Is The Happiness You Seek The Same As Mine? Marketing & Happiness Across Different Cultures

By Charlene Chen

Are Singaporeans happy? The United Nations think so, ranking Singapore 24th out of 158 nations in its World Happiness Report – the happiest nation in Asia. According to the UN, we are getting happier still, moving up from 36th in 2012, 30th in 2013, and 24th in 2014. But other surveys in recent years have painted a different picture, with Singaporeans rated as the least likely to experience positive or negative emotions out of more than 150 nationalities in Gallup's 2011 survey. Can happiness really be measured in this way?

The UN survey considers such factors as GDP per capita, life expectancy and freedom to make life choices, but it does not question whether these factors are true contributors to happiness across different cultures. By the UN's measurement Singaporeans should be happy, but in reality we may be less happy than countries ranked lower in the World Happiness Survey.

Happiness is a cornerstone of advertising and Coca-Cola – the world's fourth largest advertiser by spend – positions itself as "a spreader of happiness all over the world". As part of this campaign it recently launched #CokeDrones in Singapore, where remote controlled drones dropped off cans of Coke with personalised messages of gratitude to more than 2,500 workers at various high-rise construction sites. The desired message is simple: "buy this and you'll be happy".

But what is happiness? And is it the same thing for people from different cultures?

Eastern vs. Western Happiness

Recent research entitled How Happiness Affects Choice (Mogilner, Aaker, and Kamvar 2012) suggests that happiness means very different things to different cultures, and that advertising should therefore be tailored to individual cultures to take advantage of this. Researchers from Stanford University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that Americans of European extraction tend to value high-arousal situations that spark excitement, whereas Asians tend to value low-arousal situations that promote calmness (Tsai, Knutson, and Fung 2006). What is perceived as ‘happy' could differ wildly: a crazy night of partying versus a relaxing dinner with friends.

The sources that contribute to happiness and attitudes towards it also vary across cultures. Cultural psychologists from Kyoto University, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan found that in Western countries like North America, happiness is likely to be a result of personal success and is closely related with social disengagement – acting on the basis of one's own attitudes or judgements (e.g. Kitayama, Markus, and Kurokawa 2000; Uchida, Norasakkunkit, and Kitayama 2004). Negative experiences and feelings are seen as obstacles to happiness. However, in East Asia happiness is contingent on social harmony and is closely related to experiences of social engagement – where people act together as a unified group. Positive and negative emotions are viewed as complementary rather than contradictory.

For Singaporeans it seems that health plays an important role in personal happiness. A report from IPSOS notes that the top sources of happiness in Singapore are own health, spouse health and the health of family and friends. Those who are less happy reported that aside from personal health and spouse health, better finances could make them feel happier. This could mean that different brands may benefit from targeting different groups of customers based on how happy they are: healthcare products targeting happy people and financial products targeting less happy people. This form of sentiment targeting can be achieved by segmenting customers based on their social media posts.

Regional case study: McDonald's

These theories can be seen in the marketing campaigns of ubiquitous global brands such as McDonald's. Its television commercials in the West tend to emphasise individual pleasure and satisfaction. For example, an ad for the North American market showed a family eating McDonald's at home together, but instead of concentrating on the unity of the family, the main theme of the ad was to show how much fun the young boy was having dancing around and playing with his food. The parents seem to disapprove, but the child is oblivious. In contrast, an ad that ran in Singapore showed a busy working mum arriving home late from work at the same time as a McDonald's delivery man arrives. She realises that her own mother placed the order for her knowing she would be late. She then opens the door and hugs her daughter. Providing food is an act of love and it unites the family.

Age and happiness

Personal definitions of happiness can also change with age. According to The Shifting Meaning of Happiness study by Mogilner and colleagues, younger people are more likely to associate happiness with excitement, but as they get older, they become more likely to associate happiness with peacefulness. This is because younger people tend to have an expansive time horizon and are therefore more future-orientated, so they seek new, exiting experiences. Older people have a more limited time horizon, so they focus on satisfying relationships and being comfortable in the present.

Effective regionalisation

The allure of brands and products hinges on how much they resonate with consumers' definitions of happiness. Taking into account how different regions – and even individual consumer segments – conceive happiness could lead to more effective marketing. It is not enough to account for differing demographics and needs, it is important to go right back to the way people define happiness to create truly successful regionalised campaigns.

These findings can also be used beyond advertising and applied to employee well-being. Just as a one size fits all approach can cause problems in international marketing campaigns, it can also cause problems when businesses expect regional workforces to want the same incentives and benefits as in other locations. After all, what means happiness to one person may not mean the same to another.

 

About the author

Charlene Chen received her PhD in Marketing from Columbia Business School under the tutelage of Michel Tuan Pham. Her research interests lie in how consumers regulate their internal psychological states through consumption behaviour. In particular, Charlene examines how different emotions and motivational needs (such as the fundamental desire for control) influence consumer judgment and decision-making.