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Cultural Paradoxes Reflected in BrandMeaning: McDonald's in Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT

Giana M. Eckhardt andMichael J. Houston

Submitted April 2001Revised October 200K.

Journal of International MarketingVol. 10, No. 2. 2002. pp. 68-82

ISSN 1069-031X

Brands are powerful symbols that reflect not only the imagewith which marketers hope to imbue them but also the culturalmilieu in which they are imbedded. If that milieu is in a state offlux, brands can come to represent some surprising ideas andvalues to which marketing efforts must be sensitive. In this re-search, the authors relate the nature of societal change, a com-mon occurrence in many developing markets and especiallyChina, to evaluation of a brand by a broad cross-section of ur-ban Chinese consumers. Using the methodology of scenariocompletion, the authors reveal that the McDonald's brand isevaluated in the context of societal norms and values that arebrought up in various usage situations. Brand evaluations canbe inconsistent and often paradoxical depending on the con-text. The results suggest that marketers should be closely in-volved with the way their brand is interacting with culturalvalues in transitional markets.

Brands are powerful symbols that reflect not only the imagewith which manufacturers and advertising agencies try to im-bue them but also the cultural milieu in which they are imbed-ded (Levy 1959). If that milieu is qualitatively different fromthat of the society where the brand originated, brands cancome to represent some surprising ideas and values to whichmarketing efforts must be sensitive. In China today, ancient be-lief systems rooted in Confucianism and Taoism are intermin-gling with Western ideologies (Davis 2000), especially withregard to consumption, consumerism, and brands. Nowhere isthis melting pot of ideas more evident than in Shanghai,which is one the most attractive consumer markets in China.

Remarkably little work has been done in the marketing fieldas to the relationship between brand meaning and the natureof traditional culture, especially where traditional culture ischanging. This should be of paramount importance to mar-keters, as a brand's image comes from the interplay betweenthe culture surrounding it and a marketing campaign. If cul-ture is in a state of flux, brand meaning can also fluctuate. Inthis research, we relate the nature of societal change to eval-uation of a brand by a broad cross-section of urban Chineseconsumers.

Specifically, this study investigates the meanings the brandMcDonald's can hold for a wide range of Shanghainese con-

68

sumers. For some consumers in some situations, McDonald'scan be used to uphold traditional thought patterns, values,and ways of interacting, whereas for other consumers and inother situations, McDonald's is an appropriate venue for con-sumers to explore new heliefs and ways of acting. For manyof the participants in this study, McDonald's does both andhas come to symbolize the paradoxes in modern Chinese life.Important implications result for the branding strategies ofcompanies that pursue the Chinese consumer market.

As Hamilton and Lai (1989) document, brands have histori-cally been used for social purposes in China. The authors ar- THE NATURE OF BRANfDgue that branding under the Ming and Qing dynasties MEANING IN CHINA(1368-1911) came about because of the uncertainty of a per-son's family status at any point in time. Because of the de-centralization and ambiguous class divisions, there was aconstant rise and fall of family wealth and position. This ne-cessitated the use of material symbols to mark status. There-fore, Hamilton and Lai (1989) conclude that the function ofbrands was social. Tse (1996) argues that this social functionof brands is still paramount today, because Chinese con-sumers use brand names as a tool to build social relation-ships. He proposes that Chinese consumers place moreemphasis on the social value of brands than Westerners do.He also suggests that brands are used to maintain a distancefrom out-groups and a similarity to in-groups to a greater ex-tent than in the West, and in-groups are more of an influenceon brand name choice. Chinese consumers can be expectedto match their social status with a brand name to a greater ex-tent than Westerners. The social value of brands positivelyrelates to the consumer's need for social identity.

