Asian Values
Although the study tends to address the issue of global advertising, there are messages here that go way beyond creative themes and brand positioning to important long-term marketing issues, like pricing and distribution, for global corporations in search of global consumers. Uncorking the Genie goes beyond standard number crunching and attempts to understand the psyche of the Generation that Independently Engages (the Genie), that is, Asias future consumer. And the overall message that emerges from the report is that Asias young adult consumer is subtly but crucially different from his western counterpart in several related ways.
Consider these findings. As many as 66 per cent of Indian Genies said young people should never dare challenge parental authority. This was just a shade different from what their parents generation thought (70 per cent). Yet, as many as 75 per cent of Indian Genies said they would consider emigrating to the West, compared with 65 per cent in the older generation. There are three broad conclusions that emerge from the study. One, Asian youth prefer controlled freedom to untrammelled independence. Two, contrary to conventional wisdom, there is such a thing as Asian values and, according to the study, these include hard work, humility, saving and a sense of family. And, three, as a result, Asia has no rebels without a cause, no Generation X. ...There is no feeling of being disenfranchised by society. Rather, the opposite, society has enfranchised them by offering them more and more opportunities in work and leisure. They both recognise this and are grateful for it, the study says. In short, there is a
world of difference between the global consumer and the Asian one.
Global marketers are beginning to understand this Asian paradigm, but only gradually. Although no marketer will ever be able to draw direct clues for marketing strategies from such findings, it is clear that values do in some way influence consumer behaviour. In India, for instance, Reebok has started reorienting its distribution networks away from the exclusive showrooms that US consumers prefer, to the retail shoe-shops that families tend to patronise for generations. McDonalds has taken care to price its hamburgers at par with local competition despite the stringent global specifications that force the US fast food chain to source bread from Punjab, chicken from Maharashtra and gherkins from the South. Asian values, it seems, can force changes in the marketplace.