Working in a Multicultural Country

Mauritian Flag

I attended my first brainstorming session last week and I wanted to share my experience with you because I think what happened could be useful to any PR practitioner working in a foreign country. As you all know, a brainstorming is essential to most PR activities. Everyone has a voice in the process and this enable generating a lot of creative ideas. The former’s strength resides in the fact that it allows things to be seen from different angle and here’s where this can be particularly useful.

 One of the projects we were working on was about what could be done by the company on the Independence Day, which in Mauritius is on the 12^th of March. The team we were working in collaboration with had found a fantastic idea where a game would be proposed on a social platform. The game would be accompanied with a slogan saying ‘Nu Kuler Nu Valer’ which is in creole (common language in Mauritius) and means our colours our value, referring to the beautiful colours of our flag. I must admit I was finding it quite catchy, I could even say flattering until someone said: “Could this be interpreted by others as referring to the colour of their skin and not that of our flag?”  Then it stroke me, no one in the team proposing the idea had thought about that aspect and I must admit neither did I. If the slogan had been wrongly interpreted by one person, could it be excluded that others would do to? Mauritius is a multicultural country and its inhabitants are extremely attached to respect of others as a core value. We have learnt with time to avoid comments like those on the skin colours which can sometimes offense people. The slogan was thus subject to a polemic. What to do in this situation? Persist and see what happens or be proactive and avoid any possible misunderstanding? Proactivity is what we chose after debating for a while and we decided to change some words to make it more specific. The new one is now ‘Kuler nu Pei’ which can be translated as ‘Colours of our country’. It is much more appropriate for the game but most importantly, it is in line with the ethical ideal of the company as well as that of our society.

Two lessons can be learnt from this short episode. First, as a PR professional, you should always have your work checked by a colleague (me and the Assistant Supervisor in that case) or supervisor because when someone is working hard on a project, chances are they would never notice what could go wrong with it. The second lesson is not to forget the external environment your organisation is operating in that is the political, socio-cultural, technological and economic aspects. These have been discussed extensively during our PR classes and this experience shows how worth the theory was. Also, make sure your message is tailored to your target audience in this environment which in this specific case was the Mauritian population who speaks a particular language (Creole) and has its own culture and way of interpreting things. It think this is a perfect example of how the representation of messages in the circuit of culture which we discussed in International PR classes can be applied to real life.  To conclude, I would say follow scrupulously these two golden rules and you will be able to avoid errors which numerous companies committed while trying to expand in other countries.

Michaella Auguste
15842404
CTI