If the primary purpose of brands is social for most Chineseconsumers, brand meaning will reflect the ways people inter-act with one another and the way they think about their soci-ety. Traditionally, Chinese society has been characterized ascollectivist, with an emphasis on interdependence amongmembers of in-groups (Tu 1985). Confucian and Taoist viewsof the world stress recognizing one's place in the social orderand not striving to deviate from it but rather harmonizingwith others for the betterment of society (Tu 1985). This col-lective orientation leads to, for example, a lack of seatingarrangements in Chinese restaurants for parties of two but in-stead large tables for parties of eight. Privacy from others inthe in-group is not a traditional desire (Markus and Kitayama1991). When restaurants like McDonald's, where there isseating for two, are introduced into the society, it provides anopportunity for people to embrace a new set of ideals—suchas gaining privacy. Yan (1997, 2000) documents that McDon-ald's in China not only is being transformed by consumers tofit their needs and wants but also is changing some aspects ofthe consumers' previous way of life. We investigate how con-

Cultural Paradoxes Reflected in Brand Meaning 69

sumers psychologically perceive the hrand McDonald's andhow it manages to hoth engender social change and provide amedium for carrying on customary ways of interacting.

^ = = ^ = ^ = = ^ ^ = ^ ^ = ^ = = The key to discovering the range of meanings a hrand nameTHE STUDY can take on is to ground consumers' evaluations of the hrand

in specific and varied contexts. Therefore, we developed di-vergent scenarios surrounding the patronage of McDonald's,a hrand name that represents the changes occurring in mod-ern urhan Chinese society and has a history of multidimen-sional hrand images (Watson 1997). The methodology ofscenario completion, when respondents are given variousscripts, usually in a narrative form, and then are asked howthey would respond in each of the given scenarios, has heenused successfully in cultural psychological studies (i.e.,Greenfield 1997) and is recommended as a way of discover-ing hidden cultural meanings (Triandis 1995). By giving peo-ple specific situations to respond to, and especially hyintroducing scenarios in which potentially incongruous orperceived unacceptahle hehavior is exhihited (hreaching),this method provides an insightful way to capture people'sunderlying meaning systems.

For this study, three scenarios were created that portraythree different situations in which the protagonist is eatingat McDonald's (see the Appendix). The specific nature ofthe scenarios emerged from fieldwork conducted hy thefirst author and other related studies that had taken placeprevious to this study, in conjunction with an emic ap-proach. The three scenarios chosen had emerged as themost salient situations that evoked different hrand mean-ings. Two scenarios were created to represent different, im-portant social situations in China. Scenario 1 is designed toelicit thoughts related to how McDonald's is perceivedwhen consumers are with older family memhers and howand if the hrand relates to traditional Chinese eating hahits.By introducing incongruency in the scenario (McDonald'sis typically not perceived as an appropriate place to gowith older family memhers), it provides an opportunity forthe respondents to articulate symholic meanings associatedwith McDonald's in relation to familial hierarchies. Sce-nario 2 was designed to induce respondents to articulatethe meanings they attach to the McDonald's hrand with ref-erence to romantic liaisons, another symholically impor-tant usage situation. Scenario 3 represents a nonsocialsituation in which the consumer is alone. Our purpose hereis to examine whether nonsocial attrihutes of the hrandemerge as part of its meaning.^ The versions that appearin the Appendix are the final versions, after they weremodified following comments received hy expert judgesin the United States and after a pilot study was conductedin Shanghai.

70 Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael J. Houston

Ultimately, 24 respondents (three groups of 8) in Shanghaicompleted two scenarios each. The groups were formed onthe basis of age, and the two scenarios received by eachgroup were the ones most appropriate to the respondents' agegroup.^ This design allowed for analysis both between andwithin respondents. The respondents were chosen to repre-sent a variety of ages, occupations, neighborhoods, incomelevels, and education levels within the Shanghai population.The sessions lasted an hour and a half each, and respondentswere paid 50 RMB for their participation. Sex was equally di-vided between women and men. Participants responded tothe scenarios first in written form individually and then fur-ther expanded on their responses verbally within theirgroup. This was done to provide a record of the participant'sresponses without the influence of the group as well as tothen give them a comfortable situation in which to expand ontheir answers. For a profile of the participants, see Table 1.

All the data collection took place in Shanghainese Putonghuathrough the assistance of Chinese colleagues. Professionaltranslators were used on all materials, and a decentering ap-proach (Campbell and Werner 1970) was taken when translat-ing all the materials into English, as this approach mostclosely reflects the emic goals of this study.

