Dimensions of Transcultural and Multicultural Marketing Campaigns

Abstract: Marketers attempting to please a large part of the population in order to gain more customers, already have a demanding job. However, things get even more complicated when the population consists of a variety of cultures, such as in Sweden. With the aim to appeal to people belonging to different cultures, more and more campaigns of transcultural and multicultural content are created. Those campaigns, being controversial, do not go unnoticed and generate a division in views. We have therefore decided to investigate: “How do consumers perceive trans-cultural and multicultural marketing campaigns?” ​and “What are the dimensions of these types of campaigns on buyer behaviour?”. This study will attempt to answer the research questions by exploring the themes of culture and ethics alongside. This is done to clarify the reasons behind the differences among customers’ perceptions on the campaigns chosen. In order to explain the difference between transcultural and multicultural campaigns, two campaigns, one by Åhléns and one by H&M, were used. A qualitative research was conducted by interviewing twelve people, six for each campaign. Based on our results, all of the interviewees stated that culture is directly correlated with ethics. The different perspectives on the campaigns were due to matters of ethicality. Half supported the campaigns due to their inclusiveness while the other half deemed them unethical for different reasons. While everyone associated the campaigns with ethicality, the majority does not take ethics into consideration while shopping. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility proved to have a smaller impact on buyer behaviour than a company’s involvement in an unethical activity that weighs more in consumers’ eyes. Last but not least, even though the customer perceptions on these types of campaigns are divided, there is no direct effect on buyer behaviour, but more towards brand loyalty.