Advertising Strategies of Global Cosmetic Competitors

This study will attempt to provide background information and insight into the following question: Should global consumer goods companies targeting women standardize their marketing programs worldwide or adapt them to local/regional markets? There has been much research in the general area of standardization versus adaptation. Levitt (1983) and others concluded that markets have become so homogenized that MNCs can market the same services and products worldwide by utilizing standardized marketing programs. The opposing school of thought, proffered by Boddewyn, Soehl and Picard (1986), among others, states that long-standing economic, cultural and political differences among countries require marketing programs to be adapted to specific market conditions.