We conducted a hermeneutic analysis (Thompson 1997) us-ing 57 single-spaced transcripts that included the partici-

Name

M. ChenP. DinY. XuH.LinJ. ZhaoW.HanJ. ZhangB. WuY. HuangL. ZhangW.LiC. SongL. WuL. LinY. ShenW. FangQ. WangJ. Xu

D. ChenM.LiM.YangY. GaoQ. YaoL.Wei

Sex

FFFF

MM

M

MMM

MMF

FFFMMMMFFF

F

District

Huang PuPu DongXuHuiHong KouYang PuPuTuoXuHuiZha BeiPu DongXuHuiYang PuZha BeiPuTuoChang NingLuWanChang NingHuang PuChang NingLu WanZha BeiXuHuiXuHuiChang NingHong Kou

Age

1821

2324

2322

22

242827

342634

3134

26453942

3640424442

][ncomeOccupation (Yuan/Month)

StudentSalespersonCustomer serviceSecretaryEngineerRepairpersonOffice workerStaff memherOffice workerAccount managerTeacherTeacherOrderpersonAnalystShop assistantNurseManagerPurchaserArc welderOffice workerSalespersonWarehouse keeperWorkerTeacher

None20001400130025001000200020001200350030001200

90014001800160025002000

900200014001300

800

2500

Education

Middle schoolCollegeCollegeCollegeUniversityMiddle schoolCollegeCollegeCollegeCollegeCollegeUniversityMiddle schoolCollegeCollegeCollegeCollegeCollegeMiddle schoolMiddle schoolCollegeCollegeMiddle schoolCollege

Table 1.Participant Profiles


RESULTS

The ParadoxicalNature of Social Space

pants' written and verbal responses. We developed commonthemes and meanings, which are presented subsequently.Specific techniques used included iterative coding of thedata, negative case analysis to challenge emerging themesand illuminate paradoxes in the data, and refinement of thethemes based on the literature as well as the first author'sknowledge of the Chinese milieu and previous fieldwork.

Three major themes emerged, each of which demonstratesthe inconsistent nature that brand meanings can have inChina today because of the changing nature of contemporaryurban society.

Respondents' interpretations of the space inside a McDon-ald's restaurant were revealed to be important in their evalu-ations of the McDonald's brand. These aspects include theway the food is ordered and delivered, the decor, the noiselevel, and especially the way the tables are set up. Dependingon the scenario, social space concerns can lead to the brandbeing interpreted either as symbolic of a break with Chineseeating traditions or as providing opportunities for patrons tomeet traditional interpersonal goals such as gaining or givingface. Specific ways in which social space concerns wereprominent in each scenario are outlined subsequently.

For most of the respondents who received the family birthdayparty scenario (Scenario 1), McDonald's is perceived as toopublic in this situation—all the seating arrangements are thesame, and the diners are in full view of one another. Tradi-tionally, birthday parties take place in Chinese restaurants,where families are given their own section of the restaurant,using however many tables they need (each table usually seatseight to ten people). Special food and drinks are ordered,which sets them apart from other diners. This is congruentwith the hierarchical nature of Chinese society, in which peo-ple display their rank and gain face with important membersof their in-groups by being more conspicuous and makinghigher-status consumption choices than those around them.In McDonald's, where all the food and the seating is the samefor everyone, these aspects of social space are lost, and thisloss is not looked on favorably in this situation. Therefore, thesocial space aspects of the restaurant are perceived negatively.

For Mr. Zhang, McDonald's is "too noisy for an adult hirth-day party." However, Chinese family hirthday parties are typ-ically raucous events, in which the male members of thefamily drink alcohol and the entire affair is extremely noisy.When Mr. Zhang says McDonald's is too noisy, he means thatMcDonald's has the wrong kind of noise rather than that it islouder: The noise is coming from others (members of the out-group) rather than from the in-group members. Chinese soci-ety is typically characterized as one in which memhers of an

72 Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael f. Houston

in-group (family, work colleagues, or neighbors) are so closeto a person as to be regarded as part of the self (Markus andKitayama 1991). Out-group members (strangers) are largelyignored and in some cases are considered a negative influ-ence on the goals of the in-group. Thus, noise coming fromthe out-group is what makes the McDonald's setting undesir-able or inappropriate, whereas in the typical Chinese restau-rant setting, the noise is from the in-group.

