When marketing in one country backfires abroad

In a hyper-connected world, there's no such thing as a local PR strategy

Last week, Apple launched (PRODUCT)RED, a special-edition iPhone. An undisclosed portion of sales of the phone will support The Global Fund to Fight AIDS. But the product is strangely missing from the Chinese version of Apple’s website, which promotes a red phone but has no mention of the disease.
 
Apple didn’t respond to my question about why that’s the case. But my colleague Jingsi Christina Wu, a professor of media studies at Hofstra University, said the Chinese government probably didn’t approve of the (PRODUCT)RED message. Although HIV/AIDS is a major public health challenge for China, she said the government doesn’t generally like to acknowledge it openly. Part of the problem is its association with homosexuality and sexually transmitted diseases in general — subjects the government still considers somewhat taboo. According to Human Rights Watch, the country has threatened and suppressed the work of HIV activists.
 
It’s understandable that Apple is concerned about keeping the Chinese government happy; the country has banned other technology companies such as Facebook and Twitter. But for Apple, the decision likely won’t be worth the costs. Instead, it could have negative repercussions far beyond the country.
 
In our hyper-connected world, there’s no such thing as a local public relations strategy. Brands may tailor their messages differently for particular parts of the world, but anything they do can easily be accessed via the internet by customers in other nations. HIV activists around the globe are not going to be happy to hear that Apple isn’t actively promoting this product in China. So the move may call the company’s commitment to fighting the disease into question — which is, of course, the opposite of the company’s intended goal in launching (PRODUCT)RED.
 
IKEA made a similar mistake in 2012, when it airbrushed images of women out of their catalogues in Saudi Arabia. This may have seemed appropriate for the local market, but when women in other parts of the world found out, they were outraged. “It is impossible to retouch women out of reality,” Sweden’s then-trade minister told the press. The company later apologised and acknowledged that the decision was not in line with its values.
 
Similarly, a 2014 Cadillac commercial about the American dream that made fun of workers in other countries who take “the whole of August off” was perceived as “anti-French” in the French media. As one Paris-based magazine complained: “The latest advert for the luxury brand leads us to believe the French are lazy, spending their time relishing their paid holidays. Charming.” The company later clarified that it was meant to serve as a “brand provocation”.
 
That’s why global companies need to choose values they can defend globally — and uphold them consistently.
 
This apparent concession to the Chinese government is especially discordant with the brand identity Apple has worked hard to cultivate.

© Bloomberg