International Marketing Review
– Disproving Cultural Generalizations

This week I received the following joke in the mail. Cute, and reasonably sure it will offend everyone, no matter what your culture happens to be.

The Joke: A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
The survey was a huge failure…
In Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.
In Eastern Europe they didn’t know what “honest” meant.
In Western Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.
In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.
In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.
In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.
And in the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.

I have already written about the dangers of stereotypes and generalizations in business. But on a personal level, it can be interesting to identify how the stereotypes are used.

Let’s have a look at what a few more people have to say about stereotypes.

Anda writing for @kosmopolit presents  The art of European stereotypes posted at Kosmopolito saying “The boundaries between the famously dull Justus Lipsius building (hosting the Council of Ministers) and a contemporary art museum have become blurred today. The Atrium is hosting a huge installation commissioned by the Czech Council Presidency. Unlike the more traditional pieces of art normally exhibited in the context of EU Council Presidencies, this time the Czechs decided to put forward a bold conceptual installation, with a meaning that goes deeper than the eye can see.”

Vivian Luu writing for @nwasianweekly presents The top 10 ways you know your Dad is Asian (categorized under humor) posted at northwest asian weekly saying “He critiques every grade on your report card, even over a fraction of a point. He makes your boyfriend, or girlfriend, tremble at the twitch of an eye. He can get his Toyota Camry across three lanes on the highway, but only after cutting off at least 10 other cars. He is, of course, the Asian father.”

Zettler Clay presents  What’s Wrong With A Stereotype? posted at Clutch saying “Stereotypes are not inherently a bad thing. In fact, they can be quite helpful in understanding a complex society in which nothing stays the same. Like anything though, stereotypes has its limitations. It engenders laziness on the part of the consumer, who uses them as the sole source of classifying groups of people. It’s when people don’t accept the exceptions to the rule that put a black eye around the term. I was recently at an outing, among a racially eclectic group, after class. We were talking about going out into the town, to kick it and what not. One of my Asian classmates then looked at me.”

macon d presents think of africa in fantasized, monolithic terms posted at  stuff white people do saying “What’s worse than merely conceiving of all things “African” in monolithic terms is that this mythical concept of an extremely variegated continent has specific characteristics–and cartoonish ones, at best. Africa was of course thought of by Westerners in Stanley and Livingstone’s day as “the Dark Continent,” full of “dangerous animals,” “bugs,” “diseases,” “infections,” and the very high risk that any Westerner who “journeys” there “won’t survive/make it.”"

What have these stories inspired in you? I would love to hear your comments below.

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International Marketing Review #58