Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.

     It is crucial for today』s business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organisation. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If these people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a break down in communication can occur.

     The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders.

     To illustrate this we have provided a few examples of cross cultural blunders that could have been avoided with appropriate cross cultural awareness training:

     Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it "whitens your teeth." They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive.

     A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals.

     The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for "lesbian."

     When President George Bush went to Japan with Lee Iacocca and other American business magnates, and directly made explicit and direct demands on Japanese leaders, they violated Japanese etiquette. To the Japanese (who use high context language) it is considered rude and a sign of ignorance or desperation to lower oneself to make direct demands. Some analysts believe it severely damaged the negotiations and confirmed to the Japanese that Americans are barbarians.

     A soft drink was introduced into Arab countries with an attractive label that had stars on it--six-pointed stars. The Arabs interpreted this as pro-Israeli and refused to buy it. Another label was printed in ten languages, one of which was Hebrew--again the Arabs did not buy it.

     U.S. and British negotiators found themselves at a standstill when the American company proposed that they "table" particular key points. In the U.S. "Tabling a motion" means to not discuss it, while the same phrase in Great Britain means to "bring it to the table for discussion."

     Kellogg had to rename its Bran Buds cereal in Sweden when it discovered that the name roughly translated to "burned farmer."

     American medical containers were distributed in Great Britain and caused quite a stir. The instructions to "Take off top and push in bottom," innocuous to Americans, had very strong sexual connotations to the British.

     In conclusion, poor cross cultural awareness has many consequences, some serious others comical. It is imperative that in the global economy cross cultural awareness is seen a necessary investment to avoid such blunders as we have seen above. 

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缺乏跨文化意識的後果

在管理、公關、廣告、協商等領域中，若是無法確切認識文化差異的影響，往往會造成負面結果，甚至釀成大錯。

今日的企業人才必須瞭解，文化差異對企業、貿易、和公司內部結構都有影響。公司、合作、合併、併購的成敗，基本上掌握在人的手中，如果這些人沒有意識到文化差異，那麼言語的誤解、冒犯與溝通失靈便可能發生。

在全球經濟的格局中，對文化差異提高警覺的需求正日漸高漲。在語言、禮節、肢體溝通、常規、和價值觀上的文化差異都會跨文化的誤解。 

     以下提供一些因不瞭解文化差異而失敗的範例，適當的跨文化意識訓練將可避免這些錯誤：

     佩普索登牙膏公司曾經嘗試打著」美白牙齒」的訴求在東南亞洲推銷牙膏，結果卻發現當地居民喜歡嚼檳榔讓牙齒變黑，而且他們覺得這樣很有吸引力。

     一間公司在泰國推銷眼鏡的廣告中拍攝了各種帶著眼鏡可愛模樣的動物，但這卻是個失敗的點子，因為泰國人認為動物是沒有尊嚴的低等生物，有尊嚴的泰國人都不會想戴任何動物戴過的東西。

     菲斯卡公司的女銷售員想在墨西哥推銷公司的飲料，她很驚訝眾人對宣傳標語的反應竟是大笑，後來才發現原來」菲斯卡」音同當地」女同性戀」的俗稱，這讓她很尷尬。

     當布希總統偕同汽車大王李．艾科卡和其他美國商業鉅子拜訪日本時曾經直接明白地向日本首相提出要求，這個做法違反了日本的傳統禮節。對高度講求語言必須適合場合的日本人而言，這不僅非常沒有禮貌，也是無知而自貶身份的表現。一些分析家相信這嚴重地破壞了兩國的協商，且讓日本人更加認定美國人是野蠻的民族。

     有一次，有人引介一種飲料至阿拉伯國家，瓶子上印著引人注目的六角星標籤。阿拉伯人將它解讀成擁護以色列的象徵，所以拒絕購買。另一種標籤印了十種語言，其中一種是希伯來文，阿拉伯人再度拒購。

     英美兩國的協商人員有一次陷入僵局，因為美商公司提議要」table」某些要點。在美國，」tabling a motion」 (擱置議案)表示不要去討論它；然而，同樣一個片語，在英國則是拿到檯面上討論。

     家樂氏穀片公司被迫為他們在瑞士的麥片重新命名，因為原本的名字」麥麩芽」被譯成」燒傷的農夫」。

     美國醫藥容器在英國販售時引起很大騷動。美國人覺得」打開頂蓋並按底部」的這個指示並無不妥，但對英國人卻有強烈的性暗示。

     總而言之，若是對文化差異沒有足夠的警覺心，就會造成許多嚴重或滑稽的後果。對全球經濟而言，培養足夠的文化意識是絕對必要的投資，唯有如此才得以避免上述的重大錯誤。

（洪廷慈　陳玟蓉）