The following examples highlight the impact of differences in laws and social norms on various aspects of the marketing program. What are the implications of such differences for using standardized product or advertising strategies (or using standardized advertising themes)?

(a) Pepsi International’s humorous global ad campaign fronted by model Cindy Crawford, which includes the use of a Coke can, will not be seen in Germany because German regulations forbid the use of comparative advertising.

(b) Advertising laws in China have restricted the use of Budweiser posters, featuring young attractive women in Budweiser swimsuits, by Anheuser-Busch to bars and stores with adult clientele only. Furthermore, when Anheuser-Busch wanted models to wear swimsuits for a beer festival, the mothers of the models used insisted on the girls wearing T-shirts beneath the swimsuits.

(c) An Austin, Texas–based designer of computer games wants to market a game that involves humans fighting against aliens from different planets. One aspect of the game is that if the humans are shot, blood is shown to come out of their bodies. German laws, however, do not permit any depiction of red blood in computer games. The company wants to market this game in Germany, which is a huge market. One suggestion the company is working on is the use of an alternate color to depict human blood. However, it risks the prospect of making the game less realistic—“What would children make out of green liquid coming out of the human figure on being shot?