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Americanization of Russia: A Study of the Advertising Strategies of Coca-Cola and McDonald's in Russian Videos Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Smith, Elena Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 01:33:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/228634 AMERICANIZATION OF RUSSIA: A STUDY OF THE ADVERTISING STRATAGIES OF COCA-COLA AND MCDONALD’S IN RUSSIAN VIDEOS by Elena Smith ____________________ A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF RUSSIAN AND SLAVIC STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN RUSSIAN In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2012 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Elena Smith APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: _________________________________ _____________________ George Gutsche Date Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to heartily thank my thesis advisor, Dr. George Gutsche, for all of his assistance with this project, his guidance, care, encouragement, allowing freedom of choosing the topic of my interest, working on it in my own ways, focusing on the subjects that interested and excited me, emailing the recommendations and advice that I needed, despite the long distance physically separating me from the University. Many thanks to my readers, Dr. Alex Dunkel, and Dr. John Leafgren, who read many previous versions of the manuscript and made many valuable suggestions. Dr. Del Philips released me from some grading responsibilities and opened some time to work on this topic. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my husband, who was always cheering me up and providing a home for me, so that I could work on this project. I would like to thank my parents and my parents-in-law, for all of their love, emotional support, and care that they gave me during this time. I thank everyone who offered their assistance. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…...…..………………………………………………...6 CHAPTER 2: DISCUSSION OF COCA-COLA AND MCDONALD’S COMPANIE...10 CHAPTER 3: STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH GOALS……….….……………...27 CHAPTER 4: METHODS AND RESEARCH DESIGN……..…………….…………...28 CHAPTER 5: KEY FEATURES OF THE COMMERCIALS...….…………………….31 CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY OF COMPANIES ADVERTISING METHODS AND STRATEGIES………………………………………………………………...………….95 CHAPTER 7: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS…………….……………………………….99 REFERENCES..………………………………………………………………………..104 5 ABSTRACT In this research, I examine selected commercial videos promoting the American corporations Coca-Cola and McDonald’s in the Russian market over the period 2007- 2010. Proceeding on the assumption that the selected videos are typical TV commercials utilized by these two companies in the Russian market, my major goal is to determine the ways in which the ads attempt to make the given products appealing to Russian consumers. I found that the video ads of these two corporations revealed a strategy aimed at avoiding negative attitudes against the products (and their potential profits) because of their strong identification with America and everything that America might represent to Russian consumers. This challenge is complicated because a segment of the potential market, principally young people, undoubtedly would not mind an association with American values and would generally respond favorably to American and broad cosmopolitan (foreign, non-Russian) interests. Moreover, creating ads with exclusively Russian themes (for example, from folklore) could potentially reach customers in other segments of the population less enamored of American products. The challenge facing both companies was to make a foreign product acceptable and appealing to a Russian market. The strategies they used to do this are worth examining for the sake of obtaining insights into successful advertising campaigns in Russia in particular and in foreign cultures in general. Analyses will yield conclusions that may be useful to psychologists, linguists, cultural historians and members of other disciplines involved in advertising design and business strategies. 6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION With technological innovations, the process of globalization – “the acceleration and intensification of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations” (Rothenberg 1) – has affected the world population. Private- and state-owned businesses, businessmen, and consumers from different parts of the world have been brought closer to each other while engaging in interactions promising mutual benefits and new opportunities. As technology, along with the increase in human interaction that it makes possible, has accelerated, so has the world of advertising. This process has played a pivotal role in creating new businesses, ideas, and niches within the global population. Advertising is an ever-evolving creative process that consists of presenting novel products and services, or new images of old products and services, in such a way so as to convince people that these products will improve their lives. The process of advertising various goods and services is aimed at winning the customers’ hearts with its ability to capture life and the world itself in unique, appealing, positive, beautiful, and/or intriguing ways. The audio and visual messages delivered to the consumers in commercials can be moving, inspiring, and extremely powerful in their impact on people’s minds. They can easily create a sense of the necessity of possessing certain products in order to feel good and successful in life. Advertisements can convince people of the quality and importance of the novelties and convert millions into devoted investors in the products. As an old adage states, “Advertisement is a vehicle of trade.” The glamorous and fashionable images that pour from various advertisement sources such as TV, newspapers, billboards, cell phones, and posters have the goal of 7 converting buyers. Customers exposed to the original, beautiful, cosmopolitan images presented through the advertisements develop feelings such as excitement, a sense of self-esteem connected to the possession of the new product, and an ultimately overpowering desire to purchase and finally own the goods. These strong effects on consumers are achieved by the distribution of effective advertisements throughout the world. As of today, there are 276 McDonald’s restaurants operating in the Russian market (McDonald’s.ru). Advertising undoubtedly played some role in McDonald’s and Coca-Cola’s success in the Russian market. However, even without advertising, we can assume that these products were well known in Russia in Soviet times. The challenge for both corporations in contemporary Russia is to successfully compete with domestic and other foreign products in the same market. Both companies successfully delivered their products to the Russian market. These world-wide businesses have attracted millions of devoted customers in Russia. In “English and Emerging Advertisement in Russia,” Irina Ustinova examined the mix of multiple languages in advertisements, particularly the mix of English and Russian languages. She noted the penetration of some 10,000 English words in the Russian language. This fact, along with the increasing number of American English words substituting for Russian counterparts in media and Russian youths’ speech, sparked my curiosity and motivation to research the video commercials of the two world-famous and successful American corporations. Several examples of mixed language are included in this study. 8 Ustinova’s data on the American English words utilized in advertising in Russia reinforced my intentions to examine the issue. In addition to examining the distinctively American lexicon and imagery of the video ads, I shall also look at distinctively international and Russian imagery and verbal devices . I will provide a possible explanation for the presence of elements of Russian folklore in certain of these corporations’ commercials. The strategy behind this aspect of Coca-Cola’s and McDonald’s advertisements may be to balance the “foreign” aspects of the advertisements and thereby appeal to those who prefer to consume more native “Russian” products. As Guy Cook states, “The discourse as complex as advertizing always holds but more to be analyzed” (Cook 5). The complexity of advertising discourse can be explained as an involvement of the description of multiple elements into the creation of ads, including

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