How is everything global and yet so divided? Understanding the global-local tensions of advertising.

In today’s advertising, brands face a landscape that is more globally connected than ever, yet it is also culturally distinct and demands more nuanced understanding. It feels like we all exist in the same digital space, but the feeling is deceptive. You can definitely name several advertising "fails" when a well-known brand tried to launch its product in a new market without bothering to understand the nuance of a local culture. Take a famous tale about Gerber baby food launching their products in Africa where people are used to seeing the main food ingredient in the picture. Food made of babies, anyone?

Now brands are trying to operate within a complex matrix where globalization and localization often clash. Advertising strategies are designed to reach broad audiences yet must connect on a local level. This results in a paradox, which this article is going to explore.

Cultural Missteps in Global Advertising

Avoiding cultural missteps is one of the biggest challenges when navigating globalized yet divided markets. According to Gillian Tett's Anthro-Vision (2021), understanding subtle cultural cues is essential to avoid misinterpreted brand messages and lost meanings. For example, KFC “Finger-Lickin’ Good” slogan translated in China as “Eat Your Fingers Off.”

Similarly, when Chevrolet launched its Nova car in Latin America, they missed a cultural landmine: “Nova” sounds like “No Va” or “It Doesn’t Go” in Spanish, resulting in a branding disaster (James, 2018). Such mistakes emphasize the importance of anthropology in advertising. The main goal of anthropological studies is to understand the diversity and complexity of human behavior. Anthropologists collect "thick data": qualitative, context-rich information that captures the "why" behind human behavior. Unlike big data's quantitative focus, thick data reveals emotional and cultural insights essential for resonant marketing strategies (Wang, 2013; Tett, 2021).

As Tett (2021) highlights, decoding cultural nuances lets brands connect authentically rather than unintentionally alienating audiences. Ignoring “thick data”— the rich insights into culture — is often what turns global campaigns into tone-deaf flops, missing the critical layer of relevance that makes them click.

Global Reach with Local Relevance

Effective advertising strategies adapt core messages to respect local meanings while maintaining brand consistency. Coca-Cola’s holiday ads demonstrate this: though globally themed around celebration, they incorporate visuals and themes that resonate in each market, ensuring relevance. Local adaptation also helps avoid cultural misunderstandings that can undermine trust and credibility. For instance, Pepsi’s “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation” in China was mistranslated as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave”, which once again highlights the consequences of overlooking local linguistic nuances (James, 2018).

A perfect example of how anthropology can help reach new heights in a new market is KitKat Chocolatory . Gillian Tett (2021) argues that "people create different webs of meaning around objects in different cultural contexts." For example, KitKat chocolate might be the same in different countries, but in Japanese, it also sounds similar to a good luck wish known as "kitto katsu". Local marketing executives noticed that Kobe students buy KitKat as a lucky token before their exams and boosted this trend by adding a picture of blooming Sakura which was also locally associated with exam success. This small adjustment allowed local creatives to experiment without straying from the KitKat brand’s global identity.

As a result by 2008, 50% of all Japanese students were using KitKat bars as a good luck charm. Then Nestlé leaned in, reinventing the brand’s presence. The Swiss company started to play with the taste and packaging. They added space for parents to write their good luck wishes and created new flavours for chocolate including strawberry and matcha. Nowadays matcha KitKat has become so embedded with Japanese culture in people's minds that parents bring them home as souvenirs, despite many being produced in Germany — showcasing how smart localization can embed a brand deeply into a culture.

So why do experienced global brands make such silly mistakes when launching products in foreign markets?

You already know the answer: they rely too heavily on quantitative data, while ignoring “thick data.” Thick data is crucial for understanding local customs, values, and the nuanced ways people interpret brands in different contexts (Wang, 2013). For instance, while quantitative data may show high engagement in a particular market, it fails to capture the local meaning or symbolism attached to a product or name, which can lead to unintended cultural misrepresentations.

Gillian Tett (2021) points out that thick data captures the deep, often unseen, cultural signals missed by surface-level numbers. KitKat’s success in Japan as a good-luck charm shows how understanding local traditions can transform a brand, while ignoring these insights can mean alienating or confusing potential customers.

References

Chen, H., Wang, R., & Liang, X. (2019). Americanized or localized: A qualitative study on Chinese advertising practitioners’ perceptions of creativity and strategy in the digital age. Global Media and China, 4(2), 233–253.

Ivey Publishing, 2017. Nestlé KitKat in Japan: Sparking a Cultural Phenomenon. Ivey Business School Foundation.

James, G. (2018). The 20 Worst Brand Translations of All Time. Inc. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-20-worst-brand-translations-of-all-time.html.

Tett, G. (2021). Anthro-Vision: How anthropology can explain business and life. London: Random House.

Wang, T. (2013). "Big Data Needs Thick Data." Ethnography Matters. Retrieved from https://ethnographymatters.net