This paper represents an attempt to position pragmatics and language functions in a context of narrative analysis. Applying the theoretical frame proposed by Theodore Levitt, this article uses four TV commercials as case studies to demonstrate how linguistic and pictorial codes are employed to communicate national-cultural product identities. Focussing on Italianicity, it shows how businesses develop transcultural strategies and how they handle the predicament of transcultural advertising strategies. These strategies, it is argued, are not innocent: once a brand that is based on national stereotypes has been established, a change of product identity risks the introduction of a conflict in which the brand identity can be simply damaged rather than transformed.