Consumers’ Reactions to the Cultural Meanings in Brands

Attracted by a youthful, growing population of 70 million, Mango, the iconic Spanish clothing brand whose ads feature Penelope Cruz, opened its first store in central Tehran in April 2009. Although wearing a Mango miniskirt in public is grounds for being arrested, the aisles were crowded soon after the store opening, and the venture was anticipated to quickly become profitable.1 The sudden success of the Mango store stands out against an apparent negative sentiment toward Western fashion brands doing business in Iran—seen by politicians as a bad influence on women—which even resulted in the torching of a Benetton store during anti-Western demonstrations earlier the same year. These situations illustrate the mixed reactions of consumers to the cultural meanings in brands. Exposure to brands loaded with cultural meanings can bring culture to the fore of the mind, which in turn can facilitate the framing of situations in cultural terms. In some cases, this cultural framing can induce an assimilation of consumers’ judgments and actions to implicit cultural values and norms. However, on other occasions, framing a situation in cultural terms can create a contrast and elicit exclusionary responses. Furthermore, all of this can occur without consumer awareness of culture as a driver of the effects.