For her International Advertising classes, Carrie La Ferle passes out a list of advertising blunders made by famous multinational companies. One of those blunders is a Coca Cola ad in China that used Chinese characters to spell out the sounds “Co” “Ca” “Co” “La.” Unfortunately for Coke, it found out after the ad ran that the characters they used actually meant “Bite the wax tadpole.” The ad was pulled.

The story is a powerful reminder, La Ferle says, that cultural sensitivity can be as important as brand identity in global markets.

Associate Professor Carrie La Ferle

La Ferle is an associate professor of advertising in SMU’s Temerlin Advertising Institute. The daughter of an ad executive, she grew up in Toronto, ranked by the United Nations as the most multicultural city in the world. Her friends included Koreans, Germans, Caribbean Islanders and Africans. She never thought any of that was unusual until she went to graduate school at Michigan State University, “and then I realized my experience was pretty unique,” she says.

After earning her Master’s degree in 1990, La Ferle worked on the Nissan automotive account with advertising giant Chiat&slash;Day in Toronto. She later moved to Japan, where she edited ad copy that had been translated into English from Japanese. The occasionally bizarre differences between literal translation and original meaning emphasized the cultural divide between East and West.

“When I first moved to Japan, I thought their ads were weird,” she says. “Some of them didn’t even tell you what the product was, much less what it did. Then I learned that the Japanese use more indirect forms of communication versus hard-sell, persuasion-driven advertising. They also focus more on building a relationship with the brand, in the same way that their more collectivist society focuses on relationships among people.”

And when it comes to global advertising, those differences in mindset can have a huge impact, La Ferle says. “If companies do their research and blend into the culture and surroundings, they can increase market share.” La Ferle points to the success of McDonald’s first global ad campaign, “I’m Lovin’ It.” The campaign used Justin Timberlake and the same slogan in more than 100 countries, but also featured local celebrities and promotions from each of the countries in which it was running.

In contrast, when MTV first tried expanding into Japan, “it failed to the extent that it had to pull out entirely,” La Ferle says. The music-television titan ignored the burgeoning Japanese music scene and programmed only American artists. “Everybody loves their local bands,” La Ferle says. “So when MTV relaunched its network in Japan, it played a much bigger percentage of Japanese artists. Now the channel is a huge hit.”

“When I first moved to Japan, I thought their ads were weird. Some of them didn’t even tell you what the product was, much less what it did. Then I learned that the Japanese use more indirect forms of communication versus hard-sell, persuasion-driven advertising.”

The cultural exchange that takes place through advertising is similar to exchanges that have taken place throughout history, La Ferle says. She and co-author Jeffrey Johnson of Michigan State University presented research challenging common criticisms of globalization – and advertising’s role in the process – at the International Advertising Association World Educator’s Conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

“Cultures have been blended throughout history and most situations have resulted in mutually beneficially outcomes,” she says.

La Ferle, who received her doctorate in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin, has focused her research on how culture influences advertising and consumers’ responses to it. In her classes on ethics in advertising, she teaches students that by being culturally sensitive and socially responsible, advertisers and the companies who hire them can improve their profits as well as their practices.

Today, many corporations &ndash including ad agencies – are working to be more culturally and environmentally sensitive, “whether it’s because they’re altruistic or because their bottom line demands it,” she says.