Cultural and language Dichotomy

The study/research, dubbed the Brandpilgrimage, which gave birth to the book Marketing The Same Difference, was based on living in various homes, almost like a fly on the wall, observing how human beings interacted with brands and how these brands affected their lives. SABC radio stations played a fundamental role in making it possible for me to be invited into the homes of the most ordinary and extraordinary human beings of this country. The study lasted 18 months.

In South Africa, the mere mention of the word “culture” has the potential to make people apprehensive and overly protective of their language, the foods they eat, the clothes they wear, the groups with whom they would like to associate, the way they would like to be perceived by people in general, the way they would prefer to be treated when they interact with others, and the way they would like to live their lives. Looking at “culture” and all its manifestations, it is important to make a concerted effort to remove racial and tribal classifications: the purpose of marketing and advertising should not necessarily equate to race and tribal affiliations. It is highly probable that a country such as South Africa, with inhabitants who speak various languages and belong to diverse racial groups and cultures, will have people sharing similar cultural behaviours in the ways they use brands and how those brands impact on their lives. According to L. Robert Kohls, Director of Training and Development for the International Communication Agency at Princeton University in the USA, “culture is an integrated system of learned behaviour patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything that a group of people thinks, says, does, and makes – its systems of attitudes and feelings. Culture is learned and transmitted from generation to generation”. Kohls adds that living in a foreign environment for an extended period of time will allow one to confront and develop a better understanding of the differences in various cultural systems.

Debate in South Africa has tended to coalesce around contradictions between two traditional lines of cultural discourse. On one side, “culture” has been the target of Leftist intellectuals because of its anthropological meanings. In other words, there has been great awareness of the way the apartheid state used “culture” to bolster arguments for racial separation. Indeed, the anthropologist John Sharp noted that the apartheid government had actually “created greater scope for ideological manoeuvre” by replacing the idea of “race” with that of “culture”.

Dr William Haviland, a professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont, quotes the philosopher Grace de Laguna, who said in her presidential address to the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in 1941 that anthropology is the most liberating of all sciences. She suggested that not only has anthropology exposed the fallacies of racial and cultural superiority, but its devotion to the study of all people, regardless of where and when they lived, has cast more light on human nature than all the reflections of sages or studies of laboratory scientists. Culture consists of the abstract values, beliefs and perceptions of the world that lie behind people’s behaviour and are reflected in their behaviour. These are shared by members of a society, and when acted upon, these elements produce behaviour that is intelligible to other members of that society. Cultures are learned, rather than inherited biologically, and they are learned largely through the medium of language. The parts of a culture function as an integrated whole.

Because our objective is to understand the influence of culture on consumer behaviour, we define culture as the sum total of the learned beliefs, values and customs that direct the consumer behaviour of members of a particular society. Culture is defined further as the values, attitudes, beliefs, artefacts and other meaningful symbols represented in the pattern of life adopted by people, which help them interpret, evaluate and communicate as members of a society.

How many cultures are there in South Africa? Historically, this might sound like a very sinister question, but it must be posed by any marketer who truly wants to develop an informed understanding of the languages and cultural dynamics of the various households and communities in the country. There are hundreds of different “cultures”, because within any group there are subcultures. It is not possible even to conclude that all families or households in a single street would have the same culture. Families, even when they live in a certain community, have customs, values and roles that might be slightly out of line with those of the community. However, if the basic rules and behaviours governing a given community are well understood and respected, that is the source of harmony and peaceful coexistence. Marketers and advertisers have to ensure that they enter these communities with a deeper understanding of the cultural dynamics within them, to ensure that the messages and images communicated on behalf of brands are not offensive, and are relevant to the targeted audience.

In South Africa, some groups are vocal about their cultural heritage and the protection of their languages, while others are constantly battling to redefine themselves at cultural group level; yet there is often resistance and discomfort when the words “culture” and “language” are brought into a discussion on marketing and advertising strategies. Hopefully, local companies and their advertising agencies will awaken to the realities faced by their counterparts in the more developed countries. While countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas share common borders, their cultural and language dynamics are vastly different. South Africans will for many years debate the roles of tradition and modernity, as companies and agencies seek more effective ways of communicating brands and services to people. Tradition and modernity are seen as contradictions in the West, while in Japan they live side by side. The Japanese can be passionately conservative, and yet be attracted by new ways. While in the West the old must be discarded and the new must be embraced, in Asia the traditional is exploited and recycled into modern ways of life.

