Girl Power at Guinness

In 1982, Guinness launched its “No Beer Comes Near” campaign, featuring a woman’s red lips sipping a Guinness. This ad was coupled with another ad saying “Every girl needs a little black drink.” These advertisements reached out to females during the age of “girl power” to remind females that beer is not just for men. 

Activity #5 Value Paradox

According to Mooij, a paradox is a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. When there is a paradox of a value in an opposing value system, it is considered a value paradox. A simple example of such a paradox would be anti-war groups rioting to bring our soldiers home from Iraq. The value system of the anti-war group is essentially to have peace over anything else, but in certain scenarios, the only way to achieve peace is by acting violently.

I found this commercial regarding Occupy Wallstreet. Occupy Wallstreet Advertisement
In the ad, Americans from every walk of life talk about what they want out of the government and politics. This to me represents a freedom paradox. We, as Americans, are "free" to do whatever we want, yet the government controls everything that we do. This commercial represents a "Freedom is not free" sort of mindset that is so true to American culture.

The example I feel is best for representing a paradox from Ireland is Guinness's "Good for you" advertising campagn. In the modern world, we are very aware that alcohol of any kind causes many health problems when drank in excess, yet Guinness advertises that drinking their product will make you feel good, and therefore be good for you. This paradox can be viewed in many different lights. First, alcohol consumption does often put people into a good mood, and can therefore actually make you feel good. Second, our tour guide Ida revealed to us in Dublin that Guinness actually is high in iron, which is literally very good for you. Back in the day, Guinness was actually used as medicine to treat various health conditions and even given to women immediately after childbirth to boost iron levels.

Activity #8 Interbrand.com

The top 10 Brands of 2011 were; Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, Google, GE, McDonalds, Intel, Apple, Disney and HP. I found it interesting that all of these companies are based out of the United States. I also noticed that of the top ten brands, Apple is the only company that had not previously been a top 10 brand in 2012 and Nokia was the only brand that had dropped off the list between 2010 and 2011.

All of these brands, although based out of the United States, all have headquarters/ventures in other nations. All of these are considered international companies, without which they would not be the most powerful. As I spoke about in previous posts (Activity #2-Virtual Visits) Coca-Cola alters its advertising to the lifestyle and culture of each nation, while companies like Apple keep a standard advertisement around the world. McDonald's seems to do a little bit of both, keeping the themes of its ads the same, but delivering the ideas to the applicable audiences in a slightly different manner.

Activity #9 Value Map

For this activity, I chose to do advertisements by McDonalds. Because this franchise exists in every nation in the world, I knew I would be able to find advertisements for many different nations. Here are two McDonalds commercials, from Ireland and from the United States.

Link to Irish Commercial: 100% Irish Beef
In this commercial, McDonald's is advertising the fact that all of their meat is "home grown" and they know exactly where it all comes from. The techniques used in the advertisement make it so that viewers are not concerned about what is in what they are eating and that it is safe. Also, having the names of the farmers in the advertisements allow for consumers to connect with the product and gain a sort of trust in knowing that McDonald's is producing healthy food and jobs to the Irish community.

Link to US Commercial: McDonalds US Beef-Extended Edition
While the Irish ad for "home grown" focuses more on natural beef and health, the US ad focuses more on how keeping the beef American improves the quality of life and and job market in the US. This is linked back to the families of the farmers and the structure of farm life that is deteriorating in the technological age.

Activity #6 Personality

Personality Factor à	Neuroticism	Extraversion	Openness to Experience	Agreeableness	Conscientiousness
Specific traits of factor  ê	Anxiety	Warmth	Fantasy	Trust	Competence
	Hostility	Gregariousness	Aesthetics	Straightforwardness	Order
	Depression	Assertiveness	Feelings	Altruism	Dutifulness
	Self-Consciousness	Activity	Actions	Compliance	Achievement Striving
	Impulsiveness	Excitement Seeking	Ideas	Modesty	Self- Discipline
	Vulnerability to Stress	Positive Emotion	Values	Tender Mindedness	Deliberation

Upon careful analysis of the personality traits in the Five-Factor Model by Costa and McCrae, I had a lot of difficulty classifying my own personality. I can rule out Neuroticism, because none of those traits describe me at all. I feel as though my personality fits mostly into the extraversion and conscientiousness category with a dash of agreeableness. I would say that this is a relatively accurate description of myself as a whole. I am very out-going and positive, but always do the “right” thing and prioritize my life. I am above all a social being but have very strong roots in being responsible, caring or others and striving to improve my personal future.