Ms. Wei says she will not go to McDonald's in this scenariobecause it is not fancy or expensive enough for a proper cele-bration:

We Chinese rarely go to McDonald's for a birthday. Iremember I had a friend come back from abroad. Hewants to get together. I said, which restaurant? Hesaid McDonald's. We think he is stingy. What canyou eat at McDonald's? I will not go. It is the samefor a birthday party. It is cheap to go to McDonald's.

The overall meaning for her is one of McDonald's as a placewhere she cannot give face to important members of the in-group. The concept of giving and receiving face is one thatstill has a large impact on many consumption practices inChina, and eating out is no exception. If others in the in-group perceive that the restaurant or the food is not presti-gious, they will evaluate it negatively. This is contextdependent, however: In the dating scenario, many respon-dents believed that McDonald's was a good place to gain face.

In Scenario 2 (the date situation), the social space aspectsagain were prominent. McDonald's is still sometimes per-ceived as crowded and noisy in this context, but the public-ness is viewed in a positive light—consumers gain face byhaving others see them on a date. Paradoxically, in compari-son with the crowdedness, noisiness, and publicness thatmost respondents discussed in the birthday scenario, Mc-Donald's is often perceived as a place to find privacy in thedate scenario, enabling a couple to be "alone" by virtue of thetwo-person tables that are not found in non-Western restau-rants. This echoes a finding reported by Eckhardt and Hous-ton (1998) that privacy is often found in public places (thefrontstage becomes the backstage) in China because of thelack of privacy in most homes (the typical backstage in West-ern settings). Impression management theory posits that thebackstage is where people can really get to know each other,and thus the seating in McDonald's facilitates getting to knowthe "inner" other person, an individualist notion that corre-lates with choosing a mate.

Dating is a relatively new phenomenon in China—the idea ofchoosing a partner and romantic love, which dating facili-


tates, is not traditional (Bond 1986). Ms. Xu has a strong neg-ative reaction to the idea of going to McDonald's on a date.She thinks McDonald's is "awful, disgusting, and terrible. Itis too embarrassing to directly face the boy across the table,the tables are too small— it is noisy, inconvenient and stu-pid." She would go to a noodle shop instead: "It is clean andreminds one of ancient things." For her, dating seems to be asituation in which Westernization, in the form of small tablesfor two, is wholly inappropriate.

For most others, the publicness of McDonald's is positive.Mr. Huang, for example, views the publicness as an asset inthe date scenario because he can gain face by taking a date toMcDonald's: "Then everyone will know I am on a date." Mr.Song believes that the seating is conducive to dating (twopeople can sit together without others at the table), and it en-ables people to "celebrate in a foreign way," which is accept-able to him on a fourth date. He thinks McDonald's isfashionable and "in" and that university students embracethese ideals. Foreignness has become something good, in thatit facilitates social interactions in this context. For him, it isacceptable to "celebrate in a foreign way" when there areonly two people and no filial piety concerns, as there are inthe birthday party situation. Similarly, for Mr. Wu in this sce-nario, the underlying meaning of McDonald's is that of a so-cial space outside of the home in which two people can be"alone" and sit for a long time. In Chinese restaurants, peopletypically eat and leave immediately afterwards. In McDon-ald's, people tend to subvert the fast-food element and sit fora long time (Yan 1997).

Social space aspects were largely irrelevant in the contextpresented in Scenario 3 (eating lunch alone on a workday).Many scholars such as Yan (1997, 2000) have suggested thatsocial space concerns are almost always of prominence forChinese consumers of McDonald's; however, because peoplewere alone in Scenario 3, individual rather than social traitswere salient, and Yan's conclusion is not borne out. In sum-mary, the social space aspects of McDonald's can lead to thebrand being perceived as representing breaking with tradi-tion, in the guise of separation of family members (because ofseating arrangements) and the perceived noisiness from oth-ers (out-group members). Yet the social space aspects of Mc-Donald's also can lead the brand to be representative ofpositive attributes, such as the openness of the space, whichprovides the opportunity for a person to gain face when on adate, and the seating arrangements encourage the advent ofprivacy from in-group members along with romance and dat-ing. Much as consumers themselves are grappling with howto fit these new opportunities presented by the space in Mc-Donald's into their everyday lives, the brand is also perme-ated with alternative meanings and evaluations.

