4-18) AFLAC should not, and does not, use the same advertising campaign in both the United States and Japan. As the article suggested, I searched YouTube for AFLAC commercials in Japan. These commercials feature softer scenes than the American commercials do. One Japanese commercial features a young man reading what appears to be a medical journal, while the AFLAC duck is in the garden. At the end of the commercial, the duck places a flower in a vase, and the boy pets its beak. In contrast, an American AFLAC commercial features a wrestling match where the AFLAC duck shouts "AFLAC!" many times. The cultural differences in Japan and the United States give rise to these different commercials. For example, Japan's culture is more serious, where humor isn't as attention grabbing or appropriate as it is in the United States. Because of this, the AFLAC commercials in Japan are light-hearted, but they are not the entertaining and humorous commercials present in the United States. Some benefits come from having identical advertisements in both countries. There would be lower advertising costs and the brand would be recognized with the same characteristics in both places. However, being adaptive to a country's culture will pay off more in the future. AFLAC should not introduce the maneki neko duck in the United States. The United States consumers would not understand, and it is the brand could lose some value as consumers would likely make fun of a maneki neko duck. AFLAC should continue their separate advertising campaigns.
4-19) It is highly important for AFLAC to be adaptive to Japan's business practices. Because Japanese people have the cultural concept of "Wa", they have a much more collectivism orientation than the United States. With "Wa" comes the idea of lifetime employment to foster...