Title: Lost in translation: cultural differences in the interpretation violence in sport advertising

Authors: Steven J. Jackson, Hans Peter Brandl-Bredenbeck, Alistair John

Addresses: School of Physical Education, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. ' Department of Sport and Health, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany. ' School of Physical Education, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

Abstract: Transnational corporations and their advertising/marketing divisions face a number of problems as they seek to identify, gain access to and achieve success in the global marketplace. For example, how do transnational corporations ||go global|| and, in turn, how do they use the media and advertising as part of their competitive strategy? Likewise, how do global corporations localise, that is, how do they negotiate local/national cultures that may have different histories, regulations and cultural values? This study provides a cross-cultural analysis of how a selected set of controversial sport advertisements featuring violence were interpreted within three various contexts: Germany, Japan and New Zealand. The findings reveal that there are some shared understandings of the nature of violence but there are also some cultural differences among participants within the three nations in relation to how violence is perceived and interpreted within advertising.

Keywords: globalisation; sport advertising; media violence; cultural differences; sport marketing; transnational corporations; multinational corporations; competitive strategy; Germany; Japan; New Zealand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2005.007127

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2005 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.155 - 168

Published online: 27 May 2005 *

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