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THE IMPORTANCE OF HIDDEN MASSAGES IN THE ADVERTISING SPOT FIAT Group: When an advertisement crated a scandal in China

SUMMARY The importance in decisions for a cross-cultural marketing campaign must be understood by all the companies that have to deal with consumers who comes from different countries. In this paper I am going to present the case history of an advertising spot that create a scandal in China in 2008. The Italian company Fiat Group decide to use Richard Gere in its promotion campaign of the new Lancia Delta. In the video the actor drives the car from the Walk of Fame in Hollywood to the Tibetan temple of Lahasa, the main residence of Dalai Lama. Richard Gere does not have a good reputation in China for being an outspoken defender of the rights of the Tibetan people, this linkage caused a strong reaction voiced in Chinese main newspapers. In fear to damage the investments in China, the CEO of the Italian company felt obliged to apologize to the Chinese people.

CASE HISTORY The FIAT brand was created by lawyer Gianni Agnelli in 1899 under the name Società Anonima Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), in a climate that yearned for novelties, initiatives and new ideas. Since the beginning of the twentieth century the Fiat group stared to export its products in Europe, through the years this brand became international. As consequence this company has always faced the problem of communication with foreign counties, dealing with different languages, cultures and needs. Fiat Group, for over one century, has undergone changes, alliances, moments of crisis and recovery; the latest news, in 2014, is the creation of the industrial group called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles V, born from the cross-border merger between the Chrysler Group and the Fiat Group. The marketing strategies have always had an important role in the Fiat Group, they have led the company to obtain more and more positive results and they also helped the company several times to be reborn from times of great crisis. At the beginning the marketing strategies were based on the tools available at that time. The company started with the advertising in the newspapers and posters, followed by the advertising on the television and nowadays the company uses also internet and the social media to communicate with its consumers. In this paper we are going to focus our attention on the advertising spot on the television. The main characteristic of the Fiat spot is the presence of Italy: songs, stereotypes, Italian families, the Italian culture is always underlined in their advertisements. Due to the worldwide presence of the company in the direct sales and distribution, most of the campaign are translated in several languages: they have to adapt the video, the sound, the voice, and especially the slogan. Moreover, they had lot ofdifferent collaboration with international actors, such as Ben Stiller, Uma Thurman and Richard Gere. Unfortunately, not all these spots were successful. In 2008 the Fiat Group chose the Hollywood actor Richard Gere for the spot of the Lancia Delta. This video starts with the image of Richard Gere who is walking on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, then he gets on the car and he starts driving, with a music background composed by Ennio Morricone. Leaving the US, he goes through the mountains and the ride ends in front of the Tibetan temple of Lahasa, the main residence of Dalai Lama. Here he meets a monk-child and, smiling, they plunge their hands in the Himalayan snow. The spot concludes with the voice of Richard Gere that claims: “the power to be different”.

Even if this promotional campaign wasn’t directly addressed to the Chinese people and it didn’t go on air on their televisions, the advertisement quickly reached the China and it caused strong reactions. The last statement of the spot was seen as linked to the difficulty of the Tibetan people and their Buddhist monks in dealing with the Chinese colossus, and it seemed that the spot aimed to get the sympathy and solidarity among who supports the independence of Tibet. Immediately Chinese people voiced their anger through the main Chinese newspapers, they claimed this spot wanted to advocate Tibetan independence and interfere with their internal political system. After few days, in fear of putting in crisis the investments in China, Sergio Marchionne apologized to the Chinese people. He sent out a press release saying the choice of Richard Gere as testimonial was dictated by his long and illustrious artistic career, and that he reflects the commitment to support freedom of artistic expression. This choice should not have been understood as an endorsement of the Fiat group to the social and political opinions of the artist. He affirmed the neutrality of the company regarding any political question, be it national or international. However, it was quite explicit that the choice of using Richard Gere, Buddhist and outspoken defender of the rights of the Tibetan people, aimed to link the commercial message with a social message of sensitization towards a peaceful culture. And that therefore tended to attract a range of consumers who pay attention to the ethical role of the company, the ability to combine social commitment and profit. On the other hand, denying this commitment, while reassuring the Chinese, disappointed European consumers, who would have preferred to see a little more courage in the actions of the Italian company. Despite the public apologies of Sergio Marchionne, the company kept using Richard Gere for their advertising spots. The American actor was the protagonist of the spot of the new version of the same car, the Lancia Delta Executive. By the way, to avoid any misunderstanding with the eastern counties, they settled the video in the African savannah.

