TOWARDS A NEW THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF MULTICULTURAL MARKETING IN SOUTH AFRICA: A Thematic Analysis of SABC 1 Prime Time

Abstract

Multicultural Marketing is not a well understood field in South Africa, despite being a highly diverse society. This study has established a new framework from which to understand multicultural marketing though an analysis of advertisements found on SABC 1 during peak viewing hours. Broad multicultural themes were established through reviewing the literature on the topic and a thematic analysis of the advertisements which aired on SABC was undertaken. The thematic analysis allowed the researcher to compare and contrast themes from the literature to themes which appeared in the adverting. It was found that multicultural elements exist heavily within the South African advertising communications, but it was other filmic elements which distinguished those which simply existed on the multicultural spectrum and the advertisements which were definitively multicultural. This resulted in the creation of the Multicultural Spectrum Model, in order to highlight fluidity of multicultural marketing and depart from the compartmentalised structure of international literature.