Research Article: 2020 Vol: 19 Issue: 2
Ogbemudia Benedict Imhanrenialena, University of Nigeria Nsukka
Emmanuel Kalu Agbaeze, University of Nigeria Nsukka
Obi-Anike Ozioma, University of Nigeria Nsukka
Okafor Chikodili Nkiru, University of Nigeria Nsukka
In advertising foreign products in local markets, advertisements makers are faced the challenge of choosing between the standardization strategy and the adaption strategy of foreign advertisements to increase foreign product sales performance in local markets. However, studies on non-indigenous language texts display in foreign advertisements in local markets in several countries have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, this exploratory study investigated Nigerian consumers’ non-indigenous language texts identification ability in foreign product advertisements; whether Nigerian consumers associate foreign products to certain countries in term of superior performance; and how such country-product-association influenced Nigerian consumers’ purchase intention. With a sample of 81 participants aged 23 to 60, the findings reveals that: (1) Nigerian consumers are unable to identify non-indigenous language texts in foreign product advertisements, (2) Nigerian consumers associate certain foreign products to certain countries in term of superior performance, (3) that such country-product-association influenced Nigerian consumers’ purchase intention. A country-product-association that is new to advertising literature was found as the participants associate the African wax prints to Holland. The study highlighted the impediments that advertisements makers have to resolve to increase sales performances of foreign products in Nigerian local markets.
Psycholinguistic, Sociolinguistic, Non-indigenous Language, Foreign Products, Advertisement, Purchase Intension.
M37, M31
Background of the Study
Foreign advertisement makers are faced with a tough strategic choice between standardization and adaption of foreign languages (FLs) in foreign advertisements to local languages in local markets. Foreign products advertisements are of high interest to researchers who assume that advertisements makers use foreign language as a strategy to indicate where the foreign products originate from (Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2017; Sella 1993; Hornikx et al., 2013). Non-indigenous language text display in foreign products advertisement is viewed as “the appropriation of words or phrases from another language used within one’s own social group” (Eastman & Stein, 1993).
There are two perspectives to non-indigenous language text display in foreign product advertisements: Psycholinguistic perspective and Sociolinguistic perspective. The psycholinguistic view of non-indigenous language text display in advertising focuses on the semantics of non-indigenous language text in relation to comprehensibility, associations, attention and recall while the sociolinguistic aspect focuses on how the non-indigenous language text display in foreign product advertisements relate to the cultural attributes of the country where the language element belongs in relation to comprehension, associations, and product-country-alignment (Nederstigt & Hilberink-Schulpen, 2018). Studies have claimed that manufacturers usually indicate the country where a particular foreign product originates from in order to trigger Country-of-origin (COO) stereotype, which is viewed as a favourable evaluation of a product of foreign origin by consumers based on the country where the product is made (Kotabe & Jiang, 2009; Aichner, 2014).
Of critical interest to this current study is the claim in the sociolinguistic view of non-indigenous language text display in foreign products advertisements which posits that understanding a foreign language display in an advertisement is inconsequential to achieving the effectiveness of the advertisement in foreign markets. In line with this assumption, some researchers have averred that the presence of foreign language text in foreign products advertisements in local markets supersedes the text semantics value (psycholinguistic perspective) in the message as local consumers will certainly decode the particular country any foreign language belongings (Haarmann, 2011; Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Kelly-Holmes, 2005; Piller, 2003; Ray et al., 1991; Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015).
Studies on non-indigenous language text display in foreign advertisements in local markets in several countries have yielded conflicting results. Notwithstanding the conflicting nature of the findings, advertisement markers in each of these countries are seriously guided by the results. For instance, there are such findings in the following countries: Taiwan (Jia-Ling, 2008), Romanian (Micu & Coulter, 2010), the Netherlands (Hornikx et al., 2010), Poland (Planken et al., 2010), Korean (Ahn et al., 2017), Switzerland (Cheshire & Moser (1994), German (Thoma, 2013), India (Krishna & Ahluwalia, 2008) and Western Europe (Gerritsen et al., 2010).
However, nothing is known yet about the Nigerian consumers’ experience regarding the use of non-indigenous language text display in foreign advertisements in the following areas: First, the ability to identify advertisement texts in foreign languages other than the English language that is the country’s official language. Second, whether Nigerian foreign product consumers associate foreign products with specific countries in terms of product quality. Third, if countries, where foreign products are made, influence their purchase intention. Therefore, the aim of this study was to close these gaps to enable foreign products advertisement markers to know whether to use the standardized approach or adaption approach of in Nigeria.