74 Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael J. Houston

The notion that the McDonald's hrand represents foreign-ness, or non-Chineseness, was a prominent finding. This ishardly surprising, hecause McDonald's has heen noted for he-ing a symhol of the United States and indeed glohalization inmany countries around the world (Watson 1997). However,how the consumer interpreted this varied depending on thecontext within which the hrand was imhedded. In some situ-ations, the foreignness was interpreted positively, hecause itcould provide face in certain social situations, whereas itcould he quite negative in situations in which consumers he-lieved that long-held traditions should not he hroken. Fol-lowing is an analysis of how this occurs.

The primary situation in which notions of the other and theforeign were prominent was the family hirthday party sce-nario. Here, McDonald's is typically perceived as too noisyand not Chinese (too foreign). The "otherness" relates primar-ily to the food, the lack of alcohol, the atmosphere (pop mu-sic, hright lighting), and the seating (small tahles); also, thestandardized menu is perceived as negative in this situation.Mr. Huang says, for a party, "Mayhe [McDonald's] is okay forforeigners, hut not for Chinese. Like divorce is okay in foreigncountries, you would not do that in China." In this situation,the exotic and Western nature of McDonald's is precisely whyhe would not go there for a family celehration. For Mr. Song,the primary meaning associated with McDonald's is that Mc-Donald's is not traditional, not Chinese, and thus not appro-priate for a Chinese family event: "It's all right to go toMcDonald's for a change, hut not for a meaningful event."

Others also indicated that McDonald's represents superficial-ity and that people cannot achieve anything deep or mean-ingful in terms of social interactions there. He also equateshis profession— teacher—^with heing traditional, and a tradi-tional person would not go there for a hirthday. Thus, the pri-mary meanings for him in this situation are that McDonald'sis nontraditional and superficial. The Chinese throughouthistory as well as today generally helieve that their culture(especially food) is superior to that of the West, and thereforeit is not surprising that McDonald's is evaluated in this way.

Mr. Xu primarily thinks of McDonald's negatively in theparty situation hecause "there is no alcohol availahle." Asdiscussed hy Yan (1997), one of the reasons women like Mc-Donald's and find it empowering is that there is no alcoholavailahle there; for the most part, it is socially unacceptahlefor women to drink at Chinese restaurants. At traditionalcelehrations in Chinese restaurants, the women are expectedto take care of the men who drink too much, and this tradi-tion of men drinking as much as they please at family gath-erings is one that many men want to maintain. Therefore, formany men, alcohol is something that must he present for a

The Fluctuating Nature ofOtherness/Foreignness asRepresented in the Brand


The Interpretation ofModernity and Youth as

Represented in theMcDonald's Brand Name

proper celebration. The overall meaning in this situation forMr. Xu seems to be that McDonald's is not capable of up-holding traditional sex and hierarchical roles, and he thusperceives it negatively.

For Mr. Wang, when discussing why he would not go toMcDonald's for a family party, the underlying meaning ofMcDonald's is standardization and simplicity, which is neg-ative in this situation. He wants a large choice of variedfoods for a party as well as elegant surroundings. He thinksthat McDonald's has a good atmosphere but that it is "toosimple" for this situation. Similarly, Mr. Chen perceives Mc-Donald's, because of its uniformity, as unable to uphold tra-ditional values that should be adhered to for celebrations. "Igo there for a change in food and to relax, not to celebrate.For a celebration, I go to a famous restaurant that has roundtables, is not so simple, and has more staff to wait on theparty." Thus, McDonald's represents a break from traditionand is perceived negatively.

