Below is an in-depth analysis of the 8 rules included in the Multicultural Intelligence book, and how they are applicable to us as Public Relations professionals. 

Rule 2: Divide and Conquer

This rule looks at the needs of dividing and conquering your target markets, also known as segmenting your audience, to ensure that proper and applicable messaging gets to each of your target markets, rather than looking at your entire market as one group of people. A common mistake is to group people together who may look similar, or fall in a similar age range, but actually have nothing alike. The examples from the textbook says that this happens a lot with African Americans and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Marketers group them together based on the color of their skin or their sexual orientation, but often forget to consider things like personality traits, income, and buying behavior: all factors that will tell the marketers much more about the consumer. An overarching lesson from this rule is that you can reach large groups of people through advertising, and then specialize marketing content to these subgroups via fine tuning social media and other PR tactics. 

Rule 3: Don’t Trust the Experts

This rule focuses on the need to go beyond the experts and their statistics when researching your target markets. While those are both valuable tools when learning about your target markets, this rule suggests that you should study those who are actually a part of the culture of your target market. Talk to them. Get to know what is important to them. Experts are bound to make a mistake or misunderstand key elements of the cultures you are studying, because nobody truly understands a world that one does not live in. A great lesson from this chapter includes the Chevy Nova example. When launching the Chevy Nova in Latin America, experts didn’t consider that “no va” quite literally means “it doesn’t go” in Spanish. Had somebody taken the time to speak to Latin Americans and get their true opinions on the launch, this probably could have been avoided. This rule encourages me to always consider my target audience as people, not just numbers, and to go to them first. 

Rule 4: Don’t Let the Joke Be on You

This rule focuses on one of the best and worst tools: humor. While humor can be extremely effective, it can also backfire if not used carefully. It gives the example from Mountain Dew, where the company attempted to use humor but instead created a terribly racist ad about the stereotype of African Americans being criminals… it was awful. The chapter includes various other commercials that went just as wrong. The lesson here is that humor is not perceived in the same way by all; what is funny to one group may be downright insulting to another. It is important to consider the reactions of all publics before producing, or avoid humor if that isn’t possible. 

Rule 5: Don’t Get Lost In Translation

This rule is all about ensuring that the way you intend your message to come across, actually is perceived that way. Messages can easily be lost in translation, which is why it’s so important to pay attention to content when it is being translated into other languages. But moreso, it’s important to understand other cultures enough to know how the message will be perceived. A great example from the text includes messaging between America and China. In America, apologies are thrown around daily, so they don’t hold as much merit, whereas in China, they are as meaningful as it gets. George Bush refusing to take fault in a plane crashing over international waters, but then stating he was “very sorry,” implies in Chinese culture that he takes ownership of his mistake. Obviously, this was lost in translation….

This is a great tool to take into the PR world moving forward, as messages are only successful when they are able to be perceived in the way they were intended to be. 

Rule 6: Push Their Buttons

This rule looks at finding the sweet spot between making consumers feel comfortable while also understanding what moves them- and doing it. With minorities featured in the media a lot less than white people, it’s all the more important to make sure companies “get it right.” That is, to portray them in a positive light, make them feel comfortable, and then use that level of comfort to persuade them into doing something. This rule is about understanding what makes your audience comfortable, and using that to your advantage. A good example of this is the study about preferences for Hispanic immigrant mothers. When asked about their shopping location preferences, most of these women chose the clean, neat grocery store over another. Why? Because cleanliness is important to them, and makes them feel comfortable. Understanding the comfort zone of your target audience is key to effective messaging. 

Rule 7: Market on a Wink and a Prayer

This rule is one of the more complex ones. It talks about how in today’s society, minorities are often not portrayed in large advertising roles to avoid possibly stereotyping all together. Instead, it is often a good idea to create main-stream advertising that includes undertones of culturally relevant messaging- aka the “wink.”  This is a good balance, because overdoing the cultural messaging feels like trying too hard, and excluding it entirely just feels ignorant. But nailing it with a “wink,” feels tasteful, relevant, and right on the money. A great example of this tactic is a McDonalds commercial, which took a widely-recognized experience, getting a first job, and making it culturally relevant. It included a Hispanic boy getting his first job, and his parents arriving at the drive thru to see him in action. This was the perfect “wink” because it hinted at culturally relevant messaging without making that the main focus of the advertisement. 

Rule 8: Make Up, Don’t Cover Up

The last rule focuses on how to handle your advertisements if they aren’t successful ones. Even with careful research and the best of intentions, this is bound to happen at some point. This rule looks at the importance of owning up to mistakes and being prepared to apologize in the most fitting manner. An interesting aspect of this rule is that it is important to stand your ground and not pull your advertisement at the first sign of backlash: some people are always looking to criticize, and many times, there is a larger audience that disagrees with the negativity being presented. Be aware of how the majority of the audience perceives the messaging, and be prepared to handle it with a team of professionals if the right choice is to admit you were wrong.