Cultural sensitivity plays a large role in dictating how retailers should present themselves and their ads in different countries. McDonald’s, for example, advertises themselves in a completely different light in France when in comparison to China.

The french advertisements of McDonald’s have much more of a mature and “posh” air about them, this corresponds with the western stereotype of the French population as more ‘sophisticated’ than Americans, or in this case, the Chinese. This value of elegance has been conveyed through subtle hints in the ad, such as the smaller portion size of the food, the jewlery on the model’s hand, and in general: the clean, symmetrical imagery. The usage of the brand “McCafe” over “McDonald’s” has been done on purpose, as france is a nation with an abundance of coffee shops; Similarily, the macaroon was also chosen intentionally due to it being a popular desert in france, and its close resembalence to haute cuisine, appeals to the french population.

The Chinese ad, on the other hand, is a polar opposite, displaying an action image of a cow on a skateboard, thus completely abandoning the elegance profile and instead taking on a more spontaneous and energetic profile. This has been done to correspond with the fast-paced lifestyle of typical Chinese citizens, and also as a result of the stereotype that the Chinese are not very ‘professional’ or ‘civilised’, explaining the reason why the same style of imagery used in the french ad was not used for china. The rather maximalist design of this ad relates to the belief that ‘more is better’, an ideology that is commonly shared among the Chinese population and can be seen in many of the other ads in china. This type of design style is typically viewed as ‘old-fashioned’ by western countries, hence why it is not used elsewhere, in addition, displaying animals in ads where meat products are promoted is sometimes seen as taboo by foreign countries, due to the rising popularity of veganism and vegetarianism.