Chinese Festive Food Advertising in Malaysia: Meaning and Culture

Introduction

Malaysia is a middle-income country that has succeeded in overcoming many of the developmental obstacles remaining from centuries of colonization and foreign occupation to become a rapidly growing economic powerhouse well positioned to take advantage of the forces of globalization. From a nation largely dependent on extraction industries and raw material exports just 40 years ago, Malaysia has developed a diversified economic infrastructure aimed at achieving high-income status by the year 2020 (Malaysia economy, 2016). In the process, Malaysia has experienced rapid growth in its upper and middle classes, and with a per capita income of $26,600, even younger consumers now have larger amounts of disposable income compared to years past (Malaysia economy, 2016). These trends have also translated into higher levels of festive food consumption in Malaysia, an issue that forms the focus of the study proposed herein.

Purpose and Problem Statement

The purpose of the proposed study is to identify the rhetorical figures and other literary devices — such as metaphors, puns, resonance, and repetition — in selected Malaysian Chinese visual and print festive food (i.e., non-core food product) advertisements, in order to determine how consumers from different age groups construct personal meanings from these advertisements today and what implications those meanings hold for marketers.

In order to optimize its effectiveness, advertising for festive food must strike a responsive chord in its targeted market — but this can be an enormously challenging enterprise even when the target market is well defined and consumer preferences are well researched. In recent years, marketers have attempted to improve the effectiveness of their advertising by using visual media, including television, to influence the purchasing habits of young people for food products (Ng, Kelly, Chee et al., 2014).

A study by Ng et al. (2014) found that television advertisements for non-core (i.e., festive) foods on multi-ethnic Malaysian stations that targeted children were more frequent during school holidays, and more non-core foods were advertised during those periods compared to other times. Based on their findings, Ng et al. concluded that "this study highlights non-core food advertising, and predominantly sugary drinks are commonly screened on Malaysian TV channels. The majority of these sugary drinks were advertised by multinational companies, and this observation warrants regulatory attention" (2014, p. 29).

Notwithstanding the ethical implications of these findings and the need for regulatory attention from Malaysian policymakers, it is reasonable to suggest that this marketing strategy represents an effective approach for advertising Chinese festive food. However, other marketing strategies being used for these purposes remain understudied. For example, a study by Chan and Fong (2013) analyzed the effectiveness of subway advertising in China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom, where public transportation alternatives are commonly available. Subways are viewed by food marketers as especially valuable venues because consumers are confined in a space for a period of time, allowing them the opportunity to peruse advertisements at their leisure. In this regard, Chan and Fong (2013) report that "subway advertising is an example of captive out-of-home settings that consumers are kept in the space for some time. They are often exposed to advertising messages involuntarily" (p. 486).

Moreover, because subway riders tend to use the same lines to travel to and from work, they are exposed to the same advertisements repeatedly. As Chan and Fong point out, "subway advertising enjoys the benefits of huge audience size, diversified advertising formats, quality display, display at closer proximity to passengers, a captive environment, and a regular passenger base" (p. 486). Despite the involuntary nature of these repeated exposures to advertisements, the findings from the Chan and Fong (2013) study indicate that consumers in all three countries expressed more favorable attitudes toward outdoor advertising, including subways, compared to Internet advertising.

Likewise, a study by Donnelly (2013) found that marketers are also increasingly using bus exteriors and billboards for outdoor advertisements of festive-type foods. The results of this study mirror the findings of the Ng et al. (2014) study concerning the adverse effects of advertisements for fast food and soft drinks on consumer health, with Donnelly (2013) finding that people who lived near high concentrations of outdoor advertisements experienced higher levels of obesity.

These trends in marketing have attracted the attention of industry analysts who question the appropriateness of various types of visual and print media for advertising festive foods, given their demonstrated adverse impact on consumer health — especially for young people. For instance, Prendergrast and Hang (1999) emphasize that "given that in many countries there is an increase in the use of outdoor advertising, and some products are being criticized for being advertised outdoors, a number of questions need to be asked about outdoor advertising, including exterior bus advertising" (p. 33).

It is clear that although print and visual advertisements for Chinese festive foods can be effective, the question remains how best to frame these marketing tools to optimize their effectiveness while taking into account the ethical issues involved. Therefore, by identifying the various rhetorical figures and other literary devices used in Malaysian Chinese visual and print food advertisements, it will be possible to gain fresh insights into how consumers from different age groups construct personal meanings from these advertisements — an outcome that directly relates to the proposed study's objectives, set forth below.

Objectives and Research Questions

The overarching objectives of the proposed study are four-fold:

1. To identify the relationships between media, communication, and culture;
2. To determine the best industry practices in the contemporary literature on media audience studies;
3. To evaluate the significance of studying print and visual advertisements;
4. To determine how this analysis can contribute to the larger academic debates concerning effective marketing practices.

The proposed study's guiding research questions, corresponding to the foregoing objectives, are as follows:

1. What are the relationships between media, communication, and culture?
2. What are the best industry practices in the contemporary literature on media audience studies?
3. What is the significance of studying print and visual advertisements?
4. How can this analysis contribute to the larger academic debates concerning effective marketing practices?

Conclusion

Taken together, it is clear that Chinese festive food marketers are confronted with a diverse market in Malaysia that requires a thoughtful and informed approach in order to maximize the effectiveness of visual and print advertisements while still taking relevant ethical concerns into account. By applying an ethnographic methodology within a cross-cultural theoretical framework, the proposed study aims to illuminate how rhetorical figures and literary devices in festive food advertisements resonate — or fail to resonate — across Malaysia's varied demographic and ethnic landscape, and to offer actionable insights for marketers navigating this complexity.

References

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