The majority of local black African communities exhibit very interesting tendencies as regards the concepts of modernity and tradition. It is not as simple as looking at someone’s clothing, or the fact that someone slaughters livestock for African rituals, and then concluding that that person is a traditionalist or “is rural”. The performance of African rituals and the observation of cultural celebrations or events are increasingly being conducted in the former white suburbs by very educated “modern” black Africans. You will remember the dust created by the bare-handed killing of a bull by Zulu warriors during the Ukweshwama ceremony. The ceremony is a symbolic way of thanking God and the ancestors for the first crops of the season.


In a Brandpilgrimage focus group, 86 per cent of participants indicated that good fortune (like a promotion at work or a new job) would call for the acknowledgement of some forces - especially the ancestors or the elderly. The slaughtering of livestock becomes part of the celebrations. 70 per cent indicated that misfortune might require some consultation with traditional healers, or the slaughtering of a goat to appease the ancestors and drive away evil forces. Some believe that if communities want to preserve their culture and traditions and to progress and be part of the global world, they must do away with their “backward” traditions and cultures and embrace modernity. However, many communities have accepted that progress and a balanced “worldview” should not suggest that people must discard their traditions, languages and cultural practices. The overwhelming majority believe that tradition and modernity can live side by side in a harmonious and complementary relationship.

It is said that people living together, or in close proximity, are likely to experience crosscultural influences. South Africans living close to the borders with Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia seem to share aspects of language, culture and dance with their neighbours. It is also said that many of those in the above areas who see themselves as South Africans originally came from these neighbouring countries, even though this assertion is usually vehemently denied by those South Africans. There are often similarities in the languages spoken by such neighbouring communities, with slight, if any, variations in dialect. For example, dance movements and songs of the Batswana living in Botswana and South Africa point to an apparent time in history when these people could have been one community, or at least shared their cultures. The same can be said for the Shangaan or Tsonga people on the borders of Mozambique and Zimbabwe and those on the South African side of the borders, the Swazi living in Mpumalanga and those in Swaziland, the

Basotho in the Free State and those of the kingdom of Lesotho, the Tswana in North West and those of Botswana, and the Khoisan people living in South Africa and those found in Namibia. The nomadic nature of the Khoisan makes it a challenge to locate them to specific areas of the Northern Cape, Namibia or Botswana. South African towns and communities not only share cultural similarities with neighbouring communities; they also enjoy a roaring trade relationship, albeit broadly skewed in favour of the South Africans. Towns like Musina, Nelspruit, Komatipoort, Mafikeng, Tzaneen, Mangaung (Bloemfontein) and Kimberley enjoy the flow of business and trading opportunities emanating from people crossing the borders from neighbouring countries to shop. Educational institutions in the above towns are kept vibrant and operationally profitable by students coming to enroll and study.

It is clear that there are few culturally pure groups in South Africa and that multicultural groups are emerging within the various communities. We can speak of dominant cultural groups, but other cultures do exist within these communities. Perhaps new cultures and traditions will originate as people live together and intermarry.

Literature, films and culture

Social anthropologists view literature and films as some of the easiest ways of spreading culture and its values throughout the world. Literature is defined as written works such as fiction, poetry, drama and criticism, that are recognised as having important or permanent artistic value. The definition further suggests that literature is also the body of written works of a culture, language, people, or period of time. Social commentators and some community leaders have placed the blame for the “degeneration of society’s moral values” on the unchecked and unregulated flow of foreign literature and films into the country. Since 1994, South African history has come under intense scrutiny, and political parties and social groups have increasingly called for historical literature to be rewritten.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the Kenyan writer and academic, in his work Decolonising the Mind, writes expansively about the “politics of language” in literature and theatre. The nexus of his 1986 thesis is that language, both literally and figuratively, impacts on the way people see themselves, their country and their continent. The fathers of the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), such as the Senegalese Ousmane Sembène, the (late) South African Lionel Ngakane, and the Ethiopian Haile Gerima, have contributed generously towards a new way of seeing African film. Its thrust is towards African film reflecting the African ethos, way of life and value systems. Many South Africans will remember the Jamie Uys film called ‘The Gods Must be Crazy’, and its running theme of colonialist parody of the Khoisan people. One of the film’s most poignant scenes centered on a Khoisan discovering a Coca-Cola bottle and turning it into some sacred object. Perhaps Uys could not have been expected to go beyond seeing the Khoisan way of life as a farce. He was outside, peering into what he saw as a bizarre tribal way of life; so the best he could do was laugh. It seemed to make up for his lack of knowledge of the people he was parodying.