Standardized versus Adapted Approaches in Foreign Advertisements
Advertising a foreign product in local markets, advertisers are divided between the standardized advertisement approach and the adapted advertisement approach (Agrawal, 1995; Zou, 2005; Ulrike & Hilberink-Schulpen, 2018). The standardized approach is viewed as the wholesale use of non-indigenous language advertisement contents (headings, illustrations, or body copy) without modifications apart from translation. In the extreme, the absolute standardized method even opposed to the interpretation of foreign language in foreign product advertisements in local markets (Onkvisit & Shaw (1987), meaning that one foreign language element in advertisement can be used wholesale worldwide. On the other hand, some scholars favour the adapted approach of foreign advertisements to reflect the language peculiarity of the natives of each local market as the panacea for successful advertising (House et al., 2004, De Mooij & Keegan, 1994; Hofstede, 1980 & 2001).
Country of Origin Cues in Product Advertisement
Basically, there exist nine different strategies advertisements makers adopt in indicating where different foreign products originate from along with (Aichner, 2014). The first country-of-origin indicating strategy is the ‘Made in’ that foreign products advertisements possess. The second is the text display of quality and origin. The third country-of-origin indicating strategy entails the use of items in the product advertisements that is peculiar to the producing country (De Vries, 2015).
The fourth country-of-origin indicating strategy entails the use of a popular landscape known in the foreign product originating country (Aichner, 2014). The fifth country-of-origin indicating strategy is the use of “flags and symbols” of the country that produce the products. The sixth country-of-origin indicating strategy is the use of country, region or city name itself in the company name such as Ethiopian Airline. The seventh country-of-origin indicating strategy is the use of peculiar words of the originating country in a company name, or the printing of the company on a foreign product so as to reflect the peculiarity of the language of product originating country. The eight country-of-origin indicating strategy is applied by not necessarily stating the country where the product originates from. An example is “Genießen auf Italienische Art”.
The ninth country-of-origin indicating strategy is the use of the language of the product originating country in the company names (Aichner, 2014; De Vries, 2015). In light of the foregoing, the current study focused on the use of Non-indigenous language text display in foreign products advertisement in Nigeria markets
Psycholinguistic Perspective of Foreign Language Display in an Advertisement
The literature on non-indigenous language contents in a foreign advertisement is broken down into four psycholinguistic and three sociolinguistic perspectives (Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015). The consumers’ indigenous language is denoted L1 while the consumers’ non-indigenous language is denoted L2. The psycholinguistic perspective addresses the semantics in non-indigenous language contents in foreign advertisements as well as the ability of the local consumers to decode product-country-alignment, attention and recall capabilities.
The first assertion in the psycholinguistic perspective is that comprehending the non-indigenous language languages (L2) is much harder than comprehending the indigenous language (L1) (Hornikx & Van Meurs (2015). This assertion aligns with the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) which states that comprehending the non-indigenous language languages (L2) is much harder than comprehending the indigenous language lexically and conceptually (L1) (Dufour & Kroll, 1995, Kroll, 1997; Luna & Peracchio, 2002). For example, it was found in a study that Spanish consumers find it easier to comprehend Spanish advertising text in product advertisements than the equivalent text in English Language (Luna & Peracchio, 2002). However, it still unknown how foreign products consumers in Nigeria process and comprehend foreign languages in products’ body copy.
The second assertion in the psycholinguistic perspective is that the non-indigenous language triggers varieties of associations than indigenous language. This second assertion aligns with the Conceptual Feature Model (CFM) propounded by Groot (1992) which states that indigenous language and non-indigenous language words may possess related content conceptual-wise but the rendition equivalents may vary contextually. Aligning this claim with the CFM model, many studies on advertising have demonstrated that non-indigenous texts in foreign advertisements trigger varieties of country-product-alignments than the indigenous language in product advertisements (Noriega & Blair, 2008; Luna & Peracchio, 2002).
The third assertion in the psycholinguistic perspective posits that non-indigenous language element draws more attention than the indigenous language. This claim is backed by a study that demonstrated through “eye-tracking experiment” that German consumers spent more time trying to comprehend the non-indigenous language (English) than the indigenous language (German) in advertisements (Thomas, 2013). A study of the use of English in Polish advertising published in Polish women’s magazines on their audience in a written questionnaire and the findings opposed the claims that foreign language (English) in product advertising has a positive influence on consumers (Planken et al., 2010).
