Global advertising strategy:implications of Islamic ethics on the standardisation/localisation of advertising campaigns in the Middle East

Abstract

The last thirty years has seen a wide range of debate on the topic of standardisation in marketing. The issues surrounding the strategies, advantages and disadvantages of standardisation have emerged from a range of marketing fields and in particular a number of scholars have contributed to our understanding of the different strategic approaches adopted by multinational firms to their global advertising strategy (Melewar & Vemmervik, 2004). Despite a plethora of studies examining this nebulous concept however there still remains a lack of consensus as to the relative strengths and weaknesses of adopting a standardised or localised approach. Furthermore, there has been scant attention given to the challenges that arise when advertising in Islamic countries such as the Middle East (Melewar, Turnbull & Balabanis, 2000). This paper revisits the standardisation debate and discusses the implications for advertising in Islamic States such as the Middle East and in particular addresses the implications of Islamic ethics in a Middle East advertising context.