Here the McDonald's brand takes on a variety of meanings re-lated to its difference from the traditional way of eating andsocializing in China. These can be both negative and posi-tive. For a celebration, McDonald's is largely not viewed as aplace that gives proper face to the guest of honor, because theprices and seating arrangements are standardized and thusthere is no opportunity to make a special display. Yet it is justthis standardization that, in the dating situation, becomes apositive attribute because the man taking the woman outdoes not need to worry about losing face to other people whoare ordering a more lavish meal. The notion that the McDon-ald's brand is novel and prestigious but yet not meaningful ordeep because of its foreignness is also prominent. AlthoughMcDonald's is a fun place to eat, it is not a restaurant where asignificant event should occur, such as an intergenerationalcelebration.* Finally, the last way the McDonald's brand canbe paradoxical with reference to its otherness/foreignness isthe lack of alcohol. Whereas this is interpreted negatively bysome, as alcohol is considered a necessity at traditional gath-erings, it is empowering to others, mainly women, and is awelcome break in tradition.

McDonald's is perceived as representing modernity andyouth in all three scenarios, though this takes many differentforms and is interpreted differently depending on the spe-cific situation. Modernity in relation to McDonald's takes theform of cleanliness, sanitation, technology, brightness, andnewness. The connotation with youth comes primarily fromthe food: Because the food is so different from Chinese food,the young people are the most willing to try it or eat it on aregular basis. Also, McDonald's has promoted itself as a placefor children's birthday parties, and "Uncle Ronald" is an icon


for the children. The interpretation of the representation ofmodernity ranges from very positive to very negative de-pending on the cultural values evoked in each situation.

In the birthday party scenario, the representation of moder-nity and youthful values is at odds with something tradi-tional, such as a multigenerational family celebration, so themodernity is perceived in a negative light. For example, Ms.Wu believes that because the food is different from Chinesefood, McDonald's is inappropriate for a multigenerationalparty but "good for children's birthday parties." In her re-sponse to Scenario 1, she exhibits what Yan (2000) describesas an acceptance of her own traditional values and at thesame time a desire for her child to be modern. However, thisperception of McDonald's as modern is not as straightfor-ward as it seems. Mr. Li, who considers himself the epitomeof the modern Chinese consumer, perceives McDonald's assomething "fresh" and "new," whereas someone who identi-fies herself as traditional (Ms. Yao) perceives McDonald's as"old" and not new to the Shanghainese. Cosmopolitan Chi-nese embrace McDonald's as a representation of theirworldly outlook, whereas to most average Chinese people, itis not that at all anymore, because it has been operating in themajor cities for more than five years now and is "old hat" inthe rapidly changing scenescape of urban China. Ms. Yao be-lieves that McDonald's is nothing new to the Shanghainese; itis not special anymore: "In Shanghai, almost everyone hasbeen to McDonald's. If I want to take the whole family out, Ishould go to a special place."

Also, the prices are too inexpensive to give proper face to thehonoree. That Ms. Yao, as an older, more traditional Chineseconsumer, finds McDonald's passe demonstrates the tensionbetween the various meanings it can take on. It can representmodernity to some people in some situations, but this is cer-tainly not universal.

In the date scenario, McDonald's was perceived as represent-ing youth and modernity, as in the birthday party scenario.But in the date context, it is viewed as positive. Mr. Zhaodemonstrates the youthful aspects of the brand as he ob-serves that young people find McDonald's romantic and ex-citing for a date. He says about McDonald's,

It is Western, American culture. You know how theShanghainese like everything from abroad. Like weused to have "Ronghua" Chicken, and we don'thave it anymore. "Ronghua" feels like Shanghai,and the Shanghainese like Western stuff. Youngpeople dating like these Western places. I take mygirlfriend to McDonald's almost every time we areon a date.

Gultural Paradoxes Reflected in Brand Meaning 77

Mr. Zhang's response echoes these same meanings of youth andmodernity. Elements of the social space, such as the back-ground music (typically Hong Kong or Taiwanese pop music),are the primary consideration in the situation, and the evalua-tion of this is positive. Mr. Li brings another interpretation ofthe brand in this context. The notions of individual will andfree choice become dominant for him, as described by Yan(2000). He will go to McDonald's on a date because "you canhave your own choice" and "choose freely" from the menu.The meaning of free choice is linked in his mind with going ona date, which is understandable because choosing a mate isalso an example of this, and notions of romanticism and choos-ing a mate are ideas that have only recently been introducedinto Chinese society and thus are interpreted as modern.