The fourth assertion in the psycholinguistic perspective posits that the non-indigenous language triggers varieties of recall than the indigenous language. Some studies through experiments supported this claim that non-indigenous language advertisement message leads greater propensity to recall than the indigenous language messages by consumers in advertising (Piller, 2001; Ahn et al., 2017). Some scholars have argued that foreign expressions in advertising cause consumers to notice it more; ignite thorough processing of the advertisement contents and its recall than the equivalent ones using no foreign expressions (Ahn et al., 2017; Domzal et al., 1995, & Petrof, 1990). However, other studies have opposed this assertion. For example, based on the RHM, indigenous language utterances are expected to support greater propensity to recall than the non-indigenous language utterances both at conceptual and lexical levels (Wyer, 2002; Dufour & Kroll, 1995; Kroll, 1997).
Sociolinguistic Perspective of Non-indigenous Language Message in an Advertisement
The sociolinguistic perspective of non-indigenous language display in product advertisements relates the language used in advertisements to the attributes of the country the language belongs typically spoken, with particular emphasis on ethnocultural associations, product-country-alignment and understanding ability (Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015; van de Laar 2017).
The first assertion in the sociolinguistic perspective posits that the non-indigenous language messages trigger ethnocultural associations of the country where the belongs (van de Laar 2017, Hornikx et al., 2013; Hornikx, Van Meurs & Starren, 2007; Domzal et al., 1995; Gerritsen et al., 2007 a & b; Kelly-Holmes, 2000 & 2005; Piller, 2001 & 2003). For example, Kelly-Holmes (2000 & 2005) averred that ethnocultural association in non-indigenous language message content in the foreign advertisement is the most crucial aim for adopting the approach.
The second assertion in the sociolinguistic perspective posits that the non-indigenous language effectiveness is a function of product-country congruence, which is viewed as shared associations between the product and the originating country (Roth & Romeo, 1992). It is believed that the characteristics of a country’s superior capabilities manifest in every product produced in such country (Kelly-Holmes, 2000 & 2005; van de Laar, 2017). Therefore, the idea of country-of-origin in foreign advertisements is that certain countries possess superior know-how in producing superior performing products (Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015; van de Laar, 2017; Hornikx et al., 2013; Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015, Peterson & Jolibert, 1995; Usunier & Cestre, 2007; Verlegh et al., 1999). Evidence from a study backing this claim demonstrated that non-indigenous language content in foreign advertisements performs better for products that have generally been aligned/associated to countries believed to possess superior know-how in producing such products (such as French with wine), than for products from countries that do enjoy such product-country stereotype such as French with beer (Hornikx et al., 2013).
Hornikx et al. (2013) found congruency between products after comparing the effectiveness of three advertisements for products (country of origin and the associated languages e.g. France – wine, German – sausages, Spain – oranges) to three advertisements with an incongruent product (country of origin and the associated languages e.g. France – beer, Germany – olive oil, Spain – washing machine) in which the slogans of the advertisements were in the respective foreign language.
In the same vein, a study investigated country-product-alignment on one hand and the country-associated language on the other hand. The sampled products were the ones that were generally believed to originate from countries that possess the highest competencies in producing products such as cosmetics and France, or vodka and Russia). After the experiment, the researchers were able to show that consumers demonstrated more willingness to patronize the product that is associated with a particular country that is widely acclaim to possess superior know-how in producing them than other products that do not enjoy such stereotype such as cosmetics and Mexico (Usunier & Cestre, 2007).
The third assertion in the sociolinguistic perspective in non-indigenous language display in foreign products posits that understanding non-indigenous language display in foreign product advertisements is of inconsequential relevance to the realization of the advert utmost performance. Some studies claimed that non-indigenous language display itself in foreign product advertisements in local markets serves a better function in the advert content as consumers will certainly decode the country where the language is spoken ultimately (Haarmann, 2011; Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Kelly-Holmes, 2005; Piller, 2003; Ray et al., 1991). For instance, in Melnyk et al. (2012), when respondents were asked to identify the countries the believed the brand names Croixbergiere and Kreuzberger are associated with, the respondents accurately aligned Croixbergière with France and Kreuzberger with German. This type of study has not been performed so as to establish how Nigerian consumers are able to identify foreign languages display in product advertisements.