This activity lends itself very well to describing the personality of beer companies. Ireland is known for Guinness, so one would assume that the personality depicted by Guinness advertisements is indicative of the personality of Ireland as a whole. 

I feel as though the inviting and slightly sexual nature of these specific ads qualify as a extraversion personality. This advertising campaign reaches out from the norm of beer advertisements, and focuses on women consumers, rather than males. This also adds to the attention and excitement seeking qualities that make this campaign extroverted in personality. 

Guinness advertisements scream a level of confidence and social acceptance. They advertise as if they are the best beer out there, and nothing comes close. This just further proves the extraversion in the personality of the company and Ireland as a whole. Before I looked at other beer advertisements from other parts of the the world, I decided to look up Carlsberg, another Irish beer, and see if its ads portrayed the same confident, social, extraverted personality that Guinness did. I found that the ads expressed confidence in their beer being the best and promotes being social, just like Guinness. 

I decided to compare these two beer advertisement campaigns to Budweiser in the US and Heineken from the Netherlands. I feel as though the gragarious trait of extroverts is expressed the best in all nations in the Budweiser and Carlsberg and Heineken advertisements. All advertise getting together with friends and promote being social and extraverted.

Activity #4 Magazine Advertising

The magazine I compared for this assignment was Cosmopolitan. Fortunately, I was able to purchase the Irish version of the magazine and had the American issue at home to compare it to so there would be no discrepancies to advertising contracts between different publishing companies.

It is obvious just by comparing the covers of the magazine that they contain different articles, but in the true nature of Cosmo, I cannot say that they are all THAT much different. Even if the articles in the Irish version are not the same in THIS issue, I can recall most of the articles in previous issues of the American version that I've read. (After all, how many different things can you truly say about sex, women's health, relationship problems and fashion?) The celebrities on the cover of the Irish version are girls that I don't recognize and the fashion is slightly different (although we'll probably be seeing similar styles in the US in the future) but for the most part, at first glance, the magazines are very similar.

The advertisements inside are almost identical between the two versions of the magazine. There is an Herbal Essence ad that it the same in both. The majority of the advertisements are for skin and haircare products, make-up, perfume and designer clothing lines. Most of these are the same, if not similar between the two, and even in the slightly differing ones, they do not express any different cultural values. I would assume that this is due to similar cultural dimensions between the two nations.

When visiting Ireland, it was very clear that there were less-strict censorship laws regarding sexual advertising. When comparing the magazines' contents, however, I noticed that the American version contained more articles of a sexual nature than the Irish version, where the Irish version had more articles regarding relationships. I feel as though in the US, because sexual censorship is so strong, people are more likely to buy a magazine with more risque content than in Ireland where consumers are constantly surrounded by it. This is also interesting when comparing relationships between couples in the US to couples in Ireland. The divorce rate in American is 50%, while in Ireland it is 27%. These articles may reflect the relationship status of our nations. The Irish issue helps women work on healthy relationships, while the American issue focuses more on short term relationships and sexual gratification.

I did find the Swedish version of the magazine online, but unfortunately for the sake of the assignment, the language barrier prevented me from interpreting the contents inside.

Activity #3 Hofstede Cultural Dimentions

Country	Abbreviation	GNI/cap	PDI	IDV	MAS	UAI	LTO
United States	USA	34,870	40	91	62	46	29
Ireland	IRE	23,060	28	70	68	35	43
Sweden	SWE	25,400	31	71	5	29	33

The United States has a lower than average power distance, a very high individualism rating, a slightly masculine society, a average-slighly weak uncertainty avoidance and is a very short term oriented culture. The low PDI indicates that most Americans consider themselves equal, and any social inequality is slight (most likely the very poor and the very wealthy) This allows for relationships between employers and employees, parents and children, and teachers and students to be more on the casual end, with more social interaction than in a high PDI culture. Ireland and Sweden have even lower PDI scores than the U.S. revealing that their societies are even less hierarchal based and individuals are considered more equal. These nations are more likely to be open to entrepreneurship because markets are constantly changing, in contrast to a culture with a high PDI where established companies will be more successful based on good reputations.

All three of these cultures are considered to be individualized. The USA, however has one of the highest out of any nation. I feel as though this can be credited to the way we raise our children to "be whoever you want to be" and to stand up for yourself. Unfortunately, this mindset is imprinted in young children and usually manifests into selfish behaviors and thinking. We most definitely live in an "I" conscious society, where we are all always right and every other belief is wrong. This is counteracted by the universalistic behaviors that are so common in out society. We tend to gravitate towards peers of our same manner of thinking and beliefs, allowing us to believe that everyone feels the same way that we do. This has made us intolerant to other cultures and beliefs.