Finally, different aspects of modernity were also exhibited inthe interpretation of the brand name in the eating alone sce-nario. That McDonald's is sanitary, and by proxy modern, wasof considerable importance. The standardization that McDon-ald's represents is clear in this situation—^it is important forconsumers to know what they will get in unfamiliar sur-roundings. For Ms. Chen, the "clean and sanitary conditions"are the overriding reasons she goes there. Mr. Zhao indicatesthat the standardization McDonald's represents becomes im-portant when he is alone— in an unfamiliar part of town with-out a way to judge whether a Chinese restaurant is sanitary orwhat the food will taste like, McDonald's is a "safe" option.For him, the overriding meaning in this scenario is one ofstandardization and trustworthiness. Ms. Gao says that "noo-dles and dumplings are not as hygienic" as McDonald's, andMs. Yao says the primary reason she goes to McDonald's inthis situation is its sanitary conditions ("cleaner than tradi-tional restaurants"), a theme that was echoed by many of theolder participants in Group 3. In this way, modernity seemsto be positive for the older respondents.

We have shown how the McDonald's brand can embodymany different facets of modernity and youth and how thisconnotation can be evaluated positively in some situationsby some consumers and negatively in other situations, some-times by the same consumers. Davis (2000) chronicles theambivalence urban Chinese consumers feel about modernity:They want the prosperity, increased standard of living, andrespect on a global scale that it can bring, but they are fiercelyproud of the old way things have been done, and in manycircumstances, they do not want to embrace the changesmodernization brings. As we have shown here, the paradoxi-cal nature of this conflict can be represented in the meaningsattached to the McDonald's brand name.

^^^-^-^—-^^^^^^-^^^^—— It seems that McDonald's can both stimulate social changeDISCUSSION and uphold traditional ways of interacting. One of the ways

78 Giana M. Eckbardt and Micbael J. Houston

this occurs is through the use of social space in the dining ex-perience while in McDonald's. This happens in two ways:First, the divided and hierarchical setup of the dining experi-ence in traditional Chinese restaurants is not adhered to—theseating arrangements are open, and everyone has equal accessas to where to sit and what to order. This can lead to a positiveor negative interpretation of the hrand, depending on the con-text. The second way social change can he engenderedthrough social space is the specific seating arrangements, en-ahling only two people to share a tahle and sit together. Thisleads to a negative interpretation of the hrand when con-sumers engage in a traditional food consumption situationhut can he interpreted positively when consumers are explor-ing the freedoms that can come with modernity, such as dat-ing. The McDonald's hrand name can also he a symhol ofotherness, which can stimulate social changes or reinforcetraditional norms. For example, the lack of alcohol servedthere leads some women to emhrace heing on a more equalfooting with men while eating. In contrast, the lack of alcoholserved there also causes people to evaluate the restaurant asinappropriate for certain occasions. Finally, McDonald's, rep-resenting modernity and youth, facilitates change as well astradition. The cleanliness and standardization of hoth therestaurant and the food are changing how and where peopleeat when in unfamiliar surroundings, and these characteris-tics of the hrand are evaluated positively in this context. Yetthe modernity and standardization are decidedly negative inother situations.

All of these findings suggest that in rapidly changing soci-eties, hrands can take on disparate cultural values and mayeven he central to how these disparate cultural values (tradi-tional or new) are evaluated. For marketers, it hecomes a dif-ficult task to control the image the hrand has in themarketplace. Marketers need to he aware of the cultural andsocietal connotations the hrand is taking on and the waythese are changing or staying the same as norms of interact-ing are changing or staying the same.

