Background Stimulation Levels and Advertising

Concept Paper

If I conjure up an image of Brazil, I see Carnival: Barely-dressed people engaged in a near-drunken orgy. If I visualize Japan, I see a much more subdued image: Rows of shops and small businesses. Somewhere in between is my vision of Hong Kong: A little bit rowdier, louder, more colorful, more sensual than Japan, but less so than Brazil. The level of visual, aural, etc. stimulation is greater or less on a more-or-less constant basis, whether we are discussing the general indoor or outdoor environment, newspaper content, etc. That is, I assume Brazilian TV and newspapers are “hotter” than Japanese counterparts..

How to describe this background level? For starters, we can use the metaphor of thermometer readings. Let’s call Brazil “hot,” Japan “cold,” and Hong Kong “warm.” In European terms, France and Spain are warmer than Poland; Monaco is perhaps hotter than France or Spain. In terms of U.S. city environments, perhaps New Orleans and LA are “hot” while Milwaukee is “cold.” San Antonio is warmer than Fort Worth or Waco, but Fort Worth is warmer than Hebronville?

Now, I make three assumptions.

· First, I assume that this state of warmth or coldness forms a “background level” of general environmental stimulation. Brazilians live in one stimulation environment, Filipinos in another. Brazilians are often presented with “hot” stimulation from the environment, not so for Germans. The Brazilian doesn’t go looking for this environment: He/she is surrounded by it. Given such a hot environment, for him/her to find stimulation, this stimulation must be so much the “hotter” to rise above the general environmental level.
· Second assumption - Commercial messages appear within this general background environment of stimulation
· Third assumption - for an advertisement or other commercial message to be attended to, it must provide stimulation that rises above the “background level.” Thus: a commercial in Brazil must be “hotter” than a commercial in Japan in order to rise above the ”background level” of stimulation.

If you are with me so far, this reasoning leads to conclusions on the following order.

· If Brazil and, say, France are equally “hot” then the same type of advertisement should rise above the background level in both countries, and therefore have equal chances of success in both countries. If Japan and South Africa are equally cold then the same advertisement is viable (language translation is assumed, of course). An ad which appears sensual in “cool” Japan may not do so in “hot” Jamaica.
· Commercial messages appropriate for one environmental background level are inappropriate elsewhere. Jamaica - the hot home of reggae – has more in common with hot New Orleans or Bangkok than it does with much-cooler Puerto Rico or Guatemala.