Both the US and Ireland are more masculine societies than feminine. This accounts for "The American Dream" where we all work really hard to achieve the ultimate success. Due to Ireland's similar MAS score, and talking to locals while on the trip, they appear to have the same mindset. Sweden however, is a very feministic society. The values in Sweden revolve around improving the quality of life and caring for others.

All three nations have below average Uncertainty avoidance ratings but the US has the highest of the tree. In just comparing the US and Ireland, I can see a huge difference in emotional behaviors. Here in the States, everyone is so overcome by emotion at all times. People are easily offended and angered by little things that realistically mean absolutely nothing. In Ireland, everyone is much more easy going and tolerant in comparison. If Sweden's UAI rating is even lower than Ireland, it can only be assumed that they would be even more tolerant nation with a lack of strong emotion.

Of the three countries, Ireland has the highest LTO score, but it is still below average. This is surprising to be because I felt as though Irish culture was very long-term oriented. At meetings that we went to while on the trip, it was made clear to us that a majority of government investment goes to education to create a better future for the nation as a whole.

Activity #7- Monochron/Polychrons

The results are in! I am....(drumroll please)...Moderately Monochronic. I 100% agree with this based on the assessment given in the description of this classification. 

Everything I do in life has an organized approach. I take my organization skills very seriously. I have planners for everything from school work, assignments on my job and even social plans. My finances are kept very organized as well, tracking every dollar I make and spend. I almost believe that I have OCD when it comes to organizing my time and resources. Although I may not be the best at getting things done in advance, I always get them done on time (ie. the assignments for this course in particular) and prioritize accordingly. 

Some would say that I overanalyze my tasks and break them down to a point that my entire life revolves around whatever my priority is at the time. I take the information given to me and take it one step further by researching EVERYTHING, even when it may not be necessary. 

When I am "in the zone" on an assignment, I cannot be bothered by anyone. I do not get distracted by interruptions easily because I tend to concentrate so hard on what I'm doing that nothing else in the world exists. This of course can be altered depending on what the situation is. For example, things such as family dinner or discussions about the work I'm doing can be welcomed during my time, but other social interactions such as phone calls/text messages do not matter while I am doing what I need to be doing. (Of course as I'm writing this, my phone is going off and I am happily ignoring it, perfect example) When I do have to explain things to people I am always very direct and do not leave anything up to implications. This is partially due to my view on the world as "if you want something done right, do it yourself." I feel as though leaving anything up to other people allows for my plans to be altered, so my directions are always direct and logical. 

I feel as though this has been an eye-opening self analysis, which makes me out to be  complete control-freak, but its absolutely the truth, so I am proud to me a Monochron.

Activity #2- Virtual Visit

For this assignment I actually looked at two companies. The first I observed was Apple. The USA Apple website is my homepage every time I open my internet browser, so I am very familiar with the page and all that it entails. I thought that for myself, it would be easy to compare something that I see every day to Ireland's version. Unfortunately for the sake of this assignment I was wrong. The websites were entirely identical with the exception of a link to watch a TV advertisement on the US site.

The Apple homepage for America

The Apple homepage for Ireland

This specific example falls in line with the global advertising paradox (pg. 7-8) where global advertisers tend to create universal advertisements rather than focusing on the needs of a specific culture. This creates a shared culture between the two nations and the marketing strategies throughout the corporation as a whole. This standardization of advertising may have been used to cut costs and time after the death of Steve Jobs, or it could simply be due to a lack of reason to advertise differently in these two regions. I did, however, find it a bit ironic that the TV ad was only seen on the USA homepage, further proving the laziness of our nation (ie. we couldn't read the information on the new MacBook Pro, but had to have the instant gratification of watching a 30 second commercial overviewing its features.)

Because I found no significant differences in Apple's websites, I decided to look into Coca-Cola. I knew already that Coke was a bit different in Ireland than in the States (real sugar, bottle shape, serving size) so I thought that the websites would market different aspects of Coke...fortunately for the sake of the assignment, I was 100% correct. 

The Coca-Cola homepage for America

The Coca-Cola homepage for Ireland

Although both pages mention the Olympics, I have to disregard it as a similarity because the entire world participates and obviously the USA page talks about Team USA and Ireland's page talks about Team Ireland. The American page is focused mainly on the competitiveness of the Olympics, along with branding (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Freestyle) and prizes. The Irish page's main focus is charity and recycling. This could potentially be due to different marketing techniques in the nations based on value and lifestyle research via the Research paradox (pg. 9-10)

Pub Life

Ireland is known for its drinking, so of course it would only make sense that we experience the cultural phenomena by going to pubs and talking to the locals. Our first experience occurred at lunch at the pub next door to the Camden Court called “The Bleeding Horse.” Here we had our first Irish beer. Many of us had previously tried Guinness at home and didn’t like it so we ordered Irish beer called Carlsberg. This was basically the equivalent of Budweiser in America, but slightly more bitter. We also ate potato bites with cheese and bacon and had some buffalo wings which didn’t taste any better or worse than at home.