The results reported here suggest that the meanings attachedto a hrand name hy consumers can he malleahle and some-times paradoxical in societies where cultural norms are influx. The results also indicate that the meaning attached to ahrand name at any given moment is largely dependent on thecultural values evoked in the specific usage or evaluation sit-uation. This in turn suggests that an effort needs to he madeto find out how a hrand image is reacting with current cul-tural mores and whether the meanings heing taken on hy ahrand are suhstantially different from those put forth throughmarketing efforts. This is especially true for high-profile con-sumer hrands such as McDonald's, which represent alterna-tive ways of life and experiences for many consumers, and in

Cultural Paradoxes Reflected in Rrand Meaning 79

APPENDIX

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

NOTES

countries such as China, where values are in flux or the em-phasis of consumption is social.

Chen Shan is going out to dinner with his family on a Satur-day night. They are going out to dinner to celebrate his wife'sbirthday. He is going with his wife and daughter, his youngerbrother and his wife and daughter, their parents, and their fa-ther's brother and his wife. Sban's younger brother suggeststhat they go to McDonald's for dinner. What would you do inthis situation? Would you take the entire family to McDon-ald's or choose another restaurant? If yes, what makes Mc-Donald's appropriate for this occasion? If no, what makes itinappropriate? Please explain what you would do and whyin as much detail as possible.

Wang Haipong, a university student, is planning to take hisgirlfriend, also a student, out on a date on a Friday night.This will be their fourth date. Some of his friends have sug-gested going to McDonald's. Would you take your girlfriendto McDonald's if you were Haipong (or want to be taken byHaipong)? Where would you go instead if you chose not to goto McDonald's? What characteristics of McDonald's make itappropriate or inappropriate for this date? Please explainwhat you would do and why in as much detail as possible.

Deng Xiaoming is returning to work after doing some errandsfor the boss. It is lunchtime, and sbe is very bungry, so sbewants to stop in a restaurant to get sometbing to eat before go-ing back to tbe office. Sbe passes a noodle shop and a cafete-ria and finally decides to go to McDonald's, because shewants to get food tbat tastes good but is not too expensive. Doyou tbink sbe made a good choice? Would you have cbosenMcDonald's if your criteria were tbe same as Xiaoming's?How would you rate eacb of tbese options in terms of satisfy-ing bunger, tasting good, and being inexpensive? Please an-swer in as mucb detail as possible.

1. Previous fieldwork and related studies bave suggestedtbat tbougb Yan (1997) notes tbat tbe meanings of effi-ciency and economic value are irrelevant for most con-sumers, tbese meanings may become salient wben peopleare eating alone. Scenario 3 was designed to explore tbeseissues furtber and uses specific questions to do so.

2. Group 1: 18-24 years of age. Group 2: 25-34 years of age.Group 3: 34-45 years of age.

3. Group 1 received Scenarios 2 and 3, Group 2 received Sce-narios 1 and 2, and Group 3 received Scenarios 3 and 1.Note tbat tbe order of scenarios bas been balanced amongtbe groups.

4. Al tbougb consumers in many countries otber tban Cbinaw^ould no doubt ecbo sentiments sucb as tbese, wbatmakes tbe results reported bere unique is tbat tbese inter-


pretations are context dependent. Consumers only associ-ate these meanings with McDonald's when certain cul-tural values are evoked. In the dating scenario, forexample, respondents believe that McDonald's is not su-perficial and is an appropriate place to get to knovi a po-tential mate.

5. Again, these interpretations are manifested only in certainsituations; these respondents do not interpret McDonald'sthis w ay all the time.

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THE AUTHORS

Giana M. Eckhardt is Lecturer,Australian Graduate

School of Management.

Michael /. Houston isEcolab/Grieve Chair in

International Marketing,University of Minnesota.

Watson, James (1997), "Transnationalism, Localization and FastFoods in East Asia," in Colden Arches East: McDonald's in EastAsia, James Watson, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,1-38.

Yan, Yunxiang (1997), "McDonald's in Beijing: The Localizationof Americana," in Golden Arches East: McDonald's in EastAsia, James Watson, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford UniversityPress, 39-76.

(2000), "Of Hamburger and Social Space: Consuming Mc-Donald's in Beijing," in The Consumer Revolution in UrbanChina, Deborah Davis, ed. Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPress, 201-319.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledgethe financial contributions

of the Association of ConsumerResearch-Sheth Foundation.

82 Ciana M. Eckhardt and Michael f. Houston

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