Myths and stereotypes are no match for the reality of Malaysia's rich ethnic make up

Lowe Counsel launches the latest phase of Window On Teens study.

Breaking stereotypes is often fun yet very challenging. As years of atypical personas get challenged we find it very difficult to grasp the emerging new.

Malaysia, a vibrant country with 3 distinct cultures and races, is awash with stereotypes that have been built up over generations. A peek into pop culture would reveal quirky jokes and hilarious stereotypes of the 3 races, Malays, Chinese and Indian.

Malays make up the largest racial segment in the demographic make up of Malaysia, in the recent past this segment has been of immense interest to the marketing community because of its growing spending power and population numbers.

There was however one problem, marketers engaged with the Malay based on stereotypes which are decades old, at Lowe Counsel we wanted to challenge these stereotypes and focus on talking to the fastest growing demographic segment of the Malay population the Teens.

The Window On Teens Malaysia Study follows the launch, in January 2010 of our Global initiative that focuses on understanding teens through an approach that sets out to confirm or bust commonly held assumptions (myths) about today’s teen population.

Our research revealed that Malay teens share a lot of similarities with their peers around the World. Some of the most commonly held myths about Malay teens which we challenged includes their views on ambition (they are as ambitious as their Chinese counterparts, and in some cases hyper-ambitious) and that their definition of success was no different than that of their Chinese or western counterparts – that success is based on earnings.

The study also revealed that for the Malay teen, happiness is today defined much more by the physical than the spiritual. Likewise, they were not identified by tribal (or group) behavior but more by being individuals. And finally, the study also revealed that, contrary to popular belief; Malay boys were as fashion & body conscious as girls.

The study, which launched Lowe Counsel’s new office in Kuala Lumpur has already gained a lot of traction amongst the marketers who despite finding it difficult to throw away decades of old cultural stereotypes are nevertheless engaging with us with a positive frame of mind to develop products and communications for the young Malay segment.