A group of us then decided to take some advise from Ida and walk down the canal. It was a beautiful day, which was very rare. We walked along and saw a huge crowd of people in the street. Everyone was buying drinks from the bar (“The Barge”) and sitting around the canal hanging out. We found a few friendly locals and asked them what was going on.  Expecting to hear there was some sort of festival or event occurring, we were happily surprised with the response. A gentleman told us “In Ireland there are two reasons to drink: We’re either depressed because the weather is so sh*tty or we celebrate because its nice out.” This mentality was so simple, but looking around we could tell that he truly meant it.  We joined the celebration and indulged in a few Bulmers, which are hard apple ciders. They were very refreshing and light, which was perfect for the occasion. 

After a dinner break we headed down to the Temple Bar area. Due to the “Bank Holiday,” none of the bars were packed so we went exploring. After poking our heads in and out of a few pubs, we ended up at “THE Temple Bar.” We stayed for several hours because we were so mesmerized by the amazing live music. They played everything from Irish folk to American oldies to classic pub songs. The entertainment was so talented and we felt so at home. I really wish that live music was just as important in the U.S. that it was in Ireland.

Arriving in Dublin 6/4/12

Travel Log

6/4/12

Arrival in Dublin

            I began to see differences between Ireland and America the second we stepped off the plane. The first thing I noticed were signs.  The exit signs were green and white and the symbol looks like a person jumping out a window.  There were two languages on every sign. One was English and the other we soon found out to be Gaelic. More often than not in America, we see signs in both English and Spanish, so this element of Irish culture was not a new concept to us; it was only the Gaelic language that was unfamiliar.

Proceeding out of the airport we realized that there were actually very few differences between Ireland and home. Our guide, Ida had an accent but besides that she seemed just like anyone you would meet in the states. She had a very sarcastic and grim sense of humor and she asked us just as many questions as we asked her.

After we dropped our luggage off at the hotel we had a short bus tour around Dublin and went to see The Book of Kells at Trinity College. I, myself am not a religious person so the significance was lost on me, but the library inside was incredible. After we toured the exhibit, our jetlag began to catch up with us so we sat out on the lawn in the courtyard and people-watched until it was time to leave. We noticed no significant differences in behaviors. Kids ran and played as their parents watched from a close distance. People talked on the phone and drank their coffee and laid in the grass.

We then took a trip to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The history and architecture was incredible there. Ida did inform us about the religious conflict in Ireland. There is a vast mix of Protestants and Catholics. She told us that the Irish people have sort of morphed their own religion by combining beliefs/rituals of both.  This is a definite difference from the U.S. because we have so many different religions.

Bathrooms

Travel Log 4

6/8/12

Restrooms

            Since we’ve been in Ireland, I’ve noticed some peculiar differences in the bathrooms. I obviously did not have the pleasure of experiencing what the inside of the men’s room looked like, but the multiple ladies rooms I have used thus far have been an experience all their own.

            I’ll begin with the size of the stalls. Everyone here in Dublin seems to be very slender in size, yet their bathroom stalls are enormous in comparison to stalls in the States. For example, you can actually open the door ALL THE WAY, walk inside, and not have to jam your body between the wall/toilet and the door in order to close it. It seemed much more sanitary, not to mention reducing the stress of fitting your body inside a claustrophobic box to take care of business. The extra room in the stalls allowed for some leg room which made the bathroom experience somehow more relaxing.

            Then of course there were the dispensers. In America, us ladies use the restroom in a public establishment and find a giant vending machine plastered to the wall. Although typically rusted through and empty, they contain feminine sanitary products. Sometimes if we’re really lucky, they have cool stuff like chap-stick or gum, but even that’s a rarity these days.  In Ireland, however, not only do you get all that, but also with some added bonus gifts! We first noticed this at The Bleeding Horse on the first day when we saw a condom machine in the ladies room. This mystical condom dispenser is only something that I have heard of to exist in the depths of the men’s rooms in only the most upscale nightclubs. It was so mind-boggling that I had to take a picture.

            Now of course this was our first public bathroom experience in Ireland, leading to many more interesting dispensers, including one exclusive to sex toys.(soon to come: my blog on open sexuality in Ireland vs. the U.S.)