. In this ad, a couple
got up so early in the morning to prepare their breakfast. They looked very
tired and sleepy because it was only 5:30 am, and they made many mistakes when
they were cooking. The woman wrongly added sugar into the duck mushroom porridge
instead of salt. And the men burned the toasts. That was a really tough
experience. After that, the ad showed how KFC prepared breakfast for their customers.
The workers also match the food for people to help them intake different kinds
of nutrition in the diet. They also provide Chinese food in the breakfast, such
as Chinese porridge, fried dough sticks, soymilk and so on. The Chinese
porridge they made in the ad looked so nice, and I could not help myself to buy
it.
For this advertisement, I believe that the audience is Chinese people. I
can see many Chinese elements of food behind this ad. KFC not only focus on the
“fast” part in their food, but also pay attention to the health for their
customers. What’s more, they notice that Chinese are more willing to have some
traditional food like fried egg, porridge and soymilk in the breakfast instead
of hamburgers.
However, the MacDonald’s ad was obviously different as the KFC one in
the China. Americans like burgers, and they put different food and sauces into
the two pieces of bread. Since America is a big country, each place has its
especial food or sauce to present the trait of the city’s culture. For instance,
the Texans usually like ol' Angus beef patty, squeeze of smoky BBQ sauce and bacon.
A McDonald’s advertisement I saw several days ago left a deep impression in my
mind. In the advertisement, a young man arrived at Australia and told a taxi
driver, an old man, that he was after good burgers. And the driver replied to
him that no one knew good burgers more than New Yorkers, and he also mentioned
the baking and barbeque sauce, which almost all Americans like. He said that
people did not need to go to America to get this, because they can get it in
McDonald’s. Then old man had burger with the young boy, and kept on saying that
his favorite burger is New York Classic Burger with juicy beef, mustard and
mayo, just like home. He looked at the burger and overwhelmed by the feelings brought
by the “home” burger, almost wept. I think the audience for this ad is
Australian, because the ad was showed there. However, it successfully
represents the American culture of food, because audience could understand the
old man’s feeling when they were watching this ad. Actually, many people were
touched by this add, and they commented in the ad saying, the driver is
perfect!
All in all, by comparing these two advertisements, I realized the
connection between food and culture. Once the brand enters a new place, it
would definitely influence by the local culture. After that the brand would
come up with some new values and new products. So in my opinion, food is a representative
of culture.
KFC:
McDonald’s
1. One rhetorical function mentioned in the Chinese ad is catering to the Chinese audience by advertising culturally appealing foods (porridge, dough sticks, etc.) I agree that this is an important aspect of marketing.
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3. It is certainly true that food is representative of culture- better yet, you not only said this but you gave evidence through your examples of Chinese, American, and even Australian views of fast food.
The analysis of the adds focuses on the difference in advertising in the U.S and China. I thought it was interesting how the same company tailors commercials for different countries to fit their culture. I think it would be interesting to see the success of the companies in both countries.
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