Research On Brand Names And Their Cultural Context From The Perspective Of Memetics

Brand name is a sign, which is used by commodity producers or operators to distinguish their goods or services from those of the others. It is also the "golden business card" of the enterprises and their "passport" for entering the international market, and to some extent it affects the consumer’s purchase desire. Good brand names can promote the brand development and improve the reputation of the products. Many scholars have studied and analyzed brand names from different perspectives. This paper, by drawing on previous research results, tries to study the brand names from a new angle --- memetics.Memetics is based on Darwinian evolution to explain the theory of cultural evolution, and in memetics "meme" is the core term. Any information can be called a meme as long as it is "imitated" and "copied". Meanwhile, meme is the basic unit of cultural information dissemination. According to memetics, language is not only the carrier of memes, but also a meme itself, and the brand name as a special type of language and meme are inextricably linked with the language memes.Based on the language meme and Heylighen meme selection criteria, this paper first explores the relationship among language, brand name and memes, thus laying a foundation for the further research of brand name memes. In order to be accepted by consumers, brand name memes must meet certain selection criteria, such as simplicity, utility, novelty and coherence. In addition, the brand name meme is not just a language phenomenon, but also a kind of cultural phenomenon. Therefore, within the framework of memetics, this paper focuses on the cultural factors involved in the creation and transmission of the brand name memes in the cultural context (including the cross-cultural context). Meanwhile, the characteristics of the strong brand names and how they are created to meet the psychological needs of the target customers are analyzed. Furthermore, based on the analysis and discussion of the examples, the paper explores the principles and strategies of creating the strong brand names, especially in the cross-cultural context how brand name memes are modified and adjusted to avoid cultural conflicts. Based on the qualitative study, four questions are addressed:(1) What is the inner relationship between language, brand names and memes? (2) In order to attain the goal of promoting the sales of the products, what selection criteria of memes the brand names should follow? (3) What factors of cultural context should be taken into consideration in the creation of brand name names? (4) What are the strategies and methods in building strong brand name memes? The answer to the first question is based on the study on language meme, and those to the other three questions are drawn from the analysis of the examples. Finally, the paper summaries the findings of this study, points out its limitations and puts forward the suggestions for future research in this area.Memetics provides a new perspective for the study of the brand names. It is hoped that this study will provide valuable enlightenment to the designers, who are devoted to creating competitive brand names (or strong brand names), and contribute to promoting business English learning and teaching in terms of deepening the understanding of the cultural elements in brand names and their transmission and usage in different cultural context.