In Conslusion...

After writing this blog on international marketing for the semester I have concluded that international marketing is an extremely immense topic that covers an extremely wide range of subjects all relating to marketing and advertising. The thing that makes them specific to international marketing is the fact that they are just that, international. That is what makes it such a broad category. That is part of the reason I chose international marketing as my blogging assignment. Because it encompasses the whole world I felt there would be an abundance of information to write about as well as learn a lot about the marketing throughout the world. After this semester, I’d say I was right, I feel as if I have learned a lot about the topics I wrote about in my blog.

While I was looking over my blog post over the past few months I noticed a few recurring themes that I would like to talk about. One theme that was covered repeatedly in the blog was regulations in marketing abroad. Regulations have been particularly relevant in regards to cigarettes, alcohol, sex in advertising, and junk foods. Two countries that I wrote about, Australia and England are taking great strides to ban the advertising of junk foods in an effort to promote a healthier life for their citizens. These bans are put in place for a number of obvious reasons, one of them being to protect children from the advertising of junk foods. This is because children are particularly impressionable and are therefore very susceptible advertisements. This can be dangerous when children are being exposed to advertisements of products that are unhealthy. The Obesity Task force in London states that several billion pounds that are spent each year advertising food or soft drinks are at least partly to blame for increasing levels of obesity in many countries

There are many international organizations as well as governments that are working to put these bans and regulations in place to make a difference in the health of people around the world in regards to eating habits. The chairman of the London-based International Obesity Task Force, Professor Philip James, said: "It is vital that, as well as governments, food industry leaders support the new standards we propose.” The World Health Organization is trying to pass a code that will control the advertising of food to children. This code will outlaw the use of popular cartoon characters to sell foods that are high in fat, sodium, and sugar on both television and the internet. Codes will also prevent celebrities from being used to promote unhealthy foods. Some countries around the world have gone as far as a total ban of certain forms of advertising as opposed to passing restrictions and regulations. In Norway and Sweden, any advertisement targeted at children age 12 and under is banned completely.

Obesity is a problem that is affecting many countries throughout the world. The fact that advertising and marketing of unhealthy foods across the globe has had an affect on the rising cases of obesity is shocking.

Cigarette advertising is another major issue facing the international marketing community. The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is designed to make it easier for national governments to implement tobacco controls, including a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. Organizations like the WHO are working extremely hard in place regulations bans on the advertising of tobacco products. Bans such as the ones the WHO is passing, could prevent millions of people from starting smoking because they will not be influenced by tobacco marketing. It is important that strides are being taken to regulate unethical marketing practices as well as the marketing of unhealthy products.

Around the world advertising is pushing to clean up the advertising and marketing industry in terms of banning harmful advertisements as well as using the industry to better society. The IAA(International Advertising Association) is now supporting the production of the "One Minute of Responsibility" program. This has been organized by ACT Responsible, and features spots for non-commercial, social and environmental causes. The program is currently being broadcasted daily on Euro News. According to Joseph Ghossoub, Chairman and World President IAA, "Since inception, the IAA has cared about promoting social responsibility." With that being said, it makes sense that the IAA would support an organization like ACT Responsible. It is good to see the International Advertising Association using their vast resources to produce public service announcements in Europe to benefit global causes and efforts.

Another topic I feel I learned quite a lot about was marketing campaigns for cities. In my blog I wrote about Berlin and South Africa and how they that are trying to rebrand themselves in an effort to increase tourism and general awareness of what they have to offer. Both places are trying to overcome hardships and try and reposition themselves in the mind of people throughout the world. Berlin is still trying to overcome a stigma from the holocaust as well as an image of strictness and seriousness. South Africa is a rather impoverished country and is trying to use this marketing campaign to help the countries financial situation. It is fascinating to see how in these cases the countries or cities are almost looked at as products or brands in regards to developing a marketing campaign.

Aside from themes such as these, a lot of my blogging was spent on reporting news on international marketing. There a lot of international marketing conferences, events, and awards. Using my blog to report on these events was fun because the events were very current and made me feel like this blog had a purpose. Letting viewers see what is happening in the world of international marketing.

After learning at the international marketing arena from this blog I feel like it will benefit me as I begin my career in the industry. I will potentially start working at an advertising agency or working for a company that marketing internationally and it will be a good asset to know what is happening in the international marketplace. Additionally, before this class I never really used blogs and now I see how they can be an asset to any business. For example a company could use blogs to update consumers about what is happening within the company. Obviously, the sky is the limit with blogs and anything one could think of could be used for blogging. This assignment made me feel proficient with blogging and I now feel like I have another skill that can be applied to my career, whatever that turns out to be.