Thread: Ad Pitch Study: Use English and Local Language

September 15, 2008
Drilling Down
For Every Sales Pitch, the Right Words
By ALEX MINDLIN
In countries where most people speak English and a second language, which one should multinational companies use in their ads? A study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that companies should use English when advertising luxury goods, but use a hybrid of English and the local language for household necessities.

The researchers asked 122 college students in New Delhi to rate, on a seven-point scale, advertisements for detergent or chocolate, supposedly placed by multinational companies, and written in English, Hindi or a mix of the two.

For chocolate ads, the students preferred English or an English-rich hybrid; for detergent, they preferred a Hindi-rich hybrid.

Aradhna Krishna, an author of the study and a marketing professor at the University of Michigan, said the reactions were probably a result of students associating different languages with different aspects of their lives.

“English is the language which is global and cosmopolitan and upper class,â€

[quote]“English is the language which is global and cosmopolitan and upper class,â€