I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to best address users from other cultures, and as she spends a few months working in India, some of my good friend Ali’s posts have been particularly thought-provoking.

Fantasy versus emotional marketing: The core of U.S. marketing – whether for a product or a mission – is trying to make something more emotional to “tug at the heart strings” and make you act (or buy)… But in India, some argue that people are consistently surrounded by emotion (or reality) such that escape is more attractive. One person told me that you only need to look at the movie industry to see this: Slumdog Millionaire was not as acclaimed in India as it was in the U.S., for example, as compared to the dramatic, dancing, singing Bollywood style of film.

It’s easy to think that users will all more or less act like Americans, but when your product is used in a different cultural context, is it still doing its job as well?