Cultural Trade Horror Stories

Posted by Daniel Workman Feb 23, 2008

Cultural Conflicts

A Mexican salesperson learned the hard way that German business clients demand prompt attendance at meetings often scheduled weeks in advance. Mexicans tend to multi-task and change schedules on the fly.

In contrast, the German culture carefully plans, prioritizes and schedules project tasks.

To be successful, the Mexican sales representative must adapt his approach to meet the cultural needs of prospective German buyers.

Perceptual Barriers

An American company designed an advertisement with 3 keyword phrases in flowchart format: soiled clothes, followed by the advertised laundry soap, which was followed by clean clothes.

Why was the ad successful in North America but an unmitigated failure in Saudi Arabia? The Arabic culture reads word images from right to left, indicating that the laundry soap would turn clean apparel into dirty clothes.

Unintended Language Associations

Dr. Pepper was a relatively successful soft drink in North America. In Britain, however, the words Dr. Pepper is associated with prostitution. As a result, sales volume suffered dramatically.

An American company introduced toothpaste in a Latin American commercial that would make brushers interesting. Unfortunately, the Latin audience associates the term "interesting" with being pregnant.

Non-Verbal Communication

And let's not forget about facial expressions and body movements. In Western cultures, direct eye contact shows honesty and respect. Asians see sustained eye contact as staring and disrespectful. In some cultures, students are not allowed to look their instructors in the eyes.

North Americans tend to keep a social distance further apart than South Americans who typically stand closer even to new business acquaintances..