CONCLUSION AND COMMENTS What I wanted to underline talking about this particular case, is the importance of the choices in advertainments for an international company with a global presence. Advertising, which is based on language and communication, is the most culture-bond element of the marketing mix. Examining the marketing mix of Fiat, we can notice that this company has always spent lot of efforts in the promotion. It has been involved in several events and sponsorship programs. The first spot was filmed in 1957 with the first Fiat 500. This video is considered as an historical document due to the fact that it was the first Fiat spot in the Rai television and it shows a car that deeply signed the story if the Italian cars and design. In the year 1971 the company started to participate to the World Rally Championship where it won several times in the following years, it also participated and won the Italian and European Rally Championship. As we said, the Fiat Group puts lot efforts also in the television campaign. The marketers of the company always create different spot for the different country it has to deal with, they adapt the language and especially the final catchphrase. In order to maintain the Italian image of the company they always try to add some Italian features to the advertising spot. Just to make few examples, in the United States, in the video of the new Fiat500 they decided to use a Neapolitan typical song, for the Fiat500L they decide to show a stereotype of an Italian family or they set the video in some Italian cities. Advertising, which is the largest part of the marketing communications, is closely dependent on the cultural and linguistic attitude of the local population. On one hand, it has to consider the cultural aspect of the countries, on the other hand it should be innovative and original in order to catch the attention of the audience. When a company reaches a global visibility, it has to take into account that its advertisements go all around the world, even if that particular spot is addressed to a specific country: this makes every choice even harder. The spot for the launch of the new Lancia Delta with

Richard Gere lacked few attentions. The scandal it provoked could have negatively influenced the Fiat investments in China. This example does show the danger of not thinking through the ramifications of a local campaign in a global world. It also underlines the pitfalls hidden in the celebrity use for marketing campaign: a celebrity beloved in one market may be loathed in another. When depicting characters, advertising must be extremely careful, they always can give different messages to the audience. The main features of the character will give to the audience several messages, that’s why it should be adapted for the local markets. It represents the idea of the sex role, age role, typical everyday situation and also the relations in a particular country. Moreover, the protagonist of the spot can be linked to the location where the video is settled. Going back to the Fiat case, the main mistake was exactly in the linkage between Richard Gere and the Tibet. This connection wasn’t randomly and this gave a different deep meaning to the spot, here the scandal has its roots. To conclude, in a cross-cultural marketing campaign companies have to make important decisions. Concerning the advertising, it must come from a deep study of local culture and, when the presence of the company is global, also the countries where it has investments are to be taken into account. Nothing has to be left to chance!

REFERENCES - http://www.youdrivecars.it/la-prima-pubblicita-automobilistica-nella-tv-italiana-fiat-500/ - https://it.motor1.com/news/211294/richard-gere-e-ancora-il-testimonial-di-lancia-delta/ - https://spotfiat.altervista.org/page/2/ - https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-fiat/ - https://it.motor1.com/news/187869/una-lancia-delta-al-premio-oscar-ennio-morricone/ - http://www.repubblica.it/2008/06/motori/motori-agosto-2008/motori-lancia-deltamorricone/ motori-lancia-delta-morricone.html - https://www.forbes.com/2009/02/11/china-phelps-drugsleadership_ 0211_marketing.html#74a8fc22bda3 - https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/20/advertising-global-mistakes-leadership-managingmarketing. html#97b8f90b053a - https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/03/20/fiat-500-vintage-italianita-leve-per-venderla-ineuropaamerica/1522487/ - http://www.ninjamarketing.it/2018/07/26/da-pertini-a-ben-stiller-le-migliori-pubblicita-fiatdelleramarchionne/...