Research Design
The study adopted the qualitative research method, and as such data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The first objective was to investigate whether Nigerian consumers recognize foreign language texts in foreign products’ body copy (Spnish, French, Italian) as claimed by some studies that the display of foreign language itself in foreign products advertisement is more important than comprehending the meaning of the words in the advertisement contents because consumers will certainly recognize the country where the language belongs and activate their stereotype preference for the products (Haarmann, 2011; Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Kelly-Holmes, 2005; Piller, 2003; Ray et al., 1991). The second objective was to determine if Nigerian consumers possess country-product-alignment as claim by a section of advertising scholars that consumers associate certain products with certain countries based the belief that certain countries possess superior ability in the production of some certain products (Melnyk et al., 2012; Hornikx et al., 2013; Usunier & Cestre, 2007; Aichner, 2014). The third objective was to determine how the match between products and the countries where they are made actually influences Nigerian consumers’ purchase intention (Ulrike & Hilberink-Schulpen, 2018). The interviews were conducted in two cities in Nigeria: Abuja in the North-central part and Enugu in the south-eastern part. These two far apart geographical points in the country were chosen to allow for proper coverage (Ballantine et al., 2019).
Participants
A total of 81 participants took part in the study with 40 from Abuja in the North-central part and 41 from Enugu in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. The inclusion criteria for selecting the participants were that: they must not be literate in any of the foreign languages (Italian, French, and German), and must be users of the selected products with foreign language display. The participants were selected through a purposive sampling technique followed by intercept method where potential participants being approached had made the decision to purchase any of the selected products in retail stores (Ballantine et al., 2019). Other participants were selected applying the snowball approach (Miles et al., 1994), where participants who were recruited based on the intercept approach, were requested to help link-up with other potential participants who met the inclusion criteria (Ballantine et al., 2019).
Material and Procedure
To determine if Nigerian consumers are able to identify where a particular foreign language text in advertisements belongs, the participants were shown 5 selected foreign products with foreign body copy advertisements in Italian, French and Spanish. Second, in order to determine if Nigerian consumers associate certain products to certain countries in terms of superior performance, the participants were asked to indicate the countries they associate the following foreign products with: wine, body cream, shoe, vodka, pasta (Hornikx et al., 2013 & 2007), and African wax prints. The African wax prints popularly called “Ankara” in Africa was included because its country-product-association report is lacking in advertisement literature. It was equally selected because of its popularity in Africa as both African men and women used the material to make clothes.
Third, the respondents were shown the sampled foreign products bearing “Made in” advertisements (Aichner, 2014; Li & Murray (2002) and were asked to explain how the country where the products were made could influence their purchase intention (Li & Murray, 2002; Ulrike & Hilberink-Schulpen, 2018; van de Laar, 2017). These products were selected for this study based on the findings of earlier studies that found association between the products and the country-of-origin in countries where the research were conducted. Based on extant literature, the products and the associated countries were: France with wine and cosmetics (Hornikx et al., 2013; Usunier & Cestre, 2007), Russia with vodka (Usunier & Cestre 2007), pasta with Italy (Nederstigt & Hilberink-Schulpen, 2018), and shoes with Italy (Usunier & Cestre 2007).
Descriptive results: 21 (25.93%) of the participants aged 60, 20 (24.69%) were 40-59, 34 (41.98%) were 30-39 while 6 (7.41%) were 20-29. The participants that possessed Pry/SSCE Certificates were 17 (20.99%), OND/1st degrees were 44 (54.32%), Post-Graduate were 9(11.11%), and the participants without any formal education were 11 (13.58%). The male participants were 43 (53.09%) while female were 38 (46.91%). Occupation: The participants that are farming were 17(20.99%), trading 11(13.58%), employed 45(55.56%), and artisan 8(9.88%). Place of Residence: The participants that reside in urban area were 52(64.29%) while rural area stood at 29 (35.80%).
The participants discussed their experiences about the use of non-indigenous language languages display in product advertisement in their locality. Although the English language is a foreign language in Nigeria, it was not included in the selected foreign languages because it is Nigerian official language. Therefore, the English Language was concealed from the participants where the foreign language advertisements were translated to the English Language. The results from the interviews are in three perspectives in line with the objectives of this current study: (1) Identification of foreign text in foreign advertisement display (2) Association of certain foreign products to certain countries in terms of products superior performance. (3) Possession of stereotype for foreign products in relation to purchasing intention.
