THE SOCIO-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON ADVERTISING IN GHANA.

The environmental influence refers the uncontrollable factors which gets involve in organizations activities when such organizations are developing marketing strategies. There are many environmental influences that have had magnificent impact on advertising here in Ghana. Some factors of environmental influences are demographics, economics, socio-cultural, technological and political.

Socio-cultural environmental influence and its impact on advertising in Ghana, is the focus of this work. This factor also affects consumer purchase decision making. The social and culture, which forms the socio-cultural influence refers to the way of life of people living in a particular environment. Culture influences consumers through their language, customs, attitude, lifestyle and values. Environmental influences over the years have not had tremendous impact on advertising than in recent times.

The first, which is language, has had an impact on advertising in Ghana. In Ghana, the print media uses only English language to advertise products. The electronic media however, are well known for using local and foreign languages in advertising. Due to this, advertiser are very are careful of the language used in advertising their product. This particular environmental influence has forced advertisers in Ghana to use a common language that is understood by many for advertising. In a Ga community for example, if a product like “nku” is advertised on the radio or television, consumers of that product will understand the marketer. If the same product is advertised in an Ewe community, there will be a problem. This is because “nku” means shea butter in Ga language but the same word connotes eyes in the Ewe language. The use of language has influenced advertising in Ghana since consumers must understand the use of the product, its benefits and functions before they make a purchase. This is the nature of the Ghanaian market and advertisers are always studying the environment for changes.

Another socio-cultural environmental influence is custom, which affects products and services that people buy. Custom refers to the norms or traditions of people living in a particular area. In some environments or communities in Ghana, people dislike certain products due to their custom. According to the customs, many Muslim communities in Ghana will purchase a commodity like scarf, since the women of that religion covers their head all the time. This forms part of the environmental influence that plays a role when organizations are developing their marketing strategy.  It has therefore had an impact on the advertising in Ghana. Another example is the custom of the Gas which prevents the playing of music for a period of time. Advertisers can therefore not create awareness of music in that community, since it will go against the customs of the land. It is a period where noise making is prohibited. This is the level of influence that custom has on adverting in Ghana.

In our Ghanaian society, cultural values are really respected in a lot. Culture is the way of life of people living in a particular community. Marketers are therefore very careful about the environmental influence since its impact of advertising is great. This is considered because it may be for or against the culture of the people. A clear example of impact by culture on advertising in Ghana is the absence of nudity in advertising in Ghana. Though the adverts are still persuasive enough to attract the attention of consumers and customers, mannerisms are considered. Products like contraceptives are advertised in the Ghanaian media with all decency exhibited. This has created a strong impact on advertising in Ghana.

Another factor that has had an impact on advertising in Ghana is Religion. This is done by monitoring society in order to identify areas where new opportunities are available. In Ghana, all the adverts are carefully looked at in terms of the images that are used for the advert. For example, advertisers consider the kind of society they find themselves before they create awareness of a product like Bible. Some religious societies don’t take alcoholic beverages. Therefore, its goes against their religion to purchase that product. Some religious communities do not allow their members to watch certain adverts to avoid rebellion against the religion. It’s evident that advertising plays on our emotions and cause many people to do or practice what they see or hear in the media. The impact of Religion on advertising is so strong and cannot be overlooked by advertisers.

Advertising in Ghana is heavily characterized by moral standards. It is an offence to many people in Ghana to see or hear of adverts that speaks against their moral teachings.

The socio-cultural environmental influence helps advertisers to identify threat and eliminate them.