Promotion of Collectivistic and Individualistic Values

As we all know from the notes, values prevailing in high contex cultures (HC) are generally tied to collectivism and those in low contex cultures (LC) to individualism. I think that this can be shown whereby HC and LC culture websites share different values. Collectivist cultures tend to emphasize being in good physical shape and time spent with family and friends as their dominant values, individualist societies implies relaxation and time spent by oneself. Images of individuals dancing or doing sports are more prominent on HC websites than LC websites, whereas in LC countries individuals tend to be portrayed in more relaxed situations or situations connoting holiday activities, such as a trip to the lake or listening to music.

Indeed, according to reasearch I have found, McDonald's indeed uses different approaches to profess its slogan "I'm lovin' it." The slogan not only promotes the food, but a whole lifestyle. The Swiss-German site (which shows low contex culture-individualism) displays images of individuals enjoying themselves with music and relaxation and offers an in-depth explanation of the philosophy behind the new slogan: "You're immediately at the center of attention—your individuality, your everyday life, situations in which you recognize yourself and where you would like to see yourself."

However, on the other hand, this definition is absent in sites such as the Indian one, where an image of a man running with a boy in a shopping cart is placed next to the slogan (shown above), creating a visual connection between the two texts. Both the man and the boy, with a Happy Meal on his lap, are laughing wholeheartedly as they speed down the supermarket aisle. The slogan seems to reflect the thought of both of the participants, and seems to reflect the fun of being together as a father and a son, uncle and nephew, or some other close relationship.

The Indian site certainly emphasizes a different enjoyable experience from the kind found in the Swiss-German site, which rather praises that time which is spent by oneself, for instance by listening to music with earphones large enough to block out the outside world (shown below).

Taken from the Swiss Site

Taken from the Indian Site

Also, Macdonald's community work is communicated differently in the two sites. On the Swiss-German site, a link to the Ronald McDonald fund is placed near the bottom of the page, as the last point on the menu. However, McDonald's India may have replaced a group photograph of happy employees with one of a man and a boy, the "Community" link has been placed to a much more prominent location on the home page, which is placed second on the menu of links. Does the communication of community work depends on the collectivist or individualist orientation of the user's culture?

From research, there is also the point stating that collectivistic societies place high importance on people and relations, whereas individualistic societies tend to value products and consumerism. When displaying a product together with an individual, it reflects the values of HC cultures by drawing focus away from what the product offers and towards what the person receives when enjoying the product. However, images of individuals or products by themselves are not present in LC culture websites.

In addition, we can expect that at least one image of an individual together with the product will be found on the homepage or main pages of an HC culture site. Is this really true?

Research information taken from Würtz, E. (2005). A cross-cultural analysis of websites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 13

Culture...

As we all know, culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. As people come to accept their own and others' culture,they begin to be influenced by others. Culture can also be defined as an invisible control mechanism operating in our thoughts which kicks in only when we are severlely challenged. Cultural influences interprets behaviour and one will then learn to draw the line between what group one think he or she belongs to and what one does not.

Here is something which I think is intersting to share...that is cultural infuences are not only reflected in dance, music or lifestyles of the people, but also in web design. The following examples illustrate different ways in which cultural influences are reflected in web design.
Firstly, in Animation,

Well, animated effects on websites tend to be more prominent and elaborate in high contex cultures than in low contex culture websites, where such options are reserved for emphasizing active links or drawing attention to logos. Much of the animation on high contex websites is centered on images of people.

For instance, high contex Latin American sites such as the Chilean and Brazilian ones use animation in connection with images of young people dancing or jumping. The same tendency can be found on the Chinese site, which displays the moving silhouette of a break-dancer.

This form of illustration is not seen in the North American and European countries, and in particular Scandinavia, where the McDonald's sites are completely static, or where animation is minimal and images are of individuals in relaxed situations.

This tendency can be due to importance being placed on one's health and physical condition in collectivist societies, or by the cherished nature of personal relaxation time by members of individualist cultures.

The McDonald's site from Hong Kong, which we identify as high contex culture, we are in fact presented with an image of a young person relaxing in a couch with his hat covering his eyes. According to the tendency, this image would be categorized as belonging to a low contex culture website. We can therefore consider the image of the relaxing person as an expression of British or low contex cultural influence.

In addition, one interesting use of animation on high contex culture websites is the assimilation of non-verbal, behavioral language, which is characteristic of high contex culture (face-to-face communication). An Internet function, animation, is used to communicate in alternative ways from text, by providing high context using cues that assimilate or derive from real-life conversations.

Although this practice appears to be relatively rare, the Japanese McDonald's website illustrates how animation in the form of short videos can provide an alternative to communication through text and still images, to create the impression that the visitor is virtually met by a personal representative of the company, which can be shown from the pictures below.

Figure A

Figure B

To explain further, figure A the image of a video whereby it should actually portray four men in white clothes and caps, carrying a massive "M" and placing it on the floor, after which they quickly bow and hurry behind the logo. Figure B is another image caputured from a video which actually should portray a well-dressed woman stepping out from behind the logo towards us, and then taking a long bow. The video is then replaced with a large picture of the smiling woman, with her hands in her lap, as if waiting for interaction with the visitor.

ALso, the vividness of high contec culture websites is often completed with the implementation of music and sound effects. Some sites play a limit of a couple of seconds of the "I'm lovin' it" jingle or background beat, and the Korean site has implemented the whole jingle (in Korean) to be played from beginning to end.

Whether animation is used on websites is dependent on at least two issues other than the user's belonging to high contex culture or low contex cultures. The user's patience, which perhaps can be determined by time-orientation, and the user's technological access and limitations. The designer who decides to implement animations and effects must assume that the user sees the necessity of them, and that the user is technologically able to process them to the user's satisfaction.

Yes, therefore cultural influences can be shown from websites and the idea of creating websites has also brought about benefits to Macdonals as this serves also as a kind of advertising where consumers can get to know what updates of food and services Macdonals have got for them.

What is your view on this?