The advertising and marketing industries have, for many years, been censured for promoting messaging and imaging based on Western or European cultures. Many advertising agencies have heeded the call to transform, which has resulted in the production of advertising campaigns speaking the languages and reflecting the cultures of the people for whom they are intended. This shift is needed not only in relation to advertising and marketing, it also needs to become evident in literature, film, theatre and art.

In the rural and urban communities of South Africa, Western or foreign literature and films are often blamed when young and old deviate from their culture and traditions. It is common to hear people being accused of watching “too many” American movies when their actions or views are perceived to be out of kilter with what is generally acceptable in the community. The words “rebel” and “coconut” are often used to describe those not behaving like black Africans.

I lived in home in the township of KwaZakhele in Port Elizabeth. One evening, while watching television with members of that family, I was taken aback by how, as the father was scrolling though the channels, he came across a documentary on former President Nelson Mandela and chose to ignore it and to let the family watch the “soapie” ‘Generations’. Perhaps he felt that politics – even a documentary on one of the most revered leaders in the world – was not entertaining enough. It might be that we all suffer from political fatigue. I do not know, but I am hoping that this is not a common occurrence in most homes.

It would not be possible to write about language as a form and tool of communication in South Africa without referring to the country’s recent past. During apartheid, language was used as a brutal instrument of domination. Radio stations broadcast news which had to pass through a strict censorship system. The problem, in many cases, was that the system had an abiding fear that translators might filter revolutionary messages into the news. For this reason, someone would shadow the translators, ensuring that every word was suitable for promoting the state’s agenda. Often, the result was news which followed the original bulletin word-for-word, but had little meaning in the language of the target audience. Due to this religious observation of word-for-word translation, the electronic media often had to coin new words. Many a listener was lost in the new language of the day. Communities were divided on the basis of race and language. In Soweto and surrounding areas, communities were separated on the bases of the language they speak and their skin pigmentation. Soweto was subdivided according to ethnic groups. Tshiawelo was for Xitsonga-speaking

people, Mapetla for Sesotho-speaking people, Dhlamini for isiZulu-speaking and siSwati-speaking people, Klipspruit and Eldorado Park for the coloured community, and Lenasia for the Indians. In Klerksdorp, in North West province, Kanana and Jouberton were designated for Setswana, Sesotho and Xhosa people. Manzel Park was for the Indian community, and Alabama for the coloured people (with Indian, Setswana and Xhosa people finding their way

into the area during the early 1980s). The above divisions and racially based communities were replicated throughout South Africa.

The reality is that we live in a country that has, for correct reasons at the time, opted to sweep under the floor the racial tensions that have for decades engulfed and almost siphoned off the last breath of life this country had. But a country that fears to deal with its own challenges often reaches a point in the future when hate manifests in a quiet corner and racism begins to eat at the bone marrow of an otherwise great and potentially prosperous country. We need to confront and deal with racism and hate, because the majority of the people of this country, black and white, have demonstrated that this country is alive with possibilities. If blacks and whites could march together and confront apartheid, and many serving long terms in prison, racism and hatred will be defeated.

But let us immediately accept that we are a culturally diverse and multi-lingual country. Life will always bring practicalities that we need to respond to and lead this country to greatness. I have advised my son that it might be strategic and good for his career to learn Afrikaans as a language. Bearing in mind that it is not possible to learn a language without understanding the culture of the people that speak that language.

Even though South Africa became a miracle democracy in 1994, the advertising industry refused to recognize blacks as consumers of value, and worth being addressed directly in their language and cultural nuances.

We have strengths in the collective languages and cultural differences in this country. Advertising, marketing and communication practitioners must play a role in being part of this revolution. The advertising and marketing industry cannot continue to create disconnect by creating advertising and creative messages that are solely formulated from the perspective of English culture.  Facts do point to the conclusion that advertising messages that are crafted in the language and culture of the targeted audiences have been well-received and stood out like bright beacons. Do you remember the Telkom ‘Molo Mhlobo wami’ advert? This advert created the kind of dialogue with its target market that made many realise the need to have a Telkom line. But there is no doubt that Telkom has never been in a position to understand that its customers had evolved and found pay-as-you-go cellular technology as a way of the future.

The Bureau of Economic Research, year in and year out, indicate that the black population has moved up the social and disposable income scales. Their total disposable spend exceeds that of the white community.

Black soap operas attract the largest audiences of all television programming. The only problem is that very few of the commercials flighted during these programmes connect emotionally with the audience.