Text Identification in Foreign Language Display in Product Advertisements
Body copy texts in French, Italy and Spanish advertisements were shown to the participants. The participants were asked to identify the languages in the texts and state exactly the languages they were. The outcome contradicted the earlier claim by some researchers as only 9 respondents (11.11%) were able to identify French Language, 7 (8.64%) participants identified Spanish while 7 (8.64%) participants were able to identify Italian language correctly. Whereas 72 (88.89%) could not identify French Language, 74 (91.36%) failed to identify Spanish while 74 (91.36%) were unable to identify Italian Language. Commenting, many of the participants pointed out that even if a consumer identified a foreign language text in a foreign product advertisement, it would certainly be by guessing, and that such a consumer might not be able to repeat the same foreign text identification in another instance. For example, Ernest (30) said “I think is weird a sort of, I mean very funny, for you to think that I can possibly recognize a language that is not my own on products…. in fact, apart from my native Esan Language in Edo State, and the English, every other language texts look similar, and confusing to me” (see the descriptive statistics Table 1).
| Table 1: Text identification in foreign language display in foreign product advertisements in Nigeria | |||||
| S/N | Nature of identification | Foreign language display in product advertisements | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French | Spanish | Italian | |||
| 1. | Correctly identified by participants | 9 (11.11%) | 7 (8.64%) | 7 (8.64%) | 23 (9.47%) |
| 2. | Wrongly identified by participants | 72 (88.89%) | 74 (91.36%) | 74 (91.36%) | 220 (90.53%) |
| Total participants | 81 | 81 | 81 | 243 | |
Association of Superior Performance of Foreign Products with Country of Origin
To determine if Nigerian consumers associate foreign products to the country of origin in terms of superior performance, the participants were shown foreign products which were a bottle of vodka, a pair of shoes, a bottle of wine, body cream, and a pack of paste. The participants were asked to state each country that produces the best quality of each of the items presented to them. The outcome was that nearly all the participants matched the products with the country of origin as follows: body cream------ France, wine---- France, shoes-----Italy, paste-----Italy, Vodka--------Russia. But we found a new dimension in associating products with the originating country in terms of superior performance that is lacking in advertisement literature when the participants were asked to mention the country they associate the African wax prints popularly called “Ankara” in Africa in teams of superior quality. This product was selected because both African men and women used the material to make clothes. Several participants associate the African wax prints to Holland.
Table 2 shows that 60 (74.07%) of the respondents associate wine with France in terms of superior quality, 63 (77.78%) associate cosmetics (body cream) with France, (79.01%) associate Shoe with Italy, 63 (77.78%) associate vodka with Russia, 62 (76.54%) associate pasta with Italy while 67 (82.72%) associate African was prints with the Holland.
| Table 2: Descriptive Statistics: Association of Foreign Products with Countries in terms of Superior Performance | |||||||
| S/N | Country-product-association | Foreign products in Nigeria | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wine | Body cream | Shoe | Vodka | Pasta | African wax prints | ||
| 1. | UK | 6 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| 2. | USA | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 3. | Netherlands | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 67 |
| 4. | France | 60 | 63 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 5. | Italy | 4 | 4 | 64 | 2 | 62 | 2 |
| 6. | Russia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 63 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Spain | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 81 | 81 | 81 | 81 | 81 | 81 | |
Country of Origin of Products and Consumer Purchase Intension
The participants were shown a list of foreign products bearing ‘’made in‘’ advertisements and were asked to discuss how the country where a product is made influence their purchase intension. The participants severally commented that the country where products are made greatly influence their purchase intension as it assures them of superior performance of the products based on their past experiences from the use of such products. Many participants commented that they prefer the Hollandis Wax Vlisco; manufacturer of Dutch wax. This was amplified by comments from Juliana (45), who stated “I had a bitter experience with one wrapper material I bought some years back. The colour of the clothes washed away very fast during laundry within a very short time of purchase the clothes faded whereas the other ones I have are still very good even after three years you know…. and I know the countries where these cloths were manufactured because it was printed on it”.
