Symbolic Meaning and Consumers’ Response to the Ads with the Theme of Cultural Diversity
SYMBOLIC MEANING AND CONSUMERS’ RESPONSE
TO THE ADVERTISEMENT WITH THE THEME OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Adi Susilo Jahja
Dian Nuranindya
ABFI Institute Perbanas Jakarta, Indonesia
The theme of unity of the nation is the interests of all elements of the Indonesian people that consists of many different ethnics and cultures. Indonesian state symbol has motto: diversity in unity. Indomie, one of the biggest company in producing noodles in Indonesia uses the theme of unity in the nation in its television ads, with the diversity of cultural displays. It is interesting that the noodles indeed not from Indonesian culture, but from China. The objective of this paper is to find out how consumers understand the symbolic meaning on the ad and how they respond to the ad. This research is a qualitative research conducted interviews with 20 students ABFII Perbanas Jakarta, Indonesia, which come from various tribes. This paper describes how consumers understand the cultural meaning of the ads, and the response of consumers who were interviewed stated that the ad appeared to have no effect on the number of their purchases.
Keywords: Symbolic meaning, consumers’ response, cultural diversity, advertising