Arab Culture and Advertising

ARAB CULTURE AND ADVERTISING

The Arab culture is highly entrenched in Islam and this is where most of the social and cultural values come from. Therefore every aspect of their well being comes from the religion that they follow. And they thus adhere to it.

Even though they follow their values, they apply in other aspects of their lives e.g. business. They should practice their business ethically and should thus not exploit anybody. This further extends towards marketing, especially the advertising aspect.

Advertisement produced for the Arabian countries should avoid using sexual appeal or sexual innuendoes in its message. It should be conservative in content and appearance and does not present any social values or situations that contradict with the Arabian culture or Islam.

Most advertisements in other countries will tend to show the comparison between two or more products and try to deter people from buying the other product. But in almost all the Arab countries advertisement should not directly or explicitly contain comparison between two different brands for the same type of products. Message should place more emphasis on the quality and functionality of the product. And this helps in making the competition in the market place be fair.

Furthermore, advertising of products is done through the mass media: television, newspapers and magazines. This are viewed as exceptional ways of advertising in the Arab culture and so there are no restrictions. But other advertising means such as telemarketing are highly discouraged since as explained above, advertisements should emphasise on the quality and functionality of the product, but telemarketing may have some few loopholes that could be exploited and may not go with their principles and that is why they are discouraged.