Table 3 results indicate that 58 (71.60%) out of the 81 respondents said the country of origin of a product influence their purchase intention, 6 (7.41%) said it does not influence their purchase intension, 7 (8.64%) was not sure whether it does, 3 (3.70%) said it does but not always while 7(8.64%) was undecided.
| Table 3: Country of Origin of Products and Nigerian consumers’ purchase intension | ||||||
| Research question | Responses | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Not sure | Not always | Don’t know | Other opinions | |
| Does the country of origin of these products influence you to buy them? | 58 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Discussion of Findings
The aim of this current study was to determine if Nigerian consumers recognize foreign language texts in foreign products’ body copy; associate certain foreign products with certain countries in terms of superior performance; and if such association of foreign products with certain countries in terms of superior quality influence their purchase intension. Some scholars have averred that the display of non-indigenous language text in foreign product advertisements is much more of attracting prospective consumers than comprehending the message the words conveyed as the consumer will certainly recognize the particular country the language belongs (Piller, 2003; Ray et al., 1991; Haarmann, 2011; Hornikx & Starren, 2006; Kelly-Holmes, 2005; Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015). However, the findings of this current study suggest otherwise as such claim was proved not to be the case in Nigeria. Nearly all the participants of this study were unable to identify the country were the sampled foreign language texts in foreign product advertisements belong.
This current result aligns with similar studies carried in Spain which found that the Spanish consumer processed advertising texts in Spanish with less semantic efforts than the same corresponding text in English language (Luna & Peracchio, 2002), and in the Netherlands, it was found that the participants preferred the native Dutch slogan more when the English slogan is complex (Hornikx et al., 2010). An explanation for the inability of Nigerian consumers to identify the country were particular foreign language text in advertisement belongs also takes roots from the psycholinguistic claim which states that comprehending a non-indigenous language is more harder than comprehending native language (Hornikx & Van Meurs, 2015), and the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) which states that comprehending the non-indigenous language languages (L2) is much harder than comprehending the indigenous language lexically and conceptually (Dufour & Kroll, 1995, Kroll, 1997; Luna & Peracchio, 2002).
This study examined texts identification ability of non-indigenous language display in foreign products advertisement in Nigeria, country-product-association, and purchasing intention. For advertisement makers seeking to increase the sales of foreign products in Nigeria, our findings possess a good number of strategic advertising implications. Our respondents were unable to identify foreign language text in foreign product advertisement. To ensure an effective foreign advertisements in Nigeria, advertisement makers must refrain from the use of absolute standardization approach which opposes the translation of foreign language texts (e.g. Spanish, French, German Dutch) to the language Nigerian consumers understand, with the assumption that Nigerian consumers will certainly identified the country where the foreign language element belongs and activate their stereotype for the products. Instead, the adaption approach of advertisement should always be applied in Nigeria because it entails the translation of foreign language texts to the language of the local markets.
If advertisement makers stick to the standardization approach, they will not be able to take advantage of product-country-congruence (Roth & Romeo, 1992) which this study found to be inherent among Nigeria consumers. For example, our respondents matched the sampled foreign products to countries that are widely acknowledged to possess the know-how for producing superior quality of such products.
It is claimed in international marketing research that consumers in some countries (e.g. Spain and the Netherlands) believe that certain countries possess superior know-how for the production of certain products with superior performance. In this study, our respondents were motivated to patronize foreign products based on the country where they were made. For instance, several participants commented that they preferred the Dutch wax (wrapper) to other wrappers made in other countries. In this case, texts identification is also very crucial. A foreign country wishing to increase its market share in Nigeria should employ superior product quality strategy to win for herself the product-country-alignment benefits as Hollandis Wax Vlisco, the manufacturer of Dutch wax (wrapper) has won for Holland in Nigeria as revealed by this study.
This exploratory study reveals Nigerian consumers foreign language texts identification ability in product advertisements; Nigerian consumers tendency to associate foreign products to certain countries in term of superior performance; and how such country-product-association influenced Nigerian consumers’ purchase intention. Therefore, further research in this domain could apply the quantitative research approach to investigate the extent to which the results of this research are a representative of the experience of the larger Nigerian foreign products consumers so as to broaden the understanding of the variables of this study. Further study could equally be needed to determine if differences exist between the experience of various demographic variables such as age and sex.
Again, future research could empirically investigate if there is any significant deference in the performance of the absolute standardized foreign advertisement and the adapted foreign advertisements in Nigerian given the cultural peculiarities of the country. Such findings will guide foreign advertisements makers on the best strategy to adopt if the advertising efforts must yield the desired results.